Hey all! Sorry it's been awhile since I lasted posted anything, but school has been crazy. It's my last quarter but it's proving to be just as busy as all of the others.

The autumn season, with the changing colors and cool, crisp weather always marks the beginning of a new football year for my family. We watch every game, following the scores and stats. Sports have always been important in my family and we all enjoy a little healthy, fun competition. The other day, I was thinking about how much of our own lives resemble sports games. We get out there on the field as players, psyched and ready to play, but we only see a small portion of everything that is going on. God, as the head coach, is the only one that really understands and sees every aspect of the game. He knows the strategy…He came up with it! He knows every player, their strengths and weaknesses.

Isn’t it funny how God always seems to pull you out of the game when it finally feels like you’ve got everything under control? He often pulls me out of the “action” and forces me to sit on the sidelines and observe. This is not my favorite position and I grumble all the way to the bench. But He always teaches me the most amazing things when I am forced to slow down and contemplate. When I am listening to Him, watching what He is doing, I always seem to learn more than I do out on the field.

This summer, at the children’s camp in Marga, I was put in just such a situation with my Bible Buddy. You see, my Bible Buddy was Cristina of Casa lui Steven. Cristina is a very special girl and I have loved watching her grow in the love of Jesus and her new family. I remember when I first met Cristina four years ago. She was very little and wore big glasses. Her eyes were crossed, but she had the biggest, brightest smile. She was very affectionate from the beginning and would run to anyone, even a total stranger, and jump right into their arms. Now she demonstrates more restraint and even shyness because now she receives human love and affection from the best possible source: her own family.

At Marga, every adult was assigned to one child for the duration of the camp. Every day, in the afternoon, two hours were set aside for Bible Buddies. This is a special time for an adult to spend one-on-one time with a child, building a special bond. Activities would range from swimming to riding bicycles, to hiking into the nearby village for ice cream and soda. Well, on my first day with Cristina, I realized that our time would be special indeed.

On our first afternoon together, we spent a very relaxing afternoon walking around the camp and talking. I say talking and not conversing because we would only understand each other about 25% of the time. She would blurt out something in Romanian and I would try to respond, stumbling along in as much Romanian as I could muster. This language barrier would prove to be both a challenge and a blessing as I learned to communicate with Cristina in other ways, sometimes through song and sometimes just through silence and enjoying each other’s company.

I thought the first afternoon would be rather quiet and relaxing. Man, was I wrong! It turned out to be very amusing as Cristina found great joy and entertainment from throwing rocks into the stream near the camp. Well, the rocks started out as small pebbles, making tiny splashes and ripples in the stream. But as time went by, the pebbles got bigger and bigger, and before I knew it Cristina was digging up large rocks and heaving them with all of her strength (and body weight…I often had to physically restrain her from tumbling down the river bank into the water right along with the rock she was trying to throw).

I also remember one specific afternoon when we sat and watched some of the other kids with their Bible Buddies. They were swimming and riding bicycles, and I was little frustrated that I couldn’t do the same kinds of activities with my Bible Buddy because Cristina was not allowed to swim, or have ice cream, or soda, etc., etc. Well, through this experience, the Lord taught me some wonderful things. First, He showed me what a wonderful, talented, and smart little girl Cristina really is! It takes her a little longer to learn new things and she can be quite stubborn when she knows what she wants, but she is also very affectionate, loving, and is always quick to share (especially with her brother Marian).

On another day, Cristina and I went for a walk. At first she wanted to know where we were going and I told her we were just walking for fun. Well along the way, Cristina started singing Christmas carols in Romanian...in the middle of July!!!

Well, I was game for this so I jumped in and started singing in English. So away we walked singing "Silent Night" in two different languages! Then I switched and started singing the English worship songs we had been teaching them in VBS. Well, this was funny because we sorta sang together. I sang the entire song...verses and chorus...and Cristina would chime in at the very end for the best part...when you would pump both elbows into your sides at the same time while loudly grunting, "huh".

God loves Cristina and He has a special plan for her. He has given her a family who lovingly accept her as she is and patiently encourage her to try new things and think before she acts. Gabi and Dorel have patiently worked with her.

