Day 3 - Ioana And Alison's Wild Adventures

SO I have to add an addendum to my Day 3 post because its actually pretty hilarious...

Ioana and I had dinner with the guys and did some mall-walking :)
And then we decided we wanted to go someplace nice for dessert - someplace that had a nice view.  So we asked someone local in the area if they had a recommendation and we were directed to a little place up on one of the hills that overlooks the city.

We put in the GPS the location and then we drive through the city, deciding we were experiencing horrible Cluj rush hour traffic.  Literally took forever!  Then we get to the base of the hill and we find that is barricaded by police.  We drive to another road up the hill - barricaded.  The next one, the same thing.  Ioana finally mentions that someone had mentioned that there was a futbol game going on and thats probably what it was about.  So - the next road we get to, she comments "I bet if YOU asked, they'd let us up since you're American."

So, we pull up to the police with my side facing them and I said in my best blonde, American voice "we're trying to get up the hill?"  The police say something in their Romanian language and shake their heads.  I continue to play the blonde thing and say "but how are we supposed to get up to the hotel?" The police kind of look around and start shrugging.  And then I keep on the blonde thing and pretty soon, sure enough, he moves the barricade and looks around and quickly motions for us to go through.  It was pretty hilarious.

But then the joke was on us, because once we started going up the hill, the GPS put us on this dirty, pot-holed rode that I think we almost burned out engine out on going up.  It was pretty scary, but even more hilarious :)

And when we got up - the view was worth it.  The pictures of course never do it justice, but just know the actuality of the view was way better...

And BTW, Mark Putman ---
yet more proof that Romania is the country you want to be doing missions in!  AND they serve their drinks ICE COLD!

I had to share this too... 

The local university here is named "Babes" ... I just laugh whenever I see it.  And its like Budapest where the campuses are all separate so the math one is right by us and then there are others all over the city.  Its actually pronounced "Bah-bish" but I like to think its just .... "babes".... :)

And the flowers are abundant here in Romania.  There are people all over selling flowers for dirt cheap.  You can buy this gorgeous bouquet of flowers for like 5 lei which is about $1.50.  The people just stand all over selling flowers, like person to person.  Most of them tend to be older people too so it makes me feel really bad and I want to buy all their flowers to help them.  

I'm glad I stayed this extra day in Romania for the fact that I was reading in I Corinthians 16:17 and its where Paul says how he rejoices that these guys came because "they refreshed my spirit..." and I just thought how thats so important for people who are working in the field, no matter what organization or platform or mission they're working with.  It can be tiring and endless and sometimes, they just need encouragement and someone to sit and listen to them and I'm happy to say - mission accomplished here in Cluj!

Thanks for praying for this trip and NOW - tomorrow I drive back around 8 or 9 in the morning and so I'll be back for the evening dorm outreach and my BHHP week will officially begin.