May 2004

Spring is here! Finally greenery lines the streets of Petrosani and Colonie. The breezes blow the petals from the cherry blossoms creating a very different snow than recently fell to the ground just a few weeks ago. As I walk down the streets of Colonie I see little old women hunched over preparing for the spring planting. I can’t help but be encouraged by this sight. I have never considered myself a “green thumb,” well I did have an awesome cucumber patch(plant) once, but when I see how dedicated these people are to their gardens I can’t help but become convicted. Am I as dedicated in my work here? Sometimes it feels like I sow and sow and nothing yields, except weeds. These people sow their seeds, nurture and trust for the harvest to come. It reminds me of what God has called us all to, to prepare the fields, trust for the harvest, and be ready to reap when the harvest comes. Gardening is a very patient line of work, and so is the work/life of a Christian. Like a Gardener, we must be on our knees, preparing, nurturing, trusting, and reaping the joy of the Harvest! I love my walks into Colonie.

I began the process to buy the land under my house. It was a lot of running around, going to the Records office, the Post Office, and the Primaria (Governor’s office). A new law has passed stating that a foreign citizen can buy land if they know some Romanian. I had to write out a request stating that I was an American and wanting to buy land in Colonie. The woman at the Governor’s office looked at me as if to say, “Why in Colonie, you’re American.” I just smiled and handed her the paper. She told me and my helper/translator, Alin, that they will vote on my request in one month. Well, Alin went there a few days ago and the lady told him that the voting has been postponed for six to eight months. I was devastated, I must admit. Especially since the real reason most things are postponed is that they are “holding out” for a bribe. We do not pay bribes here, because it only feeds the corruption already in power. I have asked around and there might be another way to get approval, however, please be in prayer with me.

I had a visit from my parents, sister, uncle and friend Kevin Otsuji. It was such a blessing to show my family where I live. I think my mom fell in love with Petrosani just as I did the first time I came here, three years ago. They were able to meet the missionaries that I work closely with and the people at Christian Chapel Petrosani. My dad taught multiple studies, including our Easter Service, at the church and encouraged the entire church body. My dad and uncle also were a huge help around “Ground Zero” a.k.a. my house. Little construction could be accomplished; however, there was plenty of cleaning up and painting. My dog, Lady, also got something out of the visiting workers, a new dog house. She loves it and sleeps just outside of it when it is raining… we are working on that. Hee hee. Speaking of Lady we had a bit of a scare. She had what looked like a cancerous tumor on her left armpit. I was so afraid to take her to the veterinarian here, in fear that they would only harm her worse with a misdiagnosis. They gave me a cream to put on the infected area twice a day. It is shrinking everyday, Whew! Dodged a family crisis!

My dad and I worked on plans for my building project while he was here. Everyday I make minor changes on them. I am going to meet with the local Architect soon for him to draw up the professional plans. This is the easy part, after he draws the plans, they must be approved by the Governor. This is harder if you do not already own your land. It is possible, but very unlikely without a bribe. Please pray that the plans will be approved without being interrupted by the corruption and sin that so heavily hangs over the country of Romania.

After dropping my family off at the airport in Bucharest to fly home, I spent a week being a tourist in Romania with my friend Kevin Otsuji, and three other missionaries. We saw some beautiful sights. I have always thought that this country was beautiful, but I now KNOW how beautiful it is. I even went on horseback into the valleys and mountains, the view was breathtaking.

Speaking of horseback, I can not spare you the story of that adventure. *ahem* As me and a few friends were driving through the country side, I stated that I would be in heaven if I could ride through the country on horseback. I have always been crazy about horses, even though I know that it is a slim chance in the universe that I will ever own one. Ha ha. Anyways, we stopped at the travel agency in a town named Brasov to inquire about renting horses. The women there told us about a little place in Poiana Brasov. “YEA!” I thought. We came to this quaint little cabin resort and walked up to the barn. Here we could rent horses for $9.00 an hour. In total there were 8 of us. This was too many for each of us to get a horse so 5 of the party took a carriage/hay ride. I got my own horse. So started my adventure…

As I expected the view was breath taking. The horses, we were told, were trained to stay behind the leader and do whatever he does. If he runs, they run; when he stops, they stop. Well I think that my horse missed that lesson! Of course, I had to get the horse with an attitude. Continuously the leader was punishing my horse for going ahead of him in line. Kevin had ridden horses before and wanted to gallop. I did too, just because I have never done that before. The leader at one point passed the carriage and had the carriage free horse run ahead. It was so awesome! I felt so free and cowgirlish. Ha ha. When the leader slowed down my horse started running faster and went to pass the leader. I thought to myself, “hmmm, this is not good!” The leader grabbed my reins and helped stop me. In Romania the horsemen don’t say, “whoaaaaaaaa” they go “shhhhhhhhhhh” like shushing a baby. He slapped my horse and my horse seemed to obey, I was relieved.

I knew that I had to keep a close eye on my horse. The leader and my friend Kevin wanted to leave the group and go running. The leader told me in Romanian to keep my horse and my other friend’s horse on the right side of the carriage. This was supposedly going to keep our horses from following the other two. The boys went off running and I was pulling back as hard as I could on my horse to keep it from following. Everything seemed to be going fine, until my horse casually slacked to the back of the cart and then put on his little horse blinker to go to the left side of the carriage. I figured it was ok, since the boys were already at the top of the hill in front of us. WOOOOOSH! Off went my horse… at mock 10. I pulled back on the reigns at first, but then I figured that he was just going to run and meet up with the boys, so I relaxed and decided to ride him. This would have been fine, except my horse decided to take a right turn rather than go up the hill. Oops! That was when I got scared. I had no idea what the horse’s plans were. We went racing into a gully and I saw a bridge in front of us. I was not sure if the horse was going to jump it or crash into a rock. I held on tight and prayed, “Lord, keep me on this horse.” The horse made a right angle turn and crossed the bridge. Kevin told me that he was afraid for me. He said he would have never made a turn like that on a horse. After crossing the bridge the path before me was open countryside. I had this whole movie going on in my head, I pictured Kevin and the leader racing like cowboys saving a damsel in distress; however, in reality, I found out they were sitting at the top of the hill watching me to see what the horse was going to do first. Whatever! Ha ha.

Once I crossed into the open countryside, I began yelling at the horse in Romanian and English (just in case he was not bilingual) pulling as hard as I could on the reins and trying to make the loudest shushing noise possible! SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! As we were racing through the countryside, I saw a group of tourists gathered around a car; they all looked over at me, got out their cameras, and started taking pictures… Darn tourists! I felt like yelling, “Can I get the doubles?” Ha ha ha. Anyways we did stop and I was so mad at the horse! I turned him around and saw Kevin and the leader racing to catch up. The leader asked me if I was afraid and I said, “Nah!”

God Bless you all and I thank you all for your love and prayers. I hold you all close to my heart. Please continue to pray for the people of Romania and for the continued strength of the missionaries to diligently “work in the garden.”