The Long Goodbye… June 11, 2009

Hey guys!

We are currently in Munich, Germany. We left Timisoara around 10 this morning and arrived in this amazing city around noon. After checking in our hotel, we spent hours walking around the city. This place is so beautiful! Brad used to live in Germany, so he has been our tour guide for the day. We had an authentic German lunch and did a little debriefing from our stay in Romania as we enjoyed weiner schnitzel and fries. We walked through the downtown area, passing upscale shops and incredible architecture, and ended up down by the river near a gorgeous park, where we enjoyed pretzels and some quiet time to unwind from the busy week. This is the perfect way to end a perfect week. Tomorrow, we arrive back in the states. Thanks for following along on our journey and for your prayers. We’ll try to post some more pics when we get back home – we’ve run short on time.

Here’s a post that Jen wrote last night. For some reason it didn’t post.

“It’s falling from the clouds, a strange and lovely sound – I hear it in the thunder and rain.  It’s ringing in the skies, like cannons in the night.  The music of the universe plays.  Singing YOU are holy, great and mighty.  The moon and the stars declare who YOU are.  We’re so unworthy but still YOU love us.  Forever my heart will sing of how great YOU are” – Cannons, Phil Wickham

I’m sad to report that tonight is our last night in beautiful Timisoara.  We have been so blessed with the weather every single day that we’ve been here then tonight as we began to say our good-byes the rain, thunder and lightning began to roll in.  We didn’t let it stop us, however.  We were still able to enjoy an authentic Romanian meal with the pastors and senior leadership from Vox and then spend some quality time (one final RGT), with our new friends.  Everyone was up late tonight at Vox playing ping-pong, Dutch Blitz and savoring every last moment of one another’s time.

Several times this week we have questioned the many ways that we can continue to encourage the Romanians in building their faith when in fact we’ve spent more time learning from these amazing people.  It has been so rewarding and uplifting for us all to see the fruits of our labor develop throughout the week.  We’ve been receiving notes, facebook comments and all sorts of Romanian love for days.  I’d like to share a recent facebook post from just an hour ago when we began to say good-bye.

“This life is awesome. When you find how truly great it is to feel a friend’s touch, to hear whispers of love, and to fall in to grace!  RGT to the MAX this weekend guys!  Have a safe flight home J, Shae, Chris, Christmass Tree (Brad), DJ and Phil”

I cannot even begin to explain how these kind words have made our team feel.  Again, we are reminded of the irony that we’ve created since arriving.  It is the Romanians encouraging us along and reminding us of our good work and the strong bonds that we’ve formed.  I’ve had a hard time these past few days keeping my emotions in check.  Everything about this place weighs heavy on my heart and probably always will.

Tonight we were challenged to “keep in touch” and continue to send our encouragement and love across the ocean.  We are humbled and gladly accept this challenge with grace and know that no ocean, no mountain and no language barrier can keep true friends apart.  We are all united as one – in one very special place.

I don’t doubt for a single second that even God knows how to have an RGT…  The RGT never ends in Romania.

Blessings,

Jen

“A person’s words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook.” – Proverbs 18:4

A Morning with an Angel June 10, 2009

If ever there were a time I have thought I had met an angel, it would be this day. This angel is a beautiful. Inside and out she glows in the light of His presence, and she shines on everyone she sees. Kind eyes. Gentle Spirit. Humble. An attitude of gratitude. A servant overflowing with compassion and filled with selfless love. She is the definition of true faith.

Her name is Rodica.  And she is an angel! A face and a heart you cannot forget upon meeting her, nor can you deny the amazing light she is in such a dark world here for so many pregnant women in this area.

Today we volunteered at Estera, a crisis pregnancy center she and her husband, Gelu (the pastor at Vox Domini) had visions about years ago.  Together with God, their vision came to life and now is saving the lives of precious babies. We were eager to learn how Estera evolved and were shocked upon discovering the overwhelming statistics of abortions just in Romania alone.  Romania’s population is  around 2 million, and last year 500,000 babies were aborted.  This statistic makes them the #2 country in the world with the most abortions. This was both shocking and disturbing.  Did you know that it only costs women here $7 to have an abortion? Unbelievable. As we listened to the story unfold along with further facts and statistics, it was difficult for the heart not to grow heavy.

