VIN...

"Draga India

Stiu ca a trecut ceva timp de cand ne-am vazut ultima data, dar as vrea sa stii ca nu te-am uitat. Si cred ca nici tu pe mine. Ma bucur ca am mai comunicat in ultimul an, dar este mai frumos cand ne si vedem. M-am tot gandit la tine in ultima perioada...

Am vesti bune pentru noi! Stiu ca ma astepti si tu, de cand ti-am spus ca este posibl sa revin anul acesta. Mai ai putina rabdare. Revederea noastra se apropie, asteptarea va lua sfarsit destul de curand. Acum sunt ocupat cu ultimele pregatiri si ma gandesc ce sa iti aduc. Sunt putin bolnav si am planificat, replanificat si re-re...- replanificat totul. Daca totul merge bine si voi fi sanatos ne intalnim saptamana viitoare. Abia astept :)

De anul trecut de cand te-am vazut prima data m-ai marcat si am povestit despre tine si altora. Anul acesta vreau sa te prezint catorva prieteni care sunt dornici sa te intalneasca personal. Asa ca ma vor insoti si ei.

Cu ajutorul lui Dumnezeu ne vom revedea cu bine.

Cu drag
Dan"

:)

Merge omul, merge, dar se mai intoarce si acasa

http://translate.google.com/#

Merge omul merge, dar se mai intoarce si acasa
Proverbul vechi care zice "Calatorului ii sade bine cu drumul" este fals. Drumul este obositor si greu, dar destinatia este importanta. As spune mai degraba ca calatorului (observati cacofonia) iubeste mai mult destinatia decat drumul. :)

Am ajuns inapoi in Romanica, in ciuda asteptarilor mele. Drumul intors a fost mai usor decat la dus, dar totusi lung si greu.
Am mers 15 ore cu trenul, apoi am petrecut o zi in aglomeratia din Calcuta si in final am pornit spre aeroport. 2 ore de asteptat in aeroport + 5 ore de zburat ne-au adus in Dubai, unde am pierdut timpul prin magazine si am dormit ca boschetarii dupa niste banci in zona cu mochete. In total am stat in Dubai 12 ore. Apoi inca 5 ore de zbor ne-au dus la Istanbul, iar dupa inca 4 ore de stat aici ne-am pornit spre Bucuresti. Drumul a mai durat o ora.
De la Aeroport a mai durat inca 1 ora jumate pana acasa.
Si ce bine e acasa.
Total = cam 45 de ore.

Azi dimineata m-am trezit la 3. Inca sunt putin defazat si uimit de frigul din Romania, mirat de faptul ca nu sunt in India.
M-a sunat cineva din Bucuresti ieri si m-a trezit din somn. Nu stiam in ce tara sunt, cat e ceasul si ma gandeam doar cat costa apelul international. Nu stiam daca dorm si visez ca sunt in India, sau chair sunt in India si visez ca sunt in Romania... A fost ciudat :))

A fost o experienta unica, deosebita, emotionala, grea, cu multe lectii pentru mine.
Dumnezeu m-a invatat sa fiu ascultator de El, sa ma incred in El si sa fiu multumitor.

Ma bucur in primul rand pentru Daniel, misionarul la care am fost, pentru caldura cu care ne-a primit, pentru ce ne-a invatat si pentru ce ne-a invatat Dumnezeu insusi. Pentru ca El ne-a onorat prin a ne pune sa ii marturisim Evanghelia si numele Lui si ne-a folosit in slujba Lui.

Asadar vin bucuros, nedumerit de viata din Romania, cu multe intrebari cu care Domnul m-a cercetat, cu nadejde, cu putine raspunsuri (dar importante), cu haine si cadouri si mai ales - cu multumire.
Suntem mai multi care vom purta in rugaciune pe prietenul nostru si tara aceasta asa de mare si cu asa de multi oameni.

