Day one of Family Camp

Ahhhh, what a first day. So, lets start at the beginning...

I ended up going to sleep shortly after I made my last post to the blog. I was sitting in my room and felt like the room was moving all around me. Definitely not a good sign! So, after a couple phone calls, I called it a night. God was telling me my body and mind needed the rest more than the message needed preparing. And who was I to argue? :)

So, after a few hours of sleep, I woke up to a thunderstorm starting, albeit I thought it was just going to be rain. So, I closed the window as much as I could without closing it all the way. And, of course, I was now wide awake. So, I opened the laptop, fired up Word and away we went as God directed me in what to prepare in the message. So, as I typed away, I notice a flash...then, about 8 or so seconds later, followed by thunder. Oh boy, here's coming a thunderstorm! Now, here's where my geek-ness comes into play. Instead of thinking "oh man, that means I'm not going to sleep anytime soon I guess", I start thinking "I should probably unplug the laptop just in case". Eh, whatever, I'll keep working. So, again, away I typed. Then came one more lightning strike followed by thunder. This time, though, it was only a few seconds apart. Then came the third set. Only about a second apart (if that) and it shook the building. And then it was time to unplug the laptop! :D

Anyways, as the thunder rolled on through the night, I continued preparing until it was finished. So, at 6 am local time, I layed back down for a couple more hours rest, which was great. As the morning approached (I know, its already morning, but follow me here), I was awoken by a high-pitched scratching...by a pidgeon that decided to land on my window. And so starts the day!

Radu and Emma picked us up around 9:30 to take us up to the camp. And it was a perfect opportunity to play tourist. So, out came the camera and the memory card became a little more full. Then we arrived at the camp...which meant more pictures!! :) The camp was being held at a resort set back into the foothills of the Carpathian mountain range, so you can imagine what kind of pictures I took. After everyone arrived and we settled into our dining and discussion hall, we congregated to begin the camp. First, we had prayer and worship, which was great. It always fascinates me to hear the same songs I know in a language I don't. To see a different culture worshipping God in a different language but with the same songs is an amazing sight to me. So, next up was Pastor Rich with his message. He preached out of Ephesians 5 on the importance of submission, not only for wives to their husbands but for husbands to their wives along with both to God. A very good message indeed. Now, what was even more amazing about this messsage is that it set up a lot of what I will be covering tomorrow (as I was rescheduled between my last post and this morning). What makes it amazing is that I felt I needed to add more support for it, but God kept telling me "no". And now I know why. :)

Now it was time for everyone to move into the rooms we were staying at. We moved our stuff into the room on the third floor, which was amazing to say the least. However, it would only sleep four...and there are five of us right now. As it turns out, more couples ended up coming to the camp than anticipated and their were not enough rooms for everyone. What a problem to have, right? There's too many families wanting to strengthen their marriages and their relationships with God for me to stay there. :) So, I am now staying with another one of the ministers, Ari, and his family. I'll add more details about this in just a bit. So, after all the families and couples got settled in, we met back downstairs for lunch. This was my first real experience of Romanian food (besides the aformentioned gogosi, pronounced gogosh). The food was great, and included a vegetable soup to start with followed by chicken served over garlic mashed potatoes. Very good indeed!

Now we were faced with a small problem. After taking in all that great food, what do we do to work it off? Their answer...soccer! I haven't played in over ten years, and although I was tempted to play, I decided to take more pictures. After wandering around with the camera playing tourist, the Bordens showed me where everyone else went. So, I went down to the soccer field...and took more pictures of them playing and everything else around the field (the small ponds, the river, etc.). But, after turning down a couple of invitations to play, I finally decided to put the camera away and play. And boy was I out of practice...and out of shape! But, no matter. The object wasn't to win, but to have fun and, as one of the guys put it, survive to the end of the game. So, in I went and played I did. Somehow, I actually managed to score 2 goals. Go figure! :) Needless to say, this was a great bonding experience for me with some of the Romanians that came.

After a nice shower and a change of clothes, we moved on to the couples time. This is where the couples sit and discuss their marriage in an effort to strengthen not only their marriage but also their relationship with God, both individually and as a couple. Our team decided to spend the time bonding as a team, discussing past experiences along with our trip thus far. I was actually a little sad that it had to end as soon as it did, but who am I to argue with dinner. :) So, off to more great Romanian food we went.

And oh was it great! We had seasoned, grilled pork chops served with skinned, baked red (I think) potates and salad. Needless to say, I'm still a little full!

So, with a good dinner in the stomach, it was time to move on to the last part of the day. For this, we split off into 2 groups, one for the husbands and one for the wives. In this time, we discussed not only how the message from this morning impacted each of us but also how we are putting forth the effort to enrich our spiritual lives in regards to our relationships (well, their marriages and my relationship :) ). For me, I got to hear about ways to do this not only in a marriage but also with kids in the picture. So, after we heard from everyone, we paired off and prayed for each other. And, being that I came here to serve, I made myself available to anyone.

And, God being who He is, had a gentleman by the name of George sit with me and we began to share about our weak points and then prayed. What's truly amazing is that this man, some 6000+ miles away in a completely different culture, has a lot of the same struggles in his life as I do. Now, not wanting to turn down an opportunity, we prayed for each other and, afterwards, shared ways that we can continue to grow stronger in our walks with God and be more Godly men to the lady in our perspective lives (him to his wife, me to Jennifer). I came to serve, but ended up being served as well. God is good, yes?

So, with the evening over and everyone free to do as they wish (ping-pong and pool were the 2 games being played) Ari and I packed up along with his family and others to come back. Ari and his family have opened their home to me to stay for the night so that everyone else can stay on-site for the family camp. Truly, these are amazing people God has brought around me. So, after a great discussion in the van, we arrived at their home. And, after some Romanian ice cream (which, yes, is pretty great indeed :) ), I sit here now updating you all on the day that has just passed. Unfortunately, the family camp doesn't have an internet connection, so the rest of the team won't be posting until tomorrow. So, look forward to seeing what they experienced.

Until then, goodnight everyone and God bless. I'll post again soon, and please forgive any typos. It is 15 min. to 1am here and I'm running on maybe 7-8 hrs. total of sleep for the past 2 days. Time for some sleep.