Black Friday!

This is the second Black Friday in a row where I have had to work, but this one was much more relaxed. Last year, I had to be at Target by 3:15am to work on a cash register for 4 straight hours while crazy shoppers pushed and shoved each other. This year, I gave a test to my 12th graders, listened to some of my 6th graders favorite music, and played “Win-Lose-or-Draw” with my 5th graders! This year was definitely less stressful!

This has been a great week with my classes – having them share some of their favorite things in live, about Romania, or whatever those chose to share. I have heard several students sing songs for the class – some in Romanian and some in English; I have heard poems and stories in Romanian (and then explained in English); and I have listened to students explain their favorite books, movies, or songs. All-in-all, a good week in classes.

And, on top of that, yesterday’s Thanksgiving celebration at my place was a big success . . . everything I attempted to cook turned out well, and all the food brought was excellent! I ended up with 9 friends over last night, and we ate until we could not eat anymore, and then we had dessert. 😉 Afterwards, we played games until after midnight and just enjoyed each others’ company.

Apparently, my fried chicken and pumpkin bread were a big hit, because everyone wanted me to tell them how to cook the chicken and wanted the recipe for the pumpkin bread. Slowly, Timisoara is going to become “Southern”.

Finally, on a different note, I have now been in Romania for my longest stay without leaving the country! However, I am still waiting on my Visa, which means at some point soon, I will have to venture over to Hungary. Also, next Thursday, 12/1, is Romania National Day – my first day off from school this semester! Most of my students do not know more than that they get the day off, because there’s really no celebrations, etc. that go along with it, but – just for you – this day celebrates the unification of Romania in 1918 when Transylvania united with Romania ending the “Great Union”.

Thanksgiving and a Break in the Storm!

As my American friends know, this Thursday is Thanksgiving! Though they do not celebrate it “officially” here in Romania, there are some signs that our holiday is “gaining ground” over here. 🙂 Part of the reason I titled this post as a “Break in the Storm” is because I have been going like a madman since arriving back in August, and I just don’t seem to have time for a lot of the things I would like to do. I haven’t read my own blog in a while, so I’m sure I will repeat myself some during this post, but I have stayed quite busy with all the Romanian “paperwork” that so many of my friends over here complain about . . . things left over from communism that just don’t seem to “make sense” in the modern world.

For example, all the grades for every student is kept in a large paper “catalogue” and you handwrite every students’ grades & absences in that catalogue – and each class has their own catalogue, so I have to fill out 11 different catalogues. On top of the craziness of that, there is only the 1 catalogue for each class (or grade), so every teacher is fighting over the catalogues to make sure they can enter the information by certain deadlines in order to meet the “requirements” of the “system”. We also have to mark all absences on a separate page (along with the catalogue), and write our actual “lesson topics” in yet another book to show we are teaching what we said we would teach – so there is a little duplication (or “checks” built in).

Also, each course that I teach (5 in total) requires me to prepare an argument (or defense) for why the school should offer the course. Then, I have to lay out specific objectives, teaching methods/styles, evaluation methods/styles, and then share examples along with a bibliography (which is extremely difficult to do when you do not have a text book and you are not 100% sure where all of your resources will come from during the year – “The Internet” is not exactly an acceptable source, and specific web pages are required). And, finally, we had to lay out week-by-week exactly what we will do. Of course, that only took me the better part of the first month and a half, while I was also constantly having to plan for the weekly lessons, etc.

Now, imagine trying to figure all this out without any information left by previous native English speaking teachers, and no course information whatsoever in the school. On top of that, a lot of the teachers do not speak English very well, and the ones who do sometimes have difficulty trying to find the right “English” words to represent the Romanian tasks at hand. HOWEVER, as I mentioned, there is finally a break in the storm!

I’m not exactly sure “why” – maybe good planning on my part, or what, but with the week of Thanksgiving on us, I am finding that the last 5 weeks of this semester may be extremely easy for me. All of my grades will be finished this week, and we are examining Thanksgiving on different levels in each of my grades. Finally, to end the semester, some classes have a movie on either a topic we have discussed, or one we will discuss next semester, or we will have light discussions on easy topics to finish out 2011. And, I have to say it is just in time, because we have begun planning the Ski Camp which will take place at the first of January.

