Sunday July 10 2011

Hello Eveybody. The temperature high today was I think 40, which is nothing compared to yesterday. Yesterday it was 45 or something like that.

Yesterday was Sunday and it was a loaded day. We were up and ready to go by 8:00 for church at 9 a.m in another town. Our transportation was delayed because the vehicle had some machanical problems but we got to church at 9:30. The church building was quite small compared to Crossroads, it was even slightly smaller then the chapel, probably more like the size of the former chapel before te renovations. Anyways there were wooden benches to sit on. Women and men sit on seperate sides. The church service is 3 hours long (2 and a half hours for us because we were late). The men had to wear pants and a t-shirt. (remember its 45 degrees outside) and the women had to wear a shirt with sleeves that were at least to our elbows as well as a skirt that was below the knee or lower. The women also all had to wear a head covering which consisted of a scarf that was wrapped around the head and looked like we were all wearing nice headbands. We were all very hot and sweaty. Also the women were not allowed to wear flip flops to church because in the Romanian culture, flip flops are seen as bedroom slippers. Therefore we had to wear flats. In the service various men got up to preach. One man would preach and then he would sit down. Following his message was prayer. In this culture all of the people pray out loud at the same time, which is really cool to listen to, even if you really have no idea what they are saying. We were invite to sing worship songs. We sang Mighty to Save in Romanian and Blessed Be The Name in English. The people were really honored that we learned a Romanian song for them. Jordan was also invited to preach and he did a wonderful job. After Jordan preached the church's pastor further elaborated on Jordan's message and said how insightful it was. Jen Shewchuk also shared her testimony before Jordan spoke. She was very courageous getting up in front of all of the people and did an excellent job speaking out.

After the service we were all so hot covered in sweat so Jordan asked the driver if we could stop for ice cream. The ice cream was very delicous. I had a popsicle because I'm lactose intolerant and it was the best popsicle I've ever had. We were all very thankful for the ice cream.

Once we got back to Mamaia, we had some lunch and got ready for the Baptism that was taking place in the village. At the Baptism three people were baptized and they announced that they were having a bonfire to celebrate. This is the first bonfire that the village has ever had, so that was a very special event to occur.

Following the baptism, we went back to John and Cheryll's to have supper and get ready for the Mamaia church service that was occuring for 2 hours in the evening. The Mamaia church service ran similiar to the other church service. The main difference was the worship. The men were leading and this one man had the loudest voice I have ever heard in my life and it just boomed throughout the small building. The building was even smaller then the other church building. The worship was really awesome though because the people just sing with a lot of soul and volume, which was awesome to sit and listen to. We also performed the same worship songs and Jordan preached again.

Following the church service was the Bonfire. As it was the first Bonfire that has ever gone on in the village, the people and especially the children were very excited. We had many children following us back to John and Cheryll's and at John adn Cheryll's there were many people waiting to see us. Once everyone was safely inside the fence we decided that it was best not to go to the Bonfire because the people were so roudy. The children are also more roudy then they were at teh beginning because they are more confortable with us. We have been here for almost a week now, spending every single day with them and they are overstepping some boundaries and seeing what tricks they can get away with. We could really use a lot of prayer for wisdom on how to handle the misbehaving children as well as discernment for what is simply bad behaviour and what is Satan trying to discourage our team. We really love these children and these people. The goodworks that God is doing through us is so evident and continued prayer is greatly appreciated.

John told us that at the Bonfire, three more people were baptized as well as many children were crying because of the sin in their lives. These children are not taught to say sorry and are not taught manners really so its incredible and entirely Jesus working in their hearts and that it just really awesome.

So that was Sunday in a nutshell. -Amy Nicks