Day 3 Back

We got home from Romania on Sunday night after quite an adventure of digging our way out of our street in Braila, driving through the snow, shopping a little in Bucharest where it was snowing like crazy, short night at the hotel and early to the Bucharest airport to catch our flight to Munich. It all went off w/o a hitch. (I hope to post video of some of that adventure soon.)

In Munich we had a few hours layover and most of us had not slept much the couple of days before but we were headed home. We boarded our flight to Dulles (Washington, DC) where they had received 2 ft. of snow on Saturday/ early Sunday. It was a long flight filled with many laughs, movie viewings, and restlessness mixed w/ a little sleep.

Landing in Dulles and claiming luggage for customs and passport control was crazy. As before mentioned, DC had received 2 ft of snow and 75% of the airport ground crew did not show up for work. We finally got luggage, made it through customs, rechecked our luggage and have not seen it since. I dreamed last night that it is in Chicago and will come today. Crazy dream. I did talk w/ United and told them I would settle for $1000 compensation for my two lost bags and they said they would look harder.

I have done little since being back. Monday was filled with doing very little, but I did get a 5 mile run in for the first time in about 10 days. Tuesday was a 10-miler with my running buddies from work, Pancake Pantry breakfast, a chiropractor visit and dinner and grocery shopping with my bride. And a nice Starbuck's visit with Shelbi and Morgan. Good times for sure.

Today has been yard work with raking leaves and mowing the yard. It looks good by the way. Ran a couple of errands, did a little Christmas shopping so my wife would not everything she got herself from Christmas from me, and picked up some Big Bad Wolf brisket for dinner tomorrow night.

Oh, and Monday we went and saw Shiloh who is a new adoptive baby girl of our friends Todd and Angie. She is beautiful and here is a pic if you are interested.

Looking forward to an afternoon of nothingness. The pic above is our group digging out a bus wide path about 90 yards and drifts up to 5-6 ft deep. We were determined to get home. About 1/2 way through we found a snow plow driver and paid him to finish it off. God bless the snow plow!

Still Snowing

Ministry on Weds. was here in Braila at Home of Hope and we had a great time ministering to the children in the orphanage. Our team has done a great job of preparing and then having plans change and then have them change again. They have responded brilliantly. Here is a video from Weds. ministry.

On Thursday we headed into town and ministered to an area that has a church but no pastor. We were able to minister to a bunch of kids in a very small room and it was great fun. Some of our team headed out for home visits and found the city life and little less open to the Gospel. They came back encouraged though that they were being used for what God had called us to do. We also spent time in the morning making Christmas crafts for the staff here at Home of Hope and make all kinds of decorations that are adorning their areas now. The video can be viewed here (with maybe a little looking around on my site).

It is now Friday am and we are snowed and colded in. The temp is about 12 w/ feels like of 4 and the roads are still bad and the snow is coming down. Another 3-5 inches is expected today so we had to decide to stay close. Hoping to minister to the Home of Hope kids again today. It will be big fun.

Thanks for praying for us. God has done some pretty cool stuff in our group as well. These students are pretty incredible. I have learned much about God's timing and our plans and the students have done a good job of being flexible and having great attitudes. Our van drivers have been great to get to know and have been so careful with our group. The staff here that has served us have been over the top.

Snow and cold are reflected in the pic above.

On a personal note - it was the 2nd anniversary of Mom's death yesterday. Hard to believe time has flown by so quickly. Must seem like only a 1/2 second to her. I miss her but know my dad misses her more. Dad continues to do very well and my brother, James is the man. He encourages me so by his walk and his love for the Lord.

Snowy Romania

What a great day of ministry here in Romania today. We woke up to snow, it has snowed all day, and it is snowing now. Weatherman is calling for snow the next three days. We ventured out to our ministry sites and made home visits in the blowing snow, did children's ministry in a warm spot, and prayed alot as we ministered and our bus drivers navigated the snowy landscape.

The team is doing great. The children, youth and adults we have the privilege of serving are wonderful. We have eaten well and had sausage and cabbage tonight for dinner so who knows what the night holds. Cabbage is an interesting vegetable that does unusual things to one's stomach. Let the games begin!

Here is a quick video from our work tonight on the hats, scarves and gloves give away that we will do later in the week.

We are not sure what the weather will allow us to do tomorrow but we are planning on ministry to children and youth somewhere here in Romania one way or the other.

Monday Romania Report

It has been a full day of ministry here in Romania. Our two teams ministered in four different villages here doing programs for children involving music, Bible stories, games, crafts and many other activities. It was a great day of sharing in homes as well.

The children are a delight to work with as are the adults. We did youth ministry programs which involved many who were in their 20s but they responded well.

