Yesterday we spent many hours with Costel, the Romanian Heart to Heart "head" person and his wife, Mirella.
10:00 AM First, Costel took us to the glass district to go shopping. I had thought we would see glass being made, but instead it was a filled with stores selling glass made from all over Romania--many beautiful things. It was also an area filled with stores where you could buy wedding dresses--and we saw an area being all set up for a commercial for chicken (crews with large cameras, people in costume--interesting!) Getting to the glass district from where we were parked was interesting--it was all wooden walkways since the 500 year old roads are being redone! It appeared that this work was all being done by hand--
Guess that will have to be on the agenda for our next time that we are here!
Noon: We visited the Heroes Cemetery--this is where many were buried that died in the revolution in 1989--it was beautifully kept up and interesting to see.
1:30 PM Then, it was on to Costel's apartment for a traditional Romanian meal. He lives in a block house (what we would view as a high rise apartment). He and his wife live on the 8th floor (out of 9) and we got into this small elevator (barely big enough for the 3 of us! and an act of faith, for me, to get in) and traveled slowly there. Their apartment is small but the hospitality was so large and they shared what they had so generously!
Our meal consisted of chicken noodle soup with hot chili peppers available to eat along with the soup (strange--Dennis tried but I was not that brave!), then chicken drumsticks, a wonderful rice dish and cucumber salad with a dill dressing. This was followed by very strong coffee and 3 pastries (we were each given a plate with 2 small pieces of each of the 3 traditional desserts). It was a time of concentration for us since Costel doesn't have the best English and his wife understands Eng. but doesn't really talk much in it--so poor Costel didn't have much time to eat since we were talking most of the meal!
In the middle of eating--it began pouring rain and hailing for about 30 minutes--thankfully we had beautiful weather for our glass district time!
In the midst of our conversation, it came out that Dennis was a pastor and had been in our church in Clarksburg for 20 years and that we were going to Greece to celebrate 25 years in the ministry since Dennis was first ordained--and now Dennis will be giving a 5-10 minute "welcome" to Costel's Baptist church! From there we will head to AlphaOmega church--we will be doubly blessed today.
3:30 PM After lunch, Corny (a Romanian on staff with H2H--and a wonderful girl--former graduate of the Girls Transition House) came to get us and take us to the Baby Hospital for one last visit. When we arrived at the hospital, we only found 1 of "our" 3 kids there. The other 2 were healthy enough (at least by Romanian standards) to return to their orphanages. It was sad for us to not see all 3 of the kids that we had held and spent time with. What a bond we had formed in such a short time! There was also a woman in the room (which was about a million degrees and so stuffy!) with her 10 month old daughter--the little girl had a horrible cough and looked so sickly. We so badly wanted to get her upright and help out--since most of the kids we have seen in the hospital are just laid on their mother's lap and rocked that way (laying down and not upright). From what we could understand from Corny, the little girl was born with a lung problem. It was interesting to see the mother dressed in pajamas--she will stay at the hospital to hold and care for her daughter. She can occasionally leave to shower and to eat.
5:30 PM From there, it was on to the Metro train to travel a bit to meet the H2H staff for a birthday dinner for a Romanian woman on the staff. We ate at an Italian/Romania restaurant--we were the only people there but it was terrific. Dennis managed to find room for trout that had a picante sauce with it that he could pour on it--and I only had room for a salad with Avocado, eggs and purple onions with only Lemon juice for dressing (it was actually quite good). What fun it was to sit around the table with conversations in both Romanian and English--sharing was rich, laughter was often and again, we were blessed! The only bad part was that although we were on the 2nd floor eating, the people on the first floor (I think they were the workers and their friends) were smoking and all the smoke was drifting upstairs. Our clothes smell smoky from that time! Again, an amazing part of the culture here! I don't think that teams coming over here would normally be included in such a gathering, but we feel as if we have truly become part of the H2H family here in our time--and so we were included. God is so good!
9:15 PM Returned back to the team house and then were able to talk with both Emily and with Tim using an international calling card that we were able to buy here. It was terrific to hear their voices and to talk as if they were in the same room practically--but at the same time, hard to realize that we would not see them (and baby Leah!!) for another week or so. We hope to talk with Anna and Carolyn today--we will see though since with the 10 hour time difference it is hard to figure out with our schedule when a good time to call is!
10:00 PM (no, I am not on my way to bed!) We sat in the living room and visited with Jenn and Angela for over an hour--sharing how we had come to Christ, how we had met and then hearing their stories. These 2 women are the staff at the team house, and do a multitude of things--and it was great to hear their testimonies. God indeed uses each of us and our gifts to his glory!
11:15 PM (yes, now I can go to sleep) It was off to bed--and try to unwind after a very full day.
We will try to blog tomorrow morning before we head to the airport--but if not, this is good-bye from Bucharest and our EXTREME ADVENTURE FOR JESUS!
What a blessing and a privilege to have been here and to have been a part of this fabulous ministry! (I am already planning on what we can send in the next package to be mailed to Romania!!--and am actually thinking of how soon I can come back to this country and people that have now a place in my heart!) We love you and miss you! Margie and Dennis
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