More Christmas Caroling

Last week we wrote about a concert of Christmas carols that we attended downtown.  But over Christmas, we participated in Christmas caroling ourselves.

Singing in an apartment building stairway.  Photo courtesy of Simi Hosu.

 It is a tradition here in Romania to go to people's houses, to sing a carol or two and to be invited in to enjoy some Christmas treats.  In the past, carolers would go door to door, to neighbors, friends and even strangers.  Nowadays, however, they tend to just go to friends or relatives, but we had a lady and her two sons ring our bell on Christmas Eve and sing a song for us.  Nancy gave her some brownies she had on hand. 

We stopped at a church member's home and sang a couple of carols.  As we were leaving, her neighbors asked us to sing for them.  We were happy to do so.

On Christmas Day, we went with a few people from the church and sang carols at several homes.  We stopped at homes of people who were shut-ins, people from the church and friends of those caroling.  We sang, prayed and were offered treats everywhere we went.  We went only one night, but others joined the carolers and went to different homes other nights as well.
Merry Christmas!  Christ is born!  And he is coming again!

Christmas Caroling

Singing Christmas songs is a big part of the Christmas season here in Romania.  Carols are sung in churches, community halls and even outside.  Last Friday we went to the main square in downtown Gherla to watch several of the evangelical churches in town lead in Christmas carols.

 It was quite foggy, but many people gathered around the stage next to City Hall to hear the music

 Pastor Simi Hosu and his wife and sons led a couple of songs, a pastor from another church gave a very short message (the weather was cold), and an orchestra of young people from all the churches involved played some carols. 

 The concert started at four in the afternoon, but it quickly got dark enough so that the Christmas lights came on.

Santa Claus, rather, Father Christmas passed out candy to the children in the crowd.  We saw him later talking to someone at the kürtős kalács (chimney cake) stand.  Maybe he was hungry for a traditional Transylvanian treat!
Merry Christmas from Romania! 

Pray for Language Acquisition

Calendar in our kitchen

We've been here before, but that doesn't make it any easier.  Several years ago we were learning Hungarian and it seemed that some days we could understand a lot of what was said to us and could even respond correctly from time to time and other days we couldn't understand a thing nor could we say what we wanted to say.  Now we are experiencing the same thing in Romanian.  What is better now than when we were learning Hungarian is that we know from experience that if we keep studying, with God's help we will eventually be able to communicate better.
So, this is a prayer request.  Please pray for us that we will be able to study effectively, understand Romanian better every day and learn to say what we need to say in a way that is easily understood.
Oh, and thank the Lord with us for the many interpreters who speak for us and for the many patient, kind Romanians who help us when we are struggling.

Christmas Fair

One of our favorite Christmas-season activities is to go to a Christmas fair, so last Friday we drove to Cluj, a large city about an hour away, to visit theirs.

The square in front of the Hungarian Catholic church was filled with booths offering Christmas items and food.

The entire square was decorated beautifully and included a skating rink and a merry-go-round.

We appreciated the Nativity display and are thankful that Romania acknowledges the birth of our Savior.

We stopped to have a bite to eat and found a booth selling hot dogs and Viennese bratwursts.  Mike had a brat with hot chocolate and Nancy had a hot dog.  Both were yummy.

It was cold, about 25 degrees, so we only stayed about an hour, but it was a wonderful way to start our Christmas celebration.

Merry Christmas from Romania!

Gracious Friends

Romanian flags

Firefighters participating in the parade and ceremony Photo courtesy of gherlainfo.blogspot.com

 Sunday,  December 1, was Great Union Day, the Romanian holiday that celebrates the unification 101 years ago of all the territory that makes up present-day Romania.  There were ceremonies, parades, concerts, and fireworks to commemorate the event.  The picture above is the Gherla firefighters who took part in the parade and ceremony downtown.  The firefighter second from the left in the front row is our next-door neighbor.

Thanksgiving guests

Nancy wanted to have guests over to celebrate Thanksgiving last week, but since Thanksgiving Day was just a normal workday here in Romania and there was prayer meeting that evening, Sunday was the day that seemed to work best for us to have our dinner. Having decided on the date, she invited some friends over.  It was only after she issued the invitation and they accepted that she remembered that Sunday was a holiday! However, Mery and Francis and Violeta and their boys were gracious enough to forego joining the Romanian celebration to help us celebrate our American holiday.
We enjoyed turkey and all the fixings together.  These were new foods for our Romanian friends, but they liked almost everything.  Among their favorites were the turkey, the dressing and the mashed potatoes.  Mashed potatoes are common here, but they do not generally add milk and butter like we do.  The pumpkin bars were a hit, too.  The best part of the meal was sharing together what we thank God for and praying together.
We are thankful for each of you.  Remember to continue to thank God for all things during this Christmas season!