Monday. Lehel came to church yesterday. He seems very open. The service was perfect, evangelical and clear. On the way home he told Fedi he knows there is an emptiness inside him and he wants to come back. Praise the Lord.

There is something happening in Certa. Fedi asked the church to pray for this village, which they promptly did. The Friday meeting with the young kids there went bad as we expected. For some reason the leader is bent out of shape over Fedi being there. They actually called for a vote of hands for whoever would go against anything Fedi tried to do in Certa everyway possible. Lehel reported all this to us. He said there were 24 young kids there. No one raised their hand to go against Fedi or for the next poll who was for him. I think they can’t understand, like us, why this aggressive overreaction? It’s possible they feel their leadership is threatened. It may have a backlash though because Lehel said that another guy wants to come to church just to prove he is open-minded.

The Catholic priest in Certa is being very helpful to us by being a first class jerk! Fedi was told he owns 5 cars and is having a minivan custom made for him. “You devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayers.” Attlila the cow rancher’s son said he beat a little girl black and blue because she didn’t do well in the religion class. Still, Fedi hears constantly “I was born Catholic and I will die Catholic”.

Yesterday we took our first fun trip since coming here 4 months ago. We drove 2 hours to get to the Salt Mines, going off information that they are always open; only to find that there was only one bus going in at 8:00 a.m. We got there at 9:00 a.m. Some guys told Fedi to just hitchhike at the entrance and there was a chance one of the miner trucks would pick us up. It worked like a charm. The kids all got their salt blocks that they intend to give to their friends in America.

Fedi has been discouraged. He had given the cow rancher’s son his personal Hungarian Bible since they had had some good talks. Now this week he was at their house and the subject of the Bible came up. Attila’s Mom said “Oh that Bible, I used it to start a fire.” Major let down!

There is one guy-Lehel, 25 years old, who has been 100% for Fedi trying to organize the young kids in Certa. He said he wants to come to church. Some of the other guys have been almost aggressive to Fedi. One of them said to Lehel “Are you on his side or ours?” (This was the president)

The Christmas packages for the school children are held up at the Hungarian border. They will most likely get here after Christmas.

Oh yeah, on the way home from the salt mines, we came to a car broken down with 4 people we know. They were on their way to visit someone in the hospital about 20 miles away. It was on our way. We squished the 4 of them in making 10 in our little jeep. Then Fedi dropped them off, took us home, turned around and drove back to the hospital, picked them up, took them back to their car to tow it to their place. Then all the way home again, maybe 150 miles round trip on bumpy roads. He stayed in his hometown for a while so Heuni could fix the cord on the laptop computer. He got home at 1:30 a.m.

My refrigerator has a defect. The magpies have discovered the food on the windowsills. They ate their way through at least 1 kg. of sausage, plus bacon and cheese.

I am at last getting some kitchen cupboards. We had a guy from a different church give us an estimate. To custom make the cupboards with the counter top is $180. Thank you Judy (my oldest sister) for the money you donated for this, plus the money you sent from the horse business. Next will be the clothes cupboards, maybe in January. I think this will be cheaper.

Our car is having more trouble. It is slipping out of gear. At least, except for parts, it is cheap to have a car fixed here.

Wednesday - last week we took a trip to Metro for Christmas presents, food supplies, and things for the prisoners. The captain of the prison told Fedi that of the 800 prisoners there are 200 that have no one on the outside to give them any basic supplies. So we bought disposable razors, soap, laundry soap, toothbrushes, & toothpaste to make up 200 packages. Fedi got word a couple of days ago that the prison officials will let them hand these out personally on Dec. 23rd along with Christian literature in the appropriate language (either Hungarian or Romanian). So Dad’s money should be well spent so far.

We are having trouble keeping our personal money separate from the donation money. Things get intermixed so much. Now we lost the receipt from the Metro, so I don’t know exactly how to separate that. I know besides the prison stuff we paid to fill Leventa’s car up with gas as we needed it to haul stuff and we paid for John’s personal food supply that he bought at Metro too. John is the old man who has had a prison ministry 2xs a month for years. He came with us. He is a good man and has faithfully served the Lord for years but he keeps asking Fedi to buy him a car. He doesn’t even have enough income to pay for the gas. Oh well.

I would like to change our policy in regards to future donations (if any). We will try to keep our life-style lean and mean and try to help wherever we see a need, as much as we can, but the money donated might actually go to car repairs or stuff for the kids. In defense of this, we have allowed our selves almost no luxuries and Fedi has worked hard to spread the gospel. In fact, he has been so busy helping everyone else out that I asked him to stay home more.

Anyway, Heuni watched the kids for us. He and Thomas (a man from church with a family who asked Fedi for work) stayed home and insulated the pipes for the waterpower. Heuni cleaned and cooked apple crisp for us when we got home at 11:00 p.m. We paid Thomas $30 for the 2 days, plus fed him. They were fun to have, but they both got a bad stomach flu the last day they were here. A couple of days later I got it too. Without going into details…. it was bad!

School is wrapping up for the boys. Ryan recently finished his 2nd grade Math book. I let him burn it in our furnace. Anni got hopeful and said “Mom if we run out of firewood and the house is really cold will you burn mine too?” Problem is she is only ½ way through.

Fedi had another meeting with the president of the young group in Certa. They have been talking a lot about Fedi maybe renting the gym and organizing activities. Fedi told them if he can’t have a Christian message then he won’t spend any money there. The president didn’t like that. He told Fedi that he shouldn’t tell them they couldn’t smoke or drink in the building. Well anyway he is going to meet with some people Friday to decide what they want. There are some of the young people that seem to really want Fedi to do something but for some reason they operate as a group. Well Friday will tell.

We hiked up yesterday to get the Christmas tree. We had plenty to choose from. We hauled a 20-footer home. We decorated it with aluminum foil balls stuffed with paper towel after we saw the price of Christmas decorations-much more than the States. It turned out beautiful.

It’s cold. The milk was frozen solid out on the window ledge. I am keeping the fire going strong. We have about 1 inch of snow so the kids are all out sliding down the hill on plastic.

Fedi went in for the last thing on the list to get our car legal again. What a relief that will be. Now we can take a trip down to Metro (like Sam’s club) to get basic food supplies, Christmas presents, and supplies for people in the prisons.

The kids program was nice yesterday. I counted 11 outsider kids (not from church) 7 were gypsies and 4 Romanians. They played games and then sang songs and had a Bible message. Fedi dressed as St. Nicholas and handed out candy at the end.

The village evangelism also has picked up a bit. Some Fridays it’s on, some off.

What is really another possible development is something in the little town by us. Fedi was telling the cow ranchers family about the Christian center in Peoria. They told him that there is a Gym in Certa (pronounced Kurtza) that is not being used for anything. They must have talked to some people because yesterday Fedi was called twice by a young guy who apparently has organized the young kids (teenagers-early 20’s) that someone might be wanting to start a Christian club and they like the idea. This man is not a Christian but his Aunt is and goes to our church. I guess it all depends on what price the Mayor will put on renting out the gym. We told this guy not to let him know who was interested because if they know it’s Americans the price doubles.

Fedi got home a couple of hours ago a picture of total frustration. No the car did not get legally registered yet. He went to get the final and last thing taken care of (he thought) and was told that “oh yea, sorry but you do need one more stamp and to get that you have to type out 3 more forms and to get photocopies of each”. AAAARGH! He rushed around getting all that done until 2:00 p.m., ran back again only to be told that they closed at 1:00. Through all this he is (like everyone) treated rudely. Anyway, as he told me all this and knowing what we have already gone through it hit my funny bone. It was hard to stop laughing. It has been a 2-month process so far. America - I Love You, with your fast license and registration service, and $15 easy drivers licenses.