However, on the sunny side of this, Estera has been successful in saving the lives of 1,050 babies since 1998 when they were first established!  They are a ray of hope.  Supporting friends. A warm smile. Encouragement. Educators. God’s hands reaching out with love and compassion for these confused pregnant woman who are typically without financial or relational support. The staff at Estera explains the pregnancy and all that it entails, provides counseling, gives mothers baby clothes, and offers financial support when they are able.  This is an amazing organization.

I think we all considered this an incredible experience and were grateful for the opportunity to serve Estera.  It was a true blessing to work alongside an angel! We are forever changed.

Love, Chris

New Friends, Gelato, and More . . . June 9, 2009

Yesterday was an amazing day!!! We all slept in and had a relaxing morning – we needed it after such a busy few days. We met the most incredible couple this past weekend on the retreat, Darius & Delia. They are a young married couple that work with the high school students here at Vox. They do an incredible job investing in students and have quickly become friends of ours. Darius and Delia picked our team up around noon yesterday and we headed to the mall for lunch. Afterwards, the guys hung out with Darius and the girls spent the afternoon walking around shops with Delia.

For dinner, we went to Gili’s house. He is one of the three pastors here at Vox. He’s married to Steluta (which means “star” in Romanian), and has two precious daughters that some of us met last fall. Dona is 18 and Andreea is 20. Even though many of us have been here before, we haven’t been able to spend time at the homes here in Romania. It was such a treat getting a glimpse of their everyday world and experiencing more of their culture. Gili’s family was extremely hospitable and fed us well. After dinner, we played a few rounds of Dutch Blitz . . . a very popular game here in Romania.

Dinner with the Indrie Family

Jen & Dj having a little fun

We topped the night off by heading to Union Square with Gili, Steluta, Dona, and Andreea. We met up with Darius & Delia, Sami & his wife Laura (the college student leaders here at Vox), as well as some more students. We ate gelato and walked around the city squares all evening, talking and laughing. We love being here this time of year. The weather is amazing – we’ve had such beautiful days and perfect nights. Also, in Europe, people really enjoy being outdoors in the spring/summer. Last night, the streets and squares were so crowded with people sitting underneath umbrellas, drinking coffee, eating ice cream, and enjoying themselves.

Andreea & Phil enjoying a "little" gelato

Summer evenings in Timisoara

Chris with Radu & Ciupi

Dona, Claudia, Shae & Andreea

This morning, the girls will head to Estera with Rodica – something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. We will have lunch with one of the girls we met this weekend. I’m not sure exactly what the guys will be doing yet, but I’m sure they will be loving on students this morning, as we seem to be surrounded by them. This afternoon, we will all meet up around 3:00 to attend a meeting with Vox’s pastors, where we will spend time covering them in prayer.

We’re all having an incredible time and have fallen in love with the people here. God is doing a great work here in Timisoara and we are so blessed to witness it firsthand.

Love you all,

Ciao!

Camp Petris = an RGT!!! June 7, 2009

Well, we are finally back at Vox here in Timisoara after a busy, but wonderful weekend. So much has happened in so little time. I really want to find a way to capture it all on here, but I’m pretty sure that’s impossible. I’ll do my best to give you a summary of our time, but please know there is SO much more than these simple words. I really hope we get the chance to share with all of you personally when we arrive back home.

Friday Morning – We began our first day in Romania at a breakfast with the pastors from Vox Domini. They welcomed us and  we discussed the final plans for the retreat weekend. We were so excited to discover that 14 students would be joining us for the weekend!! Breakfast was followed with a team devotional before heading out to see the city. Rodica is the wife of Gelu, the lead pastor here at Vox. She is also the one who founded Estera, the crisis pregnancy center here in Timisoara (more to come on that later). She took us to the downtown area and told us her version of the Revolution story as she pointed out bullet holes in the nearby buildings. For those of you unaware, Romania has only been free from communism since December of 1989. Listening to her story was both astonishing and heart-breaking. We topped the morning off with one of my favorite Romanian dishes – schwarmas.