Showing us how far she has come, one night we were playing UNO Attack...you know, the one where the machine spits the cards out at you. Well Cristina sat on Laurie's lap for a long time and knew when to put down a red card or a card with a 7 on it. For anyone who has spent time with Cristina, this was truly a miracle! Pam and I stood back in complete amazement, realizing that a year ago Cristina would have just screamed and thrown the Attack machine across the room.

Thank you so much Lord for Roni, Rodi, Visu, Anelory, Dorel, and Gabi (the Global Hope house parents); and for all of the house helpers! Thank you for their obedience and their loving hearts. Please continue to bless them and their families!


Cristina, my Bible Buddy!

So here's another story from summers in Romania. This is an old blog that I posted on MySpace...this is from last summer...

This one takes place in a cave (I'm kinda claustrophobic and a little scared of the dark so I don't really care for caves, but I went in anyway). Exploring Romanian caves is more like a spelunking (I don't think I spelled that right) adventure. We had to climb through trees and bushes down this hill. There really was no trail. This old Romanian man with no teeth was our guide. He was really nice, but it was funny to see him smile. Anyway, we slipped and slid down the hill to the mouth of this cave.

It was not lit and there were no clear paths. In fact we all had to pair together and carry flashlights. I don't know how this stuff always happens to me, but I was paired with Mircea Litean. Those of you who know Mircea can start laughing now. For those of you who don't, let me explain.

Mircea is one of the ten kids who live at Casa Noua (the new house). He is ten years old with blonde hair and big glasses.

He also only has one volume: LOUD! He doesn't have an inside voice. He is very funny (if you understand what he's saying, but he doesn't like people laughing at him). He's also very energetic and a little mischievious. Finally, he is also very clumsy.

SO...I was paired with Mircea and we happened to be the one team without a flashlight. Now this cave was dark...like pitch-black in some places. So I was blindly trying to make my way through this cave with a walking disaster gripping my hand.

One part of the cave was dimly lit by natural light from the ceiling of the cave. I could kinda see a large log. So I tried to guide Mircea over it. Then as he hopped over the log, I heard him exclaim, "Yuck!!!). I had no idea what this was about but I suddenly felt myself pulled to the side as Mircea tried to avoid a large, deep puddle of mud. He managed to escape unharmed, but I found myself knee deep in a mud puddle.

I could barely see anything, but I suddenly felt water wash over my shoes and up my legs (I was wearing jeans at the time). I turned to Mircea and said, "Multumesc (Thank you), Mircea," because in avoiding the puddle, he managed to drag me through it. He just laughed and said he was sorry.

When we finally emerged from the cave, I got a good look at myself. My shoes and jeans were a nice shade of brown and were caked with wet mud. My tennis shoes are still stained with mud and I just laugh whenever people ask me how I got them so dirty...but I couldn't stay mad at Mircea. That is impossible!

The VBS program was called Serengetti Trek. Apparently there is no word in Romanian for serengetti...translating this proved to be a challenge. The program focused on 5 things: Know God, Talk to God, Work for God, Tell About God, and Love God. We had crafts, games, snacks, and Bible stories. We broke the kids up into animal groups...my group was called the Lions. I had Ben, Cristi, Teo, David, Marian, and Vasi in my group.

I led them through their daily activities and tried to keep everyone together. This was not easy when the place where we ran the VBS was also where we were staying. The kids would constantly run off to their rooms...there was a gate at the entrance to the camp and Marian and Vasi would get on it and swing back and forth. They found it highly amusing, but I was not so amused. Suddenly half of my group would disappear...

In the morning, everyone would get together for breakfast and then worship. During worship, Laura and I would distribute the Agape gifts. This tradition was started last year by the other team. Agape are just little gifts for everyone...pencils, hats, stickers, etc. After worship we would have a break and all of the kids would run upstairs for their Agape gifts.

While they were distracted, we would set-up the big room downstairs for the "Mane Event". This is the time when everyone would get together and we would go over the Bible point and Bible verse for the day. Pam, Walter and Anna would also put on a little skit, with Lois and Adi translating in the background. We would also have singing...we taught everyone some new worship songs in English (like "Let Us Pray" and "In the Secret"). I think this was my favorite part of the day.



After that, we broke up into groups and made our way through the different stations. My group always started with games so we were the "guinea pigs" as Tracy and Jake tried to figure out the best way to run the games. The first day we played snake tag...one person is it and then they tag another person and join hands. The "it" group gets larger as more people are tagged. This game was interesting because Vasi was too little to play and Marian would play but wouldn't run fast enough. The "it" group would start running after someone and then Marian would fall and get dragged along on the ground. He thought it was funny...I was glad he was laughing. As long as he wasn't crying...

