Rachel's Romania Update - February 2010

“Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”

Mark 5:19b

Hello from California!

Well I have finally arrived safely into Huntington Beach, California. It was a very busy month full of lots of moving around and visiting. So here is the rundown of my month!

I moved out of my apartment in Brasov on January 31^st. I thought it would be a good idea to move out of my apartment before my time of travel around Romania and my 2 months in California. It seemed silly to pay rent for all that time and not be there. I was blessed to be able to leave my stuff with my missionary friends Tim and Liz.

My neighbor Nuti was really sad to have me leave. She is “Plant sitting” for me while I’m gone. Taking care of my plants for me, and then when I return I will be able to get them back from her. She is so sweet. She made some really nice things for my mom that she wanted me to take home with me to give to her. I could tell it was really hard for her to have me leave and I will miss living next to her as well.

My last week in the hospital was full of mixed emotions for Cami and I. It was a very busy week with lots of children and some of the children had severe psychological issues. So we were running around with not much time to think about the fact that I was getting ready to leave for a couple of months. But on my last day we both cried. She made some authentic Romanian food for my parents that I was able to bring home, including Zacusca which is this fantastic eggplant spread. Yum! Cami is a good friend and I will miss her while I’m home. We will for sure keep in touch via email though.

I took a couple of friends out for their birthdays before I left Brasov. Alisha and Steffi were both going to be celebrating their birthday after I left, so I took them out to eat. That was fun to be hanging out with them over good food.

After I moved out of my apartment, I went and stayed with Alisha for a few days then I went and stayed with my friend Jules. On my last night in town, Alisha, Jules, Raelene and I went out to church just a few hours before I had to leave for the train station.

Jules was such a blessing to me, letting me stay with her, blessing me with yummy food, then we went out to a nice tea place in town and then driving me and staying with me at the train station for hours. My train that night was supposed to leave for Oradea at 11:15pm but didn’t end up arriving until 2:30am! It was SO cold out too! But I finally made it on the train and on my way to Oradea.

I arrived in Oradea and rushed to my friend Ibi’s house to drop of my big suitcase. Ibi made me a great lunch and then I took an hour nap and was back off to the train station to catch my train to Timisoara.

In Timisoara, I stayed with some missionary girls who were so totally kind to let me stay with them. Anna and Amanda. It was great getting to know them and a total blessing to me. I had a lot of fun spending time with them. I visited a ministry that Amanda works with one night and then joined them on Valentine’s Day for a party they were having for a group of girls they work with. It was a lot of fun. I had a chance to join Amanda for church at a wonderful Romanian church while I was there too. And I met up with another missionary woman, Dawn E. to talk with her about all the great ministry opportunities available in Timisoara. Dawn has been in Romanian for years and has connections everywhere and knows about all the ministry opportunities in Timisoara.

I also was blessed to be able to spend a good amount of time with my dear friend Laura and her family! It had been almost a year since I had seen them. The last time I saw her she was still pregnant, but this time I was able to finally meet the newest member of the family, little Andrei. He is so cute! Laura’s mom was visiting at the time as well, and she made us some really yummy food and made it possible for Laura and I to go out together alone a couple of times by watching the kids for her. It was so nice. The Lord has really been taking care of Laura and her family and it was neat to be able to talk about how the Lord cares for us and all of our needs.

Laura and her family, at that time all 8 of them, had been living in a one bedroom apartment. They had been praying about what to do as the children were growing and obviously a small one bedroom apartment was starting to feel a little cramped. Laura had done some work as a language teacher, but was mainly a stay at home mom, raising wonderful children. Then one day, out of nowhere, a man from their church called saying that the church had an apartment for them that has 3 HUGE rooms (2 bedrooms technically) and 2 bathrooms. It was a total surprise and a total blessing! The apartment is BEAUTIFUL and has plenty of room for everyone. It was something that they had prayed for and really to see how the Lord blessed them with this apartment shows how much He cares about each of us and our needs and even our desires. I mean technically Laura’s family had a roof over their heads, but the Lord blessed them with more than just that; He blessed them with space too! And it is really a very nice place in a great part of town.

Then after 10 days in Timisoara, I returned to Oradea. I stayed a few days with my other missionary friend Dawn H. It was a very nice time of fellowship and rest. She made us a great dinner one night and I took us out to breakfast one morning to thank her for allowing me to stay with her for a few days.

Then I spent 2 nights with my friend Ibi and her cousin Rebeka. It was fun to be able to stay with Ibi and to talk and see how the Lord has been working in her life. She is a good friend and always such a servant and a blessing to me when I am in town.

While in Oradea I of course was able to see Marinela as well. It was great seeing her. We had fun walking around and talking and eating together. Please continue to keep Marinela in your prayers as she was fired over a month ago now after 11 years of working with an organization, and has not been able to find a new job. Marinela was raised in an orphanage and doesn’t have a lot of job skills. She is good at taking care of children and cleaning, but doesn’t have skills really even for job hunting. I bought her some groceries while I was there because she didn’t even have money for food. She has been working for a family temporarily doing deep cleaning for food. This is a tough situation; please pray that the Lord will provide a job for her and that there will be justice in this situation, as it is a really sad situation the way all of this happened.