Team Pic in Timisoara

Freedom Square

Friday afternoon/evening – The team loaded up the van and rode with Gelu and Rodica to Petris, a small village about 3 hours away from Timisoara. Somehow, we all managed to arrive safely despite being a little green from the crazy Romanian driving!! After getting things all set up and ready to go, we had some time before the students arrived to have a little fun. We decided take a walk up a nearby hill, where we enjoyed the most breathtaking view of the village. Brad and Phil brought their guitars along and we sang a few worship songs over the city – talk about seeing God’s beauty!!!

Getting Things Ready

Lanyards designed by Phil

Romanian Tea Party

Girls with Rodica

Hillside Worship

Saturday – We kicked off the retreat bright and early. Throughout the day, we had three main sessions consisting of worship and teaching on Intimacy with God, Dating, and Identity in Christ. Each session was followed by small group discussions. As the day progressed, relationships deepened, guards came down, and hearts were opened. The ironic part of the weekend was that we came to teach, yet we were the ones learning. These Romanians are so strong in their faith. I feel like many of them are way beyond their years in knowledge and wisdom, and they were such an encouragement to our team. We ended our day with a campfire and an American favorite . . . smores!

Boys' Small Group Discussion

And the Girls

New Friends - Ann, Marius, Chris, & Darius

Sunday morning – We wrapped up our time at Petris praying individually for the students. We then had an extended time of worship, a message from Gelu, and communion. It was an incredibly powerful time. We are blown away at how quickly we have come to love these students. It’s as if we have known them for weeks. Before leaving Petris, emails were exchanged and facebook friends were made.

Gelu's Message on Communion

Camp Petris 2009

Sunday afternoon – On the way back to Timisoara, we were able to visit Hunedoara Castle. Definitely don’t find those back in the US.

Hunedoara Castle

Sunday evening – We arrived back in Timisoara just in time for Vox’s 6 p.m. service. Due to space, Vox held their service at the capitol building. Today is Pentecost here and we once again partook of the Lord’s supper with our dear Romanian friends. Phil and Brad played during the worship set. I can’t get over hearing the Romanians praise God in their own language. We recognized many of the songs played, but there was something new and fresh about hearing them expressed in Romanian all the way across the world. Four out of the six of us have been to Romania before and attending church tonight felt like home. We saw so many familiar faces amongst the hundreds gathered and lots of smiles and hugs were exchanged. We wrapped up the evening over pizza and tiramusu with Darius and his wife Delia, our new friends from the weekend. Liviu also joined us for dinner, which was awesome since we won’t be able to see him much this week. It was the perfect way to end an incredible weekend.

Service at Vox Domini

Chris, Shae, Juji, Lidia, Jen, & Dona

The rest of our time in Romania will be spent here in Timisoara visiting with new and old friends. We will definitely keep you posted often so stay tuned. And thank you so very much for your prayers!!!

Ciao,

Shae

P.S. What’s an RGT??? A REALLY Good Time!!!

We Made It!!!! June 4, 2009

After a lot of turbulence, little sleep, stale food, and lots of waiting around, we are finally here!!! All six of us made it safe and sound along with our luggage! We were greeted at the airport by Liviu, a staff member here at Vox Domini, as well as Andreea, a precious friend and college student. We arrived at the church about an hour ago and are getting all settled in.

We are definitely hitting the ground running. We have a benefit dinner this evening for Estera, the crisis pregnancy center here in Timisoara. Afterwards, we will attend OSCET, which is the college gathering, and then prepare for the retreat tomorrow. In the morning, we will have a team meeting, head to downtown Timisoara for a tour and history lesson, and then travel to Petris for the retreat. As of now, we have 17 high school students, college students, and leaders attending. Please be in prayer for our team this weekend as we speak truth and love over the Romanians. We will have very limited internet access until we get back from the retreat on Sunday evening, but will update you then!

Thanks for your continued prayers. We are very excited to be here and can’t wait to get started!!!

Love,

The Team

A Huge “Thank You” from Chris June 2, 2009

Ok, so I was just kidding about yesterday’s post being our last one before leaving. Here’s some words from Miss Chris:

Hey Everyone!

It’s here! Hooooooray! Finally, after much preparing and prayer, we are as ready as we possibly can be and letting God take care of the rest. I feel so blessed to be taking my first mission trip with such a wonderful team, ready to grow so many relationships and share life together with the Romanians.

