Adventures in the Snow

I can't decide what I am more impressed with tonight - the beauty of the freshly fallen snow, or the fact that people have survived in this stuff for centuries :-) 

the snowy church courtyard this afternoon

When I lived in New York, we had a couple of big snowstorms, but I was so spoiled, and drove my heated car from my heated house to my heated workplace down well-paved and well-cleared roads.  This week, I feel like I have truly experienced winter for the first time...and I am STILL so spoiled!  I still am staying in a heated room (though the heat in the rest of the house broke down yesterday), with hot water (in the building next door) and friends who can drive me from place to place.  There are people all over this area who have to hope that they have enough money for firewood to heat their homes and their water, who can only get to the store by trudging through the snow, who depend on the land for their food and are worried that the plants that were ready for springtime have been frozen and crops might be affected.  And there are my faithful friends here, doing ministry when it is cold and hard and uncomfortable, and showing the people around them the love of Christ. And life in Arizona, which often feels hard and discouraging and wearisome, looks, from here, like a very easy life.

Alex B and Vera with gifts for the kids

Delivering bags

With Ancuta and Ema

But I digress.  Here's a quick summary of the last couple days.  Yesterday, I went with Vera and Alex B and Sorin, all part of the E2E program here, to deliver bags of toys and clothes and school supplies and treats to families in the area.  Vera spent a few months in Canada for Bible school and only recently came back, so she is trying to reconnect with the families of the kids she ministers to here in town.  We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked a little more, in snow and rain and cold, and had some short but sweet house visits with several different families.  We enjoyed a cozy warm lunch in the church basement (have I ever been more thankful for heaters?) in between visits, and eventually stopped because it was just too cold.  I walked back to the other part of town and visited with my friend Ancuta, whose husband has been driving me everywhere on this trip but who I hadn't been able to spend time with.
  We talked and prayed and enjoyed her little girl, then I met a group for dinner.  There are two missionaries that just got to town from Finland, and this is their first trip to Romania.  Alex and Vera and Christy and I had dinner with them (my 3rd shawarma dinner in a row!) and then we called it a night.

Pamphlets for the people of Craiova

with a real live snowy Christmas tree at

the end of March

a slightly blurry picture of Dorothy 

and her dogs

Today, I returned to Craiova (I think this was the 6th time?) with a group to do some street evangelism with the Finnish guys.  We broke off into pairs - I went with one of the E2E guys, George - and took tracts to pass out and talk with people.  The talking part was a bit hard - it was snowy and windy and nobody was in much of a mood for a leisurely chat.  So George and I mostly put pamphlets in mailboxes and did quick hand-offs to people.  The Finnish guys were not at all turned off by the weather, but the Romanians and this wimpy Arizonan were having a hard time.  I joined the group that was headed back earlier - just myself and Vera and Alecs - and we made it back to Draganesti mid-afternoon.  I hid out in the church for awhile, watching the snow as it piled up, reflecting on all sorts of things, playing the piano, helping Vera with some projects, and then met my friend Dorothy for dinner at her house.  After a delicious meal, fabulous dessert, and an extremely cold but completely beautiful walk home, I am cozy in my heated room and ready for one last day in town tomorrow before heading to the big city Saturday morning.

Every trip to Romania is different, and my head is swimming, as usual, with so many thoughts about my time here.  I'm thankful for the almost-daily chance to reflect here on the blog, and eager to process more with people in person when I'm home. I also have been giving some serious thought to how wonderful it will be to wear flip-flops on a warm sunny afternoon when I return :)  But oh, how I will miss this place!

My Bible reading this morning just happened to include

Ecclesiastes 11:7 "Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for

the eyes to see the sun."  Looking forward to some sunshine!