This is definitely a plus for me, because the camp is usually held in the middle of February (when I will be in classes teaching), but this year, they decided to do it over the Christmas break when I have 3 weeks off! They are leaning towards a theme of “Life Apps” for the week at camp and relating it to the iPhone, iTouch or iPad. Then, the individual talks would be: iSki, iAm, iGrow, iChange, and iConnect, where basically the 1st night would be an introduction and camp rules, meeting the teams, etc. The 2nd night would be discussing who we are and why we were created/how we fit into a bigger picture than our lives. This would allow group leaders the opportunity to share their testimonies with their groups as well. The 3rd talk would be about how we got to where we are in life, setting goals and how we react to success and failure. The 4th would be kind of a continuation of what they are talking about weekly during the student meetings, but looking at change in light of the “New Year”. The last night would be an opportunity to discuss the discipleship groups within the student ministry and the importance of accountability with other believers.

The students have asked me to speak again this year, and though I am not 100% sure of the exact topic, I will be asked to speak on, I am contemplating speaking in Romanian for some (if not all) of the message. That’s right, on top of all the other meetings, paperwork and school stuff, I am also taking 3 hours of Romanian lessons per week! And, even though my speaking ability is still lacking, I am better able to read and understand sentences in Romania, and even listening to discussions completely in Romanian is getting much easier as well. So, to jump from barely speaking any Romanian to sharing a message completely in Romanian in a little over 5 weeks will be a big step and will require a lot of work and prayer on my part (so you can also be praying for me in this area). Even if I can only manage about half of it, I think it is important to try, so that there is not the potential for a gap in the translation that sometimes exists when using an interpreter.

Getting tired of reading yet? Well, I’ve still got more to say, and since I have had such long breaks between posts, I think you can forgive me for making this one a little longer. 🙂 I will try and keep it quick from here and just wanted to give a brief update on the “Thanksgiving” trend growing here in Romania! There are some other Americans living here in Timisoara, so this holiday is not something the Romanians have not heard of, but it’s one that I have not heard of too many choosing to celebrate it. I was invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with some other Americans, but had already made plans with several of my Romanian friends for this Thursday and had to decline. I have even had an invitation to an all Romanian Thanksgiving celebration – which I sadly had to decline also due to my previous plans.

None of my Romanian friends have ever celebrated Thanksgiving, so they have been asking a lot of questions about it and what kinds of food they need to bring for the meal. And, I have kind of given them a “non-traditional” answer, but one I feel is more representative of the holiday than the traditional foods. I told them that – in my opinion – Thanksgiving was the coming together of 2 different cultures, sharing what they had with each other and celebrating the blessings they had from the previous year. So, in that respect, I have told my Romanian friends they can bring whatever food they like – Romanian or otherwise, and I will fix some American foods. Some of what I plan to fix would be considered “traditional” to the holiday, but that is just because I know they would love to sample some of these kinds of foods.

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am fixing fried chicken! Yes – they have turkey here, but chicken is more abundant (and cheaper), and frying it is a traditional way in the South, so this little substitution is quite acceptable! Then, I am planning on fixing some candied yams (found some good ole USA sweet potatoes in the store, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity), corn pudding, and pumpkin bread. I have heard that one of my friends wants to bring some lasagna and tiramisu, and I am hoping that sarmale and mamaliga might even show up for the feast! Either way, it will be a great time as the 8 to 10 of us pack into my 1 room apartment for an evening of fellowship, games and Thanksgiving!

Well, I guess that probably gets you caught up – especially if you kept reading all the way to the end, but now that my school schedule appears to have lightened up a little, maybe I can be a more regular blogger and keep you posted on the happenings here in Romania!

Take care, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A HUGE Appology . . .

As you can see, I have not been posting on here as much as I should (or would like to). In the past, it has been because I was lazy and just forgot, but recently, every week seems to be slam packed.

