Hello! It’s been a long time since I blogged. Since my last update, we had our last day of VBS in Bucharest on Wednesday, then on Thursday we visited the geriatric unit of one of the hospitals in the morning and had the afternoon to do laundry. Friday was sort of a day of rest- we did laundry all day, went to Annisoara’s for lunch and then that evening we went with the youth group to the hospital to finally meet Irina!!! On Saturday we left for Kosova, and we stayed there through Tuesday morning. Now as I type we are driving back to Bucharest for one day of rest before we hop on the train to Transylvania, where we will spend a week doing VBS in Tigmandru and then the next week in Sighisoara, doing more VBS!
Our last day of VBS went fabulously well, and although we didn’t have as many kids as usual we still had a great time. It was sad to say goodbye, but after a successful day of learning about Jesus’ love, we had a huge watergun fight to end the day! It was great. I still need to upload photos from this past week of VBS- I’ll get on that as soon as I wake up on Wednesday morning. I have tons of photos.
Thursday we got up early and took bananas to the geriatric ward of one of the hospitals here. The geriatric wards here are very sad. There is no such thing as a nursing home in Romania, and elderly people must rely on their families to care for them- they have no other options. Unfortunately, many families can’t care for their elders, or some choose not to, and the abandoned elderly usually end up in the geriatric ward. In many cases, grandchildren take advantage of their elders and sell their possessions, keeping the money and leaving the elderly at the geriatric ward of the hospital. Several years ago the local Nazarene church began a program that took sandwiches and tea to the elderly three to five times a week, and sadly it was usually the only food they received because the hospital did not have the funds to feed its geriatric patients. The big treat, though, was bananas. They took bananas because here bananas are slightly more expensive and so are a treat rather than a common possession, as well as being healthy and soft, making them easy for the patients to eat. Things have been changing over the years, however, and now the hospital does feed its elderly patients regularly. But while they do feed the patients, there are so many other unmet needs that the church tends to besides simply food. As I said earlier, many of the patients in this ward are abandoned by their families and completely alone. They have no one to turn to, no one to take care of them. Their emotional and spiritual needs are left to rot alongside them in their hospital beds. This is where the church’s weekly visit comes in. The bananas are recognized as a kind gesture, and although we weren’t able to spend more than 5 minutes with each patient (there were so many…), 5 minutes was all that was needed to make these lovely people feel significant and cared for. We came into each room, handing out bananas and speaking our very few Romanian words in greeting. A big smile was all we needed to communicate. Most of the patients simply talked to us anyway, knowing we couldn’t understand but appreciating the willing ears. A few of the patients even cried out of happiness or appreciation, but they tried to hide it. Tamara explained that the nurses here don’t really like that we come in and minister to the patients in this particular manner, so if they see a patient crying because of us, they will complain and cause problems for the program, making it more difficult for the church to reach out to this community. Overall it was a very sobering experience. I truly enjoyed this trip though, and I really want to do it again before we leave. I don’t know if I’ll have the chance, but it is something I won’t forget.
Friday we had lunch at Annie’s and it was delicious! Annisoara Cristea is the mother of the family that Rachel was staying with during the first part of our trip. We hold VBS at their house everyday because they live in an apartment building that has a big gated front yard. That evening, we went to visit Irina! She had not been outside for a month (to the day) because she hadn’t been allowed (she’s been on very strict bedrest), and had been stuck in her hospital room. She did not know we were coming and Monica went inside to get her, just saying that she needed to come outside and get some fresh air because she had been inside for too long, so she came outside and there we were! The whole youth group, which she’s normally very involved with. She was very happy to see them all, and to meet us as well. We had a lovely time visiting and then we all prayed together for her and the child, and it was great.
Bright and early on Saturday morning we left for Kosova at 4 a.m.!!! ugh. Although my attitude wasn’t the best when we started, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world by the end of that 18 hour car drive! My plan was to sleep a lot on this trip, but in fact after the sun came up I really didn’t sleep very much at all. To get from Bucharest, Romania to Gjacove, Kosova, we drove through FOUR countries in one day! Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Kosova. We stopped to shop for VBS supplies for the upcoming weeks in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. That added over two hours to our trip, but we are now prepared for children’s ministry in the villages! Now, about the drive. We were literally crossing the Danube as the sun came up, and it was breathtaking. I will never forget the moment:
Rachel: “So, how many people can say they’ve watched the sun rise over the Danube River?”
Kristen: “Not very many at all.”
Rachel: “Once. In. A Lifetime.”
Now about Macedonia- that country is beautiful! Remember, I thought Bulgaria was lovely? It is, of course, but Macedonia was also pretty! I love the rolling hills and the unique tall trees that cover the countryside. We took several pictures which I’ll post to facebook.
