This week

This last week has been quite busy for all of us here.

Last Sunday one of the girls from California found out about a very sudden and tragic death in her family. It was a very difficult day for her and we are all still very much in prayer for her and her family. It was later decided that she and her travelling buddy would leave early so that she be with her family. They left Wednesday and are definitely missed. We all shared a two bedroom apartment and now with only two of us left here it feels very empty and quiet. Both Jenny and Brittany contributed so much to the dynamic of our group and both are missed greatly. I know the work they did at the center was a big help and I can think of specific devotions and testimonies they shared that meant a lot to me and, I think, to the girls and staff here at the Beauty from Ashes center.

The other busy part of our week has been finishing up packaging hair accessories. I am happy to announce that we packaged the last one on Friday afternoon. Yay! They are all quite lovely and Nadia is doing all the creating and packaging now. I hope to start selling some of the cards and accessories when I get back to the States. They are all very well made and I think will sell quite nicely in Idaho. The girls are in the middle of making Christmas cards and we are now working on three more card models for Christmas and then we are done for that holiday.

Amid all of this Emily and I are getting to know the girls here better and they are helping us a lot with our Romanian. We are learning more everyday and I hope that by the time I leave I can have a halfway decent conversation. But, of course, then I won't use it as much. Oh well, I am still enjoying it very much and am so happy that I am finally here.

Sometimes I look around and think "Wow, I am actually in Romania". It has been a long time coming and I am so glad it finally happened. It brings so much joy to my heart to be here, learning the language, getting to know the staff and girls, and learning just how faithful and trustworthy Jesus really is.

Thanks again for reading! I will try to post again soon.

One Month Left

I now have officially one month left here in Romania and I have posted only three time on my blog. I can tell you for certain that is not a reflection of a lack of anything happening. Quite the opposite actually. In the last three weeks we were able to do some sightseeing around Transylvania and spend five days in the Mountains with the staff and girls from the Beauty from Ashes center. In between that we have been working on packaging hair accessories. And this is no small feat seeing as there are several hundred of them, but the three girls from California and I are working hard to package them and hopefully help Diana find a simple way to package them so that, in the future, they will be made and packaged in the same day.
As for our trips they were both lovely and we got the chance to spend time with people relaxing without the stress from work.
Our time sight seeing in Transylvania was blessed as we were able to get to know Andreea who runs the Romanian side of the ministry (ROM in the states is Associatia Agape in Romania) and learn some more Romanian with her help. The first day we travelled from Oradea to Sibiu and enjoyed the evening there. The old cities here are quite beautiful and Sibiu did not disappoint us. The next day we took a tram in the Transfagarasean Mountains up to Bales Lake and Waterfall. The view was amazing and we climbed around for a bit and threw a few snowballs next to the lake. We then headed off to Bran Castle (aka Dracula's castle) which was absolutely charming. (Unfortunately it is a bit difficult to post pictures on here but feel free to check them out on my Facebook) We spent that evening and the next at a beautiful B&B called Rem's right a the base of the Raşnov Fortress- a city on a hill. The day after Bran we visited Pelus Castle which is much more like the Fairy Tale castle we all dream of.Lastly, on our way back to Oradea we stopped in Sighisoara, another city on a hill and walked up to the top through some lovely winding cobblestones roads.
When we arrived back at the center we were welcomed back with lots of hugs. We definitely feel loved and cared for by all the staff and girls and will miss them all when we are gone. Upon our arrival back we dove in to the process of packing up the hair accessories and will hopefully finish that up in the next few days.
This last week we left for the mountains on Tuesday morning and relaxed with the girls and the staff for five days. We took a few short hikes, gathered wild blueberries and mushrooms (!), and even introduced one of our team members and one of the center's girls to the world of Lord of the Rings.   We were especially blessed by this time by getting to get to know one of the newest additions to the center, Edith. She is currently working in a factory and living at the center and seems like a lovely girl, we hope that she stinks with the program and would appreciate prayer for her as well as all the girls.   Among much fun and lots of hard work have been a few bumps. A few weeks back one of the girls decided she wanted to leave the program and packed a backpack and walked out the door. We were told she came back the next day with a man to pick up the rest of her belongings. By the next Tuesday she had come back asking for her job back however it had already been given to another girl. She was told that they would like to have her back and asked her to look for a job in the city and found a place for her to stay. We are all praying that she is now safe and sound and that she will be able to find a job or get hired on back at the center. There have been a few other things like this happening and it has been a trying month for the staff at the center who invest so much time in the girls and are sometimes discouraged. We have tried and are hoping that we can continue to encourage the staff there. We are here only temporarily but they have invested their lives in this ministry and face a lot of discouragement from all sides. We are truly privileged to serve alongside them and do what we can to lighten they load for a short time.
I appreciate all of you who are reading this and praying for all of us here. Until next time, Larevedere!