Day 4 - We are getting used to the Romanian way. But to control freaks like me, it is very frustrating. 15 minutes means who knows how long. You start to realise that it could mean 90 minutes, but just when you start to factor that in, someone goes and pulls a literal 15 minutes just to upset your thinking.
So today was quite a tough day in many ways. The good points first of all. Claire and Tom saw an old lady trust the Lord for the first time during their ministry visitation. Terri did superbly well sharing her testimony this morning and Tom similarly this evening. Both of them put work into how they shared and took into account the pauses for translations. Naturals!
Rafael also reminded the team today how important their hugs and words of love to these children are.
There were some depths to plumb today too for some of the group. Terri thought she'd lost her Bible for a while and got quite upset. Thankfully it was found before long. It's funny how incidents are magnified here, and it's probably related to tiredness and emotional strain.
Charlotte and Gwynneth had a difficult experience during their street visits. They saw two quite disturbing family scenarios which left Charlotte in tears and Gwynneth did a super job supporting her and looking after her. This is why God has brought Gwynneth here, I am convinced. Her instincts to care and nurture are a real blessing to the girls particularly.
The children's ministry, run by Terri and Rachel today, with Monica and Sylviu, went really well today. More children, lots of attention during the story(Zaccheus) and many remembering the story from the previous day...
In the afternoon I went with Rafael to Bucharest to drop Monica off.. she is having a few days at home before coming to UK to study for mission to Kosovo and Afghanistan. She is an extremely brave young woman of 23 whose sole desire is to serve God. The girls will miss her, particularly Terri and Charlotte who grew quite close to her in a short time. We are hopeful she will be able to visit Bethany while she is in the UK.
After dropping her at the metro station we went to a cash'n'carry to buy some supplies. While Rafael was paying I went to the bank. It wasn't till we got home that we realised he'd left behind 6 loaves of bread and 60 eggs. Ooops. However we did buy fish fingers and chips and Heinz tomato ketchup as well as Fanta and Coke. Smiles all round.
Tomorrow we go to Bucharest for a few hours. Hopefully it will give everyone a much-needed boost.
It was good to hear David Childs on the phone today, and to read various messages on Facebook from folks back home. Thanks everyone, it means a lot.
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