Day two of Family Camp

Good evening everyone. Time for another update from me...and I'll try not to fall asleep at the laptop as I type it. :)

So, I awoke this morning to some rather troublesome news. Apparently, Ari and his wife Moni had to take their little girl to the hospital while I was asleep at their house. Turns out she has a minor infection. She's doing better now, but I remember what those are like from my own childhood and still can't help but feel sympathy for her.

However, the camp must go on. So, after getting everyone ready, we all head out to go back to the resort for the second day. Which meant that I was going to up to speak on the topic of how to build a spiritual life as a couple. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous, as I always seem to be when I get ready to speak. Part of that I think is that I take too much ownership of the message, worrying that I won't be able to get across to them what God wants me to. I guess the big word that I need to remind myself of is "surrender"...surrender to the fact that I not up there to change lives, but to let God changes lives through me. I really hope that the couples that attended were listening to what God was saying to them and pulled something from it, but maybe that's just me still trying to take ownership of something that isn't mine to own, but rather to be a part of.

In any case, we packed up and got ready to head out. But, not without seeing some more of the resort we were staying at. One of the dads took us up the road a bit to the second lodge for a wonderful view of the foothills, the valley and the Carpathian mountains. And, of course, this was the one time I left the camera behind. GAH! Oh well, it turns out it was good I did, as some of the guys were there with a soccer ball. And who was I to turn down some ball-time with them again? :) But, after some brief warm-ups, we (the team) had to head back down for lunch, as we had to leave early to get back in time to drop off the ladies of our team for the music camp rehersals. So, after another round of great Romanian food, we went back to Sibiu and Betania. I'll admit, these past few days have been a blur, with the time difference, losing a day and being on the go with little sleep.

Anyways, we got back into Sibiu and dropped the ladies off. A few minutes later, the rest of us were back in our room in Sibiu. We had a little time on our hands to rest up and get ready to head to the small church in Roşia. This is the church that the teams before me helped to build, so it was very humbling to sit in the presence of the work that God has done through them. In any case, we joined them just as they had started worship. I was intrigued at how their service was held, having multiple times of worship followed by prayer. Afterwards, Pastor Rich and I introduced ourselves, since we were the only two not really participating in this service. Joanne and Karen followed us with a praise song done partly in English and partly in Romanian, accompanied by Emma (Radu's wife).

Now, it was Jerry's time to shine, so to speak. He got up and delivered a very powerful message that seemed to move a lot of the crowd. Radu followed him with yet another great message while Emma translated for us. After the service, we were shown around the new church, starting with the lower floor and new classroom and kitchen they are finishing up. Next, we were taken upstairs and shown the current classrooms they use, the room they are hoping to use to host guests as they come along and the room they are wanting to set up as a computer lab. And, of course, everyone starts looking at me once the word "computer" was mentioned. Go figure! :D

After taking in all that the church has and is offering to the village (and, of course, the awesome scenery around...and again, no camera lol), we came back into Sibiu for some downtime and dinner. I can't say enough just how hospitable the people here are. We walked into our room to find the table set and dinner waiting for us. And yes, it was very good indeed. :) So, after spending some time relaxing and finally getting in my first shower of the day (I know, pretty gnarly), I'm ready to hit the sack. So, have a great rest of the day (or night, wherever you may be) and I'll post again tomorrow.

Also, for those of you wondering and/or asking, I'm going to try and post some pics soon. But, as of right now, I've got 223 of them to go through. But, I will say, I'm really glad I got Jennifer this camera. Its been a big hit and very handy.

Goodnight everyone.