One too many Christmas Parties and One too many Night shifts

This past week has been a busy one for me. Last Sunday was the International Women's Association's Christmas Bazaar. Here are a few shots from it.





And if I hadn't been busy enough, I had to work 2 night at Casa Agar and then had many Christmas parties this past weekend.


In the past 4 days I have been to about 6 parties and well I am all party out. Here are a few pictures of some of the parties that have gone on!

Foster Kids and Kinder parties.

Staff Christmas Party- Yes I am grilling in the snow and no I am never going to do this again.

Resident Christmas Party and going away party for one of our staff. Basically hanging out with the babies.

And since I have also been covering some night shifts at Casa Agar, I wanted to show some of the fun that we have been having there. The girls love it when I work cause they can get away with more and well cause I am always doing something crazy with the kids.

Well this has been my week in pictures, actually this was just the best parts. I am now looking forward to getting some rest and a little family time. I get to go see my brother and his girls for Christmas and the nice bonus is my mom is also flying in.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Bazaar

Well you are looking at my very first piece of art that I have ever bought. It is called Romanian Kitchen and it was painted by my new friend Cynthia. Fun story-- I came all the way to Romania to buy a painting painted by a Texan living in Romania. I fell in love with this picture right when I saw it. You can taste the tomatoes just by looking at it. So I had to have it. But the problem was it was one of the items that the American table was auctioning off. I started off with the first bid and well about 3 or 5 more bids came in and well I wanted it so I put the last bid in. And now it is mine!!!! It will go in the new house next year! I can't wait!!

We did pretty good at the bazaar for the International Women Association. Not sure what the final count is for the American or all but we were constantly busy at the American table. And in the end, we had the best deals, I couldn't get the people to leave when it was over cause they wanted to keep buying. But they finally did and I was able to turn the money in, without counting it. I should get a total tomorrow.

I am so glad that the bazaar is over, I have never been so tired and sore in my life!! And to make it worse, today, one day later, I am working 2 shifts at Casa Agar. The Morning and night shift. So this morning has been busy.... got to the house and for about 2 1/2 hours I put together the new bunk beds. And now the moms are making jewelry around in the living room and the babies are talking amongst themselves.

I can't believe in a week I will be at my brother's with him, his girls, and my mom! I am so ready for a little break.

Life as an Expat!

Well as you all know, I joined the International Women's Association earlier this year and it has been an interesting few months. I have met so many ladies from all over the world! Right now I am on the charity committee, and that is interesting in itself. I am working on the American Table for the Christmas Bazaar and have gotten to meet many interesting ladies from the US. Some are wives of businessmen, other are Embassy people or wives of military serving here at the embassy. All are amazed that I choose to live here and work here. It is sad though cause many of these ladies do not get out of their neighborhood- they are basically living in a US neighborhood. They don't get to experience the Romania or the Bucharest I get to.
But I know God has brought me to them to be friends and a witness to them all. But I also get something out of it... more friends, more connections and chances to have fun!!!
Speaking of fun...I got to go to the US Marine house this past weekend for a chili cook off. First I never knew we had this house, or where it was. Second, it actually felt like home for me. I never really thought how growing up around the military would help me, but I actually understand some of the challenges these ladies have to go thru. Well now that I have made some new friends, maybe just maybe I can get an invite to the Embassy Fourth of July Bar-b-que. (I know, that is wishing for a lot!)

Well it tried to snow today, looks like winter is just around the corner!!!

I am still here!

Hi everyone,
Sorry I have not written in a while, but life here has been busy. I knew that coming back to Bucharest would be adjustment, but life has been crazy. I don't know what is worse, my weekly schedule or traffic. Oh wait, I know what is worse, the traffic!!! The other day I spent 30 minutes in traffic just to go 1.5 KM. I could have walked there and back! Traffic here is like nothing I have experience before. Every time I get behind the wheel I become a crazy person just like everyone else on the road. Sometimes, OK most of the time, when I get to where I am going, I have to ask forgiveness. All joking aside, I am learning how to get around more and even have venture to new parts of the city by myself. I have tried reading a map, but when the map is 160 pages, it can get a little difficult. But building are becoming more familiar.

