Week 1 - Part 1

Brandon & I outside of the Austin Airport

Hello from Romania! Our first week in Romania has been wonderful. Almost too much to describe. But we will try our best to give you a taste of what we have experienced. We decided to break our first week up into a few different parts so they will be easier to digest. And then once we get into more of a routine it will be easier to give weekly updates.

PART 1: TRAVELING

Checking our bags

Our bags were right at 50 lbs!

Our bags were just the right weight, we didn’t have to leave anything behind. The official weights were 50 lbs, 49.5 lbs and 48 lbs! All of our flights went well. They were on time and we had great seats. Here is a quick run down of the flight times.....

Thursday
3:40 pm - 4:50 pm Austin to Dallas
4:50 pm - 7:45 pm lay over in Dallas
7:45 pm - 11:00 am (Friday) 9 hour flight from Dallas to London and a 6 hour time change

Friday
11:00 am - 6:00 pm 7 hour lay over in London
6:00 pm - 11:15 pm London to Bucharest, Romania
12:00 am arrived at our new home away from home

The flight from Austin to Dallas was short and sweet, and the lay over in Dallas seemed that way too. We had enough time to get a snack and find a seat until we boarded the plane. Brandon did some reading while I did some journaling. The flight to London was long but not too bad. We were able to watch a movie, eat dinner and then tried to sleep the rest of the time. I think I was able to get about 4-5 hours but Brandon only got about 2 or 3. There were a few reasons - 1) He was excited 2) He couldn’t get comfortable 3) The man sitting in front of us lost his dinner a few times... if you know what I mean..... yuck. 

Brandon in the London Airport

Our 7 hour lay over in London felt very long. We got another snack and found a place to rest until our next flight. Brandon was able to get a few more hours of sleep while I journaled. We sat next to a very nice girl on the plane from London to Bucharest. She was very talkative which made the plane ride much more pleasant.  And then we finally landed in Romania! We grabbed all of our carry ons and headed over to baggage claim. Brandon found our 3 checked bag in a jiffy and then we headed over to customs. Customs was very simple, they asked for our passport, they stamped them and that was it. Then we headed towards the doors to the pick up area. It was very crowded and we were unsure of who we were even looking for, so we just kept walking. Finally we were greeted by two woman who said they were from Heart to Heart International -  Jen & Kirsteen.  They were able to easily spot us because we had out “To Romania with Love” shirts on. They helped us with our bags and then we were on our way to the team house. I originally thought we would be staying somewhere else to get to know the team we would be working with, but I was wrong. 

Sneak peek of the team house

We arrived at the team house, brought in our bags and then Jen gave us a quick tour. In a nut shell - she said here is the kitchen, here is the bathroom and here is your room, goodnight. We were very thankful that she kept it short and sweet because we were ready for bed! But it turns out that we were too excited to sleep. So instead of going to bed we decided to unpack, everything. I think we finally went to bed around 2 am. When we woke up the next morning we were still really excited so it was easy to forget how tired we were. And we had a big day ahead of us. On the schedule was breakfast, devotion, orientation and our first visit to one of the orphanages! - stay tuned for the next update!!

Prayer Requests:
Please pray that we will have continued unity among all the team members. Brandon and I are specifically praying that God will continue to transform our minds and make us new all day long. And that we would find our strength in HIM always!


Thank you for your support!

Brandon & Becky