Rest and retreat.

One of the most lovely things that Christian Reformed World Missions provides as support to its staff and partners is an annual retreat.  For those of us who serve in Europe, our retreat is regional, since there is usually only one family in each country.  This means that once a year we get to gather with all the other missionaries across Europe and Eurasia (as well as a few families from North Africa) in a beautiful place to be nourished -- prayed for, taught, encouraged, and loved.

This year the retreat was in Switzerland.  It was at a Christian Bible school and conference center in a little town called Beatenberg, perched high in the mountains above Interlaken, overlooking some of the most famous mountains in the Alps.  It was gorgeous.

The view from our room... amazing.

The retreat speakers focused on intimacy with God and soul care, which was a really welcome topic, as we have sometimes struggled with knowing how to feed ourselves in a church and cultural context so different from the one we grew up in.  As always, spending time laughing and story-telling and sharing with other people serving around Europe was so incredibly rich and fun and Good.  We are really grateful!

We took 3 extra days to explore bits of the lovely country of Switzerland (who knows if we'll ever get to come back again?!)  Here are just a few highlights.

At the Reformer's Wall in Geneva... it was rainy but we were still excited to see huge statues of Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli... haha. 

A cheese factory in Emmental!  These cheeses are HUGE. 

Beautiful Bern.  Look at that water!  Apparently people go swimming in the river year-round, and I can believe it... I wanted to plunge myself in to its turquoise loveliness too! 

Bern's beautiful city center.

Views on the train ride from Bern to Interlaken... 

 Rested and happy.

We are so, so grateful.

Spring cleaning isn't always what it seems.

Spring has come!  The valley is full of fruit trees, which are bedazzled in the white and pink of full bloom.  Every morning we look out our window to see the green creeping higher and higher up the slope, the last remains of snow on the peaks fading away.  And down in town, it's apparently time for spring cleaning: a flurry of sidewalk repaving, pothole filling, tree painting (weird, I know; apparently it's a European thing to paint the bottom of tree trunks white), pruning, planting, washing.

But this spring cleaning isn't all it seems.  We haven't seen Lupeni looking so spiffy since we moved here, so we were curious about the sudden effort.  Turns out, it's an election year.

(Insert ominous music here.)

Now, I am not usually a cynic or a pessimist.  In fact, my optimistic tendencies to find the silver lining in everything have driven many a friend, including my husband, crazy at times.  But even I am struggling here.  Yes, I am grateful that the sidewalk we walk down every day on the way to the office, once as rippled and cratered as the surface of the moon, is now covered in shiny black asphalt.  I am happy to see little kids finally able to ride their scooters and moms push their baby strollers down the hazard-free sidewalk, as they should, instead of down the street.  I am happy that the benches in the park are being repaired and repainted, that new playground equipment got installed, and that the shrieks and giggles of happy children are filling the warm, sunny air.

But really?  I would be much happier if the mayor had been doing his job all along, rather than saving up his good deeds for a showy attempt to buy good will in the months before an election.  (He's disqualified from running, by the way, since he's been under house arrest for the last year by the national anti-corruption bureau... but his son is running.  So it's not a big step forward.)

Plus, some of the "repairs" seem to actually be making things worse.  Our apartment used to look out onto two big, beautiful willow trees -- one in the park across the street, and one in the empty lot in front of the neighboring block.  But in the past few weeks, men have come with chainsaws to "prune" the trees -- though in this case, pruning means simply hacking off all the branches and leaving the trunk standing naked, like a giant bare stick stuck into the ground.  No one knows why the mayor has suddenly sent his people out to hack all of Lupeni's most beautiful city trees, but I've heard rumors he's selling the wood.  As if the rampant illegal logging in the mountains around our town wasn't enough.  Sigh.

As a foreigner who works for a non-political NGO, I don't feel like it's my place to do or say too much about the elections... which is hard for me!  So for now I am simply praying, oh Lord, have mercy.  Give the people of Lupeni wisdom in finding an alternative, a leader who will steward resources wisely and actually care for the city well.  Give them the power and courage to stand up to corruption and vote-buying and lazy, selfish leadership.  Give them hope for this city, a vision for its flourishing, and the wisdom and passion to bring that vision to life.