I read today a little about David Livingston, missionary to Africa. It inspired and humbled me. It shows my faith for what it is…very tiny and weak. But there are some things I can choose to trust God for now. It’s not a worried, hopeful, don’t think about the problems, kind of trust. It’s staying fully aware of the problems and still praising and thanking God because he is so great, kind of trust.

Someone named Thomas is coming up for the rest of the week. He is out of work, has a wife and a baby. He asked Fedi if there is anything we have for him to do. I think Heuni is coming too, so they can both stay on the couch. It folds out to a queen size bed. We may pay Thomas out of the donation money.

As the cold hits and construction slows down more and more men are out of work. It’s tough, really tough on the families here.

We aren’t getting anything out of the waterpower today with the cold. So we run the gas generator and go off batteries.

The guests from Bucharest did not come which was a big relief to me. It seems that if I do the school, well the house gets dirty, if I clean the house, well then the school is done sloppy. Fedi has more to do than we thought possible in America. There are a lot of open doors for ministry plus the house needs a lot of work. So the extra help I had hoped to get from Fedi not going to work has not materialized. In America I had a dishwasher, dryer, microwave and convenience foods. The school was done more thoroughly. Still the kids are learning other skills. Rebekah and Annie are helping with cooking and dishes. Ryan went in the basement and made a manger out of wood entirely himself. He sawed and nailed and measured. I was really impressed. He goes around quoting Fedi on “Yep, this pine wood burns fast.”
Heuni has been here again since last Thursday. He fiddles and fiddles with the water generator. It looks like he is able to get a charge from even low water. If so that is great! Fedi won’t have to keep shutting off the pipe to let the pond fill up every other hour.

Csilla and Jozsef and the girls stayed over Saturday and Sunday. And yesterday Leventa and his whole family came for the afternoon and evening. I am very, very glad for the couch.

Saturday we went to the kids program. It went well. There were about 8 little gypsy kids as well as 4 other little girls (anywhere from 5 – 14 yrs.)

There is something interesting happening here. About the same time Fedi and I came to this little church another missionary couple from Hungary came. They are fairly newly married. Now another missionary couple has come, also from Hungary. That makes 4 families counting Leventa in full-time ministry with a little church of about 25 or so. All of them, except Leventa, arriving in the last 4 months - strange.

Speaking of Gypsy’s, this is a whole other fascinating culture within Romania. They are visible all over but they have a completely different way of life. The women and children have very colorful clothes. Their skin is dark. They are dirty and they beg. Some of them have houses but some of them actually have the covered wagons. I saw one wagon with a grain bag sticking out for the horse so he can eat as he walks. Fedi usually gives them something but the problem is they always ask for more. He gave one lady a salami and she, instead of saying “thank you”, said “well, you can’t expect me to eat this without bread!” They are known for selling good brooms made from sticks. We picked up a few. People like them and they sell easy. There is much more to write about them. The men like big moustaches and big hats. They are known to be dangerous with knives. They are very musical.

The bunk beds are done and they are beautiful. It’s a double on the bottom and a single on the top. Total cost, nails and the varnish. We do need 1 more double mattress though. It’s just in time as we are supposed to get some guests from Bucharest this weekend. They have important jobs in the government and I am glad I can put the kids on the couch and give them the bedroom. Fedi and Csilla know them from growing up and say they are very nice down to earth people. Mom and Dad met them too.

Sunday the young kids asked if they could come to our house for New Years Eve. There is a party at the Baptist camp but it costs a huge $20 per kid. The people here just don’t have that kind of money. I don’t know what they were thinking of. Anyway we are going to make it a “Judy” style. Everyone brings a covered dish and dessert and we’ll supply the meat and drink. I think one of our pigs will meet his fate.

Fedi found someone who said he can fix the car. It should be done tonight, maybe get inspected again tomorrow and legal by Friday. It will be nice not to have to pray every time we pass a police inspection point.

We all went logging yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day up in the mountains. Down below the village and whole valley have been covered in a thick fog for 4 days. Our plan was to drive the car up as far as we could and then the kids and I would drive back after an hour to do school. The horse wagon came and left. We all got in the car and found out the battery was dead. Fedi started off to walk with his chainsaw and ax and the kids and I after a moment decided to go too. We had about a 4-kilometer hike up hill as fast as we could to catch the horse wagon. We caught up at the end.

The next 4 hours or so we watched or helped them cut and pile logs for the horse to pull out of the woods down to the tractor. Oh yeah, Attila came with his tractor and trailer to haul the wood down. The horse is tall and strong and very willing. We videotaped the horse pulling and trees falling. It was and exciting time.

After lunch the kids and I walked back down. When we were almost there we ran into and old man and woman with a skinny horse. Their wagon with wood was stuck in the creek. The man kept beating the horse but she didn’t even react. The kids and I got behind the wagon and were able to help push the wagon out. Later when Attila brought the first load of wood he said he saw the horse collapsed. He helped them get the horse up and pulled the wagon up to the road with his tractor. They had told me the horse was just 7 years old.

Most of the horses I’ve seen are in good shape. Some of them are really beautiful. Whenever I see a skinny horse though, it is nearly always an older person driving the wagon. I think they just don’t have the energy to get enough food for their horses.

Way after dark the men finally came back. I knew I was expected to give them a meal so as soon as I had gotten home I started on the goulash (meat, potato, & onion stew), made some bread and apple crisp. Those at home who know my cooking skills would be surprised what changes can come from enough time and having no packaged food. It’s just basic ingredients here. No spaghetti sauce or cake mix. My shopping list for Fedi is usually flour, sugar, meat, fruits, and vegetables, and butter. Csilla has given me some recipes with cabbage, as that is big here.

Anyway, back to my original thought for the paragraph, having people over for supper is something I want to expand on. As Fedi always prays for the meal it is a natural opener for talks about God or if nothing else simply lets people know immediately where we stand.

Well I racked my brain how to make Thanksgiving special. When the day arrived we had to spend the day in town to have the car repaired. So I gave the kids a day off school, took them to a cheap restaurant for some chicken…total for the 6 of us $11.00. When we asked for ketchup for the fries, the waitress came and squirted some on the plate and then asked for extra money. Every squirt was extra. Then as a final splurge I called Mom and Dad for a short visit. That’s when Mom informed me Thanksgiving was the next week. Brother! Csilla had even found a duck we could buy and eat-Turkey is almost impossible to find. Well the duck has another week to live.
The village mission has gotten a little discouraging. Fedi went in yesterday evening and for the second week in a row there was no one to go with him. There is some follow up that needs to be done. Fedi said that Leventa and another guy were going to try and talk to some of the people on Saturday. I don’t think Fedi can go in again for this.

He has been working on the bunk beds at the rate of one day a week. He made the comment that you sure can stay busy when you try to do the right thing. Mean while the kids are sleeping on the couch as their room is about an inch deep in sawdust.

Fedi had a strange experience this evening. He stopped at our little town after the failed village mission to find the guy with the horse. Fedi has been told he should try to get more stocked up on firewood before it snows too much. The man with the horse wasn’t home but some people told Fedi if he waits at such and such a tavern that he always goes there when he gets down from the mountain. So Fedi sat down with a Pepsi to wait. A man who is in the Police criminal division came to talk to him. He said that there was a picture of Fedi poaching with the cow rancher. He wasn’t being threatening; in fact he told Fedi that he certainly wouldn’t do anything about it. Fedi kept explaining that it was impossible since he hasn’t been hunting at all with anyone and the Police kept telling him not to worry he wouldn’t tell on him. Not that Fedi wouldn’t love to go hunting. He saw two elk today. As a sort of rubbing the salt in the wound a group of hunters come up our way every Sunday. Fedi gets to watch them drive past our house.

