Feelin' Good in Moldova

Returned from a visa-run to Moldova yesterday and it was a really great weekend. The city is beautiful right now and we also hung out with some beautiful people. Still praying about how we can join God in what He is doing in this country. It is an amazingly gorgeous place, and so so poor.
Here are some pictures. The one of me and John just makes me laugh. This kid was just snapping pictures and we look like we are sharing some little side joke. No jokes being shared, just funny expressions. Adriana and her son Andrei were with us for the day. Adriana was John's language teacher while he was in Moldova for a year and is really interested in partnering with Word Made Flesh. She is a great, kind woman. The picture of the statue is George Cosbuc. I happen to live on Cosbuc in Galati, but the picture was taken in this memorial park in Chisinau that is lined with the busts of famous literary and musical men. Also, imagine my surprise when I found a California cedar in Chisinau. I had to take a picture. While we were visiting I only took pictures in the park.
The highlight of the trip (not really, just saying that, although this comment did make me feel good) was when a friend of John's we met thought I was Romanian and then, after spending several hours with her and upon trying to guess my age thought I was 23, well, I was feelin' good in Moldova.

Today on the bus...

I swear I was sitting across from Rev. Alden on Little House. I kept stealing little peaks at him because I was ready to ask for an autograph and wanted to be sure it was him. Then I remembered that Rev. Alden is no longer living...but what if it was all a conspiracy? What if Rev. Alden migrated to Galati in an effort to live out his last days in Romania, away from all the hype and limelight of the U.S.A.? I didn't approach him, for fear that he would be severely disappointed at being recognized. But I'm telling you, I think the Rev. is alive and well here in Galati and using public transportation.

retreat

Last week we had a staff retreat in Lepșa and it was so very lovely…I went a little camera happy. Hope you enjoy seeing some of the gorgeous Romanian countryside and hearing a few thoughts I had along the way.

Small Things

Each morning in Lepșa we would have a couple hours of solitude to read and reflect, pray and praise. Every morning I returned to the same spot where a tiny brook and a bigger creek intersected and I sat in the middle. One morning I realized I was surrounded by tiny seed husks (I think that’s the word) of all different varieties. So I started snapping pictures of all these little leftover husks as well as the tiny plants that germinate as a result…and I thought of what Mother Teresa said: Don’t look for big things, just do small things with great love…The smaller the thing, the greater must be our love.

A Dirty Job

For the last several years I’ve had this recurring cyst on the side of my face. I’ve seen doctors for it, but they don’t do anything beside recommend warm compresses. In the past I’ve squeezed the heck out of it, and it disappears for awhile. So, this little cyst decided to rear its ugly head again. Once it gets to be about the size of an olive it becomes quite painful. This time it hurt so much I couldn’t squeeze it down to a smaller size myself, so Lenuţa offered to do the dirty work. One night in Lepsa I lay on a bed while she squeezed the offended mass. It hurt, but a bunch of junk came out and so it appeared that once again the cyst would disappear. As we were getting ready for bed, Lenuţa came and found me to show me something in her room. When she had been squeezing this cyst, it had exploded and the force of it had literally flown across the room and landed on an opposite wall. It was really disgusting, but we both laughed and Lenuţa insisted we take pictures of the wall. (The cyst is getting smaller, almost gone, but I’m also taking antibiotics in case it was infected.)

rosehips and berries

Jenny Jost first introduced me to the loveliness of rosehips and berries, so when I saw these I took a few pictures for her.

A Long Walk

One afternoon we took a long walk into a national park and it was very beautiful. Some of the rocks had the most interesting stripes and striations. There were also these walls of different layers of rocks. Robin took a picture of me by the river.

Rusty Wire

It’s an interesting to find beauty where new violets and barbed wire mix, where orange moss and scrappy old cement posts are tired together with rusted wire, where old fences are held together with red-orange spikes and new flowers spring out from old bed frames.

Spring Flowers

Since its spring all kind of flowers were blooming. My favorites are the little purple violets.

Odds and Ends

Here are some odds and ends…mainly odd.