Life at Casa Agar is busy is also. We now have 5 moms and 5 babies. And it has been great getting to know them. I am even filling for shifts, which the moms love cause I bring movies and I them stay up a little later. :)

Life with Touched Romania the rest of our ministry is also busy. This month I get to play photographer for our foster kids. Many of our foster kids have been with us for a few years, so it nice to have updated pictures on each of them and watch them grow.

So in short, life has been a little stressful for me, but as I find my place here, I hope to the stress becomes less (yeah right). God has been good through it all. He has given me great friends to help me thru the really stressful times. And of course when I get really stress, all I have to do is spend a few minutes or hours holding a baby and my stress just melts away.

A week in my life

Well, I knew once I got back to Bucharest, life was going to rush past me! But I don't think I was planning on it this fast!!
Last week, (I think it was last week) a new missionary family arrived and are staying with me until they find a place. FYI- Rent is crazy here!! We had a team arrive on Saturday afternoon, and we also had our first family dinner at Casa Agar, I was the cook for the night. And as I grilled outside, it of course started to drizzle on me, but that did not stop this little Texan from grilling. The dinner went great and it is beginning of us bridging the gap between the families and our moms.
On Sunday, we had our first pancake breakfast fellowship for the English service, and even though it was stressful for me (setting up, getting it all ready, and plus being sick with a cold) it was a success!!! And Pastor Cristi is already asking when the next one is going to be.
Monday was meeting day for me. Had a big meeting with the missionaries and then we had dinner with everyone, again I was the cook (never got to grill until I got here, but I must say I like it). Our new area directors came in and visited with all of us!
Tuesday, I attended the charity meeting for the international women association of Bucharest. This an association made up mostly foreigners who are working (or husbands) in Romania in the business or diplomat world. It was very interesting to say the least. The plan is to for me to get involved more with these ladies and let them get familiar with Touched Romania. Also it is a opened door of ministry for me to share my faith with them and to invite them to church.
As we were living one of the ladies asked if we could give her a ride home. As she was telling me where to go, I notice that we were in the embassy neighborhood. And when she told me to stop I notice I was parking next to an ambassador's house. (From my experience I knew I could not park there, and I asked if need to move the car after she got out, she said no I could stay there). As I walked into this house the first thing I notice was a big picture on the wall of the Queen of England. And that is when it hit me, oh my goodness, I am the house of the British ambassador. Well to make a long story short, I got to go up to the residence, had lunch and tea with the ambassador's wife. We talked and she in interested in visiting up and maybe helping us build partnerships with others.
Wednesday- Friday I spent up in the mountains at our jewelery conference. We had a team come in and host a jewelry making conference for our staff. I learned that I am not good at making jewelry. It was also a time for rest and prayer for our staff. We also got visit Castle Bran and Peles on our way home.
And now that the week is almost over, I thinking about the week that coming up, it full of meetings, emails and phone calls. But the one event that I can't wait for is my afternoon with one of the babies (I promised Antonio, who was in my car with his mom, that if he didn't cry on the way home from the mountains that I would come and play with him, and even though he is only a few months old, he kept end of the deal and now I have to keep mine).

I am so amazed at all the doors God is opening up for me. When I came back to Bucharest, I knew God had plans but I did not realize how big they would be. I am so amazed at all he is doing in my life.

How far would you drive for Mexican Food?

Question: How far would you drive for Mexican food?
Answer: I would drive as far as I have to get good Mexican food!! And that is just what I did last Friday. Two of our MAs are leaving soon so Raegan and I decided that we would take them out to eat. Where you ask? To Brasov, which is 3 hours away in the mountains of Transylvania.
I found this place a few years ago, and from the name you would not guess it was Mexican food, "Bella Musica". It is right across the street from the Black church and town square. And let me just say it has the best hot sauce in the world. It is up there with my mom's. And even though it has a full menu of Mexican food, I have never got passed the Chicken Fajitas. Oh my goodness they are so good!
A friend of mine called me as we were coming down the mountain and I told her that we had been in Brasov and she was oh, to shop or get ready for team coming the next day? My response was no, to have lunch. She couldn't believe that we drove all the way there just to eat, but when I told what we had she understood.
I know, Crazy Ellena. Well, you would probably do the same thing if you were in my shoes.