The school year started off quickly – not knowing what classes I would be teaching until a couple days before classes started, and since then, things have been a mad dash each week. For any of you who know friends in Romania with businesses, or any dealings with Romania, they will probably tell you there are lots of papers that need to be completed – but none of them can tell you exactly why.

Well, that has been how the school year started for me. I had to write a full course description (week by week) with everything we would do, then I had to develop an argument for the course (it is an optional course, so it needs to show a benefit for the students), and create objectives, develop strategies for teaching and evaluating students. And, all this was being done while no one seemed to be able to explain what we needed to do. In the meantime, I was also having to prepare lessons for classes each week and keep on top of grading assignments.

Generally, the week to week stuff should not be too bad, and fortunately, all of that paperwork has been completed, so now I can focus specifically on the classes. Last week, I would have liked to taken the weekend to move forward with my planning, but there was a teacher’s conference in town that I had to attend as part of the organization we are working with from England.

However, now that all of that is behind me, I am hoping to finish this semester strong (we are already half-way through!), and I have 3 weeks after Christmas to get a head start on next semester, so I look to be more prepared for the Spring.

On a positive note, most of the students seem to be enjoying the classes and the discussions, though I do have 1 or 2 younger groups where most of the students do not speak English, so that always presents a challenge and leaves an opening for them to want to misbehave. But, we are working through that, and hopefully, as my Romanian lessons continue to advance, I hope to be able to understand more and can possibly help these students a little more with their understanding of the English language.

Other than that, church is going well, and activity with the student ministry is picking up (getting ready to go to a meeting tonight – in just a few minutes), and there appears to be a new focus this year and more interest from newer students just coming to the university for the first time. So, things seem to be going well on all fronts.

Today, I even went to the police/immigration office where we turned in all my paperwork for my visa and had my photo taken for it as well. Now, I think I just have to wait a month until everything is done and I will be “official”.

Well, hopefully, sometime within this next week or two, I will have a couple more minutes to sit down and give a better update on how things are going here, but I did at least want to send out a quick post while I had a couple minutes.

A Busy Week!

Well, I had hope to send out an update a little sooner than this, but I just got the internet connected at my apartment last night, so we’re just going with the flow.

I arrived in Timisoara last Tuesday without any flight issues, and without any lost luggage. It was a long journey as usual, and I did have one of my bags searched upon going through customs here in Timisoara (always brings back fond memories of our first trip back in 2006), but they only wanted to check 1 bag – which was the one filled with my clothes and not all the little gifts for my Romanian friends. 🙂 Sami was at the airport to pick me up and take me back to his place where Laura had a hearty supper cooked and waiting for our arrival. Since my apartment was not ready right away, I spent the first couple of nights at Sami & Laura’s and got caught up on how things had been going in the 4 months since I last saw them. I really did not have much to do the first couple of days in town except to catch up on some rest from the travel, but I did get a chance to play a little ping pong and see a few more friends before they headed out of town for the week.

When I originally planned to stay with Sami & Laura, their weekend was free – no weddings for Laura to worry about; however, on Wednesday evening, Laura found out that another company here in Timisoara was overbooked with weddings and had asked her to do 7 of them (that’s right – I said 7). So, Laura called in all her helpers and worked almost around the clock Thursday afternoon through Sunday morning getting all the arrangements done. There was not much for Sami & I to do – except stay out of the way and keep putting water in all the buckets so the flowers would stay fresh, so we tried our best to be helpful without getting in the way. I even got recruited to cut stems and de-thorn roses from time-to-time, but it was not so bad. Sami & I also took care of all the cooking for the ladies and kept the dishes and house clean so Laura wouldn’t have to worry about that, and none of the girls would have to stop working on the flowers except to eat & take quick naps. On Saturday afternoon, I even had a chance to help Sami decorate one of the orthodox cathedrals for a wedding . . . which at this time of the year, I would probably equate it to a Vegas wedding – each wedding party has 30 minutes, so as soon as 1 wedding is over, their decorator is taking down their flowers, while the other is setting up for the next wedding. So, Sami & I got to rush in after 1 bride left, roll out the red carpet for our wedding, and place 2 stands with flowers on them next to the altar. Then, we had 30 minutes to wait until the wedding was over – at which time, we rushed back into the church, rolled up the red carpet and grabbed the flowers we had set up so that we could take it all to the reception location. It really was not much work, but we had to work fast and make sure everything looked nice so the bride would be happy 😉