I’m going to skip the Children’s program this Saturday. It is going strong and has great support from the church. Last week 5 newcomers came. Heidi has been passing out personal invitations at the schools and putting her heart and soul into it. We go mostly to morally support her work. Fedi and I had the lesson last week, but honestly, she does a much better job. I don’t think it will hurt the program if we are not there and there are a bunch of little reasons I want to stay home. Laundry, make up school, the long drive to get there in a car that is not even legal right now. (We still need to get the parts to have it repaired to pass the inspection, but that is a whole other story.)

Speaking of which, we have been trying for six weeks to get the parts for our car. They finally got here from Hungary via acquaintances of friends, So & So knew So & So who was going to the Hungarian border and could take the money and meet some other So & So who could bring the parts that far. Americans-appreciate U.P.S. and appreciate the computer systems and communication abilities you have. When we got them they were all the wrong parts. Now we have to figure out how to return them and get the money back. Another mechanic says he can get the parts for us from a different source. So we are driving as little as possible and praying whenever we pass a police inspection point. We were pulled over once but that was when we were still legal on our temporary registration.

Fedi had a good talk yesterday with the captain of the prison. They are a little leery because they had to throw the Jehovah Witnesses out. He actually didn’t seem to care about any material things we could provide but was open to set up a schedule of Bible studies or meetings. It has to clear with some others as well though. Fedi had the thought of visiting their families with Christmas packages and tracts. Hopefully things won’t move too slow, so Christmas will pass before we can arrange this.

Well we are doing good. The creek is low again though. If it does rain we always say “what a beautiful, rainy day”. If it is sunny it’s “oh brother it is sunny again”. I will appreciate having electricity the rest of my life.

Heuni stayed with us Thursday, Friday, & Saturday again. He helped Fedi install a car alarm if the shed door is open and a few other electrical jobs. He is a nice kid. He would like to come again just for fun. We gave him Fedi’s digital camera for his work.

Tuesday of this week, Fedi finally is getting a chance to go talk to the captain of the prison to see if they will let him come in regularly with the old man. Maybe they will let him have Bible studies. We just found out Dad is sending a whopping $2000 for the prison work. WOW! I know some of the needs there could be blankets, soap, shampoo. Literature is supplied from some other church. Probably the prisoner’s families have needs also.

Fedi is giving the old man $30 per month and Leventa $70 per month for the next 10 months. I think he divided it up that way because Leventa has 5 kids. It sounds so measly to American ears but it is a big amount here. This is from the donation money.

Financially, I feel we are doing good. We had to get our jeep repaired in order to get it registered. The parts for that cost about $250 but Sandor told us that someone wants to buy an old trailer frame we have for $250.

Sunday, Fedi was on to have the service. He had forgotten all about it. He was so nervous and opened the Bible to Jesus’ red letters in Acts 18:9 “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent”. Well I think the service went well but as it was in Hungarian I didn’t understand a word.

Later when we stopped at the cow rancher’s for milk, Fedi told them about this. The cow rancher said maybe he would start to read the Bible too.

Well the 3rd kids club on Saturday was very nice. Two of Reka’s friends came. The games, Bible story, and singing were all great. They would like me to have the story next week. Here I sit with all the instructions and story in Hungarian, hoping I can nail Fedi down to translate it all.

The Friday evening village mission has suffered a set back. For some reason the young group leader thought that they shouldn’t be doing it. That leaves just Fedi and Leventa to follow up. I think they are going to plug away at it.

Fedi worked all day on Monday on the kid’s bunk beds. They are pretty massive looking things all out of pine trees. If he would stay home more I bet he could get one done in about 3 more days. The kids are sleeping on the couch until he gets finished.

Last Sunday morning we all (Fedi too) took a great hike. We saw 7 or 8 (no kidding) piles of bear droppings. It is unmistakable. I think Fedi is going to try to sell the gun he has in America and try to buy one here. He talked to an official of the hunting club here who at first told Fedi it was not possible for a foreigner. After he found out Fedi was from his hometown then he said it might be possible. Otherwise the kids and I have made plans of what to do in case we run into a bear on a hike. If there are no climbable trees, we will stand in a circle with sticks. I don’t think running is an option. We trip a lot. Anyway the view was worth the worry. Rebekah said it’s like being on top of the world.

This has been an uneventful week for me. Monday, Fedi went to town to buy nails and other supplies to make the bunk beds with. He has enough wood to make them from the logging he did. Tuesday he made a pig trough from a big log, a door for the pigpen and started on the bunk beds. Wednesday, Fedi had to go back to town for the final closing for our house and several errands. He got home about 7:00 p.m. but said he had to leave again. Attila, the cow rancher’s son needed help unloading food for the cows. It was an all night job that if it wasn’t done then, the food would have been stolen. His father, the cow rancher, is at the doctor; he was attacked by his bull. It’s not sure if he has to go to the hospital or not. Also the bull damaged another car. He will have to be more controlled. Fedi and I drove through the town as the cows were returning home last week. As we passed the bull he turned and put his head on our car. There was no damage but he didn’t really try.

Yesterday evening the girls and I made our own monopoly game out of cardboard and paper. It worked surprisingly well considering that it has probably been 25 years since I played and we made it from my memory.

Well, we were just visited by some neighbors, who live about 4 kilometers down the mountain. They were interested in the waterpower. It was 2 old ladies, one drunk, one not….one older man, possibly drunk….one younger couple with their 2 kids, not drunk.
Anyway, I got a lot of hugs and kisses. Rebekah and Anni talked quite a bit afterwards about the lady with the moustache. When they left our house they wrapped rags around their bare feet and slid them into their boots. The cultural differences are huge between the village people and us. What’s funny to me is that the village people don’t consider themselves to be poor. The raggedy, smelly old man we picked up several times already has 5 cows and at least 3 pigs. The people are always giving us apples, pears, potatoes, preserves, etc. They actually do better than the city people. In the city they have normal plumbing, nicer clothes, etc but they sometimes have no food. In smaller villages there is plenty of food. They all have cows, chickens, pigs, apple trees and a simpler life style. They also are used to their life and it’s fine with them. The atmosphere in the city is different. The people see in the stores all the time things they want and can’t afford. Most of the girls and young women wear those jeans with the faded stripes down the front. They are more discontented and more complaining about how poor they are. It’s harder for them to make ends meet because of the high price of food. I know Leventa’s wife told Csilla several times when they literally had no money for food. Csilla is tight right now and asked us to bring her some potatoes. But the city people insist on cell phones and cable TV and fashionable clothes.

There is one thing that seems worse in the villages and that’s alcohol. I haven’t seen many drunk people in Csilla’s city but in the villages it’s bad.

Yesterday was Nov. 1st-The day of the Dead. It sounds bad but I found it to be a very nice thing. Pretty much everyone visits the cemeteries and lights lots of candles by their relative’s graves. Then they stand there quietly and remember them. At nightfall the cemeteries were glowing with thousands of candles. Police are there to direct traffic at the bigger cemeteries. It’s very respectful. As Fedi said, you don’t dare miss it or you would be considered a terrible person. We visited his father’s grave and his grandma’s and grandpa’s graves. Everyone wore black but me, Fedi forgot to tell me to.