Who's sitting at the airport right now???

Have you ever had the dream that you get a phone call, and the person on the other side say, "Hi, it's me, I am here, I am at the airport, can you come pick me up?" I had this dream last week. The power had gone off at my house, which meant I couldn't get any of my work done, so I was forced to take a nap. When I woke up from that nap have dreamt I got a phone call from some new missionaries coming in a few weeks saying that were here and if I could come pick them up. Let me just say this is one of my biggest nightmare, that a team or someone would call me and say, "We are here, come get me!"
Well that nightmare came true yesterday, but it was not a missionary or team that was stuck at the airport, it was the AG National World Mission Director, John Bueno, (aka my boss) sitting at the airport. My first thought was I was dreaming, my second thought was oh my goodness I have to go get him.
As I went up to tell my roommate who was sitting at the airport, her first response was,"Yeah right Ellena, that is not funny." (She says I am always playing those kind of jokes on her, so she didn't believe me). When I told her I was serious that another missionary had got a call from his secretary in the States, that he missed his connecting flight and was now stuck at our airport. We jumped into action. Called the hotel found him a room, got in my car, and headed for the airport.
As you can imagine, I was a little stressed having to go to the airport, but to make me more nervous, my friend turns to me as I am driving and says, "When we get to the airport, do you want me to drive?" I looked back at her and said, "Is my driving that bad? I thought I was doing good." She responded back, "You are doing good, I just didn't know if you wanted to drive in traffic with Bueno sitting next to you." Well to make a long story short, I drove (did a great job, I don't think I shocked him), we had dinner and dropped him off at a hotel near by. This morning we got him back to the airport and hopefully he is on his way to original destination.


So what have I learned from this experience? First, dreams really do come true. Second, to stop playing jokes on my friends cause when something really happens, they will believe me. And third, to be ready for life's unexpected events.

Cross country adventure

Last weekend was my last weekend in Timisoara. My roommate had to go and get her car in Bucharest, and she didn't want to drive back by herself, so I let a friend drive my car from Bucharest, she followed him and then I drove back with my friend with my stuff. I worked out for all of us, cause she was able to follow someone, our friend got to visit his family, and I got back to Bucharest.

So on Sunday at about 11 am we packed up my car and I drove out Timisoara. I won't go into all the detail, it was pretty much an uneventful ride. Except we did sit for over a hour in a small village in traffic. Romania is the size of Oregon. It did take us about 10 hours to drive about 600 KM. That roughly 375 miles. So you do the math on how fast we were driving, it was anywhere from 40 miles/hour to about 75 miles/hour. (Actually that was my friend driving).

I think the stressful part was driving thru the mountains. The roads are so narrow and you have huge trucks passing you on the other side. The whole trip is on a two lane road. But I made it home safely.

I have decided that the next 2 weeks is going to be "Ellena Time." Time for me to relax, figure out how to drive in Bucharest, (All of the roads are torn up, it crazy), get settled in, and to catch up on some paperwork. And if I have time, read a book.

The nice thing is, well at least yesterday and today, the weather is cool. In fact last night, it started raining and has been raining all morning. I love it. But of course it needs to stop by 1 so I can run to the office, make some copies and then run to hair dresser. Don't want to have to drive out in the rain.

Heat Wave

Okay I am use to seeing kids playing in the fountains to stay cool, and this year it is no different. However, the heat is so bad that in some cities, the public pools stay open 24 hours to help provide some relief to the heat.
This past week we have had temperatures around 115 F. To date about 18 people have died because of the heat. Right now parts of the country are under Code Red, which basically means that it the temperature is going to at least 106, that jobs that are done outside can only be done at certain hours, and that the public is highly encouraged to stay indoors. Other parts of the country are at Code Orange, which means it will be about 99.
Now, I am from SA and I grew up in 100 plus weather. But in SA we have AC; in Romania, most homes don't have AC. Imagine trying to survive 100 plus weather without AC. It is not fun. I am lucky that my home has AC in the living room, but at church and school we don't AC. Now imagine sitting in class for 2 hours in the middle of the afternoon, trying to stay awake and stay focus in the heat. Not easy to do. But PTL that is week I have some early classes.
We still have one more month of summer, and August is usually the hottest month of the year. Please keep us in your prayers while we are in this heat wave. Please pray for rain, but not too much, cause we don't need floods. Pray that we get cooler weather.

