Matthew 13:17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
We had a fabulous time in Romania over
Christmas and New Years
Plenty of Fun, Friends, Food, Fellowship, and Great Ministry
We were in Rasnov Romania, Transylvania, which has a fortress overlooking the ancient village
The valley is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains
Our Hosts:
Alin, Iuliana, and Ruthy Muntean
They are in the Bible Institute with us and are a great blessing!
They have an incredible ministry to Gypsy youth in Rosnov.
We lived with Iuliana's family. What a great family. They made life in another culture easy!!
Iuliana's sister, Alina, was our live-in interpreter - she was a priceless help and she and Hannah had a great time
The one thing we loved the most was the wonderful people:
They were all so friendly and interesting
Like this old lady still wearing traditional Romanian clothing
This old guy would always try to charge Daniel to enter the apartment building, just joking and having fun, even though we could not speak the same language
Dan and Daniel visited with this nice Gypsy family and they offered us some very special delicacies... Romanians get very offended if you do not eat what they offer you... Raw pig skin and sausage made from the pig organs. They just butchered the family hog and they were proud to share it with these Americans. Claudia is holding the yumminess
Another category of family favorites was the food. Iuliana's mother, Getta, is a wonderful Romanian cook. All the food we ate was entirely new to us and it was all minunat (which is Romanian for wonderful)
This is Salata De Bouef, a traditional Romanian holiday food
This is not bread (though it looks and tastes like bread) it is filled with cinnamon swirl and is delicious!
It's name sounds like "cousin nock"
This beautiful little church was in the mountains near the village. What a post card picture
The highlight of the trip was ministry. By God's grace and power we were able to minister many times, mainly to Gypsies. Dan and Natalie both shared God's Word and the entire family was involved in many ministry opportunities.
Dan shared the Gospel to over 200 Gypsy children and he and Daniel handed out Samaritan's Purse shoe boxes.
The tiny church in the Gypsy village was locked, so we preached outside in the freezing cold, the children did not seem to mind nearly as much as Daniel and Dan
After some fun and the Gospel message they all bowed their heads and prayed for salvation. God knows their hearts.
Jesus says we need to come to Him like a little child!
The little(er) girl was not sure of these stangers
They loved the Samaritan's Purse shoe boxes!
We loved just walking around the village of Rasnov Romania
They do not understand the concept of snow removal from roads or sidewalks except the very main roads.
This picture is after at least two weeks of no snow. We walked almost everywhere and the sidewalks were dangerous.
If you can't beat them ... join them
There are many animals living in the villages. We saw more horse-drawn wagons in Rosnov than in Toalmas
Some of the views were spectacular, like this view of the Carpathian Mountains from the church
From the fortress you could see mountains all around. There are a lot of ski slopes in Romania
This was a strange toilet. Most were not like this, but this public bathroom had these for both the guys and the ladies. You put your feet on the feet rests and figure it out from there
The village was very quaint. With a lot of old German architecture
This is the oldest church in Rosnov. It is nestled against the mountain
The house behind our apartment building was a small farm with pigs, horses, chickens, Dogs, cats, and these oaie (Romanian for sheep)
We spent much time with the youth group.
We went caroling Christmas Eve for six hours
It was a blessing to sing to so many joyful Romanians
and it was fun to try to sing the Romanian Christmas Carols
Here are some of the youth as we hiked to the fortress on New Years Day
We finished our time with the youth that day playing volleyball in the snow
Now that was "cool"
There are many castles in Romania (and Hungary), we visited two in Transylvania. Iulianna's father Denis was a wonderful blessing as he took us on many excursions.
Bran Castle: This one is "Dracula's" castle. It had many twists, turns, passageways, and a hidden stair case
See, the children did not get eaten alive
A view of the inner courtyard
A beautiful Greek-Orthodox monastery nearby
Romania was very cold...... Natalie hugged the heaters in the castle to try to stay warm
Peles Castle: This was the castle of the Romanian kings, before the Communist era. It was extremely ornate inside
The Rosnov Fortress from a distance. It was built in the 13th century and used for protection for the villagers from the Huns
We climbed the mountain three times while we were there to enjoy the fortress and the view
Here we are at the entrance which has multiple gates for protection. It was designed well
Of course we wern't there long until they put Dan in the stockade for something he did
Soon - like father like son. They were both in trouble
The girls had a great time with the boys all tied up!!!
We had a fabulous time in Romania over
Christmas and New Years
Plenty of Fun, Friends, Food, Fellowship, and Great Ministry
We were in Rasnov Romania, Transylvania, which has a fortress overlooking the ancient village
The valley is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains
Our Hosts:
Alin, Iuliana, and Ruthy Muntean
They are in the Bible Institute with us and are a great blessing!
