Hard-working Gypsy Assistant

Location: My wife’s former bedroom, today our office, in Sighisoara, Romania, on the 28th of May 2012 at 5:41pm.

This month has certainly flown by, and we have really had a lot of rain, especially today.  Someone told me that usually in June it rains just about everyday; the rain came a month early this year!

(If you read this post already, you know that I came back and added the photo below.  That is why I had written the following…)  Sorry that I do not yet have a picture for you; I will try to add it later.  My hard-working wife has the laptop today; she has been working a lot on her dyslexia-trainer class.  She has already begun the tests for a couple of students, and today she is beginning the process for a third.

Meanwhile, I finished my work with the American students, but I certainly still have plenty to do!  A good friend of mine is visiting in a couple of weeks, and we are really looking forward to that visit.  We have a little bit of preparation to do before he and his daughter come, and we have been in contact with them as we lay plans in place.  He reminded me this week about the importance of our focus on Jesus, rather than our focus on our ministry about Jesus.  It is a good point, and something I have been working on myself.

It is so easy for a hard-working individual to get caught up in his work, instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening and learning and loving.  Even when the work is good work, noble work, godly work . . . if it takes us away from our time with Jesus, we need to reconsider our priorities.  Last Friday at our choir concert, we found out last minute that it was to be recorded.  Therefore we spent the majority of the hour before our concert shuffling around to make sure we were standing in the best spots for the microphones, instead of rehearsing our songs.  In the end, the concert ranked among the humbling performances in my life, and I noted that it did not matter if we were standing perfectly in the end, because unless we also sang well, the recording still would not turn out nicely.  It is the same with charitable work: it does not matter how perfectly you perform the task, if you have left behind your intimacy with your Lord, none of it amounts to anything anyway.

That is a good challenge for me to be aware of, as we have been quite involved in several ministry opportunities in the past few weeks.  I continue to visit my beloved village of V. as often as possible, with the goal of going once per week, on Tuesdays.  It has not worked out so well, so I think I have been three or four times since our return.

On Thursdays, I have been going for the past three or four weeks to the village of S. in the Gypsy quarter, aiding in the commencement of an adult worship time there, as well.  The first few weeks did not go so well, but this past week was super!  An organizational meeting we had last week helped a lot.  When I arrived on Thursday, my Gypsy friend (who has virtually no schooling) told me that he was in charge and I would help him.  (Our other American friend was outside occupying the children.)  So I agreed.  I taught the people a song and explained its meaning, and then I read the Bible texts (the best I could in Romanian!) and my Gypsy friend preached!  He did an excellent job!

This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but you need to know a little background.  In Romania and much of Europe, one’s ethnic group is often quite obvious and quite important, giving rise to discrimination in many cases.  Gypsies are often treated terribly, and often act worthy of their treatment.  There is even discrepancy as to whether they should be called “Gypsy” or “Roma.”  However, like the rest of us, Gypsies are a product of their environment, their culture.  So when Jesus gets a hold of someone like my friend, and gives him a new culture–a Christian culture–anything can happen!  He recognized that as part of a people group that is often thought of as the lowest of the low in this part of the world, it was only by God’s grace that our work in the village of S. depended so much on him!  Two Americans assisting a Gypsy–that is almost unimaginable! May God get the glory!

In addition to all that, we have been more and more involved in ministry through our local church here.  The sermon on Sunday was terrific, about the difference of being a Christian (like so many people in the Church today) versus a disciple of Jesus Christ (a disciplined follower who lives a life of integrity, love, accountability, teachability, patience, maturity, etc.).  M. helped lead worship for another conference last Saturday.  We have an evangelistic drama taking place this coming weekend, and I have been involved in helping put together some discipleship materials for the congregation.

My feat today, though, was that I translated a two-page document into Romanian!  I am sure it was full of errors, but it is the first time I have done something like that; I neither translate into Romanian very often, nor do I write Romanian often.  I felt like I was in Romanian class!

Well, speaking of writing, I can see that this is getting long.  Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement, your counsel and your friendship.  M. and I are doing well, thanks to our good God!  We bless you in the Name of Jesus!