A visit from the board.

Last week, Jack and I hosted two members of the Christian Reformed World Missions Board of Trustees.  The Board apparently sends its members out periodically to visit different fields so that they can better know the places where CRWM missionaries are serving and therefore make wise and informed decisions.  I think that's great and we were excited to have them come see Romania.

But we were also really curious how the visit was going to go.  Steve and Jan, the other CRWM missionaries who live in Romania (who are actually employed by CRWM, while we are merely partners), are currently on home service in the United States.  So we were asked to show the board members around the country, introduce them to Steve & Jan's partners in Târgu Mureș (some of whom we knew, and others we hadn't yet met), and also bring them to Lupeni to see the work we're involved in with New Horizons Foundation.

It went really well.  One of the board members was actually on the Residence Life staff in our dorm when Jack and I were at Calvin, so we already knew him and were happy to spend a week reconnecting.  The other board member was new to us, but we quickly grew to like him too.  Over the course of our time together we were able to introduce them some of our favorite places and people here, and they were encouraging and prayerful and delightful guests.  It was fun for me and Jack to get to know some of Steve and Jan's partners up in Târgu Mureș, and we know it was encouraging for our local partners here in the valley to be visited by caring outsiders who took the time to listen and learn.

Here are just a few pictures from our time together.

A visit to the cantina at Betel. 

A stop at the lovely Peles Castle in Sinaia. 

Checking out the construction of new walls at the Fara Limite Climbing Gym. 

Listening to a partner in Targu Mures describe visions for a work training program for street kids, 

focused on construction and agriculture.

A trip up to snowy Straja to see where VIATA camp is held each summer.

A rest stop in Horezu, where we saw some of Romania's beautiful pottery. 

The board members even joined us for games at IMPACT!

A walk around Bucharest their last morning, where we wandered by the People's Palace. 

Smoke-free.

A happy announcement (from my perspective, at least): as of yesterday, Romania is smoke-free in public places!!!

Though Romania has been part of the European Union since 2008, it lags behind in a number of ways -- for example, we still use the Romanian leu instead of the euro.  Also, until March 15, Romanian restaurants, bars, train stations, you name it, were hazy and gray.  But yesterday the law changed, and people now have to step outside to light up.

As a non-smoker and a person with allergies, I am personally thrilled.  I know for some people, this is a frustrating change.  But in the interest of public health, I am really grateful that Romania has put this into law.  And yesterday evening, as we went out for dinner with some visiting guests, I was pleasantly surprised, as person after person in the restaurant quietly got up, slipped on their jacket, and stepped outside for a short smoke.  The air was clearer than I had ever seen it inside that restaurant.  I had expected more complaining or resistance, I guess -- but nope.  The change was made, and that was that.  Hooray!

Marțișor.

By now I am a few days late, but I just wanted to wish you a happy spring!

The Romanian holiday of Marțișor might be my favorite day of the year.  On March 1st, the streets are full of vendors selling the earliest of spring flowers -- snowdrops mostly, and a few early tulips too -- and little red & white bracelets with baubles attached.  Men buy them for their wives and girlfriends, parents buy them for their children, students buy them for their friends -- and by the end of the day, every vase is brimming with flowers and every lapel decorated with a little splash of color, a little drop of hope that spring is coming, that the winter is almost over.

Proverbs.

Last week I was working on a lesson for the IMPACT curriculum which required using some proverbs about health from around the world.  Searching for proverbs with trustworthy translations and interpretations in languages you don't know is a tricky task, and in my search I came across a few Romanian proverbs and expressions that I thought were interesting... so I'll share them here!

Așteaptă, murgule, să paști iarbă verde.