Bye- bye India. Ne vedem la anul :)

Dan

Life in India

Not much time to arrange the photos.
For text scroll down :)

Tea

We eat rice, sweat a lot, eat rice again and inhale the disel gas on the street. We do a lot of visits and every night we publicly preach and distribute tracts. Every day.
Today I feel exhausted and after two visits in the morning I came back so I can update the blog.
The Lord has a lot of questions for me during this time in India, a lot of challanges. Yes, my life is challanged a lot in this culture.

Life in India....
It's very hard for some people, hard for others. It's not a country of contrasts so far, there are no many rich people. Rich means you have a job - any job- you have a motorcycle and the richest have a small car and a house.
The canalization system is the same used by the romans 2000 years ago!

We visited Darjeling - close to the border with Nepal - these last two days. It's so diferent - it's another culture - the Nepali culture. People look diferent, behave different, dress modern or traditional but very clean and usually keep their city clean.

Traveling in India is also hard. Bumpy roads everywhere and crazy but good drivers. Everybody is ready to overtake everybody. People here drive on the left side of the road in theory but in everyday life you just have to find your way may it be on the left or on the right side of the road. It doesn't matter, you just have to get there.

Nepali people are nice and Darjeeling is great, I want to go back there and do some sightseeing.
I bought a big knife, some hats, we visited the zoo and a local church. The weather is perfect for me - around 10 degrees Celsius. Nice.

We also publicly preached. It's very interesting for us to sit in the middle of a marketplace and to begin to speak. Speak about what? What to say? But God used this to speak to people through us. In 5-10 minutes usually we have a crowd of 100 persons listening to us.
People here in India worship idols and think highly of themselves. They belive they have no sin, or there is nobody to judge their sins, or everybody has sins but because of this they are just one face in the crowd so they can't be blamed.

4 days ago I was involved in a little accident. A car came pretty fast towards our riksha used here by the locals to get to places. I yalled but the driver seemed to go exactly towards this car.
The car hit us slightly and bended the riksha's wheel. That day was a crazy day with several of these events.

Thank you for your prayers.
Dan

Pictures

Poze....

Country of 1000 smells and 1001 colors

Hello India!

After a long trip (9 hours by plane, more than 18 hours waiting in airports and sleeping in the Dubai airport on the floor, 15 hours by bus in India) we are finaly in Jaipalguri.

Our night in Calcutta and the following day were crazy. India is the country of smells, of colors, of poor people and polution. In Calcutta there are no rich people. If they would be rich, they would probably leave the country. Civilization is way back. But this unique mix of... everything makes it special. Driving is crazy.... no,no, you don't understand what crazy is until you are in a car in India... yes, you think you will die every minute.

During my time here I haven't noticed any traffic rules... You just have to horn, loud, long...

What I do here is what I like most: talk with people, living the adventure of being in India.

I read about missionaries like Hudson Taylor or great people like George Mueller. I strongly advise you all to read about these lives.

These days I meet Daniel, the Romanian that gave up confort and fell in love with India.

His testimony among the people here is very good.

I talked to 4 families so far. Our concern is about their spiritual life, about knowing God. Other things don't matter that much. And this is what I actually do here.

It's amazing how they listen carefully. Some of them are deep involved in worshiping idols, have very good knowledge about culture, religion. And some don't.

Our time here is short and I feel I want to do more.

A... and another thing! There is no toilet paper in India... you have to use your left hand. I still have some toilet paper with me... but it has to last for the next 2 weeks.

I feel blessed and unworty to be here...

But on the other hand I feel God wants me here now. You may belive, or may not belive this - but it's real. This is why I am here.

Indian culture is impressive... hundreds of languages, belifes. strong communities.

These days I will also post some pictures...

Until then, please pray for us and for the people here.

I wish that you will be encouraged through this blog, these news, hearing that I am well, eating rice, lots of rice...

I am also using this blog to send greetings to my church - AGAPE, to our study group - Cenaclul TEI, to my coleagues...

thank you

Dan

So far so good

As I said to some of you October’s posts will be in English. This is mostly because I will be in India for a good part of this month and I’d like to share this – what I hope to become – amazing experience with international friends. You may find my written English somewhat Romanianized (“romanizate”). In this case after you get a good laugh try to move on J.

