Getting to know Liz, one of the American team members here, at Ginger Ale, a British/Romanian restaurant that incidentally does not sell ginger ale.

Entrance to The Metropolitan, the biggest and most important Romanian Orthodox church in the region. No tours today. Under construction. As was every other major tourist attraction in the city.

When looking into a cannon, always make sure you're wearing eye protection.

Guess who! Bonus points if you get them all right.

The remains of a picnic with Kim from Malaysia

Thea was instantly surrounded by adoring fans, including Nirvana, our token New Zealander.

Erin and the kids skipped the country before we could get a decent photo, but we managed to catch Dave. Dave is the pastor/elder of the international church here.

With Trevor and Christina (and baby!)

Baptism. Delighted to see these three identify with Christ in this way.
L to R: Idy, Uche, Lilian

Medical students release their pre-exam frustration on an asphalt soccer field.

Oh, the Fun...

Picnicking on the hillside overlooking the city...okay, so it was a pretty relaxed picnic.

Ellie with a sampling of wild mountain (okay, big hill) flowers...

Deep discussions over KitKats and Hershey bars...

Dad checks out the Romanian grass to see how the flavor compares to American grass. I think Romanian grass is more nutritious.

Lilian, long-time friend and sister in Christ. She sweetly joined us at Little Texas (Iasi's only tex mex restaurant) for an evening. Oh, the laughter...

Indian boys just have soccer in their veins. These guys found a miniature ball, rolled up their jeans, and had at 'er. The rosebushes in the border garden suffered a tad--we're hoping they're more resilient than they look.

Yeah, EJ. Just stomp on it!

We ladies have our hobbies, too. Coffee-drinking and back-scratching after Bible study.

Together Again...

1000s of Words of April

Marit says goodbye to Luci at the airport. We miss you, Luci!!

Luci's last Sunday at church: Rovina, Luci, Becky, yours truly
Special thanks to crazy photographer, Alix.

Some of the guys came over to tear up the basketball court with Justin: Sam, Uche, Femi

Our boys competed in the NAVOBI soccer tournament. Dave (acting coach) explains to Liz why we lost the first day and won the second day--there was a major shift in coaching strategy. The second day we tried passing to our own team, and it was much more effective.

Small cross-section of our incredible cheering section. We were right in the middle of the OTHER team's cheering section, which means we had to be REALLY loud. You should have seen the looks the girls got when they jumped out of the stands and screamed when our guys scored...

Ola, Alix, and EJ, our awesome goalie and the two scoring strikers.

No comment.

It was a lovely afternoon...

...so Anita and I decided to pack a picnic lunch and climb a mountain somewhere and enjoy the sunshine. First things first. It's Easter week here in Romania (yes, we just have to be different, so we celebrate it at a different time than y'all), and lots of businesses are closed. Still, all things considered, I had relatively little difficulty finding sandwich fixings and other picnicky necessities. Score one.

When Anita and I actually met, I realized I'd forgotten to pass along the mountain climbing memo, and the cute little heels were definitely not gonna make it.

Plan B: city park. About a 25 minute walk. Not too bad, not too bad.

Eventually, we arrived at the park. It's a European park, which means there are paved paths, big trees, and benches. And that's all. Apparently, there is a large gap in my Romanian education that includes appropriate city park etiquette. You don't play sports in these places, and you don't sit on the grass. Grass is for dogs only.

But I didn't know that. Yet. So Anita and I set up our nice little picnic on the grass. Just as we were getting comfy, I heard a man's voice say something in Romanian.

Aw, I thought, somebody wants to join our picnic.

But when I looked up, it was a cop, who graciously and firmly informed me that we were definitely not allowed to sit on the grass. It wasn't even particularly nice grass, so I'm not sure what they were intending to protect it from or for, but we decided to be amiable in order to avoid risking deportation, and we moved our picnic to a bench. I'm quite convinced that we ruined many a runner's day as he or she gazed wistfully at our princely spread (can you say peanut butter and apricot jam sandwiches?), but hey, that's what happens when picnickers have to picnic on benches.

Moral of the story: what are cops doing walking around in the park, anyway??

I'm thankful for...

20. Spontaneous worship. When the praise of God's people transcends cultures and language and all other barriers and unites people in a spirit of worship before an Awesome God.


The baptismal service had ended, and we were all scattered throughout the building in various groups. Somebody started playing the piano, somebody else grabbed a drum, and we worshiped together for over an hour.

I love worship.

This is happening not very far from where I live...

Basically, Moldova's Communist party won more than a 50% majority in their recent elections, giving them the right to alter the Constitution, and the young people of Moldova took to the streets in response.

Seems a little oxymoronic to vote in Communism to me...but I guess that's my American mindset.

New York Times Article

(Photos by Denis Graur)