They have an incredible ministry to Gypsy youth in Rosnov.
We lived with Iuliana's family. What a great family. They made life in another culture easy!!
Iuliana's sister, Alina, was our live-in interpreter - she was a priceless help and she and Hannah had a great time
The one thing we loved the most was the wonderful people:
They were all so friendly and interesting
Like this old lady still wearing traditional Romanian clothing
This old guy would always try to charge Daniel to enter the apartment building, just joking and having fun, even though we could not speak the same language
Dan and Daniel visited with this nice Gypsy family and they offered us some very special delicacies... Romanians get very offended if you do not eat what they offer you... Raw pig skin and sausage made from the pig organs. They just butchered the family hog and they were proud to share it with these Americans. Claudia is holding the yumminess
Another category of family favorites was the food. Iuliana's mother, Getta, is a wonderful Romanian cook. All the food we ate was entirely new to us and it was all minunat (which is Romanian for wonderful)
This is Salata De Bouef, a traditional Romanian holiday food
This is not bread (though it looks and tastes like bread) it is filled with cinnamon swirl and is delicious!
It's name sounds like "cousin nock"
This beautiful little church was in the mountains near the village. What a post card picture
The highlight of the trip was ministry. By God's grace and power we were able to minister many times, mainly to Gypsies. Dan and Natalie both shared God's Word and the entire family was involved in many ministry opportunities.
Dan shared the Gospel to over 200 Gypsy children and he and Daniel handed out Samaritan's Purse shoe boxes.
The tiny church in the Gypsy village was locked, so we preached outside in the freezing cold, the children did not seem to mind nearly as much as Daniel and Dan
After some fun and the Gospel message they all bowed their heads and prayed for salvation. God knows their hearts.
Jesus says we need to come to Him like a little child!
The little(er) girl was not sure of these stangers
They loved the Samaritan's Purse shoe boxes!
We loved just walking around the village of Rasnov Romania
They do not understand the concept of snow removal from roads or sidewalks except the very main roads.
This picture is after at least two weeks of no snow. We walked almost everywhere and the sidewalks were dangerous.
If you can't beat them ... join them
There are many animals living in the villages. We saw more horse-drawn wagons in Rosnov than in Toalmas
Some of the views were spectacular, like this view of the Carpathian Mountains from the church
From the fortress you could see mountains all around. There are a lot of ski slopes in Romania
This was a strange toilet. Most were not like this, but this public bathroom had these for both the guys and the ladies. You put your feet on the feet rests and figure it out from there
The village was very quaint. With a lot of old German architecture
This is the oldest church in Rosnov. It is nestled against the mountain
The house behind our apartment building was a small farm with pigs, horses, chickens, Dogs, cats, and these oaie (Romanian for sheep)
We spent much time with the youth group.
We went caroling Christmas Eve for six hours
It was a blessing to sing to so many joyful Romanians
and it was fun to try to sing the Romanian Christmas Carols
Here are some of the youth as we hiked to the fortress on New Years Day
We finished our time with the youth that day playing volleyball in the snow
Now that was "cool"
There are many castles in Romania (and Hungary), we visited two in Transylvania. Iulianna's father Denis was a wonderful blessing as he took us on many excursions.
Bran Castle: This one is "Dracula's" castle. It had many twists, turns, passageways, and a hidden stair case
See, the children did not get eaten alive
A view of the inner courtyard
A beautiful Greek-Orthodox monastery nearby
Romania was very cold...... Natalie hugged the heaters in the castle to try to stay warm
Peles Castle: This was the castle of the Romanian kings, before the Communist era. It was extremely ornate inside
The Rosnov Fortress from a distance. It was built in the 13th century and used for protection for the villagers from the Huns
We climbed the mountain three times while we were there to enjoy the fortress and the view
Here we are at the entrance which has multiple gates for protection. It was designed well
Of course we wern't there long until they put Dan in the stockade for something he did
Soon - like father like son. They were both in trouble
The girls had a great time with the boys all tied up!!!
5 comments:
Wow! Some of those pictures are amazing! Hope you are enjoying my parents!
Unbelievable. Thanks for sharing. I'd be really fat with all that great food!
Oh yeah...one more thing. Your kids look so happy! Isn't it amazing that God can use them and make them content no matter where we are? We're facing some decisions right now and we're just so thankful for Godly, HAPPY children.
What a blessing to see the love of Christ in a family that works, plays and ministers the love of Jesus to people so far from home!
Hi Everyone, I love the pictures, Romania is so beautiful. I miss you all, it looks like you all are having such an awesome time. Everyone looks good too. Man it would be so awsome to ski there!
Love Jen lully
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