Caramidari

Caramidari in acrylic

Sezer (I think)

The painting above is from a photo I took last Fall from the Hope Center in a Calarasi neighborhood called Caramidari.

Random Trivia: Caramidari is a word which means brick.

Caramidari is the poorest neighborhood in the city of Calarasi and there are a lot of problems there both physical and spiritual. The Hope Center is a building that was built by Outstretched Hands of Romania and it's used as a ministry base for humanitarian aid, bringing the good news of Jesus to the people, and teaching academics to the children there who tend not to stay in school.

The photos I've included are a few of the kids who come to the Hope Center for activities in the Summer or school work in the Fall, Winter and Spring. I've labeled the one's whose names I remember.

Most of the people in this neighborhood are Roma or Turkish and they are usually referred to by everyone, including themselves, as Gypsies.

 We've heard the phrase "poverty mindset" and it is quite prominent in this area. The poverty mindset is a term we use to refer to the "giving up" that many poor people seem to do. They give up trying to better themselves, keeping themselves and their belongings clean and in order and it just wastes away because they don't feel that they have hope to get out of their predicament.

I know many kids from this area and one of my last posts was about Iasar, Sunita and Nusa, three kids from Caramidari who were baptized. There is also a teen named Elvis who is from Caramidari and has been saved.

God is working in Caramidari and will continue to do so. You can pray for the people there and God will work through your prayers. They're very beautiful and life in Caramidari is very rough and difficult.

Roza

Romanian Christmas Carols

Last week I found two very lovely things in my Facebook news feed, two new music videos from my favorite Romanian band, Umar La Umar. The videos are of the band singing Christmas carols. You can watch them if you click on the links below.

An Dupa An (Year After Year)
Daruri Scumpe (Precious Gifts)

Daruri Scumpe is my personal favorite. If you want to see their video from last year, check out Seara De Craciun (The Evening of Christmas).

Random thread of info for you, in Romania, people like to slaughter a pig for Christmas. They will slaughter it wherever they are, and Romanians aren't as squeamish as Americans, so you may see a pool of blood on the sidewalk in plain sight.

I hope you enjoy this music, and don't forget to listen to your favorite carols this Christmas season! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Hope Center, Caramidari Baptism

Yesterday I received in my email a link to the newest Outstretched Hands update. It's from about the Hope Center Baptism which happened about two months ago, but it's still very good news.

These kids are very sweet, very lively and Iasar and I have a joke. He calls me "sora mica" which means little sister and I call him "frate mare" which means big brother. He was one of my best buddies. If I have my information right, Sunita and Iasar are brother and sister. By the way, Nusa is said Noosha and Iasar is said Yashar.

Introduction

Worshiping with Romanians, Norwegians and Americans

Hanging out with kids at the Hope Center in Caramidari

This is the beginning a blog specifically for the purpose of informing people about Romania and the spreading of the Gospel there through missions.

Bran Castle. Pen and Ink.

As some of you already know, I was in Romania on two occasions, in the Fall of 2012 and again this Summer (2013). I want to return to Romania as a long term missionary to continue working with Outstretched Hands of Romania.  I believe that God has been calling me there to do His work.  One thing that has happened is that over the last year or so is that I've been studying Romanian a lot and can now speak it fairly well.  Perhaps I'm not amazing in Romanian, but I can carry on a conversation and order food at a restaurant or talk about God.  I still have a lot to learn about the language, but I have a good foundation at this point.

Hopefully on this blog I can share with you the artwork I make of Romania, it's scenery, and the people there.  Probably I will also be referring to the updates that come directly from Outstretched Hands and from other people who have involved themselves in the ministry to one extent or another, such as my Norwegian friends.

I would appreciate all the prayers you all can give.  God is doing a mighty work in Romania and the hearts of the people are very open to hear the word of God.

Here is the Outstretched Hands website.
This link is for a video about missionaries I know in Romania.  The cost of NOT going?
Here you can see the most recent update video about a girl I know who's name is Ghiuler.

The audience at a tent event in Bogata