During all this time, I was also able to make it to the school to meet some of the faculty I will be working with this year, and even got in to my apartment last Thursday. Of course, with all the wedding stuff, I only had enough time to drop my bags off, but the first couple of days at school were no longer than about 20 to 30 minutes, so it really was not stressful at all. Of course, when I would get back to my place after helping Sami & Laura out with the weddings, I needed to begin unpacking and getting things arranged in my new place. Some nights, that meant I was up until 4am (getting up at 7am), but I knew I had a trip to Bucharest coming up, and I would have 8+ hours where I could sleep on the train. After a couple of day more of working in my place, I finally feel that it is “clean enough” to snap a couple photos (see at the end of this post). I still have some things to finish cleaning, but the major stuff is done!

As I mentioned, we had a weekend trip to Bucharest for an orientation with SOL (Sharing One Language), the organization based in England that helped place 6 of us teachers here within Romania this year. We are actually hired by the school system here in Romania, and SOL is like the recruiter, but we still had to attend the meeting in Bucharest. 😉 We all arrived in Bucharest Sunday evening for our day-long meeting on Monday, but due to an illness with someone who was supposed to put a couple of us up for the night, 2 of us were left needing to find someplace to stay last-minute. Fortunately, I know some people with the student ministry in Bucharest, so I called one of them up and was able to stay with him and his family that evening. The funny thing was that one of the other teachers from Bucharest also knew my friend and his wife, so we had a chance to talk a little bit about how we knew each other. This year, there are 6 teachers placed in Romania with SOL, and 3 of us have come over to work with local churches within the cities where our schools are located – Timisoara, Cluj, and Bucharest. The three of us had some time to chat over supper Monday evening, but I am sure we will have more time over the upcoming months to share prayer requests, etc.

As I mentioned to some of you, my apartment is truly an answer to prayers.  I was expecting something about half the size of my place, and with some walking to do in order to get to the squares, etc.; however, that is not the case, and it was more than I could have ever hoped for!  Now, at our meeting in Bucharest with all the other teacher from SOL, I found out that they all do have the small “efficiency” style apartment that I was expecting, so I am the only one in the group with such a nice place and so close to everything.  It was definitely a gift from God!

I would have liked to have known my schedule by this point too so I could share that with you all, but at least I know what classes I will be teaching this year. It is actually a wide range of things, and when you look at it all, it might seem a bit complex, but the simple truth is that I have basically 5 lessons per week to plan, and I will just have to repeat the same lesson a couple times per week so that it covers all the classes. For example, I have six 5th grade classes all titled “Stories”. In here, we will be addressing listening and reading skills along with vocabulary lessons based on age appropriate books for this age level. I will also have six classes of 6th graders, where we will be covering “Life in the US”. From there, I jump up to high school students and have two classes of 9th graders for “Creative Writing”; four classes of 10th graders for “Human Rights”; and finally two classes of 12th graders for “American Studies”. The hardest thing will be creating the curriculum for all these classes since there is no text and no pre-set course work laid out for us. Thankfully, I only see each class 1 time per week, so I should have sufficient time to keep ahead of the classes and make sure we get everything covered sufficiently and in a timely manner.

Well, I think this has been a long enough update, so I’ll go ahead and stop for now, but before I go, I did want to share some photos of my place and the surrounding area. I hope y’all enjoy!

