May Update

Orthodox Resurrection Icon & Easter Hymn:
Christ is risen from the dead,
Trampling down death by death
And upon those in the tombs bestowing life

Hristos a înviat! (Christ is Risen!)
This past Sunday was Easter here in Romania. Romanians follow the Orthodox Church's calendar for determining the dates for Easter, rather than the Catholic/Protestant calendar. (That's why  Easter and Cinco de Mayo coincided this year!) You can read more about how the dates of Easter are determined by clicking here to read a blog post I wrote just before Western Easter.

Perhaps at no other time of the year is the strong Christian Orthodox roots in Romania as evident as at Easter, when most Romanians attend the Orthodox Church's midnight Easter vigil and greet one another for days afterward on the street with the Christian greeting "Christ is risen," and "He is risen, indeed." But even with this Christian heritage, the signs of secularization become more and more evident as years pass. The Easter bunny and painted eggs are depicted much more frequently than the crucified and risen Savior.

Since Easter came twice this year, I celebrated "last Easter" (the one in March) by attending the Church of England in Bucharest (which follows the Western calendar and has services in English). "This Easter" (Sunday), I attended the midnight Orthodox service, followed by Nazarene services Sunday morning in Sighisoara and Sunday evening in Tigmandru. I spent Sunday afternoon with my former host family, eating the traditional Passover/Easter lamb dinner.


Blog Updates

The Easter bread, cakes, and red eggs
my neighbors gave me

I haven't blogged a whole lot lately, but here are links to my most recent posts.

Buying a Train Ticket - Back in December, I had quite the "run around" when trying to buy train tickets. Here's my story of all the difficulties of trying to buy a train ticket.

A Romanian's Ordination - It's not every day that a Romanian is ordained, so when Paula (Cini) Creely was ordained at the Philadelphia District Assembly in April, it was a time of celebration.

Don't forget that you can subscribe to receive instant email notification every time I update my blog or the Romania Nazarene blog. Just add your email address in the field on the right sidebar on each of the websites. 

Romania in Recent Nazarene Publications

Ministries in Romania have been mentioned in several online Nazarene publications in the past few months. Here are the link to read the articles.

Mentoring Course in Romania - I have been s

Hand-painted eggs in Romania

erving as a mentor to a group of five students preparing for ministry through European Nazarene College. This is the article from EuNC's "In Touch" newsletter, April 2013, about the mentoring class in Romania.

April PML Focus - Michael and Tamara Hudson, who serve as Nazarene missionaries in Bucharest, were highlighted in NMI's Prayer Mobilization Line's monthly missionary prayer focus. Here are the requests the Hudsons shared for Romania.

New Book Published - One of the mandates of the Church of the Nazarene in Romania is to translate and publish Christian books. This article from NCN News announces the publication of a newly-translated book in Romanian.

They Came to Love Jesus -  This story, from the Eurasia region's "Where Worlds Meet" newsletter, tells how the first Nazarene missionaries to Romania made an impact on future church leaders.