South Texas Girls' Ministries Team

Well my first official team has come and gone! It was a blast to see some familiar faces (and to hear a familiar accent). I had 10 young ladies( Yes, Pam, Debbie, Pat and Vicki, you are young) come and visit me this past week. They were a blessing to our ministries.

The first 2 days they were able to go into the hospitals and visit some of the kids there. I know for some it was hard to go into the hospital, but I also know that they were able to touch lives there. On the second day we had a fourth of July Bar-b-que for our foster kids. The kids has so much fun having water balloon fights, blowing bubbles, and getting to eat lots of Bar-b-que. And Debbie Burnett and Pam Milbrath did a awesome job at the grill (they even cooked a Romania favorite, Mici, even though they didn't know how it was suppose to be cooked. It was wonderful! Our foster moms were also blessed by the team.

Throughout the week, one of the girls on the team cut just about everyone's hair. Whenever there was free time, there was Stacy cutting hair. She even stayed up to like 2 am one night to cut hair! (Thanks Stacy) The team even made breakfast one morning for the staff and moms. They made breakfast tacos. It was so funny cause the Romanians were asking, "what is this?, Oh it is like a soarma!" (when Americans eat soarma they say the opposite, it is like a burrito).

For the next few days, the team, our staff, and Casa Agar mothers/babies travelled to the Black Sea for our Summer Retreat. They team did an awesome job at hosting out retreat. They presented sessions for both moms and staff, they babysat, helped make jewelry (we sell it to help support Casa Agar and the moms) and most importantly, they built relationships with our moms and staff. Romania is a Latin country, and everything is built around relationships.

On Sunday we went to the international church in Bucharest (my home church) and Debbie shared in the English service, and we stayed for the Bilingual service (which was truly a multi-lingual service since it was done in Romania, English and Spanish (we had a guest speaker from Spain and at one point the translator was translating the Spanish into Romania and English at the same time). After Church we took them on a history tour of the city and of course they had a chance to buy jewelry from Casa Agar. At the end of the trip we had one last dinner together and had a chance to just fellowship and relax.

It was a fast week, but I know that they have made a lasting impact on our staff and moms. My prayer is that they were blessed by Romania. I pray that they will always remember Romania and the people that they met!

P.S. I'll add more pictures to my album on my website.

Driving in Bucharest

Okay I have been driving in Bucharest for almost 2 weeks now and I thought I would give you an update on things were going.

To be honest with you all, after the first day of driving here, I wanted to give up, but I stuck with it and it is getting better. I just keep telling myself, it like driving in Houston, only Houston make sense! But it is getting better each day! I don't get lost as often as I did when I first started. But when I do get lost, I can usually find my way home, even though it is the long way.

I am getting more and more comfortable driving down my street. My street is very narrow, and there are cars parked on both sides of the street (usually on the sidewalks, but some times they don't park on the sidewalks and it makes it harder to drive thru.) I still hold my breath every time I drive between to parked cars.

In the States, parking spaces, garages, lanes, really everything are bigger, her they are smaller, so I panic sometimes when I have to get to small spaces, but the one fact that keeps me sane is, I have full coverage here in Romania and it will take of everything, including any scratches, bumps, etc. But, I am still careful when I am out on the streets.

Thanks for the prayers and the encouragement! Love ya all!

Life in Fast Lane!

Okay this has been a busy week!!! Had a culture awareness course this past weekend! It was very interesting to learn how Romanians’ see Americans, understand the importance of language and culture learning, learned about the Revolution and whole lot of other stuff. It was long, 20 hours of classes plus 3 hours waiting for our dinner Thursday Night! (It really is an event to go out to a nice restaurant here.) Friday night after our classes we went home for an hour and then me and a few friends went to the 9 pm showing of Pirates (and yes it was in English, it was about 100 degrees in the theater.)