Literally translated, this one says "Wait, little mule, to eat the green grass."  Strangely, the website I found it on translates it as "While the grass grows, the seed starves," meaning something along the lines of don't wait too long for a great thing because in the meantime you might miss the good thing right in front of you.  I'm not convinced, though... so at risk of publishing a totally misinformed opinion on the internet, I think this proverb is about impatience. I can picture some farmer petting a young donkey on the head as it tries desperately to eat the first growth of spring, then gently tugging him away to eat old winter hay for just a few more weeks until the grass is good and green and lush.

Cine s-a fript cu supă, suflă și-n iaurt.

In English, this one is "He who burned himself with soup blows even on yogurt."  I love this proverb and its message about our tendency to remember past pain and become hesitant to try things again, fearing we'll experience the same shame or discomfort.  But yogurt won't hurt us... though our fear that it might can sometimes overcome that knowledge.  Also, I just think this one is funny.

Cine aleargă după doi iepuri nu prinde nici unul.  

Literally translated, this proverb says "He who runs after two rabbits doesn't catch either of them."  In other words, choose a goal and focus on it, or else your efforts will always be scattered and only half-successful.  It's kind-of like the opposite of "kill two birds with one stone."  Poor animals.

Copiii, nebuni și bețivii spun adevărul.

I am not so sure that this proverb is totally true, but I find it interesting anyway.  It says "Children, fools (crazy people), and drunkards tell the truth."  I do think those three groups of people tend to have fewer filters for what is considered correct and acceptable to say, and their frankness can be refreshing and insightful.  But truth?  I guess it depends on the subject.

Cu moartea toate diferențele dispar.

"With death, all differences disappear."  A little bleak perhaps, but this one might be the truest of all of them.  In the end it doesn't matter if we stored up treasures on earth; the differences between Roma and Romanian or black and white or rich and poor will all be made right.  Justice and mercy will reign.  For many of the people we work with here, that's a huge source of hope and encouragement and joy, and I learn from that every single day.

Sri Lanka.

A few days ago I got back from Sri Lanka, from an amazing week of IMPACT leader training.  One of the amazing (and exhausting) parts of my job as the international replication coordinator for IMPACT is traveling to the first training in any new country that begins the IMPACT program.  I do this to get to know the partner and their on-the-ground context as well as I can; to ensure that each program has a similar starting point; and to build trust and friendship for the years of collaboration that are ahead.  After that first training, though, I tend to send other trainers back to the country, so that they can bring their own perspectives and help share the privilege and challenge of helping IMPACT grow and develop in new contexts.

So this time it was Sri Lanka!  I was nervous, as it was our first time partnering with an organization in the Indian subcontinent, as well as our first time working in a post-war context.  Sri Lanka's violent civil war only really ended a few years ago, and many of the youth that our local partners are working with have PTSD from some of the horrible things they've seen and experienced.  Yet despite this, there are so many similarities between the Sri Lankan context and the Romanian context (or other countries where IMPACT is growing).  A huge exodus of young people from the country to work in more wealthy neighboring countries, where they're often exploited but earn enough money to send to their families back home.  A rural population that's shrinking as agriculture becomes less appealing to young generations, and youth who move to the big cities only to find themselves mired in poverty.  Increasing influence of technology -- smartphones, Facebook, and social media becoming commonplace among the young.  A desire for a better life, for economic security, for a sense of hope and belonging.  All of that is familiar.

It's an honor to lead these trainings.  The participants are so often amazing and experienced and I usually feel like I learn more from them than they learn from me.  This course was no exception, as the local partners shared their vast wisdom with me, usually speaking in their second or third language!  It's humbling and thrilling, and I am excited to see how IMPACT will make a difference in their work.

So here are a few pictures of my 11 days in Sri Lanka -- good memories and an exciting beginning!

 A good training on non-formal education always includes good games!

 Training participants share their expertise with each other as they think about how to adapt the program to their context.

The training participants! 

Dinner after the training each evening was an adventure... 

My co-trainer and I took one extra day in Sri Lanka to tour a bit, including visiting an elephant orphanage! 

On our last day in Sri Lanka we took a few hours to walk the beach in Colombo before boarding the plane back to the Romanian winter.