From Joni

Hey everyone! Just a quick little note from Joni to say I'm having an awesome time...can't believe we're headed out of Romania tomorrow! What a wonderful experience...and so saddening! Just to see the sights and smells and to feel the poverty is an incredible experience. Houses that are falling apart. Families of seven living in a one room house. Walls made of straw and manure with some sort of plaster overtop. It's just increidible.
Ministering to the Gypsy kids has been the highlight for me...their love for us is just amazing! They just grin at you and clutch your hand...just cling to you as you give them hugs. They're so open and excited about learning aobut Jesus! They and their families just welcomed us with open arms! These families barely have enough to live off, and yet, every day at our kids ministry, they opened their homes to us and served us snacks and drinks - without a thought of repayment. So much that they can't afford, and yet they refuse to take compensation! They choose to bless us by giving of their limited resources, and somehow we so bless them just by accepting it!
The Romanians are hilarious! They absolutely don't take no for an answer! If they serve snacks, you eat and eat and eat, or else they practically shove it in your face! It's the same way with drinks - they fill your cup over and over, and won't stop even when you tell them no more! It's so funny!
Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to witness the saddest thing I think I've ever seen in my life. We were driving through the little village of Lunca (Loonka) and we happened to see a wedding going on! We were all so excited, and started taking pictures and stuff, and then we saw the bride and the groom... Martha looked at her and commented, "Wasn't she in the kids ministry the other day?" And Rita, one of our translators and the main kids ministry manager, said yes, she was. We all just stared at her and asked how old she was? Sadly Rita informed us that she was only eleven...and the groom was fourteen. They were Gypsies, and were forced into marriage. Apparently this is very common - pretty much as soon as a girl is able to bear children she is married off. They live with one or the other of their parents at first, and the babies come almost immediantly. Rita said she's had girls come to her bawling because they're getting forced into marriage. It's so sad! These eleven or twelve year olds obviously can't care for babies....and so they're not cared for properly. Along with this, as they were doing one of the kids ministries, someone observed that there were mostly boys. When she asked why, we discovered that when girls reach the age of about ten or eleven, they are pretty much kept at home, because their families are scared that they will be stolen away by other Gypsies and married off to their sons. So sad! It just absolutely breaks my heart! It's like Shauna...how unimaginable!
I had a wonderful time staying with Rita in her house in Lunca...no running water...no toilets...no showers...how spoiled we are!! We take so much for granted...I pray that this will completely change my perspective on life. I hope that I will be more thankful, complain less, and take less for granted. I hope I will never forget how blessed we are here in Canada... I hope that I will remember not to hold to tight to my posessions....because they aren't what makes life count. I pray that I will invest more into relationships, and less into earning and spending money...and thats all for tonight, cause I've gotta go pack!
Love to all, and see you soon!
Joni

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