Tales from Our Fairytale: Our First Full Day in Vulcanesti

5:00 am here – 8:00 pm at home

Once again, I’m up by 5:00 am. It’s SO hard knowing it’s 9:00 pm back home and not being able to talk to Brad.

That is going to be the most difficult part of this trip. Definitely went to sleep crying, woke up crying, and I’m still crying as I write this.

It’s such a strange place to be in…to be so excited to be somewhere, so anxious to see what is going to happen during the week, but to be so sad and long for home so much.

I don’t want to take this trip, this GIFT, for granted, but I would be lying if I said this was enjoyable right now.

It’s definitely the quiet/alone moments at night and in the morning that are the toughest. I’m definitely trying not to wish away the trip, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t ready to be home.

I really didn’t think it would be quite this hard, but I’m so thankful I have a home to long for with a husband like Brad to go home to. (I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t missing my mom and dad as well…)

10:30 pm here – 3:00 pm at home

Sunday was a good day – after writing (and crying) this morning for 2 hours and periodically throughout the day, looking back – I’d have to say it was great!

We started off with breakfast, (have I mentioned I’m sick of eating? It’s become impossible!) and then headed up to the Sunday morning service (which is from 10 to 12). James preached about who is our Paul and who is our Timothy from 1 Corinthians 4. Who is the person that disciples me, and who is the person that I disciple. I’m blessed to have many in my life that have poured in to me. Cyndi and Deb gave their testimonies as well and really made an impact on the brothers of the local church. The men were amazed that our ladies could speak so freely and share their stories with others.

At 11:00, those working with children mad our way downstairs to what started as complete chaos! We had no idea where to go and not enough “stuff” to do. Courtney and Erin each had a class with the things I had prepared for the two youngest groups and Michael had the oldest. He had prepared a master-teacher style lesson, going over a passage in Romans with the older kids. But this left the third age group open and I didn’t have a lesson prepared to share with them. These kids were 1^st and 2^nd graders, so master-teacher style wouldn’t be best, but we didn’t have any craft materials to use either.

Bryan and Jen definitely came to the rescue! Bryan makes the most chaotic situations seem so calm. Jen had some materials handy for a craft that we were going to do later in the week and things went great!

It ended up going really well. We had 13 kids in our class and we made a manger out of a paper sack with hay from sackcloth pieces that would hold baby Jesus in cloth. We talked with them about Jesus birth and the kids loved what they had made! Vica, our interpreter, is GREAT with kids and did an amazing job of interacting with them and getting them involved.

I learned a few words – Phonetically they are “Hara Sho” (which means it’s fine, this is good, or ok) and “Mala dee-ets” (which means very good job).

After we finished with the kids, we had lunch, (See what I mean about always eating! Lol) and this was probably the hardest meal yet. It seemed like I had just gotten passed breakfast and it was time for lunch! There was soup on the table when we came in, but Bryan had gotten me some crackers to eat. So I was just going to have those, when all of the sudden, 2 of the interpreters across from me started giving me a hard time. What I didn’t realize was that there was MORE coming. A plate of chicken and rice followed the bowl of soup and I had no other option but to eat so they would leave me alone.

After lunch we had some down time before the kids from Vulcanesti came for an afternoon of VBS. We had a lot of the same precious kids from the morning and we made watercolor butterflies (from coffee filters, clothes pins, and pipe cleaners) and told them about becoming a new creation in Christ. We read the story about the disciples turning away the children but Jesus told them to come. We also had them memorize the verse, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength” complete with motions. Looking back, it amazed me how quickly they learned the verse – possibly they already knew it, but within one or two tries, they knew the whole thing.

Best part of the day – talking to B for 17 minutes and 25 seconds! That helped tremendously and gave me a good jump-start to get going again. It was so good to hear his voice and share my sadness with him. I just love him!

We had free/down time from 5:00 to 6:30 and besides talking to Brad, it was nice getting to relax with some of the team. We’ve definitely had lots of laughs already.

Once again, it was time for dinner…I nicely and strategically positioned myself amongst our team from back home. I DID try the meal and finished off with crackers (and no harsh words).

After our meal, I went with Cyndi, Deb, and Glenda – along with Irina G (one of my very favorites – she LOVES Bryan and has known about me since the April trip he came on. She and her husband were also married on August 8, 2009!) uphill to the market where we got Jen a birthday cake and some local candies and ice cream.

We got back and the team was meeting so we totally surprised her with “Happy Birthday” and then Bryan, James, Richard, and Jeff raised her up in a chair 24 times – a Moldovan tradition.

Sunday was an early night, and we got back to our host homes around 9:30.