I am so happy I was able to travel around Romania my last few weeks there. The relationships I have built here in Romania are very important to me. The Lord has brought them into my life and I want to be sure I make the time spend with each of these dear friends. It is great to meet with them, to pray with them, to talk about how the Lord is working in each of our lives and to encourage each other to continue to trust that the Lord will take care of our needs. Brasov is at least 10 hours from Timisoara and Oradea so I had not been able to visit as much this year as I had wanted to. These relationships are far too important to me and I needed to make the time to invest in them again before I left and to catch up. It was really an important time.

Finally on the 24^th I left at 2am by car to drive to Budpaest, Hungary. I arrived at 4:30am, and hung out in the airport until 6:30am when I was finally able to check in. I took off on time and flew to London, where I had to go through security again and made it onto my plane in perfect timing for us to take off on our 7.5 hour flight to Chicago. In Chicago, I had a 5 hour layover.

The highlight of this trip home was when my cousin Liz, came to the airport in Chicago to meet me. I am actually named after Liz’s parent (Rachel and Nicholas – I’m Rachel Nichole). So this was a special treat for me. She even brought me a beautiful pin that once belonged to my Aunt Rachel as a gift that I will cherish forever. It was fun having an hour to sit and talk before I had to head through security again. Well to make a long story short, after sitting on the runway for almost 3 hours, my flight was canceled. So they gave us each a hotel room for the night and I spent the night in Chicago. Unfortunately it was so late (after 11pm) that I couldn’t go into the city and I left too early the next day to make it out, but at least I had a nice place to sleep and shower before heading home. Plus I felt much safer flying on the next day as the weather the night before was like a blizzard! And the weather the day I left was beautiful and sunny.

So now I am home. I am going through some serious jetlag. More than I have experienced in the past, but I know this will pass. I went and got my new driver’s license on Friday and have had a couple days with my parents. It has been nice, although trying to stay awake until at least 8pm every night has been proving a difficult task! I know I will adjust soon.

Thank you all for your prayers this past month. I ask that you keep March in your prayers. I start work tomorrow (the 1^st) and have a lot of decisions to make over these next 2 months that I am home. Please pray for clear direction and peace from the Lord as I seek Him and His will for my life.

Grace and Peace,

Rachel

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Airports, Airplanes and Flying...Oh My!

Because ya'll are curious when I will be home, I thought I would send this out to let you know! I will probably put it in my update for February as well, but I thought I would post it before then to answer your questions. Because I don't know what my internet will be like after today.

I will be flying out of Budapest, Hungary Airport on the morning of February 24th. I will fly to London, then Chicago then home to Orange County. I was totally blessed to find a good deal on my ticket and it was actually cheaper for me to fly out of Hungary and into Orange County, than to fly out of Bucharest and into LA. All of which was totally the Lord and has allowed me the time to visit friends and ministries in Timisoara and Oradea (only 3.5 hours from Budapest).

I will be home from Feb 24th - April 27th. During March I am totally blessed to be able to work for a few weeks at my sending church Calvary Chapel WestGrove. Which is awesome, this will help me pay for my plane ticket and provide me with some spending money, as well as money for my bank account for the future! I will also be house sitting for a few weeks for some friends which is another HUGE blessing!

It has been over a year since I have been home, and so it will be good for me to have some time with my family and friends. I hope to see all of you in Cali while I am home. My priority is my family, especially my parents. But I look forward to seeing as many people as I can. This time period allows me to have time with my family over Easter and my Dad's Birthday, my Sister's Bday and my parent's wedding anniversary. As well as to be home for March which is Mission's Month at Calvary WestGrove.

I will be flying back out of Orange County on the 27th of April to return to Romania.

There are many opportunities open before me right now. Both in and out of Romania. I ask that you join me in prayer while I am home that the Lord will lead me and guide me and direct me as He always has been so faithful to do. That He will show me His will and plan for my future. I want more than anything to be in the center of His will. I will keep you all up to date while I am home with my monthly email updates and will post them on my blog and facebook.

See you all soon!

Grace and Peace
Rachel


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Soar

"God is looking for those who will be His, not just workers. Christianity is full of workers—but He doesn’t easily find individuals who have given up every right to run their own lives and be completely His...

This journey is not about rules and regulations and directives. It is a sense of living with another world on the inside of us. It is then that we can truly soar above the weight of this world. Will you join me on this journey?"

-KP Yohannan


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God Wants to Work Through You!

"Unbelief says: Some other time, but not now; some other place, but not here; some other people, but not us. Faith says: Anything He did anywhere else He will do here; anything He did any other time He is willing to do now; anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us! With our feet on the ground, and our head cool, but with our heart ablaze with the love of God, we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey. God wants to work through you!"
-AW Tozer


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Pursued by God

This study by Louie Giglio is amazing. What a blessing it was to me today!

:)

Grace and peace
xo


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Search Me...

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
try me, and know my anxieties;
and see if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
--Psalm 139:23-24

"I suppose my suggestion will not receive much serious attention, but
I should like to suggest that we Bible-believing Christians announce
a moratorium on religious activity and set our house in order
preparatory to the coming of an afflatus from above. So carnal is the
body of Christians which composes the conservative wing of the
Church, so shockingly irreverent are our public services in some
quarters, so degraded are our religious tastes in still others, that
the need for power could scarcely have been greater at any time in
history. I believe we should profit immensely were we to declare a
period of silence and self-examination during which each one of us
searched his own heart and sought to meet every condition for a real
baptism of power from on high. "
-AW Tozer



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