The Generosity and Beauty of Romania

As I said last week, I had a flat tire up in the mountains, so on Monday, Fr. Remus and a mechanic from town went up to fix the tire. It took a grand total of 4 1/2 hours to fix. Turt-Bai is about 6 miles from where I live, so it's not all that far, but the roads are the epitome of the word "awful." I've been on the dirt roads in Haiti which are horrible themselves, but these roads...oh my gosh. They can't even be compared. Fr. Remus bought his brother's Land Rover, so it was a lot easier to get up into the mountains in that than my little Volkswagon Passat. So, after we got there, it was a combination of the effort of 5 grown men to fix it. On Sunday when we were there and Fr. Remus came to my rescue, as we were trying to change the tire, we found that one of the bolts on the tire was an anti-theft bolt. Well, imagine 3 men with hammers and chisels trying to break it off. Well, they only messed it up, so on Monday, it took welding 2 bolts onto the anti-theft one to get it off (Can I just say THANK GOD for the generous spirit of Romanians. A guy who lived further up the mountain brought his welding machine down to where we were). Once we got it off, we had to drive back down the mountain to get the right size tire. Then, we went back up and put the new one on. I was so relieved.

Since we were most of the way up the mountain, Fr. Remus wanted to take me the rest of the way up the mountain where there is a monestary. At the top, you can see the town we live in at the bottom. The sun was beginning to set and I can honestly say that I have never in my entire life seen a sunset like that. Being in the fresh mountain air, looking over Turt, and seeing the sun set, I was left speechless. It was amazing. I took some pictures, but I was reminded of the lesson God taught me when I was studying in Austria: no picutres can ever catch the true beauty of things like that. The pictures are good, but they don't even begin to show the beauty. It was amazing.

Turt from the top of the mountain

On Wednesday I went to Satu Mare with Fr. Remus to pick up a van donated by a German foundation and to pick up the projector donated to us by the wonderful Newman family. On Thursday, we went to Baia Mare to do some shopping for George. Living out in the boonies of Romania means you can get all that much stuff out here. It's a pretty big city and I was definitely glad to get back out to the country after a long day there. Cities are too busy for me. I don't really like them. I enjoy my little country town where you can hear cows moo-ing in the distance.

I had been so busy that I hadn't been able to get to the orphanage until Friday and then, I ended up not even getting there. Long story. Haha.On Friday, I met a woman who during the time of Communism here was injured and ended up with a horrible infection in her leg and because of the strictness of the Communists, couldn't get the simple medicine that would have kept her out of the hell she went through. The infection got so bad that she had to have 4 surgeries to save her leg. Today, she walks normally, but she showed me the scars. Insane. Through her tears, she said "Isus este motivul pentru care sunt inca aici" which means "Jesus is why I am still here." Her faith was amazing and inspiring.

I FINALLY got to the orphanage yesterday and it was SO wonderful to be back. I pulled in and the kids came sprinting at the car. It was so good to hear the kids screaming "KATE!!" trying to get my attention. I absolutely love the sound of their laughter. It brings so much joy to my heart. I can't help but smile when they laugh. I think that the sound of their laughter is my favorite thing in the entire world right now.

Whenever I go to the orphanage, I take a few of the teens from the church with me. I love taking them with me and they must love going because they always want me to take them. One of them is 15-year-old Ioana. Vasile, the guy who is always trying to get me to help him kill animals, is her dad. I am so grateful for their family. Whenever I bring Ioana home, they feed me dinner and we just hang out for a little while. They always send me home with fruit they've grown. Right now, there are 2 huge shopping bags full of grapes and 1 full of apples on my counter. SO MUCH FRUIT!! Hahaha. But they are wonderful. They always want to take me to do things and they have made me feel so welcome and so loved here. Just another example of the Romanian spirit that I am so fond of.

Last night, I went outside and looked up and could see so many stars. It reminded me of laying on the roof of the orphanage in Haiti this past March when I was there on a mission trip. I couldn't see nearly that many stars, but I could see a lot more than in Cincinnati. It was amazing. I love this country so much and being here just feels so right :)

Missionary problems of the week:
-Seeing someone wearing a shirt with a completely inappropriate phrase in English on it and you're pretty sure they don't actually know what it says because no one who could read it would actually EVER wear it in public. Hahaha
-Being pulled over by the police for no apparent reason and the cop thinks your from England because that's your last name...(long story. expired license plates. no ticket)