Well I have the house to myself. Fedi and the kids went to the 2nd kids club. I hope some people besides the church people come. I stayed home mostly because someone might be showing up to talk about the home schooling but also to catch up with some cleaning.

Thursday Fedi and I went to the nearby town market. They sell a lot of baby pigs there. Since I have a lot of table scraps and cooking scraps, we decided spur of the minute to get one. The problem was we parked a ways away from where we bought the pig. He screamed so loud as we carried him through the market that I was embarrassed. Fedi built a nice shelter for him in just a few hours.

Friday we packed up our schoolbooks and Halloween outfits and went in town for the day. I got the kids started with school at Csillas and then Fedi and I walked to the Center. He had to go to the police to give them the papers for our extended stay. Fedi was so thankful that one guy was friendly to us there that he bought him a nice present. Call it a bribe or whatever but Fedi had to go there 3 or 4 times. People are there waiting in line for hours but they let Fedi come right in. All the potential problems with the paperwork for our extended stay were smoothed over.

We also went to a barbershop. Fedi got his haircut for $1 and even about a 45 minute trim and curl and blow dry of my hair only cost $4.

In the evening after Fedi came home from the village evangelism, we dressed the kids and took them to 4 apartments of friends for trick or treating. No one here celebrates Halloween of course, so we gave out candy instead of getting some. I also bought for our kids 1 chocolate bar, 1 piece of gum, and 2 little packets of gummi bears each. Still it was fun for my kids and fun for the people we visited. It was fun to make the costumes from what we had on hand. Steven had an old big towel with two eye holes cut out. He could hardly see where he was going so we had to keep steering him in the right direction. When he got some candy to eat and stretched one eye hole down to his mouth, he made us all laugh. Anni had the sheepskin tied to her back. Rebekah was a great clown and Ryan an Indian.

I am proud of my kids. They haven’t whined about things they are missing out on. I usually have them do the dishes. Rebekah washes, Steven rinses, Ryan and Anni switch off drying and putting away. In church they are probably better behaved than most. Contrary to the stories I heard about how well behaved the Romanian children are, the ones I know are not different from kids in the U.S. Cable TV cost only about $4 a month so most of them have plenty of entertainment. Ninety percent of the families in Romania have colored TVs. This is Leventa’s statistic, not mine.

Oh yeah, another hiking adventure last week. Fedi was gone so I took the kids on a hike. We ended up in a meadow down the valley some. I could see a sheep herd coming so I changed our route to avoid them. It’s not the sheep or the shepherds I was worried about but the dogs. Every sheep herd has 5-10 big dogs with it. They don’t herd the sheep but are there solely for protection. Well we waited behind a bush until they went over a hill, then I took the kids back the straightest way home feeling quite safe. We got to the valley before the one where our house was and without seeing them through the trees and bushes we ran right back into the same sheep herd. The lead sheep were only about 20 feet away. The dogs didn’t spot us yet so I had the kids quickly go to a big bush and sit down in a group. Rebekah covered Gino with my jacket and kept a tight hold on her. As the dogs started to show up at first they just sat and looked at us. I had a big walking stick with me. Then the biggest dog spied us and ran growling and barking at us. Two of the other ones joined him. Don’t ask me where the shepherds were. I raised my stick and yelled a bit. About 15 feet from us they stopped and that was that. After a while the sheep kept moving on and they just turned around and went off with the sheep. Anyway the whole thing scared me and I forgot to watch for my telephone. It slid out of my pocket somewhere. When Fedi came home we backed tracked and he kept calling my phone with his. We found it and I was very thankful.

I found out that my fears because of the recent break-ins our not founded. The ranger told Fedi people here never break-in a cabin that is occupied. It’s never been done ever to their knowledge. They said I probably did see a flashlight by the creek because it is the trout’s mating season and people come at night and spear them. I wonder what they thought when I yelled out the window? J Oh well.

Well Fedi went up with Jozsef, Attila and another Attlia who is known as the man with the horse. He has a great logging horse. Fedi said at a command the horse would jump at the harness and pull with all her might. Anyway they came back at dark with nothing. They had the trailer loaded so full that it tipped over. The Attila with the tractor is back today to help haul the wood down and right the trailer. The four guys came back hungry and cold. Csilla and I scrambled to have a hot meal for them and to keep the kids (hers & mine) fed and reasonably quiet.

Now this morning Fedi first went to the town nearest us to talk to the school director about handing out Christmas packages for the kids. The request was granted enthusiastically. This is another ministry from churches in England and Germany.

Fedi and I want to visit the Nazarene church as soon as we can. It looks like though the little Baptist church where Csilla goes will be our home church here. It is much closer. We already know the people there. They are very evangelistic minded and the teachings and doctrines are sound. No disloyalty to our church in America is intended. If there was an AC church close enough, we would go there. When we return to America, I will be thrilled to go back to the Peoria AC church.

It’s in the middle of the night but since I can’t sleep and we have plenty of water power to have lights on, I might as well write.

There is one use of the donation money I feel bears further explanation. That is the $200 we spent on the couch. All the rest of the $2,300 in no way benefits us. It did not go to anyone we were related to, or anyone who did any work for us. The couch came from a desire to have a place for people to sleep if they needed it. Even in America I told some of my family that I might use some of the donation money for this. Fedi’s uncle may need a place at the end of November. He is an alcoholic who has shown improvement since he has been working at the Baptist camp where there is not alcohol to be had. Well believe me, there is not a drop to be had within five miles of us. His work runs out in Nov. The problem is, Fedi and I had no extra money to buy the couch from our own money. Even now, we need cupboards in the bedrooms and kitchen and bed frames. We are also still sleeping on borrowed mattresses but unless Judy sells a horse or something we need to wait until December for some of it. Some of these, I think Fedi can build from trees we find around here. I’m not complaining. I love it here and we are plenty comfortable. I think it is cool to slowly work on this place.

Anyway, I wrote all that because I’ve heard family and some friends are reading this journal. I actually sent the first one to Mom because I was too lazy to write a separate letter and no one spreads news like my Mom. She has spared me hours of letter writing.

Someone asked us the other day if we were homesick. Not really, though I miss my family. The kids are doing fine also. Fedi is, of course, good but I do notice that he seems to get a little lonely for other people sometimes. Of all of us he has the biggest life-style change. The kids & I do school and housework same as always.

So far Fedi hasn’t got permission to go in the prisons. Everything seems to go slow in Romania. We gave the old man all the vitamins, toothbrushes, deodorants, and soaps we brought to give to the prisoners.

Rachel let Jessica call Anni yesterday. (It was Jessica’s 9th birthday) That girl (Anni) was beaming afterwards. She is trying to make something now for Jessica for her birthday.

Rebekah mentioned again something about Sarah repenting. She just finished reading a Christian book and I think she is trying to figure things out in her mind.

The melting snow worked…we finally have enough water. Fedi and I sit at the table and watch the meter go up and up. We also can tell if there is any electricity being used from this meter and exactly how many amps it draws. So…woe to anyone who leaves a light on. We often show 0 usage. We have no refrigerator, no clocks plugged in, and no TV. I know exactly how many amps florescent lights draw (.5), the circulating pump is 2.2., the well pump goes up to a shocking 65 amps-but only for a few seconds. The lap top computer draws about 2.2. Now that the generator is buzzing we can watch some DVD cartoons that we borrowed from Csilla. It’s so fun to be all of us cuddled on the bed and treat ourselves to Tom & Jerry. The kids laugh so hard at things they were bored at 2 months ago.

