The Blog in London

Last weekend we visited London, it was a first visit for a long time and it was interesting to see how much had changed-including Heathrow Airport. Our British Airways flight landed in Terminal 5, which on that day at least was working seamlessly; although it did leave you with the feeling of being a midget in a house built for giants! One interesting reality was the number of Romanians who were arriving in heathrow with very little if any idea (and in one case money!) of how to connect either their ongoing flight (in one case via Terminal 3 and in another case from Gatwick) or with the evening bus journey to Street in Somerset. All was well that ended well!

The gardens in suburban Chelsea were as beautiful as ever, and in central London it was amazing to see how the London Eye has integrated into the mix of attractions that are "must sees" for visitors from all over the world. House Guards Parade and Trafalgar Square were as beautiful as ever-although as if nothing compared to Westminster Abbey........................

A visiting concert in the Church of the Resurrection

Here are some photos from a concert held at the Church of the Resurrection last Saturday by the Bucharest Christian Academy ensemble. They gave a lovely concert titled "Music through the ages" to a packed church. At the start of the year they had never sang together but this international collection of young people gave a thoroughly professional performance and had just cut their own CD a week before they sang in our church. They received a standing ovation at the end.

Sunday School.............and cakes..............and more

One of the many encouraging signs of the presence of God in our worship at the Church of the Resurrection is our ever growing Sunday School, which is capably and enthusiastically led by Frans and Hankey, a family from the Netherlands who are currently living in Romania. They bring with them an immediate class as they have four beautiful daughters who brighten our worship every week with their sunny smiles and their wonderful range of clothes!

At the end of each service the Sunday School shares with us their work of the morning and it is always a much looked forward to part of our worship.

On the first Sunday of every month we hold a produce sale at the end of the service, and today it was possible to get a wonderful photograph of Frans and Hankey's youngest daughter eating a much deserved cake after her morning study in the Sunday School!

Visitors from the USA

This Sunday we had a full house at the Church of the Resurrection, as we welcomed over 30 visitors from an Episcopal church in Connecticut, USA, as well as their families and friends who are living and working all over Europe.

It was a pleasure to have them with us as they begin a week long visit to Romania, visiting churches and monasteries all over the country.

News from Sofia

GINO AND MIRA TIE THE KNOT... FOR THE SECOND TIME

Having already had their civil ceremony, Gino and Mira from our Sofia congregation tied the knot for the second time on Saturday, in the Greek Catholic Church in Sofia. A lovely service was given in Bulgarian by a priest who also spoke Italian, having trained in Rome. Gino's father is Italian, his mother is British (hence the Anglican connection) and they met in Switzerland, so a plethora of languages was in evidence and a few children added to the song!

Gino and Mira are now off on their honeymoon to the Sinai desert to spend time with the Bedouins and gaze up at the night sky. We wish them a long and happy marriage!

Photo 1 - someone caught the bouquet!

Photo 2 - the happy couple.

May Day in Bucharest-running for life!

May Day in Romania is a national holiday, and there are lots of different activities organised all over the country to take advantage of the free time.

One of the leading schools in Romania is the American International School of Bucharest (AISB). For the last 8 years AISB has organised an annual fun run linked to the charity Terry Fox Run for Life. Terry Fox was a Canadian who contracted cancer and even though he lost a leg as part of his treatment he started to run all around Canada to raise awareness of cancer and to raise funds for the fight against this vicious killer.

Sadly, he died before he completed the challenge, but his spirit lives on and all over the world the spirit of running for life is maintained. In the first seven years of holding the runs in Bucharest, AISB raised over $70, 000 for cancer research and this will be further augmented when the funds are all gathered in for the 2008 Run.

This year the sun shone on the righteous (and even on the unrighteous) and literally hundreds of people from very young children right through to rather old bloggers ran the five plus kilometres to ensure that Terry Fox although no longer with us in person, remains firmly with us in spirit. Before we ran there was a superb mass warm up organised by the World Class Fitness Academy of Bucharest and then the torture started!

Unbelievably, the Blog ended the run in fourth position. However, the results were immaterial, the only important result is that as well as having a fun day in the fresh air it was possible to raise lots of money to continue the fight against cancer.

Terry Fox-Rest in Peace!

Easter (again!) in Romania

Last weekend it was Easter again in Romania. This time it was Orthodox Easter (in church we sang Thine be the Glory but observed also Easter 6).

The tradition in Romania is to tidy the churches and churchyards before the Easter festival, and these photographs show that in Comisani, a small village around 100km from Bucharest (Ella's home village) the tradition has been very firmly maintained in 2008!

Hristos a inviat!
Adeverat a inviat! Alelujah!