Hello Friends,
Thanks to all of you reading my blogs. It's been quite an adventure. Two nights ago a storm came that brought with it hail and flash floods. It took 2 hours to get home that night. The streets were so flooded that cars were getting stuck...so we traveled on foot at night over bridges and through streets and I couldn't see if each step had a footing. I was quoting that verse that God's word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and it had all new meaning. I've been spending this week with my home base at a home for orphaned college aged boys. It's been a little hard to break through with some but slowly they are opening up. I just spent the morning playing a form of soccer tennis. The boys seemed to have fun watching me figure it out. At the end I felt like an old lady and asked them how old they thought I was and they guessed 22. I laughed and told them I was 32. I'm also glad they now know I'm too old to be their girlfriend and besides I'm already taken:) Last night I ate dinner with a boy who was abandoned as a baby in the hospital. He grew up in foster homes and landed here 1 year ago where he accepted Christ into his heart and said God is giving him a new start. This home helps the boys learn responsibility and makes them save 20% of their income so they can get on their feet in a year or two. The average people here only make $8 a day and the cost of living is still high for that pay rate. It's every boys dream here to go to America to find work and a better life. Yesterday we visited elderly with a program Onesimus does to bring 30 elderly people a meal a day. I was astonished by the sights and smells I saw. Forgotten people in run down rooms, laying there dying and often only eating what is brought to them that day. One lady we visited looked like she weighed 70 pounds...she could barely sit up. Supposedly she went to the hospital completely healthy and left with a disease they can not diagnose. I could tell this lady did not have much time left. One thing all the Romanians agree on is that the health care here is horrible. The hospitals are like visiting a war time hospital camp and all the good doctors leave the country for better work. I just knew that this lady would have better care that may prevent her own death but it would not be available for her. When we left Anca asked me how old i thought she was. I thought maybe in her 80's. Anca said, she was only 50 years old....I was shocked. I got to pray with another lady who looked like her arm was broken. She got up and almost fell over. She was weeping because her daughter had to be taken to hospital because she couldn't take care of her handicapped needs. It was sad to sit there and watch her cry and feel the sense of hopelessness around her. She seemed grateful to meet me and was shocked that I had come from America. All in all, it's very good here. I'm at that point of missing a little familiarity. But i also feel more comfortable in this culture and really am learning a lot about even my own life and desires.
Thanks to all of you reading my blogs. It's been quite an adventure. Two nights ago a storm came that brought with it hail and flash floods. It took 2 hours to get home that night. The streets were so flooded that cars were getting stuck...so we traveled on foot at night over bridges and through streets and I couldn't see if each step had a footing. I was quoting that verse that God's word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and it had all new meaning. I've been spending this week with my home base at a home for orphaned college aged boys. It's been a little hard to break through with some but slowly they are opening up. I just spent the morning playing a form of soccer tennis. The boys seemed to have fun watching me figure it out. At the end I felt like an old lady and asked them how old they thought I was and they guessed 22. I laughed and told them I was 32. I'm also glad they now know I'm too old to be their girlfriend and besides I'm already taken:) Last night I ate dinner with a boy who was abandoned as a baby in the hospital. He grew up in foster homes and landed here 1 year ago where he accepted Christ into his heart and said God is giving him a new start. This home helps the boys learn responsibility and makes them save 20% of their income so they can get on their feet in a year or two. The average people here only make $8 a day and the cost of living is still high for that pay rate. It's every boys dream here to go to America to find work and a better life. Yesterday we visited elderly with a program Onesimus does to bring 30 elderly people a meal a day. I was astonished by the sights and smells I saw. Forgotten people in run down rooms, laying there dying and often only eating what is brought to them that day. One lady we visited looked like she weighed 70 pounds...she could barely sit up. Supposedly she went to the hospital completely healthy and left with a disease they can not diagnose. I could tell this lady did not have much time left. One thing all the Romanians agree on is that the health care here is horrible. The hospitals are like visiting a war time hospital camp and all the good doctors leave the country for better work. I just knew that this lady would have better care that may prevent her own death but it would not be available for her. When we left Anca asked me how old i thought she was. I thought maybe in her 80's. Anca said, she was only 50 years old....I was shocked. I got to pray with another lady who looked like her arm was broken. She got up and almost fell over. She was weeping because her daughter had to be taken to hospital because she couldn't take care of her handicapped needs. It was sad to sit there and watch her cry and feel the sense of hopelessness around her. She seemed grateful to meet me and was shocked that I had come from America. All in all, it's very good here. I'm at that point of missing a little familiarity. But i also feel more comfortable in this culture and really am learning a lot about even my own life and desires.
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