Now I will try to explain the drive through Kosova, but honestly, not all the words in the world, with all the pictures you could possibly take, would ever do that country justice. Kosova is the most breathtaking place I have ever been, including the Grand Canyon. I will be going back to Kosova in my lifetime. I must. I fell in love with the country as we drove through the Albanian Alps at sunset. Even though the skies were mostly gray, the sunset colored the clouds pink and orange as they peeked down at us through the mountaintops while we drove through. At one spot, we came upon a waterfall so beautiful that we pulled over and went on a spontaneous hiking trip! We spend about an hour at this gorgeous waterfall, taking pictures and exploring. The ice cold water was so refreshing on our feet after sitting in the car all day, and moving around was so nice. And even though this place was phenomenal, it was at the top of the mountain where I simply stood in disbelief. Never have I seen such a view. Like I said, pictures will never do it justice, but I’ll post them anyway. I could talk about this drive for pages , but it’s already been pages and I have to tell you about our few days in Gjakova. We finally arrived at our hotel around 10:30 p.m. (actually 9:30 because of the time change), had a very large dinner and fell into bed. Oh by the way, the reason we went to Kosova is because the Eastern European Mission Field was having a conference there to iron out some details about the upcoming year in all of their separate areas, so all of the missionary families from this field met up in Kosova. It was amazing to get to be a part of this “family reunion”. They really were very much like a family in every way, and it was great to be there as part of the mixture. Our job was to help Gillian with the kids while they had their meetings.
p.s. I met my very first real Irish person. She was mine and Debi’s roommate, and she’s spending her summer in Kosova working with the church we visited, doing children’s ministry. Her name is Gillian (pronounced Jillian) and she makes everything about life better! I miss her terribly, and we were only there for 3 days. :D :D :D Gillian is from Northern Ireland and has the accent to prove it! Haha it was almost harder to understand her than the Kosovar people we met! And she spoke English! Anyway, she was fantastic.
On Sunday we got up and took a two hour drive to church where we met Imir and his wife. Imir is from Kosova and is the pastor of the Nazarene church in Gjakova, and his wife Jeanette is from Kansas. They met when she came to Italy on a Youth In Mission trip. She visited Kosova during that trip, and a year after that she came back and they fell in love. Now they head up the first and only Nazarene Church in Gjakova! It was a lovely service, and my Micheal-dad preached the sermon!! He did an excellent job. After church we all went out to lunch where I proceeded to have the best chicken sandwich of my life. Unfortunately, as we were trying to leave the restaurant, we had a little accident. In our big church van, we backed into a parked car and did quite a bit of cosmetic damage. It turned out ok though, we just had to pay for the damage. Sunday evening we had dinner and played a big group game, then we watched the kids for a few hours while the adults began their meetings. It was so fun. All in all there were about 5 families there, plus a few individuals. Leaving us with a total of somewhere around 10 kids. Monday was our day to shine! We told Gillian (who had been in charge of the kids for most of the week already) to take a day off, we could handle it. The adults were in meetings all day long and we had the kids from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. It was a blast, although challenging at times. We did crafts, played soccer, hung out in the hotel’s playroom, did more crafts, watched a movie, played freeze tag and capture the flag, and just kept the kids occupied all day long. After lunch was quiet time, and I accidentally took a two hours nap, but it was ok because the kids were mostly calm anyway, and my team took care of the more active ones. Woops! Haha something about driving all over the country (or actually, 4 countries) just wears me out!
Oh, and I MUST mention the view out of my bedroom window. Holy cow. I thought driving through the mountains was wonderful? As I stepped out onto my balcony, I was surrounded by them. I could wake up to that every morning, no doubt. And the sunset I witnessed on Monday night was simply unbelievable. Playing soccer outside, we had to stop for a moment and admire the beautiful panoramic view before us. A song came to mind more than three times a day each day that I was in Kosova, by my favorite artist. One particular line kept repeating itself in my head:
“Today, skies are painted colors of the cowboy cliché. And it’s strange, how clouds that look like mountains in the sky are next to mountains anyway.”
The cold showers I took EVERY morning because of the lack of hot water, were worth it for that view! The hotel was SUPER nice, but I never got up early enough for a hot shower. I was always one of the last, so I had cold ones. But it’s ok. It’s … ya know… refreshing! Haha.
Anyway. Monday night the adults finished their meetings, and though they had been planning on more meetings Tuesday morning, they actually got everything done on Monday, so Tuesday we got up and had breakfast, packed our things, took communion together at 9, and got to start our trip home much earlier than expected! I was very sad to leave Kosova, but here we are on the way home, and I thought I would type this thing now instead of having to do it tomorrow on my one day of rest and laundry before heading out to the villages. I’m sure I left many things out, but it’s just very hard to remember so many amazing things in one sitting. I do know that I’ve been bitten by the travel bug, and now that I have made many friends in the Eastern European area, I have every intention of coming back to visit them again. I left part of my heart in the mountains of Kosova. I know it’s cheesy, but it’s true. What an unbelievable place. God was everywhere in that place. I ask that you pray for each of the missionary families who were there, by name.- they all have a special place in my heart.
-Jay and Tiana and kids
- Doug and Jen and kids
- Jacob, who attended without his wife Tyler
- Roberta
- Dorothy
-Elka and Ilir, and daughter Deborah
-Tamara and Micheal Hudson, and kids.
And a few others I’m sure I’m missing.
These families have dedicated their lives to God in a way that sometimes seems impossible to imagine. To go and live in a foreign country, learn the language there, raise your kids there, be so far away from the family and friends you grew up with, endure all kinds of unusual and many dangerous circumstances, all to share the love of God with people who don’t know Him as their personal savior. Wow. What a heart for God these people have. Keep them especially in your prayers. May God bless their ministries and their families.
Well, we’re almost home, and I’m exhausted. I’m fairly certain you’re tired of reading, as well. I’m pretty sure I won’t have internet for the next two weeks while in the villages, so I’ll be typing up blogs and just saving them, and I’ll post them when I get back. Love you all, thanks for reading!
Noapte Buna!
Goodnight-
Kristen.
P.s. for some reason my blog is not allowing me to post pictures. I'll try to sort this out, but in the meantime, they're all on facebook. :)
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