Romania – July 16, 2023
Today was our last day in Romania, and started off as each day has with a wonderful breakfast prepared by Ana. We all prepared for departure after church, packing our bags back up after the long week.
We headed to a Hungarian church in the small nearby town of Stei which was a bit larger than the small house church we had attended the previous Sunday. We reached the church during their prayer time which followed readings in Psalms 34. Daniel introduced the team with Peter from REMM translating, and we sang Amazing Grace and 10,000 Reasons, with the church joining along in Romanian while Graham and Emily played guitar. It was wonderful to hear the combined voices and instruments.
After church the team returned to REMM, had a quick lunch, and gave thank you cards to our wonderful hosts and co-laborers. We took one last group photo and then loaded up in the bus for the 4 hour trip to Budapest. The border crossing was thankfully uneventful, and we all had two new stamps in our passports! The plains of eastern Hungary opened into much larger fields than those found in Romania, and we slowly crossed the country into historic Budapest which has been around since Hector was a pup.
After driving through the narrow, hot streets we checked into our hotel rooms, and then quickly headed out to dinner at a nearby Hungarian restaurant whose new cuisine was appreciated by all. After a short walk back to the hotel and a stop off for some souvenirs, we walked down the Danube for a boat ride up and down the river to see some of the sites. Along the way we attempted to get Patti on an electric scooter, but more safety conscious minds prevailed, and potential disaster was averted.
Our trip along the Danube at night offered a welcomed respite from the stifling heat of the city, and the night lights on the building where truly spectacular. It was late when we pulled back into the pier and walked through the dark but still lively city to the hotel.
This likely concludes our blog posts for the Romania 2023 trip. Tomorrow we will explore a bit more of Budapest, meet some other missionaries working here in Hungary, and then pack up once more for the long trip home form Budapest to Frankfurt, and then across the Atlantic back to home sweet home. While we record and discuss our thoughts on how God has worked through us and on us over these last few days, the consensus so far has been that our time has been well spent in service, and that we have gotten to know each other far better than we would have through our usual weekly interactions at church and our various ministries. We’ve learned a good deal about God’s work in the mission fields of Romania, and His people there have impacted us in ways that would be difficult to replicate while remaining at home.
– Daniel for the Romania Team
