5-31 Alfa & Omega Church

Sunday was a nice restful day for us. The service at Alfa & Omega didn't start until 1:00, so we had some chill time in the morning. After breakfast Matt led us in worship and Alan led a short devotional. Then we loaded up and drove into the city. Bucharest is a lot calmer on the weekends. There aren't people commting into the city for work, so traffic is a lot lighter. The church meets in a building they rent in a multipurpose type room.

The service started with our first concert as Symphonic Winds in Romania. In this way it felt a lot like a typical Winds tour, except all of Mr. Feller's program notes had to be translated :o)

Abe and Rachael Mitchell gave their testimonies and then the sermon began. I really liked the pastor. If I could always have a translator with me I would totally go to that church. He spoke on James 1, which can be applied in any culture. It was definitely interesting on this trip being on the receiving end of translation. After the sermon was worship, and oh my goodness. I wish every worship session I was in was like that. There was so much passion for God in that place, and so much community.

It kept striking me, as we were singing the English words to worship songs they were singing in Romanian, that that is a small glimpse of what eternity will be like with all nations together. There was even one song that I happen to know the words to in Spanish, so we had some trilingual action going on there, haha

By the time the service ended it was almost 3:00, so we skidaddled over to a mall (different from the one on Saturday) for lunch. The clarinets shared a margarita pizza from "Springtime" in the foodcourt. Apparently in Romania they eat ketchup on their pizza, because they were automatically giving it to everyone, but they asked us if we wanted it.

I also took advantage of the gelato stand nearby and tried chocolate and watermelon. I would for sure have both again. yum!

There was time upon return to the team house for a quick nap before heading out to fellowship with the church members at a local park. Parks are very important in Romania because most people live in block houses with no backyards. Their parks are enormous and quite beautiful with lakes and trees and lots of roses. Most of the fellowship time was playing volleyball and soccer, neither of which are my forte in life. I sat and watched people's purses and chatted with Brinn and Krista.

Brinn is a veteran H2H team member. She and her friend Katy were on their 8th trip to Romania. Krista is a new H2H staff member who just began a 2 year stay in the country.

We left the park around 9:00, had a driving tour of "Bucharest at Night", and returned to the team house for a light dinner of pasta salad and homemade chocolate donuts, lol! We had nightlight, skipped hot seat, and went over job assignments for the children's day carnival.