The Calm(?) After the Storm

Location: Back in Sighisoara, Romania at 1:30pm on the 21st of May.

I just returned from another morning’s work with the American students’ work projects, and that after M. and I just return yestereve from a weekend visit to see friends in Brasov.  Today is beautiful and going well.

I had told you that we had a lot of rain last week, but I had no idea that a metaphorical earthquake would follow the storms!  Our weekend had several high points, including visiting a nice church in Brasov and a special witnessing opportunity on the train.  Last night when we arrived home, weary after our weekend away, we were ready to unpack, unwind, and prepare for bed.  I was hoping to work on a translation project for a friend.

It was when we opened our email that we got hit in the face with a double-barrel blast of buckshot, so to speak.  Our good friend and brother in the Lord, a pastor of my same age, was brutally murdered back in the United States on Saturday morning, in the church building.  We reeled as email after email confirmed the truth that we were trying to deny.

As M. and I held each other, we recognized that for us it was an attack that we had partly expected, in light of several similar happenings in the lives of other Christian servants in our area.  This is the third pastor we know in less than a month to die suddenly, and there have been other trying events that try to undermine the faith of the Church in this area.  So through our sobs, we praised the Lord and prayed for his family and his church.  We determined not to let satan get a foothold; after all, he failed to kill this friend of ours.  In fact, J.’s life had already ended years ago when he surrendered to Jesus.  No longer was his life coursing through his veins–he had been crucified with Christ–it was now the life of Jesus that lived through him, and that is an eternal life.

So our friend is dancing in praise in the throne room of the Almighty God right now, and the Church is honoring God.  You see, even though he was shot on Saturday, and even though he left a young family behind, the Church is rising up.  A group of local pastors embraced the congregation and encouraged them to meet for worship on Sunday morning, the day after the murder.  My friend’s already-prepared sermon was read, and his wife and the assistant pastor boldy pushed through their sorrow and participated in leading the service, with standing room only in the small meeting-house.  Friends, this is the Church!

When we are the Church, we weep (deeply!) with those who weep, but at the same time we praise our Lord who already conquered death!  When we are the Church, we pray for and support other Christians in every way possible, no matter if we attend the same church or another.  When we are the Church, we are targeted by the evil one, but we keep our eyes on the things above, on the things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and anything worthy of praise.  When we are the Church we forgive murderers and pray for our enemies, while at the same time working to bring justice into our communities.  When we are the Church, we press on with thanksgiving in every circumstance, knowing that He who is with us is greater than he who is against us, and that if He is for us, who can be against us, indeed?  When we are the Church, we do not fall when we are tripped, we fly, on wings as eagles!  When we are the Church, we glorify our God in the darkest, most ugly, most difficult times, because that is when the world best sees the beauty of Jesus Christ.

Please, pray for this family.  Please pray for us, too; it is very hard for us.  If you want to send letters of encouragement to this church, or some sort of blessing like that, please email me, and I will pass it along.  Thanks for being part of the Church.  And if you are not, and want to be, email me, and I will introduce you to the Lover of your soul.

Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth PEACE to men and women upon whom His favor rests!

Dodging Cloudbursts

Location: M.’s childhood bedroom in my mother-in-law’s house in Sighisoara, Romania, at 8:53am on the 18th of May.

After several weeks of nice weather, spring turned oddly cool and we have had rain everyday this week.  That has made my part-time work with nineteen American college students quite interesting, but we have been making progress nonetheless.  As they help to clean-up and fix-up a local charitable organization, they have plastered, pulled nails, sorted onion and potato donations, graded the driveway, stripped paint, moved furniture, organized a storeroom, and relocated piles of donated clothing.

My work with them has been good for my personal energy usage, which was lacking regular physical activitiy lately.  However, it has also made our schedule a bit more complicated, as we continue to explore the ministry opportunities around us as the Lord leads us.  I helped a couple more times with the child evangelism ministry last week, which gave me some terrific discipleship opportunites.  We babysat for our pastor this week, for example, and yesterday M. joined me as we returned to her aunt’s village to lead a Bible study in the Gypsy neighborhood.  That was relatively chaotic and unsuccessfull from my human point-of-view, but our Lord is famous for working behind the scenes!  It was nice to receive a package that same day, which included a letter from a dear prayer warrior in Rhode Island–a great encouragement to us!