Visa – got it through a wonder. But we got it!
Vaccines - (5 of them ) – got it! My arms hurt, but now I can eat of the floor. I am immune to everything J
Money – some…
Toilet paper – plenty! (I could not find an anti-diarea vaccine J)

This is everything were gona (we are going to) need on our trip.
Today is Z-day minus 3. Friday we will take off, head to Istanbul and then Dubai, where we will have 12 hours to visit the airport. Then Calcutta: we still don’t know what’s gona be in Calcutta for us – hopefully a nocturnal 12 hours train ride to Jaipalguri. Then the real adventure begins…

Our team consists of 7 or 8 members – we still don’t know. I know only 2 of them – a guy that I meet 3-4 times and a girl from Bucharest.

I really don’t know what the Lord has for us there. It seems He made it possible for me to go, preparing me for what’s to come and taking care of everything.

It seems that before my departure I get a lot of “unexpected surprises” in my life. The effect I notice is of disappointment and bad mood. I see them taking away my enthusiasm little by little. I realize I have to pray more and ask Jesus Christ to strengthen me, and to keep me. I don’t react well to disappointment, as I am sure some of you know.

May the Lord be with us
Dan

India

Tara contrastelor, asa cum vedem si din filmul "Slumdog millionaire".
Cand eram mai mic aveam o teorie - anume ca istoria unei tari (indiferent de tara) si dezvoltarea ei este determinata in primul si primul rand de religie. Nu imi vine in cap niciun exemplu de tara in care sa nu fie asa.

Ce crezi determina ce gandesti, ce principii ai, si pana la urma ce faci.
In india 80% din populatia estimata in 2009 de aproape 1.2 miliarde de oameni este hindusa, apoi 13% sunt musulmani si 2% crestini... restul - alte religii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_india). India este tara contrastelor, asa cum am auzit noi de prin diverse surse si cred ca acest lucru se datoreaza in special sistemului de caste. Te nasti sarac pentru ca intr- o viata anterioara ai avut o "karma" rea si acum iti ispasesti pedeapsa. Daca te porti bine in viata asta, fara sa te plangi sau sa incerci sa scapi de karma ta viata viitoare te poti reincarna intr-o casta superioara. Numai din casta cea mai de sus (brahma) poti curge in Nirvana.

Sunt convins, si de fapt si stiu, ca ce scriu eu aici este citit si de oameni credinciosi si de oameni care nu cred. Ma bucur de asta si le multumesc pentru ca citesc si cateodata mai si posteaza un comment.

Maine avem interviu la ambasada Indiei si probabil ma vor intreba - Dan tu de ce te duci in India. In afara de raspunsurile gen : pai sa vizitez, sa cunosc cultura si civilizatia, sa experimentez o aventura, sa ajung si eu odata in India.... si alte chestii am un raspuns pentru mine, si care este peste celelalte. Cred ca ma indeamna Dumnezeu sa merg acolo iar eu vreau sa raspund cu ascultare, chiar daca nu stiu mare lucru despre cum va fi, ce voi face...
Pentru credinciosi poate suna spiritual iar pentru cei care nu cred suna prostesc, indoctrinat, ciudat. Cum stii ca Dumnezeu te trimite si ca nu ai visat tu ceva? Sau cum ti-a spus Dumnezeu - in vis ai auzit o voce care iti zicea... Dane mergi in India ...?
Nu, nu am visat nimic. Dar as fi vrut :).
Cred ca initiativa ii apartine lui Dumnezeu, care a lucrat prin diverse circumstante. Eu doar am raspuns, am zis "da".

Am un feeling de bucurie, entuziasm, frica (ca poate nu iau viza... si atunci lucrurile sa cam naruie), frica ca poate iau nu stiu ce boli, poate ..., poate...
Din nou ma gasesc inaintea aceluiasi Dumenzeu care cred ca ma trimite, spunandu-i ca sunt cam slab, cam nepregatit, de fapt foarte nepregatit, nepotrivit, necioplit... si toate celelalte cuvinte care incep cu "ne-", dar cu incredere in El si cu dorinta de ascultare.

Sa vedem maine ce o fi
Dan