Saturday night I got a plane back to Bucharest, where I will be for a couple of weeks. When I got home Friday, I had 2 packages that my mom sent with teams, waiting for me in my room. The first one was my Christmas package and in it I had many Christmas cards (Thanks, I love getting cards, no matter what time of the year), a couple CDs, and a new Bible. (Merry Christmas to me!) In the second package, my mom sent me cookbooks, summer clothes and a couple of movies (Happy Birthday Me!) I love getting presents.






Also that night I was entertained by our dog, Sami. Sami is about 1
year old yellow lab. And he thinks he is still small, but he is not. Did you know, dogs really do try to catch their tails. He caught it a couple of times, and went around in circles till he got dizzy.

Sunday went to Church, it was nice to hear English preaching, (I was informed by my pastor that in August when I return I will be preaching in the English service.) After church, we ran to the mall to get the movie schedule, have lunch, and have Caramel Frappuccino from STARBUCKS!! Yes we have Starbucks here. And I have a feeling it is going to be new office away from the office, (it has free wireless, too).



Monday, I went and picked up my resident visa, so I can legally stay in the country, and from there, I went to Toyota to get my car!!! Yes, I got my car and insurance and slowly merged into traffic. It wasn’t too bad, it will take some time getting use traffic (Houston traffic is nothing compared to Bucharest traffic), get use to rules (written and unwritten), and well just get use to the craziness!


Tuesday, was my first real day of driving, and I did well considering I was scared out of my mind. Went to the bank and from there drove out to the airport (a place I will get to know very well). Drove a friend home and after about 2 hours of driving I was tired, so much so that my head was hurting (don't know if it was cause of the heat, the temperature in my car was reading 44C which is 108 or more, or if was cause I was concentrating so hard on driving. Anyways I had enough, and so I turned to my friend Raegan and told her she could drive cause I was done for the day.

(Yes I am parked up on the sidewalk! The street is very narrow, & if cars are parked on both sides, you have only a inch or 2 to play with when driving thru the cars. I park on up on the curb).

Today, was a better day of driving, well I didn't very far, just to the office and gas station, but I drove like I knew where I was going. :)

Well, I thank everyone for your prayers about the visa, and car. I should be getting the car registered in about a week or two! So life is going great here. My first team gets here next week, keep them in your prayers as they travel and ministers here.

Slow week

Well this has been a slow week, the calm before the storm! I have 3 more days of classes and then I have 3 days of cultural studies and then, I am off for 3 weeks to Bucharest. I get to pick up my car when I am there, and start learning how to drive in the city. I have a couple of meeting planned for the first week I am there, and then my very first team arrives! I am so excited about them coming. They will be hosting a retreat for our staff at the seaside.
I can't wait for a change in my routine. Once they leave I will hang out in Bucharest for one more week and then, I head back to language school for 2 more weeks and then I am done. I can't wait. I will keep taking language lessons once I move back to Bucharest, but I get start ministry, too.

That is what is happening here, not much, but God does like to remind me that I am still living in Romania every once in awhile. This week was our week of no hot water! 5 whole days and night without hot water. The city turns off the hot water to repair and clean the pipes. Let's just say, I took some very quick showers this week and well only washed my hair once. But the hot water is back on and I am nice and clean again.

Have a great week!

What did they say?

Okay, this evening some friends and I went to the movies. I love going to the movies as many of you know and what I love even more is watching an American movie in English and reading the subtitles in Romanian. Anyways, we went to go see Shrek 3, as the movie started I noticed something wasn't right, I didn't catch it until I hear the couple behind me say, "IT'S IN ROMANIAN!" It had been dubbed into Romanian, which means none of the voices were right or how I remembered them. This has never happened to me before, normally it is kept in the original language and subtitled. Oh well, I guess can't be too mad, I only paid like 2 dollars to see it. So, I sat there and watched it in Romanian. Talk about have a language lesson. I understood most of the movie, but I know I missed all the one liners. I am just going to have to wait till it come out on video to see it in English.
Well at least know that Pirates will be English when it finally come to town in about 2 weeks!