Our church here has been going through a lot of growing pains, but we see the hand of the Lord in it all.  We are in conversation with the leadership about our role in helping out, either with youth or with a discipleship class.  Please continue to pray for Romania and the Church here.  Local elections are coming up next month; this includes, for example, the position of mayor of Sighisoara.  The Lord has also been reminding us about the spirit of prosititution that has had a grip on this city and even much of the country for too many years.  We are battling it in prayer, and we would appreciate you joining us.  We hope to fight it by building godly families through godly marriages.  In fact, we heard this week a figure about abortions that I need to confirm, but that figure would put Romania as the European nation with the highest level of abortions, having killed more people through abortion since 1990 than currently live in Romania.  The good news is, though, God is working mightily here, the Romanian nation is rapidly adjusting to modern trends, and the people of Romania are specially positioned for much of what the future holds.

Meanwhile, we have been seeing clear signs of God’s answers to prayer lately, which spurs us on with joy.  I realize that I have not posted an update in over a week again, and a lot has happened.  We are thankful to report that we learned that the Lord effectively arranged communication between the clinic here where we plan to deliver our child in July, and our insurance in America, which means we do not have to be caught in the middle . . . wonderful news!  We had a check-up appointment for the baby and the ultrasound looks good.  Furthermore, M. has been published in the official paper for her name change (to my family name), which we had to wait for before we could continue the process.  M. also has begun her practicum work (meaning that she completed the theory portion of the studies!) for her course on becoming a certified dyslexia trainer, which she hopes to complete soon.  I have been very pleased to have some great conversations with my mother-in-law, and we enjoy being able to spend some quality time with her.  Finally, we received word that a couple of friends from Indianapolis will be coming to visit us next month!  Are we not blessed?

Thanks for joining us in receiving the love of our Father.  I believe it brings Him glory when we simply receive His love, and then let it overflow into those around us.  May you and we receive His love.  May the people of Romania and America and the rest of the world receive His love.  And may He get the glory!

Luna Leviticus

Location: My mother-in-law’s house, Sighisoara, Romania, on the 9th of May, 2012, at 1:48pm.

For nearly a month, my wife and I have been reading the Book of Leviticus in the Bible (the word “luna” in Romanian means both “month” and “moon”).  In fact, just yesterday I believe, we were studying the Hebrew lunar calendar as we read about the Jewish festivals.  A book of guidelines for priests, the book is often considered hard to apply to present-day life.  However, through the Holy Spirit’s leading, we have learned many things.

Last night, for example, I had the privilege of returning to my beloved V. to preach, and I preached from Leviticus (Ch. 24) about how we often blaspheme the Name of God, without understand the power in His Name (such as demonstrated in Acts 3).  Most of us immediately think of curse words mixed with the Name of God when we think of taking His Name “in vain,” or blasphemy.  However, perhaps more serious is the fact that many people publicly claim the “Christian” label, but then do not live or speak or think as Christians.  Sadly, a large part of the global “Church” is made up of imposters, who by their worldly living and speech soil the reputation of our beautiful Lord in the minds of others, keeping them from the living truth of the wonderful salvation they could have.

So, you see, every part of the Bible is relevant, and thus M. and I even chose a verse from Leviticus as our current memory verse: “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD; I sanctify you.” (Leviticus 20:7)

Naturally, Bible-reading is only a part of our daily life.  The past week has been full of activity.  I have had the opportunity several days to help out with the children’s ministry I used to work with, in wake of the murder that directly affected the lives of two sisters working there full-time.  In addition to that, I have submitted some resumes, experiencing a new kind of culture shock: the idea of working professionally in a foreign culture.  In fact, I just landed a short-term job translating for and helping nine American college students on a two-week mission project, doing construction and remodeling work, primarily.  Another new culture shock I experienced was playing indoor soccer with a local club last Thursday.  I had a blast finally getting some athletic exercise!  While I was busy with several of these things, M. helped translate for a Dutch team who put on a three-day Bible conference at our church.