The Journey Begins

It is 11:05am here in Munich (5:05am on the East Coast), and I thought I would just take a few minutes to jot down some notes about the journey so far. Of course, I will not be able to post this until I can hope on the internet later this evening, but I have about 4 hours to kill while waiting for my next flight to Timisoara. 🙂

As with all of my international travels lately, this one started off with potential flight issues! In the past, I have had snow, ticket & route changes, but this time, it was Hurricane Irene. The whole week leading up to my departure, you could see this storm heading directly for the East Coast and zeroing in on my departure airports in VA and NJ. Fortunately, through a lot of prayer from myself, family, and friends, the airports re-opened on Monday (just in time for my flights), and my flights had no delays to make note of (a 10 minute delay in VA was made up before we even landed in NJ). Even with 2 days of closed airports and cancelled flights leading up to my departure, the airports were relatively calm, and the flights (though packed) did not seem to suffer from the previous days’ storm – definitely an answer to prayers.

The flight from VA to NJ was barely even long enough to consider it a flight . . . we took off, had a quick beverage, and then descended into NJ. The skies over VA were cloudy, so we could not see if the hurricane had caused any damage (though the ride to the airport in VA did have some downed trees – well off the road, but laying on power lines – as well as some power outages affecting some signal lights). Our descent into NJ provided me the best view of New York I have ever had from the air, and with the clear skies there, I could see the entire city skyline. We were still too far away and not at a great angle to see if any damage had been done to the city, but we were able to see a lot of water on the ground in NJ as we neared the airport.

One thing I like about Lufthansa is that they fly FAST! The last 3 or 4 times I have flown them into Germany, we have arrived an hour ahead of schedule. The only bad thing about that is that (as I said before) it is a little after 5am on the East Coast, and I have over 4 hours to kill before I fly out for Romania. Fortunately, we arrived in the same terminal and gate area as my departure, so I will not have to go through security or passport control. Unfortunately, there is not much to do in this terminal, but I did exchange a few Dollars into Euros and bought an enormous cappuccino that should help me stay awake until I get moving around again. 😀 Now, let’s just hope this quiet corner I have found to type up this note does not make me loose all that energy!

Well, I guess that should get you all up to speed on where I am so far with the travels, so now a little bit about the next couple of days. This will be the first time that I have gone to Romania on my own and not as a part of a trip through NP, so it will definitely be a little different . . . the first thing I noticed this morning was that I did not have to keep the receipt for the cappuccino I bought (which was around $10 – I told you it was a big one . . . I’ll post a picture when I can). The second difference is that I will not be staying at Vox during my time in Romania; my first couple of nights, I will be visiting with Sami & Laura until I can get into the apartment provided by the school. Which brings me to the third difference – I will be working this time around and finding ways to volunteer at Vox with the student ministry, the church, and any other area where there may be a need. One of the things I learned on my 2 previous 3 month trips is that almost everyone is occupied for the mornings and early into the afternoon . . . even some of the pastors work a job and split their time between work and the church. Students are obviously in class, so I was finding that I had a lot of time during the mornings where I was waiting around for people to be free for a meeting or just to get together, so the job will definitely help take up some of that “empty” time.

There are also some other benefits to working while I am in Romania . . . I will have a better chance to learn the language, Visa and Residency Permits will not be difficult to obtain, I will be provided an apartment during my stay along with a salary that – though annually, much less than I used to make in 1 month – will be sufficient to take care of my living expenses. Even working in a local high school will allow me similar vacations to the students, so that I can continue to help out with camps and retreats, and will open doors up to other students who may not yet have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I know this may seem strange to some that I am going to “work” a normal job while also serving at the church and with the student ministry, but a little over 2 years ago when I began praying about being in Romania long-term, my devotions lead me to the life of Paul where he worked in his trade (tent-making) everywhere he went while he also shared the gospel with those around him. As a result, I began to look into the different opportunities there might be for me to work in Romania while serving. I even continued to search for other organizations that were working in Romania; however, most were either well staffed, or were beginning to move their staff to other countries. In preparation for spending time serving overseas, I took the course “Perspectives On The World Christian Movement”, and again they brought up the “tent-makers” of today and how the new age of workers were taking their skills and working in foreign countries while serving local ministries, so I stepped up my search for employment as a teacher in Romania. Years ago, when I decided to transfer from UVA to earn a teaching degree at Southeastern, I had no idea how that would ever be put into use, but I simply trusted God each step of the way and tried to be obedient to where I felt Him leading me.

