Day 2

Wow! today was a packed full day, thankfully we didnt have to start bright and early, they allowed us to sleep in a bit :)
let's see, where to start...
from the beginning i suppose...Doug told you about the flight and what not so i wont start that far in the beginning but i must start with who i am staying with b/c she's the sweetest little woman i can hardly communicate with! I am staying at Paulina's house with her and her two children...the only problem is her two children are in Moldova until Sunday and Paulina speaks NO English whatsoever! so last night when i arrived i got the tour via hand gestures and trying to pick our familiar words...there seem to be a lot of Romanian words that I can at least recognize thanks to the little Spanish and German I know!! We were able to communicate a lil more by skyping with her son who is in Moldova and speaks English...we covered some of the necessary things and then since it has been hand motions, confusion and a several aha's! So Paulina is giving up her bed and sleeping on the couch so that I can stay with them and she tries to feed me more than anyone should be fed! For breakfast this morning i was fed chicken and mashed potatoes, bread, cheese, salami, instant coffee, chocolates and veggies! Paulina sat down and ate with me and i made sure to take note of how much she was eating and then ate slightly more but she was still trying to convince me to have "gross, gross" (more, more)!! I'm not much on eating breakfast at home but knew i would have to make sure i did here but i was NOT prepared to be served chicken and potatoes for breakfast!!
As Paulina walked me to the church to meet up with the rest of the group she was trying to find anyone we crossed paths with who spoke english to talk to me! we even detoured into where she works b/c she thought some of them would know some english...but no luck...they offered italian, german and russian but no English! then,FINALLY we ran into Dan who spoke English and he was just so elated to meet a real American (not those fakes they usually get around here!) and so we spent some time talking and i was able to share with him why I was here and he was very excited for an American to be here to see the real Romania, not just the cities and tourist attractions but the villages also.
Paulina and i finally made it to the church and eventually the rest of the team made it as well and we planned out our trip and then the rest of the day. First on the list for the day was to explore the town of Ciacova for a bit...i took like 100 pictures and i think they got tired of waiting for me to get my shot but oh well, they'll deal...i have some sweet shots!! Then when we were done exploring the town for a while some of us went shopping for food to take to poor families in Ciacova while the rest sorted through and organized all our stuff for the VBS program we'll be running starting Monday.
We then took the bags of food as a team to the different families...and i cant even describe effectively some of the conditions they live in...there was one family of 19 we brought food to, Marius wouldnt even take us inside b/c it was so dirty and he was worried we would all catch lice or infections from the animal droppings and things. We met some amazing people with unbelievable stories who find their strength and hope in Christ b/c that is pretty much all they have to keep them going...photos and words dont do justice to the experience of meeting these ppl in their homes and being able to serve them with gifts of food...thank you to those who contributed extra donations for these families, they are truly grateful and we were blessed enough to be able to deliver them in your name. One of the most challenging things about this experience today is remembering that its not just in Romania that people live like this, there are similar stories and hardships right in our own cities and backyards but often we overlook them or stay away from them b/c we are afraid of them (at least that is why i think i choose not to think about it try to do anything about it) but sadly it takes us going to another country to be willing to see conditions like this and attempt to alleviate some of their pain...why dont i do that more when i see need and struggling ppl in the city nearby or even in a nearby neighborhood?
Lots more i could say but ill stop writing my book for now!
Caio,
Michele