This window view of Sighisoara’s citadel can be seen from my new “office.”  Our church has allowed us to use their building as an office of sorts when we need some space away from home, where there tend to be more distractions and less focus.

The most exciting news is that we re-entered the baby scene yesterday, visiting a local clinic and having another ultrasound.  The baby is very healthy it seems, and we were quite impressed with the clinic.  An added blessing was running into M.’s aunt at the clinic unexpectedly, who then offered us a ride home!

We have many things to be thankful for, and we spent all of yesterday thanking our Lord.  In addition to the things I have mentioned, we met with the family for whom we plan to house-sit next month.  We have also been offered the use of three vehicles for an emergency run to the clinic (if necessary) when the baby comes in July.  We have also been offered some other preaching and teaching opportunities, and we are prayerfully considering to which ones we can commit.  And did you see the moon when it was so close to Earth?  How about some of the gorgeous sunsets and sunrises lately?

Thank you for your prayers!  May the Lord continue to make you holy through His grace and righteousness!

A Dream Come True . . . Almost

Location: My mother-in-law’s apartment on the last day of April, 2012, at 1:30pm.

How do you like M.’s Romanian sunset photo from a few nights ago?

I only have time now for a brief update before we head out to a picnic with some church friends.  We are doing well, resting in the joy of the Lord, but the past week had a lot of rough points.

Please pray for Sighisoara and Romania, especially for the Church.  Many of our brothers and sisters in the Lord are being spiritually attacked in atrocious ways.  One of the latest attacks was against our friends and former collegues, L. and R. (sisters), whose parents were murdered in their house this weekend.  Please pray for them as they grieve.  Sighisoara is a very non-violent town, and a murder happens only every few years at the most.  Yet, like I said, spiritually speaking, this is one of a number of attacks lately targeting Christians trying to faithfully obey their Lord in this part of the world.

I also would ask for prayers for A. and A.  This husband-wife team is dear to us, and they have seven children.  They live in a two-room house whose roof looks like it will collapse if a butterfly sneezes in the wrong direction.  Like many of us, they have been hurt by the Church, but they continue to seek the heart of Jesus.  However, in the latest turn of events, horrific marital upheaval has added to the strain of poverty and routine unemployment.  Please pray for this family as we pray about what our role is in their lives.

We have had the privilege of meeting with many of our friends in the area, and as of this week, we are pleased to have made a decision about which congregation will be our “home” church for our time here.  An extremely difficult decision because of our love for people in both congregations, we prayerfully decided to invest in the church M. has been part of for several years.  We look forward to communing with our friends in every church, though, in these summer days to come!  We have been enjoying a Thursday night Bible study that includes couples from both churches, and the Lord is challenging us through it.

We are hoping to go back to V. again this week, and meanwhile, I got to visit another small village, S., with a friend who wanted to offer a Sunday-morning church service there yesterday.  I must say, it was fascinating to watch the hush fall over the children as I began to sing a worship song in Romanian.  The Spirit of God was nearly tangible among those young, vivacious hearts!

We are praying a lot about our dreams and callings, and today, I had a new experience in culture shock.  A job fair Friday led to an interview this morning, at a sewing factory!  They had invited me to interview for a sewing-machine laborer position, but they interviewed me for a salesman position (selling men’s dress shirts and ties).  They did not hire me because of our short time here, but I was encouraged that working in another country DOES seem possible!  No, I have not always dreamed of factory work, but it is a dream of mine to work side-by-side with “everyday people,” so that they see that Jesus can be real and Lord for them, too!

How about you?  Have you been spending time with Jesus in the last day or two?  Have you been interacting with your neighbors and coworkers in such a vibrant way that they know YOU know the God of the Universe personally through His Son Jesus the Christ?  Do your words, actions, and your very lifestyle proclaim that the enemy is defeated even in this wicked, perverse, and violent world?  Does your every relationship declare that there actually IS hope?

