Blogs from Crisana, Romania, Europe - page 2

Arad. Un oras mare situat cat mai aproape de vama. Poate de aceea am stat deja de doua ori. Prima oprire Pensiunea Pascha, tarif 70ron, camera ok, un lobby maricel, gazdele prietenoase avand in vedere ca am ajuns la lasarea intunericului in jur de ora 12.00. Am stat cateva ore si nu am avut timp sa vedem nimic. De aceea am zis sa revenim si cu alta ocazie si iata ca am ajuns. De data asta am stat la Vila Cristian, tarif 120ron, camera spatioasa, parcare generoasa. Ambele pensiuni sunt situate cam la 15 minute de mers pe jos de centrul orasului.... read more

Hello Everyone, This is our last day here; we've not had internet connection since Monday to blog, thus you haven't heard from us. We've had a great couple last days. On Tuesday I went with the nurse to various homes to visit elderly people in the little outlying town of Lunca. It was amazing to get inside their homes and listen to their stories. (through a translator). The houses were very, very poor. One room in the house serves as kitchen, livingroom, bedroom. The room was probably about twelve by twelve. The house was made up out of two rooms, but two families live in it. The lady had a terrible toothache, but no access to a dentist, doctor, painkillers, or antibiotics. We were able to provide her with some medication. There are animals in every ... read more

We spoke to the women's group this morning. I spoke on Galatians 6:9 "Do not grow weary....." and on the first chapter of James which again speaks of perseverance and how God loves the widows and orphans. These women all have taken orphans into their homes. Jane spoke about being refined as silver from Malachi. God allows us to go through trials so we can reflect His character. We couldn't talk with the women as it was through an interpretor, so don't know the response. I am sure we'll hear sometime. We then did groceries with our driver, a middle age man who has lived in the States for many years. Jane offered to buy him a coffee, which totally offended him. He instructed us to the cost of coffee; how he could buy a quarter ... read more

Hello Everyone! Easter Monday; more planning and meetings this morning to get ready for the projects, starting tomorrow. This afternoon we went with Peter on a tour of how his journey to Romania started back in 1990, one year after the fall of Ceauscecu. He described the horrible conditions in the staterun orphanages, with kids lying in their own excrement, two in a crib, eyes glazed over as they never received human touch. A few years later they adopted their little girl from that orphanage and then returned to run an orphanage, later on to be broken up into permanent foster homes. Peter could hardly talk he was so emotional as he shared about losing his own dad when he was young, and how he wanted to help those who did not have mothers and fathers. ... read more

Some of you have asked about our return date; we are unable to reasonably change our tickets. Meaning, we have two tickets on Aeroplan which are absolutely not changeable before May 21. Thus, Julian and I will need to buy two new tickets for our return with Air Transat, which means that we need to transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick and spend a night in London to catch the next day flight. New tickets from London alone are about $2000, incl. tax, but not including our stay in london, transfer to Gatwick, as well as the two flights Amsterdam to London which can be around another 500 Euro. So really not feasible for returning two of us seven days earlier. Still, we gave Mark the choice of having us home earlier or taking him on a ... read more