We truly appreciate you and would not be going on this trip without your love, encouragement, prayer, and support. So THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for making this possible.  We hope your lives will be blessed as you read the blog and realize, in one way or another, you had a hand in this as well!

Be in touch soon. Many thanks for your prayers! And “Hello!” Romania!!!!!

Chris

On Our Way!!! June 2, 2009

It’s here!!! How crazy is that? The next time you hear from us we will be in Timisoara, Romania! Just so you can keep up with us, here’s our tentative schedule:

Wednesday, June 3 – Depart from Atlanta

Thursday, June 4 – Arrive in Timisoara, Romania

Friday, June 5 – Sunday, June 7 – Retreat at Petris

Monday, June 8 – Wednesday, June 10 – Hang out with students and families from Vox Domini in Timisoara

Thursday, June 11 – Depart from Timisoara and arrive in Munich for our team debrief

Friday, June 12 – Depart from Munich and arrive back in Atlanta

Thank you guys so much for your prayers and support . . . you have no idea how much it’s meant to us. We have prepared and planned well, but we hold those preparations and plans very loosely and are open to guidance and direction from the Lord. We have great expectations for this trip and no doubt that God will come through. However, our ultimate goal is to go and serve the people in Romania – to pour ourselves out and love on them as Christ loves us. This can only happen through the supernatural power of the holy spirit and can’t be manufactured or planned. Please pray that our team would be unified and would be able to discern God’s voice – that we would follow where He leads, be willing to give up our own idea of what we think things should look like, and surrender to Him. Also pray for traveling safety, a flexible spirit, a servant’s heart, wisdom in decision-making, and holy spirit awareness.

We’ll be updating the blog as much as we can during our stay in Romania. Please feel free to comment as I know we will all love hearing from our friends and family back home.

We’ll let you know when we arrive!!!

So excited,

Shae

1 Week Left!!! May 27, 2009

One week from today we will be flying high on our way to Timisoara, Romania!!! After three months of planning and preparing, it’s almost  here!!! Last week, we launched registration for the retreat, also known as “Camp Petris,” and Romanian students are beginning to sign up. It’s so exciting watching it all come together!

Last night was our final team meeting. Brad and Phil couldn’t make it, but DJ, Chris, Jennifer, and I spent the evening at my house packing our team bags. Chris led us in a devotion, we ate pizza, reviewed our traveling itineraries, and then we sprawled all of the retreat supplies all over my living room floor. After an hour or so of stuffing, organizing, weighing bags, reorganizing, and labeling, we managed to squeeze everything into only 3 bags! We closed the evening in prayer for the Romanians and our team. The next time we all get together, it will be at the airport!

Below I’ve attached a picture from last night. I’ve also attached the “Camp Petris” flyer that Phil designed. He did an amazing job with this and we sent it over to Romania as part of our advertisement.

There is still so much to be done over the next week in preparation for the trip as well as for each of us personally as we prepare to leave the country, our jobs, and our families for two weeks. We covet your prayers for the following:

1. Romanian students – That registration would begin to fill up and that God would begin preparing the hearts of the students that will attend.

2. Our team – For unity, traveling safety, holy spirit awareness, and protection from any ways the enemy may try to interfere.

Many Blessings,

Shae

Packing Up!

Camp Petris Coming Soon!

“What is Your Personal Jericho” by Jennifer Letner May 19, 2009

By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. Hebrews 11:30

Remember Joshua, the warrior anointed by God to follow in the footsteps of Moses and lead the Israelites in to the Promised Land?  Do you ever wonder exactly what he was thinking when God told him to march with his “army” around Jericho for seven days straight while striking up a tune with his “band”?  Seven days of marching and trumpet blowing!  In the end, it didn’t matter what Joshua was thinking because without a second thought he just did it.  He trusted God and put everyone’s faith to the test by believing that in following these steps, the walls of Jericho will fall.

March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.” Joshua 6: 3-5

Just like Joshua did, we should believe that through HIM we can do all things.