I am sure that difficulties will arise, and I will have some adjustments to make living in a different culture and with a salary less than I am used to, but I know that God has always been faithful when I have honored Him and followed the path He has laid before me, so I know that He will continue to be my daily strength.

Thank you for all your prayers thus far, and I look forward to future updates where I can share more specifically what God is doing in Romania!

10 Days to GO!

Well, it is hard to believe it, but after waiting a little more than 2 years, I will finally be leaving in about 10 days to live and work in Timisoara. A lot has gone on over these past couple of years, but through it all, God has continued to provide exactly what I needed when I needed it, and I cannot wait to see what He has in store for this year!

I still do not have a lot of the details about the job, where I will be living, or anything else that, 2 years ago would have concerned me, but I have learned to trust that everything will come in God’s timing. So patience is definitely something that has been growing in me these past couple of years; however, now that the departure is just a little over a week away, I WANT TO GET GOING!

Please be praying that all the “details” will be taken care of, and that the transition to living in Romania will go smoothly. I know I have several friends over there, so I am sure it will not even feel like I have left.

I am not sure how frequently I will be able to update the blog the first several weeks over there, but I hope to be able to do so enough to keep you all up to date, and maybe they will come more frequently once I get settled into a routine.

Intimacy with God

What does that mean to you, and how would you explain this to someone else?

Well, that is what I have been thinking about lately, and I’m trying to put my thoughts and feelings into words that I can easily express to the students here in Timisoara. It’s not as easy as it sounds, because everyone has their own way of connecting with God, and even 2 people with very similar “styles” of worship and drawing closer to God can be completely different when it comes down to their own intimacy with God. A couple years back, Andy Stanley did a series at church called “You’ve Got Style” addressing the different ways people draw closer to God, and as I think more on this subject and how to prepare for discussions on the topic, I decided to look back into this a little and see some of the areas Andy focused on.

Back when the series was done, they had an on-line survey everyone could take to see what their style was, and fortunately, this is still on-line, so I decided to re-take this survey so that I can see what my “style” is (since I forgot), and also see how I can best explain this to my friends in another culture. If you’re interested in checking this out for yourself, here is the link to the survey: http://common.northpoint.org/sacredpathway.html. Just so you know, my styles are: 1. Caregiver – draws near to God through caring for and serving others, and 2. Naturalist – draws near to God through nature.

As I said before, intimacy with God is a very personal thing for each of us, and how we relate to God involves a lot of personal factors that could either hinder or help us as we draw closer to Him. However, some of the areas I have started to focus on as I try and hone in on what I want to discuss are:

· The dictionary describes intimacy as: “a close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving personal relationship with another person or group.”

· God initiated the intimacy with us throughout creation and by sending His son Jesus to die for our sins showing His love for us.

· Drawing closer to God should be similar to drawing closer to others. If there is someone you want to get to know better, you do things to get to know them better – you talk to them and you spend time with them, and the more you do, the more intimate your relationship becomes.

I know that just as there are things in each of our lives that affect our thoughts on the subject of “Intimacy with God”, there are also probably culturally some things that may be different with my friends in Romania, so I ask that you all be praying that God will direct my thoughts as I prepare for opportunities to share what God has placed on my heart.

In closing, I just wanted to share with you a little excerpt from a recent post on Facebook by one of my cousins who was sharing about his prayer time.

“When I got to the point where my mind began to wander, I made a concentrated effort to focus on what God was placing on my heart. When I did, I began to feel that ‘heart connection’ with God. God was reminding me that He doesn’t speak English. He is not moved by the depth and eloquence of our words. God hears the language of our hearts. It is the Holy Spirit who allows us to feel what the Father feels, and see what the Father sees.”

