So I've been warned from classes, conferences, books, organizations, you name it about cultural differences on the missionfield, denominational differences in other countries, etc. But its always an adjustment!
The churches that I'm serving with in Romania are Pentecostal. The team of people I'm working with who are affiliates of Kontaktmission have planted 5 churches in neighboring villages and there is a kindergarten in Șendreni, the village I am living in. The team are all Romanian, and consists of 3 couples and a single woman. The churches are ran differently here [as in most countries outside of the states]. There isnt a set paid pastor, instead the leaders take turns teaching. There is however a head pastor.. in the translation they call him bishop, but i think its just pastor/minister.
It had been interesting these last few weeks as I worship with these churches. I've observed and of course participated. Below are some interesting differneces from the churches most of us are familiar with: Because of the conservativeness of the villages the women always wear skirts to their knees or below. They also cover their heads, with a scarf or simialr material, becuase of a passage in the Bible. They spend more time in prayer and worship than actual teaching (its about 1/4 teaching and 3/4 prayer and worship). They have meetings on the week nights just for prayer and worship, in Sendreni alone they meet twice: tuesday for about 1.5 hours and then on friday for 3. Prayer is a very big part of their worship. Also they pray primarily on their knees. The majority of the scripture they read from and use in their teaching is from Psalms and Proverbs.
[I rock Vera Bradley for my head covering]
Of course I can't understand the majority of what they are saying [unless someone is translating], although I must say my Romanian is coming along quite nicely, so there is no way for me to know what they are teaching or how they teach it. But it is still interesting to note the differences, of course there are the other characteristicly pentacostal traditions like praying in a very loud voice, repititon, etc. I encountered such when I was serving in Costa Rica. They also believe very strongly in the work of the Spirit, prayers of healing and such.
My main role in the next two months will be working with the kindergarten and I hope to act as a support to the team here, helping them when they make house visits and meet with people for prayer, things they need help with for meetings, etc. And of course living in community with them and the village to find out what life is like here.
School starts on the 12th and we have been preparing for this. Cleaning the rooms and gathering paperwork that needs to be completed. As well as visiting the homes of the children who will be attending.
For the past few weeks I've also had time to play with the kids and hang out with the youth. Two girls came to visit me one day when I was living in the other village and we went for a walk and then played cards outside. They barely spoke any English, but we still had a really good time!!
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| Rebecca and Magda playing cards with me |
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| Playing outside |
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| This is the family that helped me adjust [lived with them while the water was out at my place] Liviu- is one of the team members of Kontaktmission |
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| Being silly |
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| Check out this sunflower!! One of the main crops in this region {and yes we ate those seeds} |
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| Daily occurrence- they put their cows out in the pastures for the day and then bring them home each night |
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