Pictures from Budapest. And Goulash

Some Pictures from Lugoj and Susani, Romania

Without Further Adieu: Pictures

Okay, so I have some pictures to put up on here of Lugoj, Susani, and the trip to Budapest that we just got back from today. Some of the ones from Budapest are from Danny, who shouldn't be doing mission work but instead work for National Geographic.

Since the end of last week, there have been three guys from Dallas (two from the Village in Dallas, one from FBC Euless) who have been with us here in Susani who are bringing groups here later on in the summer. It was great to hang out with them and talk about such things as the NFL Playoffs, how Tiger Woods was found in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Mexican food. They flew out this morning from Budapest, so yesterday Danny and I took a train from Lugoj to Timisoara, where we met them and we drove to Budapest (which is only four hours). It's such an amazing and beautiful city, I couldn't believe it. Walking around at night, with hardly anyone in the streets in 20 degree weather, was quite an experience. I love that city so I'll make any excuse to get back there and eat as much goulash as humanly possible.

More updates soon friends. Adios.

Confession Time

Ok, so I need to make a confession: I don't know Romanian. I'm slowly learning and trying to figure out certain phrases so I can try to blend in a little better than I did yesterday when we were at the grocery store and I started to talk really loud in English and people looked at me from all directions.

A quick update on what's happened this week: On Sunday, I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but there were four services in the village of Susani. They were all in Romanian, so when I was motioned to join a three person male choir inwhich we sang only in Romanian I had no idea what was going on (but it was still funny). On Monday, we went to Timisoara (the big city) and I was mesmerized with how busy it was. I lived in London for three months and never really felt lost, but in a city of 350,000+ people, I've never felt more directionally challenged in my life. On Tuesday, my roommates and I walked around the city looking for some furniture for our apartment, which gave me a chance to see the city for the first time. It's about 45,000 people and very cold, which is great because it snowed all day today. My roommate Ruben has joined the local futbol team here in Lugoj, so Danny and I went to watch them practice. Ruben was the youngest person in Romanian history to be accepted to the national team (14 years old), but he hurt his knee and is now trying to get back into it. It was awesome to watch them up close.

Today, we went to the city again and picked up this great pizza from a place called "Dominiscos", which serves "American pizza." It wasn't American at all. Not even a smidge bit. But it was delicious. The food here is unbelievable, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Tomorrow we are going to Timisoara again to pick up some Americans from Highland Village, TX who will stay with us for a few days.

I'll put pictures up on here soon, no worries. Have a great day.

I Made It to Romania...Barely

Wanted to put a quick post on here to say that I made it to Romania safely, even though I almost missed my flight in Dallas because of some dumb people at Lufthansa Airlines. On my ticket it said "sponsored by United Airlines", which apparently means that's the airline I'm flying on. Needless to say, I barely made my flight out. But I made it to the apartment here in Lugoj on Saturday, and we went to several church services yesterday. Today we are going to Timisoara here in about two minutes to get some papers from City Hall about the House of Joy in Susani, the neighboring village we have been going to quite often. I'll put pictures and all that on here soon, but I wanted to let everyone know that I made it in one piece. I'll post again soon.

One For the Road

As I'm sitting here typing out my last blog while I'm here in the States, I see that I will be flying out in about 27 hours. And in 29 hours, I'll be in Chicago at O'Hare Airport. And in about 41 hours, I'll be in Munich, Germany, hopefully eating some bratwurst in the airport. And in about 44 hours, I'll be meeting Ovidiu, Danny, and Reuben at the airport in Timisoara. So why am I counting down the hours? Because I realize that gives me 27 precious hours to eat as much Mexican food as humanly possible.

It has started to settle in that this has gone from being something that I've been looking forward to, to "make sure you get your socks in your suitcase because you won't be back until June." I'm starting to realize that this is actually going to be happening, which is both exciting and a little nerve-wracking. Obviously I will miss my friends and family while I'm away, but I'm really looking forward to living in a completely different culture for the next several months that is completely foreign to my own. I'm looking forward to see how people are living out the Christian faith not in big air-conditioned buildings, but in small villages with no running water.

This is going to be an unbelievable experience and an opportunity of a lifetime. I have appreciated your thoughts and prayers as I embark on this journey for the next several months, and even though I'm starting to get a little nervous, I have comfort in knowing that there are people back in Texas (and elsewhere) who will continue pray for me.

So without further blogging, I'm about to go take my Dad on a tour of the new Cowboys Stadium. But first, a pit stop at the nearest Taco Casa.