“When we allow Him (the Holy Spirit) to be our means of communication, our heart is fully expressed. It’s not a matter of mindlessly letting our vocal chords vibrate, while we put our minds on cruise control (which I am too often guilty of). It is a matter of letting His thoughts become our thoughts, and allowing the Holy Spirit to communicate our heart to His, and His to ours.”

I pray that this week, you would think about where you are with your own intimacy with God, and how you can continue to draw closer to Him.

Keep Recognizing Jesus

“. . . Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . .” Matthew 14:29-30

The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.

We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “. . . why did you doubt?” ( Matthew 14:31 ). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.

If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.

from ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ by Oswald Chambers (June 18)

“Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.” Psalm 31:3 (NIV)

Of the first 10 days in April, 8 of them have been spent outside of Timisoara either visiting another student ministry in Craiova, or – as is the case for this past weekend – spending it with the leadership of all the student ministries for OSCER at a retreat in Azuga. This past weekend was an unexpected surprise for me, as was mentioned in my last post, but one I was definitely excited to be a part of. It was a great weekend of reconnecting with leaders from other cities, praying for each other’s needs on a personal and ministry level, and it was a great opportunity to hear what God has been doing in Romania through this ministry over the past couple of years. Time was spent in training & planning as God challenged each of us in our areas of ministry.

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)

It’s Been a While . . .

A lot of things have happened since my birthday week, and I just realized that I have not updated the blog since then. So, here goes a brief summary . . .

With my long term goal being to spend an extended period of time over here in Timisoara, I have begun a job search at different language schools within the city – as well as one of the local high schools. Only one center is currently hiring (though the process is still fairly lengthy), but I figured it is best to go ahead and send out my resume and set up possible meetings with the different directors so that when a position does open up, they will at least know who I am and have my information already in hand. Last Tuesday, the 29th of March, I had an interview with one of the language centers here in Timisoara – the one that is currently hiring. They have 4 positions for different languages (I think only 1 is for English), but over 300 applicants. I am not sure not to really evaluate the interview since it was my first in Romania, but I feel that it went well and would be a good opportunity – should an offer be made. From what it sounds like, they are searching for teachers to begin sometime either at the end of May or first of June, so if that is the case and I get offered a position, then my return to the States would be a quick one. Another opportunity (with the local high school that teaches all courses in English) may be available for September, but, again, I would not know more about that until probably the end of April. It sounds like they are considering adding another teacher for next year, but they do not usually finalize those plans until after Easter. If this opportunity is open to me, then my stay in the States would be a couple months longer. Either way, I am continuing to pray that God would continue to direct my steps and lead me to the opportunity over here that He has for me, and I ask that you continue to pray for me in this area.

This past weekend, I was also able to visit some friends, Razvan and Oana, who live in a different city here in Romania – Craiova. I met them in 2009 when I went to the OSCER leadership week in Bulgaria, and they have traveled to Atlanta a couple times since then due to Razvan’s work. Every time I have come to Romania since 2009, they have asked that I try and make a visit to their city as well, so I can visit the college ministry and church in that city. Usually, I am only here for a week and just enough time for a camp, but this time, I was able to manage a few days to travel out to see them and spend time with the students in Craiova. It was definitely an interesting trip, as I made the journey by myself, and got to experience the wonderful countryside of Romania by train. Of course, it was a 6am train out of Timisoara, and I had to walk 40 minutes from the church to the train station, but it was still a fun experience getting to Craiova. While there, I was able to reconnect with my old friends and make some new ones, and I was also able to be a part of a couple different worship services – the one for college students on Friday night, and the regular church meeting on Sunday morning. I was exhausted when I returned to Timisoara yesterday, but it was definitely a blessing to be able to take the time to see what God is doing in a different city here in Romania!

Today, I received an e-mail inviting me to a weekend conference in Azuga, Romania (a small town in the eastern part of the country near Brasov) where the national student ministry, OSCER, will be having a time of training and planning. I do not know much of the details about this coming weekend yet, but that does seem to be the norm over here . . . you find out what you need to know when you need to know it. Either way, I am definitely looking forward to spending time with the college leadership from all over Romania and hearing how things have been going in their cities since we last met in 2009.