The end of 2012

My teammate Allyssa who had just moved here the beginning of December came to visit for New Year's. She is in Oradea for the year doing language study.  We had fun just catching up and visiting our friends.

On New Year's Eve, we headed to church. We had a time of celebration for the ending of this year. It was so much fun! The church was crowded and we all headed downstairs to the classroom for some food and fellowship. They played some crazy games which most of them had to do with pouring water on someone as a joke. It brought joy to my heart to see everyone having a good time, laughing, chatting amongst themselves and being all together. We were packed in but it was a great time. Below are a few pictures of this evening.

 After we left there we headed to Pastor Daniel's house where his daughters were hosting a party. All the youth from their church came over for games and food. There was so much food and some crazy games as well. At midnight we all went outside to see fireworks and to celebrate the arrival of the new year.  It was a great way to bring in the new year.

Nothing excited to report for New Year's Day. Allyssa and I stayed in our pajamas all day long and watched a few movies. It was a perfect day!!!

Once again God knew just what I needed and he provided for me! I was not alone, not one bit this whole holiday season. God is good!!!

I am excited for what this year holds. There are many things I want to do and am excited to see all that God has planned.

Christmas!!

I always look forward to Christmas! I love celebrating the birth of our Lord and I love being surrounded by those that I love. It just happened that this year most of those people were in the states and I was here in Romania. Thankfully, the Lord has blessed me with some amazing people here that I truly consider family.

The Sunday before Christmas, our kids did their play. It was about how the Christmas tree, all the ornaments, the star, tinsel and bells all thought they were the most important part of Christmas but then they realize that we celebrate Christ's birth and that is who is most important. They did such a great job! I felt like a proud mama sitting there watching them saying their lines from memory and sing the songs. Below are a few pictures of the kids during the play and the other ones are of the kids enjoying some cake afterwards. 

 Christmas Eve, I joined my friends at their church as the children did a Christmas program!! I always love hearing kids reciting the scriptures and singing praises!! It was so sweet!! I then had dinner with Daniel and his family. I went home and watched It's a Wonderful Life, as it is a tradition in our family on Christmas Eve. I talked with my family and headed to bed. I chose not to go Christmas caroling since I wanted to be at church the next morning. 

I started Christmas day at church in Nusfalau! It was so great to spend this morning with these people who I serve but who have in return have been a huge blessing to me by accepting me and loving me! I then visited 7 different families and delivered some goodies. I was gone the whole day visiting everyone. The last three families I visited were my neighbors. I was able to spend some time with them and had some nice chats. I came home and skyped my whole family because they were all gathered at my grandparent's house. I had my moment earlier in the day when I realized that I wasn't home for the holidays but thankfully the Lord filled my day visiting friends that I was never able to dwell on it. I love how God takes care of me!

Women's Christmas Event

I had been throwing around the idea of doing something special for the ladies in Nusfalau. It wasn't til I mentioned my thoughts/ideas to Hayley, a lady who was here in October with a team that I decided to do something. I talked with Hayley and she brought it before the ladies at her church. They ended up sponsoring 30 ladies for the event. What a blessing!! This really encouraged me with planning this event. I spent about a month searching for little things for their gift bags. I talked with Pastor Daniel and he was excited about the evening too. We planned out how we wanted the evening to go.

Little did I know all that God had planned for the evening. I had prepared 30 gift bags, had 30 scarves and had 20 Christmas glasses. So I was prepared for 30 ladies and Daniel had said that for sure 15-20 would come so I felt prepared. I had gone over my message time and time again wanting to share about God's gift of salvation so I was ready. I went an hour early to prepare the room how I wanted it to look.

Then 10 minutes before our start time the ladies start showing up. Now normally I am waiting a good 15 minutes for them to come but on this night they were early and they just kept coming in. I started counting but kept losing count. I started getting nervous and I was waiting on Daniel, his wife and his daughter, Alexandra to come. I had set tables nicely for about 25 though prepared to move things around if more showed but in fact I was making trips upstairs to get more seats and benches for them.  I was amazed at the turnout but also so overwhelmed because I didn't have enough gifts for 60 ladies. YES that is right I said 60 ladies. The pictures below don't even do justice with how packed we were in the room but it was a sweet time and I was truly blessed. Pastor Daniel shared a few words and opened the evening in prayer then I shared about God's gift of salvation and how He wants each of us to accept it. We then sang a few Christmas carols and had cake and snacks. Between all the passing out I was still worried about how to handle giving the gifts out but Daniel had an idea and it worked perfectly. Everyone left with something!!! What an amazing night and it would have not been possible without the lovely ladies from Powdersville First Baptist Church.

I pray that the ladies heard the truth of God's love for them and were blessed by this evening. Below are some pictures from the evening.