I am back in Romania and enjoying the warm spring weather and the wonderful companionship of good friends. My arrival in Romania was, as always, marked by some sort of small "catastrophe". This time, I flew directly into Romania. It seemed I was more irritable than ever upon landing in Timisoara (a large city an hour away from Arad). I had to continually pray for patience as I slowly worked my way through passport control and on to the small baggage claim area. Here, I discovered that only one of my bags had arrived. Many other passengers from my flight also had baggage that was unaccounted for so we all had to wait to give our baggage and contact information to the airport. Finally, an hour after I arrived (and this is a small airport, smaller than the Colorado Springs airport that some of you may be familiar with), I walked through customs without problems (I think the customs officials were afraid to stop any of the passengers from my flight because they could see how upset people were). I was met by Walter (my missionary colleague), Roni (our house dad at Ana's House) and Radu (one of the boys from Ana's House). Roni wanted to run some errands so we drove through town and the traffic at that time of day was unbelievable.

The day I arrived was a Friday and it was the day that the Evangelical Christian community celebrated Good Friday and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. We saw a theatrical portrayal of Jesus' walk to Golgotha while carrying the cross. Some people from a local church had dressed up as Roman guards and one man was dressed as Jesus. As he walked through the streets carrying the large wooden cross, the men playing the guards beat him with a whip and sticks. I later discovered that my good friend, Adi (the biological son of the house parents of Steven's House) was there in Timisoara for this portrayal. He and some of his friends followed the procession through the busy city streets.

This began a meaningful weekend for me as I celebrated Easter in Romania for the first time. Church services were held at the Speranta Baptist church on Friday night. Then again on Sunday morning and Sunday night. Then again on Monday morning and Monday night. Churches in Romania are not like American churches. They do not have multiple replicas of the same service. I was explaining this to our house parents the other day. Every service is a different program and everyone goes to every service. I went to a worship service at another Baptist church on Tuesday night because Andreea (the biological daughter of the house parents of the House of Hope) was singing with the children's choir. Needless to say, I spent a majority of my time those first few days in church. It's easier for me to go to church here now. In the beginning, it was hard to sit still for two or three hours when you had no idea what was going on. The novelty of a foreign church can wear off quite quickly at a super-conservative Baptist church like Speranta. Now that I understand most of what is said, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to remember what it was like to sit there for the first time, 19 years old and on my first over-seas mission trip.

This Easter season in Romania, I enjoyed learning of the Romanian traditions. They paint and eat hard-boiled eggs as we do but they color them all red. The red is to represent the blood of Christ. The egg represents the new life given us when we are covered by His blood. Dorel, house father at Steven's House, was explaining that the colored eggs are actually a tradition acquired from the Orthodox church. He enjoyed watching my expression as I came to the table on Sunday morning, was told to choose an egg that looked "tare" (strong or hard) and was then told to hold it in my hand with the top of the egg exposed. Flavius then took his egg and slammed it down on top of mine while saying, "Cristos a inviat!" (Christ has risen!) Whoever's egg remained unbroken after repeating this game with everyone at the table, was deemed the winner.

I am still settling in here, looking for an apartment to rent, and praying that God will use me and shape me during this time. Things are much more expensive so I'm not sure how long I will stay but I am now, and always will be, comforted by God's enduring presence and His faithful love and guidance in my life thanks to the sacrifice and victory of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is in His name, I pray blessings upon all of you!

Cristos a inviat!
Sarah