Friday, June 25, 2010

Fieni Visited and The Big Clean Up



Day 3 – Fieni Visited The Big Clean Up

As I got up this morning I realized I may sound as though I am constantly complaining but it is just that I try to see the light side of life and with my mind almost everything is funny. For instance, last night I was looking at all the bad things that could ruin my sleep - the mattress that is so firm it doubles up as a ping pong table; the pillow that is so fluffy that I had to roll it up to give some cushion to my head; the rooster that lives right behind our hut; the dying dog (or so it seems). And so when I woke up I realized that the mattress and pillow had not been an issue; the rooster crowing at 6:40 a.m. was actually a blessing because I had turned my alarm off and fallen back to sleep; and the dog did not make a sound. So feeling much better I jumped in the shower and the fun started again. The soap bars were so old they just disintegrated when you opened them. The shower was a stand up shower with a broken faucet so you had to hold the shower, the protection was a curtain that you had to put inside the shower “dish” (not quite sure what you call the thing you stand in), and so when the water is on the curtain blocks the plug. It really makes for an interesting shower.
As I walked up to the van I realized that my night had been absolute bliss as compared to the group sleeping in the main building. Starting about 10:30 p.m. the hotel had become a dance club. But luckily for them the noise only went on until about 3 a.m. Holly took it upon herself to go down and share the gospel at about 2:30 a.m. – well actually she walked downstairs to ask them to turn the music down. I can only imagine the bemused look on their faces as a teenager walks in and tells them to turn the music down because she wants to sleep and worse still she has to do it by playing charades because they didn’t understand English.
At breakfast this morning Russ created a Romanian Oreo - Nutella (a kind of chocolate peanut butter) in between two pieces of breakfast sausage - hey don't knock it until you try it which is why I will never knock it. After the morning ritual of devotion and breakfast we headed over to Fieni. For those that have been there you would be amazed at how much work Florin and Marian have done to the church. There is now a third floor and stairs up to the second floor. If there is any discussion as to whether there is a need for a construction team, discuss no more. There is so much we could help with.
From here we decided to work up a sweat by clearing the land at the church at Puciosa. They too have been hard at work and they now have the shell of a new building. As we cleared the land the neighbour, who is about 70 years old, decided to pick cherries except for the fact that his way of picking cherries was to cut the whole branch off. I tried to explain that you can just pick the cherry off by itself and then the branch can produce more cherries. But he would have any part of it. I tell you these old-timers are all about instant gratification. Part of our work today was to prepare the porch for the cement. This involved evening out all of the junk in the frame and then laying rebar on top so that the cement could be poured. Yesterday Damien had asked why he had not been in the blog. Since then he has made it a mission to be included. As he was carrying the rebar over to the porch he cut himself on one of the edges. After realizing that it was rusty metal and a few people joking about needing a Tetanus shot and my telling him that I would make sure he got back to the hotel room if he passed out, he decided to pay a visit to the local hospital. We may now have our Don Owens understudy. Luckily all was okay and no shot was needed. Just to make sure we do not have any more Don Owens incidents we have banned Damien from even thinking about driving over here but the extent Damien will go to, to get in the blog, is ridiculous.
If that wasn’t enough Damien is becoming the local target of photographers. As he and I were leaving a restaurant a teenager stopped and asked for a photo with him. Now obviously I thought they wanted me in the photo as well but the gentle shove away cleared that misunderstanding up. I think he may be okay now except for the fact that I told them he was Kobe Bryant.
On Friday night there was an outreach to the local youth for the church in Puciosa. In typical Romanian fashion the evening was very flexible. A few songs by the Romanians, an introduction of the team by Russ, a gospel presentation by Stuart and then Emily and Damien (third time he has been mentioned in the blog – is that enough??) gave their testimonies. And then Niku gave Sue the guitar to lead us in songs. Only problem was that when he played the guitar he had broken one of the strings. So in front of a large group Sue played a 5-string guitar while we sang. Then Niku advised that he had forgotten to order the pizza and so we had find things to do to keep the youth entertained. I personally liked the challenge of trying to play a guitar with 5 strings and so I got Sue to play another song.
We have just finished up our winding down time where we share some of our memories from this trip and from other trips. It seems as though Stuart has the same shower problem as me however he hasn’t quite figured out all of the ins and outs of managing the shower. He decided to try and balance the shower head on the tap while he shampooed his hair. The shower subsequently fell out of the shower and was spraying the bathroom while he happily worked up a strong lather.
Philippians 1:29 – “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.”
This was a verse from our devotion this morning (that our leader didn’t do last year) that I think Damien (fourth time today) took a little too seriously.
God bless you all. Tomorrow we head to the mountains.

1 comment:

  1. Giles, we need to see pictures of the building. Please send them... And tell Kobe I said hi!

    Paul

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