We all build walls – we just don’t always recognize them as such.  The trouble is that when we do recognize that we’ve built a wall or created an obstacle for ourselves we seek to resolve it in our own way and time.  More often than not we don’t choose our battles wisely and we stumble.  We don’t trust God.  We lack patience and we certainly don’t like waiting.  We usually think we know better… then we see the result and quickly lose faith.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?

No matter how large or small the problem it is easy to stumble.  We face this every single day.  My hunch is that many of us forget or struggle to see through these walls and immediately get absorbed in our own personal dramas, aka Jerichos.

I’ve challenged myself and my team to define our own personal Jerichos and I challenge you to do the same.  What do you carry in your heart each day that you believe God would see differently through HIS eyes?  As you go through this process, please take time to remember good old Joshua.  Surely God knew that Joshua had the ability to fight the good fight and use traditional means to tear down those walls.  However, God teaches us time and time again through scripture that He will always use our availability before He will use our ability.  Isn’t this amazing?  The Walls of Jericho crumbling is just another example of how God will use something so small and turn it in to something so big and powerful.  Further, He does this while simultaneously reminding us how something that initially seems so big and insurmountable is actually quite TINY and ACHIEVABLE.  It’s all about faith in yourself but most importantly, in HIM.  Who knew?

As we prepare for our trip to Romania we know that potentially we will face many challenges together.  I know that I personally have a few Jerichos to fend off before hopping on that plane.  However, this past weekend at WinShape we learned how to overcome those fears and intimidations and tear down those walls that pose as barriers to our success.  How comforting it is to know we’ve got an army of 6 which includes our very own band of 2!  Our faith grows more and more each day in preparation for our 9 days of “marching” in Timisoara.  If Joshua can do it, then so can we!

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

Blessings,

Jen

Team Building and Bonding May 14, 2009

 

This past Saturday our team headed up to Winshape Wilderness at Berry College in Rome, GA for some adventure-based learning.  It was so great to take a break from our trip planning and have a little fun together as a team. We met bright and early at Chickfila, enjoyed a quick breakfast, and all crammed into Brad’s car for the drive up.

Upon arrival, we amused ourselves by taking pictures with the “kiddos” while we were waiting on our Program Coordinator, Ricky, to join us. 

  

 

 

After completing some warm-up exercises, we headed to the first low-ropes activity called “The Wobbly Woozie.” We each selected a partner and stepped onto a wire. The goal of the activity was to walk down the wire as far as possible without falling off. The trick was that the wires separated as you walked along, forcing you to lean into your partner. Our first attempt at this was pretty hilarious, but we definitely made progress during the second go-round.

 

Spotters were needed for this activity. We were referred to as "turtles" for obvious reasons.

 

Brad & Jennifer did great and outdid us all!

Chris and I . . . not so much. But way to be there Brad!

After having enough of the “Wobbly Woozie,” we completed a brain teaser. The object was to move six boxes in between three posts. The rules were to only move one box at a time and never stack a larger box onto a smaller box. Our team was phenomenal at this and completed it on the first attempt!

 

Boxing Champions

We were just about ready to do the zip line when the rain came down. We were all pretty bummed out about that, but the all-you-can-eat Chickfila Icedream at lunch cheered us up!

We finished off the day by competing in a Trebuchet building contest – girls against the guys. We were given all the materials needed to build the trebuchet as well as access to a woodsaw. Once we assembled the trebuchets, we had to launch a golf ball down a field. The first team to hit the target would be declared the winners. To be quite honest, the girls were pretty intimidated by this at first, but we definitely held our own thanks to Chris’ skills on the woodsaw. And because girls actually read directions and not just look at the pictures, we built a rockin’ trebuchet. Both teams had to make adjustments on the field in order to get the trebuchet to launch the golf ball correctly, but it was the GIRLS (aka Team Awesome) who hit the target first!!!

 

The guys with their pride and joy.

 

An accidental launch makes for a great picture!

Team Awesome wins!

Before leaving Winshape, we made a brief video that we are going to use as our introductory video at the retreat in Romania. I hope to post it on here soon. We had a wonderful day and it was really fun to see everyone’s personalities come out. I think we have a pretty amazing team and I’m so pumped to journey with these guys to Romania! 

Only 3 more weeks!!!! Stay tuned . . . 

Love, Shae