My Car is almost here!!

Hi all!
Well I just wanted to share some good news with everyone! I got a call from my car dealer at Toyota today and he said that my car is almost here!!! I think it is in Romania somewhere, I think at the border, or on the way to Bucharest. Anyways, in the next five days or so I will be paying for my car. Now I was hoping that my car would come in at the end of the month when I was planning to come in town, but now it looks like I will be heading to Bucharest next week to get my car!
So please keep me in prayers as I try to get all the documents, money and everything else that goes with buying a car in a foreign country. And pray as I start driving in this crazy country!!!
As soon as I get the car I will post pictures! And before I forget, "THANK YOU SOUTH TEXAS YOUTH MINISTRIES AND SPEED THE LIGHT!"


***A friend of mine in Bucharest, was able to go to the bank and wire my money to dealer, so my car has been paid for!!! Again thank you STL and South TX youth ministries!

Timisoara Poli vs. Bucuresti Rapid

Okay everyone who knows me, know I am not a huge sport fan. But I do cheer for the Spurs when they are in playoffs. I still remember when the won the finals in 1999, I was in India watching the game in my hotel room cheer for my SA Spurs. And when they won, I cried!!! After all I will always be a San Antonio Girl at heart!! You see I have pride for my hometown. And that is the problem I am facing right now, you see tonight is the Romania's National Cup. Yes, soccer, after it the world's game. The two teams that are playing are Timisoara (my present hometown while I am studying the language) and Bucharest (my true hometown, the place I have lived and will live once language is done). So which side am I cheering for, the side that is winning.

Anyways, the game is happening right across the street from my apartment. It is crazy, almost 2 hours before the game started, the stadium started to fill up! I have never seen so many people and cars around my neighborhood! And I live on a busy road! I can look out my window and see the thousands of people at the game. In fact I hear the game from my window. Talk about surround sound!! Now, you may be saying, "Ellena here is your chance to experience a real soccer game, why didn't you go?" And my answer is, "I am not that dumb!" When I lived in Bucharest, I lived and work near a few of the stadiums and I know how the game can get. I once saw 8 bus of riot police going to the stadium. No, I rather watch and listen to the game from home!

FYI: Bucharest WON!!

And the President of Romania was there, yes, he was right across the street from me!

There is always something happening when I least expect!

Okay before I tell my church story let me share with you my "oh my are we having another revolution story." Yesterday, Romania voted on whether or not they should impeach their president. Now we all know that no matter what the outcome was, this was only the beginning to Romania's political problems Romania voted not to impeach their president. .
Anyways, last night I was getting ready for bed (at about 11pm) when I hear what I thought was gun fire. My first thought was that can't be a guns, can it? I ran to my window to see, and I saw a bunch of cars stop and then take off, all the while the noise continued. I walked out of my room and my roommate had the same look on her face, "are we having another revolution or something?" We both looked out the kitchen window and notice that in the reflection of the window of the hospital across the street, fireworks. As we stood there we soon realized that it was not a revolution or anything like that but it was coming from the football stadium across the street. Still don't know what the the fireworks were for.
This morning when I got up to go church, we heard a bunch of cars honking and so we looked out the window to see a limo go by, must be a wedding somewhere. I left for church and as I drove up to the church I notice a lot more cars then normal. And when I got to church I noticed that the limo I saw was at the church. There was a wedding at the church today!!!
Here is Romania they have civil service either the day before or morning before the church service. The church service is a celebration! There couple come in and sits up front and there special songs, poems and preaching done. It really cool be part of this. At end of the service the couple exchange vows and the church prays over them. And then we wish the well on road of the life. And then they leave the church and go to reception. (No kiss in the church).
So that was my day at church. Got to go to a wedding that I didn't know was going to happen.
This is what I love about Romania, something is always happening and most of the time I don't know until I am in the middle of it!

Check back for Update

Okay I am going to try and keep everyone up to date with my everyday life. I will try to post a blog at least once a week or as important things happen!
So check back often and see what going on in my life here in Romania!!

Ellena