We were meeting at the Ciacova church at 11:00am, but the group at the Ianc's were running late and we had to exchange money. We all finally arrived at the church and sat down in the new fellowship hall to review our schedule for the week.
We went over times and places, Sunday we would have a majority of the service to do our skit, testimonies, songs and Ed (now know as Pastor Ed, but only in Romania) to give a short talk. It may not sound like an all day event until you know that we will be a the Jabel church in the morning, 10-12, Paderan church in the afternoon, 2-4, and Ciacova in the evening, 6-8. So our Sunday will be full.
Then we talked about the VBS, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ciacova church. We will also be meeting with the teens on Tuesday night at Ciacova and then a church meeting Wednesday night. Thursday and Friday will be doing the same at the Paderan church. Thursday night meet with the teens and Friday night a church meeting.
Saturday we will be going to the church in Sag to do the same schedule we did on Sunday.
Most of these nights a church member will be making dinner for us. You may think no big deal, but the Romanian people put out a big spread for us. Marius tolds us that when they do not get a lot of visitors, they will put out their best and most when the visitors come. As an example we had dinner, which Tabita and Lavinia prepared for us, at the Ciacova church then visited Liviu and Florica's farm and after the tour of the farm (you have to see the picture of a pig trying to kiss Cheri), they invited us into their house and had a large spread of food waiting for us to eat. Steak, pork, Meska, potatos, cucoumbers & tomatos and bread. Boy were we full.
After the scheduling meeting, we had lunch. We then proceeded to tour the town of Ciacova. We walked and saw the main school, an old Orthodox Cathalic church, the center square, police station, community pool with a cafe, the hospital and visited a family from the church.
When we returned Ruth, Cheri, Melissa and Amy stayed at the church and orginized the gift bags for our hosts and meal makers. Bags of goodies for the children at the churches, the prizes for VBS and the clothes we broght for the Ianc's to distribute. Ed, Michele and I went with Marius to the Reali Mart to purchase the food for the food bags were were going to deliver. These are the bags that some genenrous folks gave $ 20.00 each ($ 120.00 in total) to purchase. We gave each family a bag of sugar, flour, corn meal, a bottle of cooking oil, a 2L bottle of juice, two bags of pasta, a large loaf of bread and a stick of salomi.
When we returned to Ciacova, we all went to deliver the food bags to some poor folks. One was Theresa, who we had delivered to the last time we were here. Her house (two rooms) was falling apart and roof leaked on the bed when it rained. The church help fix up the house and the roof. Another family has 6 children and a single mother. The church helps her with the rent and helped her move from a shack to inside the middle of the town. Another family, the mother was bed ridden because she has diabetis and her one leg was blacked. But now it is healed but she still cannot get out of bed. Their one son is 26 years old but has the mind of a 1 year old. The father has to stay at home and assist both of them. But the mother is very intellegent and loves the Lord, relying on Him for everything. She was very happy we were there to visit. Another family we delivered the food two was a combination of two families with a total of 19 kids. We also gave a bag to Gege. He is working on Marius and Tabita's home in Ciacova. His family had a tragady because in the fall, his oldest son who was 12 went to the hospital to have a heart valve fixed. He and his wife sold everything they owed to pay for this operation. Well the boy got an effection and died. The father was beside himself an did not want to live. His other children helped him through this time, but because of this Marius want to help the family by giving him a food bag.
After dinner at the Ciacova church, Marius went to a prayer meeting in Jabel. The team stayed at the church and we practiced our skill several times, trying not to laugh through it, and our songs. We also scheduled out who was going to give their testimonies at which service. We then went and visited Liviu & Florica's as I mentioned ealier. We then finally went back to the homes we are staying at for a good nights sleep.
Keep praying for us as we go through the week.
Until tomorrow,
Doug
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