Yesterday the cow rancher’s son Attila came up with their tractor. Fedi, Ryan and he went up to do some logging for our firewood. About 6 hours later they dragged in 5 big long pine trees. Fedi and Attila cut them up and the kids and I carried them to the garage. Pine is very light so Steven felt like quite a man as he carried in some big pieces. Later when Attila came in for supper he asked Fedi about Christianity. Fedi told me later that when they were on the mountain Attila at first showed him how to sneak trees off of private land and cover up the stumps. Fedi told him “no” because there is a living God who sees everything. They probably talked for 20 minutes at the table about the Bible. Attila wouldn’t take any money or even Fedi’s toolywooly for his tractor, gas and time. He said, “friends help each other”.

There is a lot of this attitude here. People go out of their way to be friendly. If your car breaks down, you better have some friends you can call on. I’m pretty sure there are no food stamp program or government agencies to bail you out of hard spots. Friends are very important.

Leventa came today to work with Fedi. They are putting up shelves out of some rough wood to put our 3 big sacks of winter apples on.

Well we had a beautiful snow yesterday. It’s only about 3 inches but stuck to every branch and twig. It weighed down the trees do heavy that our drive was like a tunnel. Now this morning the kids are sled riding right outside our window on some plastic we bought for them.

Our neighbor with the milk cows moved his herd down the mountain during the storm yesterday. So, no more of that delicious, fresh milk. He sent his son back up the mountain to get a baby calf that was born. When we got home his son was waiting for a tractor to pull his jeep out. It had slid off the road and was almost tipped over.

Yesterday Fedi went with the young kids on the Friday evening village mission. Since he was the only adult, the 6 kids squeezed into our jeep. He organized them to go in 2 teams down the street handing out the tapes while he followed slowly with the car and wrote down the house numbers of anyone who was interested. Fedi said he was impressed with the kids, how bravely they did this and how well they handled rejection.

I was told there was a revival here in 1995. It seems hard now. Leventa told me that one thing about Catholics is that every sin they might commit is more acceptable to them than the sin of leaving their church. The church will forgive them for anything else. Also, in these small villages where everyone knows each other it would take a very spiritually hungry person to break out of the century old traditions. The other religion is the orthodox faith. Leventa said though, this is worse. They are more steeped in superstitions and farther from the truth.

While Fedi was there, the kids got to go to Csilla’s for some “Animal Planet”. This is about the only station that is in English. Rebekah and I went to Heidi and Edda’s apartment for a meeting on the kids program. Three couples from the church were there. Some of the meeting I could not understand but they translated the important parts and I am picking up more and more Hungarian. They discussed how to get the word out, where to meet, how to get material, (there is nothing they can buy, it has to be made up) and what activities to do. My part is hopefully draw kids in with an English learning slant to the program. Rebekah is excited to help with this. Anyway I told them we could donate $50 to help start.

There have been some break-ins in the summer cabins close to us. Of the three other cabins that share our drive, two have been robbed. We are all trying to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

Well the problem with the pastor trying to pay the churches utility bills as well as support his family on $100-$200 a month has been solved. They had a church meeting and agreed to have special collections for this. They are such a small, poor church, only about 25 members, but the first collection was $70. I was amazed that they could give that much.

Csilla and the girls came to spend Saturday and Sunday with us. Jozsef went on a fishing trip. We had a nice time on Saturday evening playing games and on Sunday a spectacular hike up the mountain in the new snow. The view and the fall leaves and the clean snow are hard to describe. The kids hiked up like troopers and found at least one great smooth rolling-down hill.

Everything is deserted now that we have had snow. We are the only ones actually living on the mountain now. The rest of the cabins are for vacationers in summer time. Our cow rancher neighbor said he heard wolves the night before he went down. We have been warned to watch out for Gino because the wolves will try to draw a dog away with only one showing himself. Then when the dog is away from protection the pack eats him.

Our little jeep is serving us well. We slipped and slid in the mud coming home from evening church, but the 4 wheel drive has brought us through every time. I almost always close my eyes on our drive and let Fedi handle it.

The waterpower is still on and off. Fedi drains the pond we made to have enough water to charge the batteries for about 40 minutes. Then he has to close the pipe off to let the water fill back up. He spent one day working on a valve system with floats to get the rising water itself to open up a valve on the pipe and to close it automatically when the water drops. It works great…in theory….in practice though we had an unexpected problem. When the water dropped, the valve shut nicely and bounced right back open. In fact the whole pipeline jumped with every bounce. Now Fedi has something more involved in mind but we want to see first if this melting snow will take care of our low water problem for a while. Everyone who knows this creek says this is the lowest it has been in years so I think soon we will have enough water.
We are using the gas generator still to pick up the slack. I don’t mind it now that he moved it down to the shed he built. That thing is noisy and smelly. We also, after he turns the generator off in the evening, use candles a lot for light and the propane stove partially for heat.

We do have a fireplace in the living room but it is not functional. I am trying to decide what to have Fedi do next…fix the fireplace or build some cupboards. We are still living out of suitcases after 2 months. The problem with that is that our cement porch is bad, almost like gravel. It is so bad it can’t even be swept. The kids drag a lot of dirt in, which gets in the suitcases on the floor and in the mattresses we sleep on that are on the floor. So maybe I should have Fedi re-do the porch next or maybe build us some bed frames. Now that the water -power is done, the rest is just a matter of what to do first. Poor Fedi may be happy to get back to a normal job to rest.

Well, yesterday we finally got around to visiting Fedi’s aunts, uncles, and cousins. Driving there we passed two different parades. It is the time for the grape harvest festival. Matching horses were ridden 2 by 2 through the town. One horse wagon carried the girls in their colorful national dresses and another carried the guys in their outfits playing instruments. An elected king rode one of the white horses. Later we passed a wedding. They marched through the town bride and all, 2 by 2 in their best clothes.

When we approached Fedi’s grandma’s town, we had to drive carefully through a gaggle of geese going somewhere. And there were the cows. They are so interesting. It’s pretty much the same in every village. A herder takes the cows from the town to pasture in the morning. Then every evening takes them back to the edge of town but that’s it. After that they are on their own. Each cow makes her slow way to her own gate and stands there waiting. Rebekah got the biggest kick out of one young impatient cow who started to butt the gate in when the owner was slow to open it.

Fedi’s relatives were nice. They all made a big deal over the kids.

We’ve had a couple of things happen that I wanted to write about. The evening of my last journal entry Fedi and I were pretty discouraged. We got around to finally measuring the flow by bailing the waterfall from the dam out of a big tub, as fast as we could with 2 - 15 liter buckets while Anni held a stop watch. We came up with 120-140 gallons per minute. That is too low to even charge the batteries. I felt I was looking at a winter with using only the outhouse (the water pump takes electricity) and a cold house, since the circulating pump takes electricity and the house is heated by a radiator system. It scared me a little. The gas for the gas generator is expensive. That evening though, Fedi read in the Bible about Paul and Silas being thrown in prison. His footnote for this Bible passage said, “Sometimes obeying God means giving up some securities.” This changed my whole outlook. The next morning I woke up with such a sense of wellbeing. Fedi came up from the creek and said it had doubled in size over night. It actually charged the batteries for about 6 hours. There was also snow on the mountaintops.

While Fedi was adjusting the water generator to get the maximum output, he also, by experimenting found out the end of the draft tube was supposed to be in the water to create a vacuum. This was nowhere in the manual and though it now seems logical, before there were things that made us think the water was supposed to free fall from the tube.

