What a Week

Greetings from Romania!

The past week has been a bit of a whirlwind. The team went out to visit one of the gypsy villages, we went to a pentecostal church where Matt and Amy got to share, we bought a car and we have been exploring Oradea and figuring out where and how to buy groceries (it's hard to buy food in another language so most of the time we're just guessing and hoping for the best). We are hoping to start taking language lessons 4 times a week soon which will help A LOT. The team will be going out the gypsy village again tomorrow and we are planning several outreaches for the week so this week should be pretty exciting! (we still don't have internet. We have an internet stick that gets passed around between the 6 of us to use. Once we get it in the house it will be easier to post pictures & update more regularly. We are learning that everything is a lot slower than we are used too...well except for drivers on the road ha ha.)

Acclimating has been a pretty fun experience and fortunately Kylie has been handling it really well. It was a little rough the first couple of days when I was jet lagged and she wanted to play at 1 in the morning but we are starting to get back on a schedule which is nice for us and for her. Plus she's back to sleeping through the night (well as of last night at least.) But each night has been getting better and better. We've also starting feeding her oat cereals which she loves and I'm pretty sure she's going to start crawling soon.

You know, I would just like to say that for all of you out there who read this and might think that you could never be a missionary or don't "feel" called...don't worry, I didn't either. I never saw myself living in Romania that's for sure. All I know is, the Lord invited me to join Him in His work and experience Him in a way I never had before. Because I love Him I couldn't say no. It certainly wasn't my first choice and honestly it's been hard. I've just gotten to a place of being willing to accept that things in life are hard and I'm willing to struggle through it. I have days when I wake up and really want to be back "home" in San Diego and it's hard not being there but we are each created to know and experience our creator...the lover of our souls. There is no life outside of Jesus Christ. Knowing Him IS life. So if that means I have to slap a label on my back says "missionary" then so be it. But I challenge you to really ask yourself, are you truly experiencing the fullness of Christ in your life? Are you willing for Him to take you to a foreign country even if you don't "feel called." Society says follow your heart...Christ says to lead your heart by following Him. It's not easy and sometimes you don't want to but I'm sure Christ didn't want to necessarily die on the cross...but He did, and that's what love does. It lays down its life for its friends...

So our Romanian adventure has begun...this should be interesting.

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Mark 10:45