I hope so.  I certainly know there is hope.

Someone told me last week that it will be impossible for me to get a job since we will be leaving the country in such a short time.  I replied that I understood, but that I knew a greater truth.  If I did not try, it would certainly be impossible!

How about you?  Are you willing to take another look at the impossible this week?  May the hope of Christ burn in your heart!

Victorious!

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Location: Back at my mother-in-law’s house in Sighisoara, Romania, on the 21st of April, 2012, at 9:38pm.

I planned to write sooner and then got caught up in a bunch of blessings!  M. and I returned yesterday evening from Targu Mures, where we spent a few days helping a friend with his children’s ministry.  We also had a meeting there with an American firm about a possible job opportunity.  We mutually decided that it was not the best fit, but we are thankful for the closed door because it helps us make further decisions.  Another thing to rejoice about is that I also was able to pick up my residency permit (which also gives me the right to work)!  It was much easier than we had hoped, and now I am able to remain in Romania legally for another four-and-a-half years.  Before going to Targu Mures, we also got to return to the village of V. last Monday, which was wonderful.  That spiritual high followed a profound Resurrection-Day sermon the day before, as well as visits with friends that day.  And all this on top of several other blessings and victories this week–it has been a good week!

 The Lord continues to provide for us supernaturally.  Not only did He beautifully close some doors that will make other decisions a bit easier, but we now have been offered to house-sit for several months in a house which belongs to a family with a baby.  Thus, it is not only furnished, but also with baby items!

Oh, and today, I got to get back into songwriting a bit.  It is fun to watch God leading us into the things about which we are passionate!  Now that several of the logistical things are started or even finished, we will soon be making some decisions about what we will be focusing on during our time here.  It is exciting!  We have some need opportunities open to us!  Unfortunately, my pleasure-writing took a backseat last week to several of the other things mentioned above (and so did my emails), which is why I was so pleased to have some time today.

You will see, too, in the photos, that M. and I enjoyed a beautiful hike up a hill on the edge of Sighisoara, including a visit to her father’s grave on the way up.  That was Good Friday, and in the cemetery we read from Mark about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  How beautiful the fog was across from us as the top of the hill formed an island in the clouds!  It was as though we stood in heaven itself!

May you, too, walk on the clouds this week as the Son leads you step-by-step through victories He has prepared for you.  I pray that you, too, have surrendered your life to Christ, letting your life be crucified with His, and resurrected with His!  Such life is worth living!

From April Showers to . . .

Location: My mother-in-law’s house in Sighisoara, Romania, at 9:10pm on the 9th of April.

. . . Snow?

I thought “April showers bring May flowers,” not “April showers turn to April SNOWers”!  But that is what happened yesterday, which was Easter Sunday for much of the world, including the Saxon and Hungarian churches here.  However, the Orthodox calendar is a little different, so we will celebrate Easter next Sunday . . . or, as I like to call it, Resurrection Day.

Whatever you call it though, it was dreary in the morning, poured cats-and-dogs from the middle of worship through the afternoon, and then turned to snow around dinner time!  None of the snow accumulated, but it sure was hard to accept after temperatures warmed up toward the end of last week and flowers started blooming.

We actually had rain on Friday, too.  The sky turned black in the afternoon, around the same time that it turned black on the Friday when Jesus was crucified.  How grim it seemed, for when the sky darkened, we were standing on the side of a hill, gathered around an open grave, with mourning people all around us.  Had the rain come then, we would have been fully exposed, drenched, and unable to safely descend the slope, which would have been treacherous with mud, especially for the older folks who had managed to hobble their way up the steep path.

The funeral was for a Gypsy girl of 34 years of age.  A part of M.’s church, I had never met her, for she had been paralyzed by muscular dystrophy since age twelve.  She had been blind for the past eight years, and no longer came to church.

Yet this sister was amazing!  She tithed every month, sending her offering to the church.  Eight years ago, she was in the hospital for nine months, and the doctors told her she would not leave alive.  She evangelized them though, and the nurses and other patients, and she clung to a promise of life that God had given her.  The seven other patients in her ward did die; she, however, went home and lived for eight more years!