Fedi’s birthday dawned too early for me with the kids bringing coffee and cream of wheat for him. They had made cards, poems, and made up a song for him. They also decorated the house with fall leaves, plastic bags blown up and tied for balloons and a big Happy Birthday sign. He did get 1 present. We went in town and bought a $43 car radio.

Oh yeah, the donation money is pretty much spoken for. Leventa’s wife told Csilla (they are good friends) that after paying their utility bills they only had enough for 1 loaf of bread. They are operating in the deficit every month. That’s why their utility bills got so out of hand. They have been paying the church’s utility bills, which needs to stop. Fedi is going to give them $70 per month as long as the money holds out, which should be enough if they are careful.

Leventa is the Pastor of the little Baptist church we are attending here. He is paid a small salary for this. He is in one way kind of shy and insecure but his sermons seem inspired to me (after translation). He is also enthusiastic about the village evangelism they do every Friday. He and his wife do a lot of good deeds for people so I feel it is money well spent. In any case their five kids need food.

Fedi also plans to give from our current donation money, the old man with the prison ministry $30 per month for now. I think Dad will send more for him though.

Well, Fedi was able to adjust the generator to put out about 230 watts. ( I found out it’s not just the volts that count but the volts X the amps which equals the watts.) But now the creek is not giving us enough water. It is a drought year and the neighbors say it is unusually low. So we will probably have to make do with a combination of the gas generator and the water generator to charge the batteries and pray for rain.

On the other hand, last night I was laying in bed thinking how much I like it here. It’s not just the beautiful mountains, quietness, and nice people, it’s the secure feeling of knowing I am in God’s will. I didn’t feel this secure in America with all those insurances (health, life, house, liability) and with my family and church close by. I used to worry a lot. Now that safety net is somewhat gone. I don’t know how far the nearest hospital is or the quality of care. There are a lot of poisonous snakes here. Our health insurance has a $5000 deductible per person, which would about do us in financially, BUT, I feel that God’s safety net is better. The kids and I went on a walk one morning. Anni stepped right over a poisonous snake and a big dog was stalking us for awhile. I thanked God for His protection. I was frying up some French fries when the oil bubbled over into the flame, for some reason it didn’t catch fire. Again I felt God’s protection.

Heuni coming up here for 5 days was a big blessing to both us and him. His parents are Christians but he is not. He and Fedi got along great and Fedi had several opportunities to talk to him about God. I know he liked it here because we offered to take him home a couple of times but he wanted to stay.

Hueni is still here. We found out he is 20 years old and knows something about electricity because his father is an electrician. Anyway he has been a valuable help to Fedi and an easy houseguest. He and Fedi have been running up and down hooking up the waterpower and doing wiring.

The first results were disappointing. It was a measly 9 volts, not even close to enough. Fedi went to town and got a taller tub with a lid for the pipeline to drain in. This put more pressure on the turbine and whizzed out about 50 volts. This is still low power but acceptable. Soon though a new problem developed. Leaves clogged the input filter on the other end of the pipe. So Fedi lowered the overflow of the dam to help the floating leaves to find their way out and made a better wire mesh filter. The next morning guess what? We had about 10 unhappy frogs stuck to the filter. For some reason we have a lot of frogs. Now Fedi is eyeing my laundry basket as a possible solution. It is tall and might make a larger filtered area so the water will keep flowing through the pipe even if it gets partially clogged.

School is going well. The kids have been cooperative and have given it good effort. I think the lack of TV and toys has them actually enjoying school. The girls and I cook together and do dishes together. It’s nice.

Today my refrigerator is working good. That means it is cool outside. We have 3 windows with big ledges that face the North downstairs. They open like a door with hinges on the sides. So I open the window, grab the milk & shut the window. It works great in the winter.

Saturday-no school, which means more relaxing and time to catch up with laundry and cleaning. It’s raining on and off which might hold up Fedi’s work
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Yesterday evening Fedi dropped me off at Heidi and Eddy’s apartment while he went evangelizing. I had a chance to use their internet for some e-mailing. It is always rushed though as I didn’t want to be rude and Rebekah was waiting her turn. She (Heidi) talked to me again about having a kids program for kids in the city. I think I will go for it. The hesitation comes from my lack of energy. I don’t want the kids school or the house work to go downhill. I see where this could be a great open door for a single girl. I’ve had several people tell me that kids ministries are effective here. We would have room to keep someone or maybe there is a Romanian girl in the church here.

Fedi’s door-to-door evangelism is interesting. He said they counted 15 houses where they were happy to receive the audiotapes of the Jesus film. They gave them in 3 parts, only handing out the 2nd and 3rd when they had listened to the previous one. The one house that stuck in his mind though was the one where the guy, his wife, and his daughter all scolded Fedi’s group for being useless and not knowing what work is, and doing something that was not worth anything. People are hard at work harvesting in the fields now and they are tired. You see big groups of people in the fields harvesting potatoes. It was a bit hard for Fedi as he grew up with a value put so high on physical labor.

We have had so much help setting up the waterpower. People are generous with their labor. Some we have paid, others we will find other ways to thank. I never get the feeling that people are helping us because they want something in return. I always feel it is friendship they want, which is great with us. There are some ways we can repay all the kindnesses we have received. Transporting people around is very valuable. Plus we have our couch now for anyone who needs a place to stay. We have some other thoughts that we will see if they work out.

Fedi gave the guy from Hungary $100 from the donation money to buy lice shampoo for the prisoners. He is going back to Hungary where it is available to buy.

I also plan to use some to start the kids ministry, maybe around $200. I’m not sure yet what I need for material and to rent a place. That would bring the total used to $1,310.

We haven’t yet given the guy with the prison ministry any money, as we haven’t seen him. Fedi really wants to finish this waterpower before it gets cold.

One great testimony of God’s grace to the saved and unsaved, Fedi’s brother-in-law Jozsef was being shipped out for a month to another city to work. He hates going away from his family like that. He tried to find another job and stewed around for a week or so. He wanted to quit but was afraid to. This job pays $150 a month. He asked Fedi if he should quit and Fedi told him to talk to the director. Fedi also told him that he wouldn’t go out on a limb like that himself unless he had God to help him. Jozsef is not yet a Christian. Csilla (Jozsef’s wife) on the morning he was to go pleaded with him to talk to the director. She prayed with him first. I guess this guy can be hard. Anyway Jozsef talked to him and the results were so good that he acknowledged that the prayer must have helped. They let him stay in his own city, dropped his hours from 10 to 8 a day and gave him a raise. Praise the Lord!

Yesterday Leventa and two guys showed up to help Fedi, then this fellow from Hungary, Hueni came. Hueni is staying for 3 days. He is a young guy. His family raises rabbits. He brought one (alive) with him for supper. I put it in a box. When I served them supper he asked where is the rabbit. I think I was supposed to butcher it and cook it up. Fedi said they would do it the next day.

We let the kids have a baby kitten. She is darling. She just fell in the dog’s water dish. Earlier we got the camcorder because she crawled up on Gino and fell asleep. Gino looked very uncomfortable with the situation but didn’t move.

Anyway the extra help is encouraging. Hueni was the first to sleep on the new couch. Fedi thinks Saturday we’ll try to hook up the waterpower.

Lots to write about. Thursday Fedi went into town to go with Leventa to talk to two mayors about showing the video of Jesus life. These are little villages where the Catholic priests wield a lot of power. The mayors need their permission. It went well, at least they said they would talk to the priests about it and they seemed open for the idea. There is a group though, that goes door to door, including Fedi, Leventa, and some of the young kids from church with the sound track from the movie on tape. They don’t need permission for this. Leventa is really fired up for this mission. Friday that is what they did again.

