En Route "Home"

March 18th, 2017 

Glory be to God for all things! 

We're finally on the plane in Amsterdam heading to Washington, D.C.  It feels as if we didn't even leave he Amsterdam airport. Everything we saw here when we first landed, all the shops and constant flow of people, are the same, but we are not the same people, as our experience has completely shifted our perspective. 

This morning we were quickly fed Oreo croissants and tea and rushed out of the door. I barely was able to say "mulsomesk" to the concierge while stuffing my face with the croissant and grabbing my belongings. 

Livieu stayed with us during the evening and then saw us off on the bus at 3am, thanking us and inviting us to come back for a summer and stay with Oskor at Pro Vita. He is truly amazing, he took off work to show us around the city and then spent his time making sure we were taken care of. Glory be to God! 

On the bus, some of us were surprisingly super awake, others not so much. There was a feeling of spiritual high, for me a least, that I realized especially to the stark contrast of the woman watching a romantic film next to me. I felt an imbalance watching her screen while fingering my new prayer rope. I felt that this spiritual high was slightly dulled by the ideas being conveyed by the movie; an idealized version of love when Christ is the True Love we experienced everyday of our stay in so many ways, small and large. 

Airport... on the plane it was funny because while some of us were asking for orange juice on a 6:45am flight, others around us had beer and wine --- when in Romania... we were just lacking Divine Liturgy and hot red wine. 

It is amazing to me to think that this morning while we were flying, at the church in Valea Poplai there was morning Liturgy going on and the children were heading to school and going about their regular activities. 

It's amazing how life can be changed so much in one week...change is a strong word. Instead, we all experienced something profound, in different ways and God answered our prayers, questions, and unknowns in mysterious and unique ways. 

I think the impact of this trip will be realized little by little. I know for each of us we were stunned by the love, humility, and person of Christ we experienced in everyone we met. 

Only God knows and truly all we can strive to do is live with intensity in every moment for Christ in the situation and age and time he has given us, just like Father Tenasi, truly a man with his soul on fire (or like a firecracker) for Christ. 

Sitting next to Father is great, whenever any kind of food comes he immediately blesses it :)

Orthodox Dating advice - We would get a bit every night and as some of our team was told on another Real Break trip, the priest knew the woman he was going to marry once he tasted her lasagna, therefore they were told to learn how to make good lasagna. As some of our team members were leaving for their next domestic flight "Don't waste your time learning how to make lasagna, wait for the guy who will make the lasagna for you." GOLD....