More than that, for years on end, she wrote evangelistic letters to prisoners, corresponding with the inmates from her home.  Long after she could no longer write, she continued, dictating the letters to her brother or to her mother!  When she could no longer talk or breath on her own, and had to have a breathing machine, she would put her hand over the trache hole in her throat so she could still speak.

I asked a friend about her.  He said that you could never encourage her, because when you visited, she would encourage you instead!  And that is how I felt about the funeral.  I felt like we should go to make sure that this Gypsy invalid had a few people at her funeral to encourage her family.  Their courtyard was PACKED, and the amazing stories of her life ended up inspiring and encouraging me!  I spent about five hours that day getting to, standing at, and coming from a funeral, and I was ELATED!

Why was this gal so encouraging?  Because her life was Jesus.  Her hope was Jesus.  Her strength was Jesus.  Her message was Jesus.  Her everything was Jesus!

I have more stories, of course.  Please pray for a couple of close friends of ours, both of whom have recently divorced and are now tragically chasing boyfriends from the past, likely leading their families into deeper misery.  Please pray for a couple of young friends of ours, both of whom are disillusioned with the Church, and a neighbor of ours who was so hurt by so-called Christians that she refuses to set foot among them!  We also have two friends who are targeted in law suits, which is unusual in Romania.

M. and I have had several ministry opportunities already, and continue to be invited for more.  We are trusting the God-Who-Sees-Us to lead us perfectly around the quagmires that lurk in the shadows around us, that we might attain the goal that He sets in our hearts.  Thank you for your prayers.  May you pray fervantly like this young Gypsy prayer warrior who fell asleep last week.  May Jesus be your Savior, too, and may He also be your Lord!

Photos Galore!

Location: Sighisoara, Romania, the 9th of April, 2012 at 3:45pm.

Today has been a blog day so far, but the post has not yet been written.  Watch for the post, but enjoy LOTS of pictures finally added to the Photo Albums above.  Hope to post soon!

The Weather Report

Location: My mother-in-law’s house, Sighisoara, Romania, at 8:55am on the 3rd of April, 2012

A brief update…

As you may be able to tell through the window screen, it was SNOWING on Sunday.  We arrived in high winds, had full day of rain showers, then snow, and now it is starting to look a bit like spring.  The climate adjustment has been a bit tough coming from an early spring in Indiana to winter coats in Sighisoara!

Our pace has been pretty relaxed, but I have yet to answer emails or be in telephone contact with many people.  Our bags arrived Friday, less than twenty-four hours after we arrived in Sighisoara ourselves; how nice it was that God carried them for us!  Saturday we took a Sabbath day’s rest, and Sunday found us in the German Lutheran church with family.  Yesterday, we began tracking down documents, and ended up running to the county seat, Targu Mures, because we were told that we actually do not need to renew the documents, that a new photo and fingerprints would suffice for my five-year residency permit.  We will see.  After I visited the immigrant office, they told me to call back in two weeks to see if my file was complete and up-to-date.  Nevertheless, we were pleased to have made some progress.

M. and I agree that we do not feel like we are in another country.  Rather, it seems as though we just went to another neighborhood or town to visit her mom.  Everything feels familiar, yet the adjustment has been unusual.  Several of our friends here are out-of-town or out of the country at the moment.  Jet-lag is still bothering us a bit, but we are waking up on an eastern Asia time schedule rather than an American one.  Several of our friends seem to be under spiritual attack, a couple via the judicial system here, and we are praying about where we fit in to everything.

All in all, we are very happy to be back, to have our bags, and to be moving forward with all of the hoops we have to jump through for our residency permits, name change, etc.  I have been asked to translate for my preaching friend on Sunday, and we have been invited to a Bible Study Thursday evening.  We are eager for our second spring to fully blossom!

We have lots to tell, but life to live, so we will do our best to keep in contact.  Thank you so much for your prayers, both for us and for the people around us!  We bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

Return to Romania

Location: My mother-in-law’s house in Sighisoara, Romania on the 30th of March, 2012 at 12:35pm.

