This week has been much better than last week. Thank you for your prayers.
On Moday, Fr. Remus and I went to the house of one of the parishoners to get some water from the well (best water I've ever had, by the way). Up until 4 years ago, everyone in town had to go to this well or the one on the other side of town for water. Can you believe that? This town didn't have running water until 2008! But after we got the water from the well, we sat outside and talked with the family. It was an elderly couple and their 50-year-old son, Aurel, who takes care of them. Aurel speaks some English, so that helped a lot. But as we sat there and talked, I looked over the hill and I could see the fields on the outskirts of town and the mountains in the background. The beauty of this country just constantly leaves me speechless. I never could really find God in nature until I studied in Austria and to now be surrounded by the beauty of the mountains that are the border between Romania and the Ukraine, oh man. It just leaves me speechless. So, after I took in the beauty I was seeing from the hill, I closed my eyes and all I could say was "Thank You, Lord."
On Tuesday, I went to the orphanage and took 3 soccer balls which were a HIT! The joy on their faces when I pulled the rainbow soccer balls out of my trunk just made my heart explode with happiness. It was so great. For about an hour, we played with the balls, everything from the kids seeing how high they could kick it to just regular old soccer. A window actually got broken by Iourri, who is 9. It was kinda funny. I had to try so hard not to laugh. But do you want to know what made me the most happy? The little kids wanted me to color with them, so I sat down and before I knew it, I had 7 pictures colored for me with my name written on them and things like flowers drawn on them. My favorite one? The one drawn by 5-year-old Joseph. It's literally just a bunch of scribbles. It's so cute. I will treasure those pictures forever.
On Wednesday, a group of 4 people came from the "Churches in Need" Foundation based in Germany. The Foundation donated a lot of money to the building of Fr. Remus' new house. One of the people that came was a Jesuit brother who works under the bishop of the diocese here in Romania. He told me that he was so glad I am here and just the fact that I am here is a witness to the live of God. It was an encouraging word that came at the right moment.
Later in the week, I took 3 of the teens from the church to the orphanage with me. We spent 3 hours just hanging out with the kids. I taught the little kids some English and they taught me some Romanian. It's a good system. Hahaha. I have been asked to teach a few of the parishioners English, so that should start up in the next couple weeks.
I was thrown into Romanian countryside culture pretty harshly yesterday. That makes it sound so much worse than it actually was. Hahaha. But yesterday, I helped Vasile, one of the most active parishioners in the church, kill and skin a sheep. It was an experience to say the least. He asked me if I wanted to cut the sheep's throat. I politely declined. Hahaha. So, I held the sheep's horns while Vasile cut it's throat. It was kinda gross. Okay, it was really gross, but not nearly as gross as when I was here last year and his family killed a pig for us. That was just...ugh. Yuck is the only word I can think of to describe it. Okay. Back to the sheep. After it was dead, Vasilie hung it up on a tree and started skinning it. I watched for a while and then he handed me the knife. I was hesitant, but then I thought about my senior year of high school anatomy class. If I can skin and disect a cat, I can skin a sheep. So, I did it from the sheep's back hips to halfway up its rib cage. I then gladly handed the knife back to Vasile. After it was skinned, he gutted it. Here's where things got really funny. As he is pulling organs out of the sheep, he is teaching me the names for them in Romanian. It was hilarious. When there was an organ I couldn't tell what it was and didn't understand the Romanian, Vasile proceeded to blow air into what turned out to be the sheep's lungs. Yes, he put his mouth on the trachea and blew up the lungs. I was so grossed out by that and a huge chill went down my spine. I shivered, which then caused Vasile to start laughing hysterically. Vasile is this like HUGE 6'5 guy in his late 40s. Imagine him on the ground laughing because he grossed me out so bad. It was great :)
Now to make the whole sheep-killing experience theological. I wouldn't be a Franciscan University alum if I couldn't somehow tie it all into God. Hahaha. So, they call Jesus "The Lamb of God" right? Well, at His crucifixion, Jesus didn't put up a fight. It is said that He was like a lamb for slaughter. For the first time, I truly understood that. When Vasile brought up the sheep, it was quiet and as I held its horns, it didn't put up a fight. It was silent. The pig that they killed for us last year? Not so much. It made so much noise and fought so hard. That's part of what made it so much worse than the sheep. I now totally understand why they said Jesus was like a lamb being led to slaughter.
I absolutely love it here and at this point, I am seriously considering sticking around Romania for a long time. I'm praying a lot about it and ask that you would keep my decision in your prayers as well.
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