The Journey Begins!!!!

After 4 airports, 3 planes, and a total of 13.5 hours in flight,
I AM IN ROMANIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
So much to tell, so little time. but I write just like I talk. Sorry! haha...:

Buna, cefati? (boo-nuh, che-fahts? Hello, how are you?)
We left El Paso and flew to Chicago, where we had a two hour layover. However our flight out of El Paso was postponed for an hour, so we got to Chicago with one hour to recheck in, go through security again, and get on our next plane. We had been told that since we were traveling internationally, we were allowed to check two bags for free. We did not have have to pay at American Airlines and were told that our bags were cleared all the way to Bucharest, but in Chicago when we switched to British Airlines, the story changed...

The man at the counter kindly told me that it would be $60 extra dollars for my second bag. *gasp* Three out of the four of us had two bags, and it was to be $60 a piece! That is $180 of our ministry money! As I (also kindly) tried to straighten this obvious mistake out with the man (who was new, and had no knowledge and no authority, lol just our luck!), my team is constantly checking their watches and we have less and less time to get through security and onto our flight. So we end up paying it, but believe me I will be calling back and getting our refunds. :) In a very kind and mild-mannered way. lol. So we run through the airport at BARELY catch our flight. But catch it we did, and then we crossed the Atlantic and landed in London!!!!

As you can imagine, I was ridiculously excited when ALL of our flight attendants had such perfectly beautiful British accents!!!! lol it really made my day. I could have listened to them talk for hours!

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and we made our next connection no problem, then arrived in Bucharest at 4:15 p.m. their time, on Tuesday- for those of you at home (AR and OK) that would be 8:15 a.m. Tuesday.

Exhausted and hungry, we met Michael Hudson (our Missionary) and loaded up the car to drive to his home. His wife Tamara, is out of town right now but will be joining us on June 12th. They have three lovely girls, Julia (14), Emily (12), and Elena (8).

May I just interject here, that today was the most I have ever feared for my life. Romanian drivers are insane. I was terrified, and honestly a little nauseous by the time we got home. It's like there are no rules, and the "4 second rule" is actually the "4 centimeter rule"! People drive in all the lanes, they don't seem to know what blinkers are, it's normal to cut people off dangerously close, pull U-turns whenever you want, and drive on the tram tracks. Which I found out today is illegal, but never gets punished. lol I thought I was going to die. haha! It was fun, but it's one thing I hope I'll just get used to.

And my first Romanian meal was... (drum roll, please!!)....: Pizza!! haha he ordered pizza for us. Just like home, and very "delicios!" (delicious! :D) haha that's an easy word- the rest are not the same. We had a short meeting, which I fell asleep during (haha) and then we were dropped off at our host family's houses. Since Tamara is not home, we are staying with other families from the church. Rachel stayed with Don and Anishoara (Anny-shwara), Bailey stayed with Carmen and Cornell, and Debi and I stayed with the Pastor-and-wife's Mother (Nana :) lol) in her apartment. So Nana is in her bedroom, and Debi and I have the couches in the living room. Cristi and Monica (pastor and wife) live in the apartment across the street. I fell asleep before I hit my pillow, and slept all night.

Wednesday, we got up and met at the church at ten. Our hosts are unbelievable hospitable, with all kinds of food laid out for us for breakfast. None of it Romanian, however! We then drove to the Hudson's house and had a meeting about our schedule for the summer, went over our VBS materials, and just spend time relaxing and did laundry while we ate lunch. After the meeting, the four of us went on an outing with Julia and Elena. We learned how to ride the tram, went to the mall, and had McDonald's for a light pre-dinner (because we don't eat dinner till around 8 ish. tonight it was actually 9:30) At 6 ish, we went to a prayer meeting. We had a short time with both the men and women, and then we split. The women shared prayer requests and then prayed for each other in a circle, and it was wonderful. It was mostly in English because surprisingly, several of the people there speak a lot of English quite well! We had a powerful prayer time and then hung out afterwards, just visiting.

Next we split up and went back to our host families. Debi and I went to Monica and Cristi's house, and had our first legitimately Romanian meal! It was fantastic! I'll upload a few pictures soon. We had corba (pronounced Chorba), a PINK vegetable soup that was absolutely delicious! And then Musaca (moo-sa-ka), which is a layer of baked potatoes, a layer of ground beef plus lots of other yummy things, and then another layer of baked potatoes! YUM!! we finished up with desert, ice cream! It was the best ice cream ever, and we also had SORBET!!! I LOVE sorbet. MMM it was wonderful. We did a lot of talking with Cristi and Monica, and they are phenomenal people, with phenomenal stories. Amazing. I'll try to share some of that later.

For those of you who made it this far, I appreciate your ability to read my long-windedness. :) I have some prayer requests for you please:

Pray for Irena. She is pregnant but has very little amniotic fluid, and the circumstances are building for a miscarriage. Also, the doctors here do not believe that an unborn fetus is a child yet, so they are all pressuring her for an abortion. It is a very dangerous situation for her but she will not be the one to end the baby's life. Praise Him for His faithfulness in even the toughest times. The baby's heart is still beating, and I believe in miracles. We know God works for the good, even in the worst of situations. Keep her and the baby, and her family in your prayers.

Carmen's oldest daughter does not know Jesus, and neither do her parent's.

Pray for the church here, and the pastor and his family.

Pray for our ministry in these months, that we will be God's vessels, and as we work, people will not see us, but that they will see God through us. That we will be examples of His perfect love for His people.
Amin! (Amen!)

Tomorrow we head to Bulgaria for the weekend, I'll be back in Bucharest (and back to the internet) on Monday afternoon. Have a wonderful weekend- Pace! (pah-chey, peace).

Sunt fourte bine, dar obo sita! (I am very well but I am tired)
Multumesc, se noapte buna! (Thank you, and goodnight!)
by the way, none of these words sound like they are spelled. :)

Love you all. Pray for us as we begin this amazing summer.

Kristen :)