After blessed travels, M. and I arrived on Romanian soil yesterday afternoon around 5:30pm local time.  I smiled when my wife did NOT get off the jet to kiss the tarmac!  The story goes that years ago, when her father went to Germany, he was so glad to get back home that got out of the car and kissed the ground, never wanting to leave again!  I wondered if M. might do the same, not because she hated America (she didn’t!), but because the last 10 minutes of our last flight were like a yo-yo in the hands of a six-year-old!  The wind was very strong, and it blew our little jet mercilessly as the pilot struggled to align to the runway.  Thanks for your prayers!  I was happy to step onto solid ground myself, even if our bags failed to accompany us!

Our travels were interesting.  Our first flight was delayed about an hour due to air traffic at our destination, and that meant we only had half-an-hour to make it to our trans-Atlantic flight.  We hurried through the airport, led by perfectly by the Holy Spirit, and it was only after I handed over my passport at the security checkpoint that I realized we had not emptied our water bottles in our haste (liquids are forbidden!).  I grabbed both and chugged them in probably 60 seconds!  My belly floating, we made it to our flight during the last boarding call!

On the next flight, I met a man from Cincinatti (actually, just across the river in Northern Kentucky) who works for a car parts company which has plants in Cinci, Germany (two), and in Sibiu, Romania (our destination)!  We had a nice visit and exchanged contact information.  He made it through customs without problem, but they were confused when it was our turn!  We had passed not a single passport check until we hit Romania (which I cannot understand), and then we had to explain to them that I understood the residency process and would apply for residency during my first three months here.  When they learned that, they became amazingly cordial, leading us to the baggage claim that soon testified that our bags had been lost in transit.  Another very nice gal bent over backwards to help us, and we were the last people to leave the airport, holding our newly-received overnight kits.  We hope the bags will arrive this weekend–it sure was nice not to have to lug them home!

From the airport in Sibiu we took a cab to the train station, and from there we traveled by train to Sighisoara, arriving at around 10pm.  We walked the 10 minute walk to this apartment home, and here we are.  M.’s mom was quite happy to see us, serving us sarmale (steamed cabbage rolls) and cheesecake!

We slept pretty well and woke up pretty well.  A slow morning has allowed us to get ourselves organized, starting things off with prayer and the Word of God as usual.  We are so blessed!

Many of you like to ask us how we survive, in particular, regarding finances.  May God be glorified as I tell you about His provision.  We do not ask anyone for money, except our Father in private prayer, and we try never to tell humans our needs.  The Lord provides for us.  We believe that as we follow His lead, He will make sure the means are there to do it.  He is always faithful, and that provision comes in many forms, including odd jobs, gifts, and other surprises.  We could tell you so many stories from the past several years, but just to remind you that our Lord is always faithful, no matter WHERE we (or you!) are, listen to this . . .  In our first 12 hours back, He provided three times very clearly.  First, we received the overnight kits with toiletries and T-shirts, then my wife received an armload of maternity clothes from a neighbor, and we saw that our tax refund reached our bank account.  Thank You, Lord!  I tell you this because Christians MUST be thankful, grateful, gracious creatures!  I also tell you this because some of you are in tough situations right now, when things seem impossible.  Trust the LORD, and surrender everything to Him.  He is faithful–we are living proof!

So, hello from Romania! I am tempted to make a list of things that M. is noticing about her own culture upon our return, because so many people have asked us how the USA and Romania are different.  Already, M. has realized what we had sort of forgotten: Romania is SO colorful!  Please pray for us as we re-adjust.  It is wonderful to be here, and now we are relearning how to be Romanian.

Obviously, I have so much to tell you!  I have not even told you about our last couple of weeks in the States, though maybe I will not manage to do so!  Onward we go!  I will try to write more soon, but here is the point.  Our God, and yours, Yahweh, the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, known through Jesus Christ the Son, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, IS AN AWESOME GOD, worthy of all glory and praise!  May His joy fill you today, wherever you are, whatever you are doing!  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!