All the team members are doing a great job and everyone is healthy! The day was long and cold but very productive.

Will post more tomorrow and try to upload some video as well. Thanks for praying for us. They are calling for quite a bit of snow for the rest of the week so that will make it more exciting. It may as well snow with it being this cold. Having a great time!

Good Morning from Romania

It is 730ish a.m., Sunday, here in Braila Romania and most of the team is stirring around upstairs. Safe to say that many of them are pretty tired as am I but we got a good night's sleep last night. We are staying at the Home of Hope Orphanage and it is very nice accommodations with good warmth, nice beds, and hot water. Yea! (and internet obviously)

We have a total of 18 on the team and soon will be headed out to serve two different churches in the Braila area. Our team will be leading in worship through singing, testimonies, preaching and whatever else they would like for us to do. The afternoon is to consist of doing some children's ministry and encourage them to come back each day after school. We have many crafts, games, and lessons planned for them.

Our trip went very well. 10 of us left from Nashville about 630p on Friday and met the other 8 in Dulles, (who had come from Dallas, Charleston, and other places I am not remembering right now). All of our luggage and supplies made it with us except for one of the girl's bag that will arrive on Monday to us here in Braila.

Braila is located about a 3 hours drive NE from Bucharest and about 60 miles west of the Black Sea. The weather is mid-20s at night and mid-30s during the day and the wind likes to blow across this flat part of the country.

I will do my best to update our trip daily. Thanks so much for praying for our team and for the Roma people that God has allowed us to serve this week. Pray for our missionaries, Bob and Gayle Hill, who are wonderful people and have made us feel very welcome already.

Christmas Time is Here

It would be nice if that meant it was "slow down time" but in most cases, it means, "turn it up because there is a lot to accomplish." I headed to Orlando last Thurs. for the annual student meeting with NAMB and enjoyed my short time with them Thurs and part of Fri. I love those guys and their heart for God and for students. I really cannot believe God lets me do the stuff I get to do.

The weekend was extremely busy with ballgames on Friday night (I love announcing our home games and have a great court-side seat); haircut, neighborhood brunch, SEC championship game on TV with good friends Keith and Laurie D, and the late showing of The Blind Side. What a very good movie and to all the Alabama fans, good win against Florida. I am not a fan of either team but do like Tebow and his stand for Christ.

Sunday was filled with Community Cares with Morgan and the student council from DCA. We worshipped at a local methodist church and the Rev. Pat did a great job with the Micah 3:1-4 text. Best woman preacher I have heard in a long time. (That does not sound very Baptist of me, I know, but she did a great job with the text for sure.) Watched a little of the Titans game and then Sondra and I had dinner with the headmaster of DCA (one of my favorite people in the world) and a prospective high school principal and his wife. Very impressed with both of them and praying for God's direction. (I serve as the Board of Trusts chair at DCA this year. Somehow how they thought I would be a good fit. You can fool some of the people some of the time evidently. I do like serving in that role and am very excited about some things going on related to future at DCA that we will unveil after the first of the year.)

This week has been busy with work and our LifeWay State Summit is going on this week so I am in meetings most of the day. I appreciate these folks so much and for the way we are able to minister together.

On Friday, 18 of us head to Romania to serve among the Roma people group. We are doing all sorts of activities and storytelling while we are there. Please pray for us as we go and minister. I will try and update the blog as I can. We will be gone Dec. 11-20 and then when I return home we are planning on staying home this year as a family. Sounds good to me.

I am including a pic of Morgan and I from this past Sat. as we did a little shopping. Just one of those fun daughter/daddy pics.

Crazy, Busy Time

We enjoyed having Sondra's family with us for Thanksgiving and hit the ground running this week. The weekend was filled with Morgan playing basketball; Sondra, her sister, Bronwyn and mother traveling to Atlanta for the wedding of Nola who turns 80 this week. She married a great guy who is 86. I love it when people do not quit living even though they might be getting older.

We have enjoyed having my mother-in-law these past two weeks. She flies back to MO tomorrow and I head to Orlando for the NAMB Youth Evangelism Mtg. I am pretty sure I will stay away from Isleworth and all things Tiger Woods. He has enough going on and quite honestly I am praying that God would get a hold in his life and save their marriage. It is another case of having everything except Christ and He alone is the one who can fill your life complete.

This next week many state directors will be at our office in Nashville and the week will be filled with meetings. I am also trying to pull together the rest of the Romania Mission Trip together. You can read more about it here.

Sondra and the girls are doing pretty well. Morgan is trying to get over a little sickness, Shelbi is in her last week of classes and has finals next week, Sondra is subbing all week.

Headed to the Vandy/Mizzou game tonight. A good friend from work gave me a couple of tickets. What a nice guy.