Anyway, later Thursday, Fedi met this old man who has had a prison ministry for years. He and his wife are very poor, no refrigerator, car, phone. But they have tracts bundled up all over in their house. He said the prisoners need tooth brushes, soap, and toothpaste, etc. We have a bunch of this stuff Uncle Ed gave us so we will give it to him. He pays to copy all the tracts. His wife sews donated rags together to the proper size for sheets for the prisoners. They really have been self sacrificing. Fedi can be of a big use for the translating. This man speaks only Romanian. There is a man from Hungary who wants to help him but he speaks only Hungarian. Fedi spent some of the evening translating between the two. The old man, his name is John, will try to get permission for Fedi to go in with him. We told Dad about this development and as I told Fedi, he was pretty fired up. He told us to use donation money to help this man and he will send up more. Well he doesn’t need to do that yet, we still have $1300 left. Monday we plan to give this man some. Prison ministries can be effective, I think, because the people there are lonely, away from family and friends. They are appreciative of help. They are currently being punished for something, so a change of life could be tempting. Anyway, it’s a big open door. John told Fedi they had been praying for an American connection.

Friday, Fedi worked on concreting the shed for the waterpower. I did school with the kids. In the afternoon he took the girls with him to buy some more concrete and then to evangelize in the evening. I think Rebekah won’t keep going with him though because she says all she does is spend hours standing and waiting.

With Sarah Reinhard converting and now two more girls from Rebekah’s class converting, I know she is giving it some thought. I don’t think she feels any conviction of sin, though, or fear of hell. Here in Romania only married women wear head coverings. I think, though, if Rebekah converts it won’t be a problem for the pastor to explain to the church why we are doing it different.

On to Saturday. A huge day! Fedi had arranged for some help with the waterpower. Csilla, Jozeph, and the girls came first. Then, Leventa, Edith and their 5 kids and another man. I helped Csilla make a Hungarian gulash and salad for lunch. Later Arpi and Maria came to spend the afternoon as originally planned, though. One other young couple from church showed up with their two little boys. This was Annika (the T.V. reporter who did the home schooling interview) and her husband who is an engineer. They stayed for supper too. Supper was the customary cold cuts, bread, salami, cheese, and different spreads.

Fedi seems really happy that so much got done and to have so many friends around. The men worked hard. The kids all played happily together (all 13 of them). Anni and Reka caught a baby mouse. They played for hours with him until he finally died. Reka cried. When they started to let the dam fill up, it lowered the water in the creek so they ran around catching trout, crawdads and a kind of bottom dweller fish. They put them in the pond we made. We have had a big pile of concrete sand in front of our house since we moved in. The kids all made elaborate sand castles and fortresses with paths and tunnels. It is all decorated with moss and flowers and fall leaves.

Speaking of which, there are beautiful flowers growing all over these mountains and thick soft moss.

Steven woke up Sunday morning, looked outside and was shocked that the sand castles were still there. He is used to the beach I guess.

Fedi went to morning church at Arpi and Maria’s church in his home town. I am too tired from yesterday. We will all go to evening church together.

Well the kids are sled riding again. Just and inch or so. The waterpower is doing great so we are snug and warm. Csilla, Jozsef, and the girls are here again. Fedi and Jozsef left to get firewood with the neighbor’s tractor. They stayed up till almost 2:00 A.M. working on shelves for the garage and arranging places for the wood.

We had our first kids club meeting. Despite posters and advertising on the local TV, no outsiders showed up. There was great support from the church though, and Heidi said next week she will visit some families she knows and give them personal invitations. If just a few kids would show up then it could be that word of mouth would make it snowball. They really did have the games and program nicely organized and the gym they rented was a nice size. So, no giving up yet.

Fedi has a hitchhiking ministry. Hitch hiking is common here. Ladies, old men, people with kids, young people, every kind of person hitchhikes. Usually they try to give you some money, but Fedi always hands them a tract instead of taking their money and asks them to read it. Yesterday we picked up a very dressed up old gentleman. The kids got a kick out of him because he gave them all graham crackers and kisses. He was very cheerful. It’s a good way to meet people.

There was another break in at the cabin on our drive. It’s only about 200 yards from us but not visible from our house. The evening that we discovered the second break in, Fedi called me from the city to say he wasn’t able to finish the papers for our extended stay and he was thinking of spending the night with Csilla so he could finish in the morning. It sounded logical to me then. A couple of hours later though in the dark, Gino started to bark at something outside. I thought I saw a flashlight down by the creek and chickened out. Fedi came home for a short night and left again in the morning.

Sunday was an all day event at the Baptist camp. It was a day of the year set aside for Thanksgiving. There were two baptisms. It was very nice. I was low on sleep though and the after service was so crowded that we had to stand. I got too tired. The kids just played outside so they were fine.

Monday-big workday on the waterpower. We got the shed in place.

Tuesday. We went in town for the T.V. interview on home schooling. First we got to an internet club and did some emailing, then the interview-no big deal- then we left the kids at Csillas & ran around getting parts for the hydro power. It was hot and tiring. Later we picked up Csilla and went to find a couch. We are having one made that I am excited about. It will cost about $200, and folds out to a queen sized bed and with an extra mattress for a child. There are drawers underneath for storage. It is just what we need for guests. I planned even in America to set up a guest room from the donation money. So now we have used $910 from the $2300. We should be getting our first guests this weekend. At church last week the pastor from Fedi’s home town said his wife was really discouraged from work and would like to get away. They are great people and I am excited to have them.

We got home and there were people there. It was the surveyor and the former owner getting the exact coordinates and boundaries for our land so we can complete the final paper work. We were walking the boundary with them when the cow rancher’s son Attila came up the hill. He said his bull had rammed the former owners car. He really did. It was parked in the meadow by our house where the cows pass through and he rammed it at least 3 times. We have been staying away from him because he even comes up to our yard sometimes. The kids are careful though and there is always plenty of warning that the cows are coming because several of the cows have bells.
Oh yeah, while we were in town we saw the tiniest humming bird. He was just a little larger than a bumblebee. He didn’t seem scared of us at all as he went from flower to flower. We examined his teeny-weeny feathers and beak…fascinating.

Today Fedi found a big beetle while he was digging. We looked it up in Anni’s science book and there it was. It is called a mole cricket. His front feet are like the moles claws for digging. Then he has a pincher on them for cutting small roots.

I keep making progress with Hungarian. Every time we go anywhere, if we see anyone we know it’s a twenty- minute conversation. I always just stand there and try to pick up words.

We had a big day yesterday. Fedi had to take some car parts back to the place where we bought the jeep. It was $75.00 so too much to waste but it was also 4 hours away (the roads are slow). Well so as to not waste the trip we decided to visit the Salt mines and pick up some supplies at Selgros (like Sam’s Club). The Salt mines were closed but the trip was still interesting. We inched our way through 4 or 5 sheep herds and 2 cow herds in the road. One herd of sheep was actually lying down on the road while the shepherds had a drink at the outside café. We stopped to buy a sheep skin to decorate the cabin, $15.00. I want the cabin to be functional for living but also charming. Maybe it would make some money as a vacation-rental place. Some Romanians have money. In fact, it never ceases to amaze me what I know they earn (next to nothing) and what I see that they buy and possess. How do they afford these things? Lots and lots of them have cell phones. A lot of them have cheap junky cars but there are a good amount of nice cars too. Except for labor, prices are comparable to the U.S.