The Bible Expedition part of the day was always very good. Pam put this on with the help of Matt and Jen. The first day was probably the most realistic and I had poor little Vasi crying because it was dark and there were noises of soldiers fighting. Apparently other groups had problems with this as well. One day, Pam and Matt acted out Daniel in the lions den and Matt played a very convincing angry soldier. The next day, Simon prayed out loud, asking God to not let Matt be a scary soldier anymore. I liked this time, though, because it challenged the kids to really think about a relationship with God and the sacrifices that it required sometimes. It was cool to listen to their answers about prayer and Jesus...

More to come from camp in Marga...

I'm going to start a little series about camp this last summer in Marga because there is too much to put in one message...so enjoy!

This summer, we took all of the Global Hope kids to camp in Marga (a small village about 3-4 hours away from the city of Arad). Transportation to Marga occurred in shifts on multiple days because we had only 2 vans and one small car, and we had to get like 53 people to camp! On the ride there, I got to sit on a large Rubbermaid storage box. It was actually pretty comfortable. This is something you learn when you go to Romania. The Romanians are very good at cramming a lot of people into a vehicle relatively comfortably...and safely...

When we got to camp, we arrived just as another group was leaving and the building was not left in the cleanest state. This is another thing you will learn about Romanians...they are probably the biggest neat-freaks ever! So we immediately set into cleaning mode. We scrubbed, swept, and mopped that place from top to bottom. It definitely helped the smell...


Camp at Marga

We had a fun experience trying to kill spiders that had taken up residence in high corners. This turned out to be an all-girl job and we have pictures of us knocking down spiders with brooms and then jumping out of the way for someone to stomp on it before it got away. I was a designated spider stomper and I was very good at my job!

Everyone arrived either that day or the next day. The VBS program we had planned didn't start until a few days into the camp, so we got to have a couple days to adjust and set things up. Now this camp looks rather small from the outside, but it can probably sleep up to 80 people. We had a lot of empty beds. The rooms were broken down like this...the American women (plus Lois, she is the daughter of one of our house helpers and was a translator for our camp. She is nineteen years old and is very mature and sweet), the American men (plus sixteen-year old Adi, he moved up into their room about half-way through the camp. He is the natural son of Dorel and Gabi, house parents of Casa lui Steven. He is also very mature and is very musically-talented. He plays the trumpet, piano, and the guitar), Casa Noua (plus Ruben, he is thirteen and very funny. He was always reminding me that I am a lady...as if I did not know), Casa lui Steven, and the House of Hope (plus Dorotea, David, and Octavia, the wife and children of Romanian pastor Romica who is also the Chairman of the Romanian side of Global Hope; also Denisa and her mother Iulie. Iulie is one of the house helpers at the House of Hope. Denisa is a very sweet and affectionate little girl). Our other three cooks slept in separate rooms downstairs.

The building is circular in shape. There was a large main room that served as the dining room and the recreation room. We also used it as the meeting place for the beginning and end of VBS.

The food was very good. It was a typical Romanian diet for the Americans... sausage, salami, goat cheese, and tomatoes for breakfast in the morning. Breakfast in Romania always takes some getting used to. Americans are used to toast and cereal for breakfast. I love watching the faces of the Americans when the Romanians bring out sausage that looks and tastes a lot like hot dogs for breakfast! The mid-day meal is traditionally the largest meal of the day. That meal usually consisted of a soup, a main course of something like pork and potatoes, and a dessert. There is also always an abundance of fresh bread.

Stay tuned for more posts about Marga...

Some people may wonder about the name "Diminutive Harvester"...what does that mean? It's pretty simple, actually. The name comes from the verse in Matthew:

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'" Matthew 9:37 (NIV)

The Lord has called us to be harvesters, his servants going out into the field that is ready for harvest. This can be in your own neighborhood or community, or in another country (like Romania). It is important that we work to fulfill the Great Commission: sharing the name of Jesus and discipling others.



"Diminutive" is another word for small or little...I'm only 5'1'' and people are always commenting on my height and size so I thought that this was pretty appropriate...