The Group Has Arrived

I want everyone to know that the group safely arrived in Budapest. The flight was on time and apparently was boring and uneventful. After a quick head count, each person got on a lift in the airport and we got on a bus that was waiting for us outside.

We then went to Szeged, a big city in Hungary next to the border with Romania, and ate at a McDonalds and in the city center. After this, we walked around for a while and enjoyed the sights and then got back on the bus. They are very tired but had a little more excitement after getting some food in them.

The trip from Budapest to the Precept Center is around 5-6 hours by bus, and when we got here everyone went to their rooms and we had dinner. They are all excited about tomorrow's activities, but even more excited about sleep. I will continue to put up posts/pictures of everything going on here so people back in America can see how things are going here. It's great to have everyone here and see friends that I haven't seen since December. Life in Hungary/Romania is good, so no worries.

Oh, You Know, Just Another Morning in Budapest

I'm sitting here with Ovidiu and Jon in a McDonalds this morning as we wait for the group's plane to arrive in a couple hours from Frankfurt. We're in a different McDonalds this morning, but last night at McDonalds on Vaci Street I broke two glasses and ran out of the store. We picked Jon up yesterday, went to a European Wal-Mart to buy water and snacks for the group, ate at a KFC, and then went to the city center. Once again, this hotel is great and after we unpacked our stuff we tried to park our van. We went down into a parking garage but more than halfway down we realized we couldn't fit, so we had to back out.

After circling the block for 20 minutes, we found a spot and parked. We then walked down Vaci Street (the main street in Budapest) towards a restaurant I picked out in March for the group (which Jon loved, by the way). On the way, we saw a Hummer limo that had 8 wheels (6 in the back) and a random motorcycle rally that lasted thirty minutes that included a police escort. We've also talked business and have everything planned for the group, and last night before I broke the glasses we had a productive discussion about future opportunities.

We had an all-you-can-eat breakfast this morning, which Ovidiu and I dominated, and are about to go to the airport to pick them up and check out a rental car for Jon. I'll post tonight after we get back to Romania.

Nathan and Danny in Romania

Ovidiu and I picked up Nathan and Danny from Budapest yesterday around 3:30 PM our time, and after eating in a McDonalds (and enjoying my Nesquick McFlurry), we drove back to Romania. They were completely exhausted and didn't really listen to anything we said because they were half-asleep the whole time. We had dinner last night at Ovidiu's place and I stayed the night with Nathan. We woke up this morning late, had breakfast, went to see the House of Joy property, had lunch at Domacris in Lugoj, I gave them a tour of Lugoj by car, and now we're in my apartment. Life is good here and we're very excited about the group coming over. This will be short because things here are a little bananas right now, but it's a good kind of bananas.

Last Post Before the Group Comes

As hard as it is to believe, I'm leaving tomorrow morning early to pick up Nathan Adams and Danny Barefield from Budapest. After five months of planning and the last two weeks of complete craziness, I'll be seeing my long lost buddies in less than 24 hours. Everything here is ready to rock and roll for the group and everyone here is very, very excited for them coming over. In just five days the group will be here, and in just two weeks I'll be flying back to Dallas. Crazy.

I want everyone to know that during this week I'll put up posts of what Nathan, Danny, and I have done here in Romania for everyone to see. More importantly, I'll be putting up pictures/a post for every day the group is here next week. This is so everyone who keeps up with this can have a visual representation of what we did that particular day. I'm very excited to say that this is my last post before they come and can't wait for everyone to get here to see what I've been experiencing since January. It should be a great experience for everyone coming over and I'm glad that we have the technology so that people 5,000 miles away can see what we're doing over here. Anyways, all is good and can't wait to see some long lost friends in a few days.

Again, watch on here for daily updates with the group. Get excited.

House of Joy Foundation Pictures (Susani, Romania)

Here are some pictures from the foundation we're working on for the House of Joy. These pictures were taken before the 9 straight days of rain, but as you can see we've made good progress.

Five Straight Days of Rain

I sort of forgot to update this and just realized it, so my apologies. I've been very busy going to Gavojdia Orphanage and working on the House of Joy construction lately. I will put pictures up of the House of Joy construction site when I get them from Ovidiu so everyone can have a better idea of what things look like here. It's been raining for five straight days here and has been way, way too cold for May, which is actually very bad news for the foundation. We don't quite know how all this rain will impact the foundation (and the group coming over in three weeks), but as soon as I know I'll put up a post. Why is the weather so abnormal and could potentially be a problem for us? I blame Iceland.

This week my roommates have class all week at Grace Baptist Church here in Lugoj. They are enrolled through a branch of Covington Seminary in South Carolina, and a couple professors from there are here this week. We'll be making a quick trip back to the teenage prison tomorrow morning to visit some of the inmates again and give them some pictures also. Life is good here and we're excited about the group coming over. It was great getting to Skype with some of the kids at Pioneer this past Sunday morning and good to see some familiar faces again.

And a funny story: I just got back from watching my roommate Ruben play in a soccer game with Ovidiu. Besides it being in the low-40's and cloudy, it was hilarious watching them play with the 60+ person crowd composed entirely of older men. Every one of them sported a bald head or a stylish mullet, ate a bag of sunflower seeds or a ham baguette, and a collective smell of light beer, cheap cigarettes, and old-man Romanian musk. I found out that most of them were betting on the game and were taking calls during the game to get scores from other games in the area they had bets on. The whole time I just was just wishing the crowds in American sporting events would be half as fun.

I'm Loving Type A Personality Week

The title says it all: after four months of random spurts of Type A personality, this past week Type A has burst onto the scene with a vengeance. I might be tempted to say we've gotten more done for the Pioneer group coming over in the past week and a half than the entire four months I've been here. Several factors have played into this, most notably the warmer weather, but it's been a drastic change. I was almost tempted the other day to make a "to do list", but decided that was too American.

We've arranged a bus with a bus agency, purchased iron, remodeled the old bar/disco into a place for meeting on Sunday nights, played soccer at Gavojdia Orphanage, settled all of our authorization requirements for the House of Joy, and eaten many a Turkish kebab. It's been busy, busy, busy; ironically, much busier than whatever "busy-ness" I discussed in my last post. Waking up early, working all day, eating a kebab for lunch, and then having more work has become our "routine", a word that I've never used in my first four months here.

We're still doing meetings with village teenagers in Susani on Fridays and village children on Saturays, where we play games (as shown above) and do VBS activities. The big news is that we're finally opening the renovated club this Sunday. After all the dust, drywall, concrete, and "mysterious mixture" we've encountered, it's exciting to finally open it up to the world. Most things with the group this summer have been squared away, which is also exciting, and all we're waiting on is to start pouring the concrete for the HOJ foundation. And I'm positive that Spring in Romania is might be a step above fantastic. Life is good.

Funny story of the week: I was chased by two wild park dogs for "not knowing my boundaries", saw a pig at the orphanage that was the most colossal monstrosity I've ever seen, and celebrated Cinco de Mayo today by eating a Turkish kebab. Every day brings new experiences and crazy, crazy encounters with local Romanians.