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Ladies Tea
We put on a really nice ladies' tea. It had never been done before, but was well received. Hello Everyone,
I just noticed that I haven't blogged since Monday! Wow! Time is going so fast! So much has happened since then. On Tuesday afternoon we planned a ladies' tea with the ladies from the tiny village of Lunca where we are working. They had never done anything like that in the village, so the ladies from the team here wanted to make it very special for them. Jane and I went shopping with some of the Romanian women for cake, juice, napkins, table cloths, etc. We put on a really nice tea party for them. In total we had probably about thirty women, which included the women from our group as well. Most of them were very poor Gypsy women and farm wives who live in places without running water or sewer. The lady next to me packed her napkin full of cake and then carefully folded it. Most of the juice that we served, they probably never had, the Romanian team told us.
Jane, my sister-in-law, shared a word of encouragement from the trials that God brought her through when she lost her baby and all the subsequent miscarriages. Several old ladies sat there and just
Gypsy Women
Two of the Gypsy women who came to the tea. They suffer from abuse at home. Many of them come from broken families and alcohol abuse. wept. Jane talked to one old lady today who lost three of her children, so I think that the women really could enter into Jane's experience. Then she sang a song that she has written called, "He is in control", just sharing how God controls our lives and the trials we come through can be used to encourage others.
Then on Wednesday we went shopping for the whole team; again Jane and I and one other Romanian lady. Shopping here is an experience; we couldn't find a lot of stuff that we needed, like brown beans for Chili, coffee cream, brown bread, celery, etc. Most groceries are extremely expensive; I saw 75 ml of Colgate toothpaste for $6.00, a tiny wilted head of lettuce for $2.50. Consider that the average wage is about $400.00/month. No wonder that they have so little to eat in their homes!
On Wednesday afternoon we had kids' ministry in Lunca. About twenty-eight kids showed up, not including ours. It was so wonderful seeing all those kids with dirty little faces and in tattered clothes hear the good news about Jesus. Cory and Martha did an amazing job! The kids really came to life
Jane Sharing Her Story
Jane shared her story. The women wept as she told them about God's care in her life and how He brought her through the trials she faced. when we played games with them and some of them won prizes. Most of them are from very difficult homes; alcoholism, poverty, abuse, etc. Today I was able to visit the people who live next to the Lunca mission station where Peter and Hailey will be living as soon as their house is renovated there. The man is an abusive alcoholic, but had a horse for sale which Peter and Hailey thought of buying for their daughter. Very interesting. The horse was hitched to a wagon, covered with sweat as she'd just pulled the plow all morning. There are horses and carts EVERYWHERE. Today I counted six horses in a single field pulling plows. There are more horses than tractors on the roads and in the fields. Many of them are rather sore; this week I had taken a picture of the horse we looked at today. She was holding up her right leg then, and she still was today. For you horsey people, check out the shoes! Talk about pressure points! No wonder the horses are shifting their weight from leg to leg every couple of seconds because they can't bear to stand still. Most of them are in
Horse and Wagon
The horse I checked out today for Peter and Hailey's daughter. Notice the right leg. good shape; there is lots of grass around. But almost all of them have terribly long feet. When the translator told him that that's what I work with, he apologized and apologized again for the length of the feet. He quickly went to explain how he wanted to trim her. (see his finger pointing on the one picture.) I felt sorry for the horse. People here use horses all the time but don't have a clue about proper hoofcare or perhaps they don't bother to do it.
Today we had a traditional Romanian barbeque of "meech" and chicken. Meech is some sort of meat sausage. It was really good. We also celebrated a birthday of one of the village girls who lives with her grandparents because her parents' house is too small. Her grandparents only had a one-room house as well, so Peter and Hailey built an addition onto their house for her.
The teams are all working really hard on the projects. Ed finished the playground installation; the kids flocked to the playground, which is the only one in the whole town. The neighbours stopped by with their horses and carts to see the project completed. Kids
Happy Villagers
This lady (left side) had been praying for ten years for a church in her village. She was the only Christian; now there is a thriving church helping the community. and ladies blew us kisses as we drove by. The renovations team worked on the camp kitchen. That's still a lot of work. I painted the outhouse with Lacramura, Peter and Hailey's daughter. Jenee grouted the tile on the house; really amazing! Peter ran around trying to organize everyone, which was a rather big job with so many people!
Tomorrow Jane and I have been asked to speak to the ladies who have the orphans in their homes. I plan to speak on "Do not grow weary while doing good, for in due season you shall reap if you don't lose heart." Please pray that we could encourage the women in their task.
We are having a great time. The team is getting along with each other amazingly well. We are ahead of schedule and are able to tackle other projects that Peter had not even counted on. That just means we need more funds! Ed will be installing the pump for the running water tomorrow as now all they have is an old well. The sewer water runs through the middle of the town, but most people use outhouses, so it's mainly dirty water from household use.
There are actual open sewers in Medias in various places, which sounds horrible when we hear it in Canada but is not as bad as it sounds, although important to stay away from!
We miss you all and love you! Especially Mark!
Els
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