The kids are still sleeping so I want to try and catch up. I’ve had a wash machine and stove for about a week now. It makes a big difference in how I feel about the place. Now I feel organized enough. I’m not exactly a pioneer woman.

Yesterday Fedi was gone all day getting parts for the car. The kids and I went on a hike and got lost. It was the strangest feeling. I thought I had a feel of where we were on the mountain but ended up going in a circle when we tried to get home. That’s when I started to get worried. It was also getting late and even started to drizzle. Finally we found a pretty well traveled horse wagon trail and followed it up hill for about 20 minutes (in exactly the wrong direction). Then knowing we needed to be going down and not seeing where this trail would start heading down as I thought, we turned around and in a fast pace going down soon came to the place where we first started our hike in unfamiliar territory. We made it home after 7:00 p.m. shortly before dark. I was very thankful to God and feel it was a lesson learned. The kids didn’t seem too worried but they were getting tired as we hiked almost 3 hours. These woods have a wild feel to them. Just knowing there are wild boar, wolves, & bears keeps you on your toes.

The kids seem to be adjusting fine. The difference in food has bothered Ryan a bit but Steven is devouring everything. Having no TV really hasn’t seemed to bother any of us. In fact, I think it has been good for us. I know I get the dishes done nicely every evening out of sheer boredom.

If Fedi is gone until late as he was the last 2 nights I get a little scared and lonely. The problem is I can’t lock the doors and have lights at the same time. The generator we have is not vented so we have to have the garage doors wide open when it is on.

It is good though, to see the kids happy and Fedi happy. Fedi is talking to people about God, making friends and supporting the little church here. Friday, Fedi will go with a group from church door to door again to evangelize. Rebekah goes with him. Otherwise, we have no plans. It’s more just doing what we see to do every day and waiting for God’s plan to unfold.

The waterpower is probably two weeks away from being done. We are making the dam for the little pond more elaborate than first planned and Fedi has been delayed by car repairs.

Well I got a washing machine and stove yesterday, plus some pans, blankets, and even peanut butter. Life is good!!!

On Saturday, Leventa and his wife Edith came to spend the day with us. Their car broke down a short distance from the house and they walked the rest of the way. After lunch Fedi and Laventa went to look at the car and Edith and I looked at each other. I knew she was panicky about her husband leaving her alone with me since communication was a problem. Well we took a walk and then fried up some meat our neighbor brought us and actually got along pretty well with the language. It was not a bad 4 hours.

Sunday was nice. We went to morning service at the Baptist camp. This is a beautiful building with sleeping quarters and about 4 buildings in all. Obviously, American dollars at work. After the service we went to Arpi and Maria’s house for lunch in Fedi’s hometown. He had been avoiding going there and was dreading it. I didn’t know why until he finally admitted that he was ashamed of the jeep we bought. Different mentality than I’m used to but I don’t want to be critical. Anyway, he didn’t see anyone he knew except for the Pastor (Arpi) and his wife.

I listened closely to 5 hours of Hungarian conversation and picked up a few words. This couple had been very nice to Jozsef and Sandor so they talked a lot about them. Their daughter Annika was going away to boarding school and was crying. Boarding school is common here for the higher grades because transportation is a problem. It’s rough on the kids.

Today the 2 men are supposed to come. I am trying to work out at least a ½ day of school and also prepare for them. Rebekah has done very well since we started school. She just plugs away to get it all done.

The sunset coming home was beautiful yesterday. The scenery and timeless atmosphere make this place amazing. The people log with horse and wagon as they have for 100s of years. They make bread, garden, milk cows, and live like they always have. The improvements the rest of the world takes for granted are to expensive for most of the people.

Fedi and I at $600 a month have 3x as much money as most people here but I don’t have the skills to cook like they do and I’m not willing to let my kids suffer nutritionally or be subject to their health care system. And washing clothes by hand is the pits!

Well anyway the logs were delivered yesterday to make the dam, pipes, and the frame for the hydro unit shed the day before so this week should show good progress.

It’s been hard to keep in touch with people from the states. We still haven’t gotten to an internet for e-mail. Fedi has been too busy and when he is gone I have no car or if I go with him we have all the kids and it seems hard to get on the internet with 4 kids to watch.

Well we used a good chunk of the donation money on the Pastor’s utility bills. He was $710 behind. It sounds irresponsible until you find out his income is $100 a month and he has 5 kids. We sent them money a year or so ago and he used it to start a funnel cake business with his wife. The agreement was that if the business does well, they will pay the churches utility bills. Well the next month they were handed the bill and apparently the business has not done well. They also charge a high interest on overdue utility bills so it gets almost impossible to catch up.

Fedi is in his element here. He helped some people with logging on one of our walks. There poor little horse worked so hard to haul huge logs up. Fedi was able to tell the cow rancher’s son about Christianity. With no TV he has Bible studies with the kids in the evenings.

Next week we will work on the waterpower. It has taken a lot of time to have oak timber cut to make a dam and to price and have material cut to make a secure shed for the generator-inverter, and batteries. We are going as cheap as we can. There are also 2 guys that Leventa said, need work next week. So we will let them stay in our livingroom and see if we can keep them busy.

Speaking of busy, I need to get the winter things out. There was frost on the grass this morning and it hasn’t warmed up much.

Well we both had frustrating days yesterday. Fedi, again only accomplished about 3 things on his list of about 8 or 9 things. Things are slow and definitely not customer oriented in Romania. We need to lower our expectations. It means he has to go back today again. I knew things would be much more inconvenient here as far as no dishwasher, dryer, now still no refrigerator, washmachine, or even shelves to put things on, but I thought Fedi would be around to help me. I’m trying to do school full-time now and finding it hard.

On the other hand, we went on a awesome hike yesterday evening. The view was terrific. Fedi showed the kids so many interesting things in the woods. We all loved it. I woke up this morning in a warm bed (still just mattresses on the floor), had a good coffee and fresh bread, how can I be so unthankful to God? There is also a sense of rightness about where we are. It seems right to be here, is the best way I can say it.
Today Fedi is going to meet someone else at the pastor’s house to tell them about home-schooling. There is an interest in this among the Christians here, though it is now illegal. I don’t see how these hard-working Romanian women could find the time for this though. On Friday Fedi is going with the pastor to evangelize in a town. The Catholic priest there has refused to let the Jesus film to be shown there but Leventa thought they could go door to door with the sound track.

Well I need to go get our fresh milk now and I think the kids are waking up.

Well we finally got a rain last night. I’m glad because everything was so dusty. It did mean though that Fedi very nearly got the little jeep thoroughly stuck in the mud. I’m glad he insisted on 4 wd. He must have had some angels pushing along with me because it looked hopeless.

This morning woke up pretty grumpy. The inconveniences of no refrigerator, washmachine, or shelves or cupboards were getting to me. Fedi has to be gone all day again today. He was home only 1 day last week. It is necessary things he has to take care of like finding the little jeep for us. We bounce all over in it but it seems strong and dependable. So I need to be thankful and patient.

It cheered me up when we went to get the milk. The Rancher’s wife was there. She had cooked us some delicious donuts yesterday and today she gave us 2 different kinds of cheese made from their fresh cows milk. My admiration for the Romanian women is huge. Her kitchen is a little lean-to, open on 2 sides with a wood stove.

Yesterday we returned Agi’s car to her. They live in a little village. She has 6 brothers and sisters. It seems to be a warm friendly family.

I did wash yesterday by hand. It was not as hard and didn’t take as long as I expected. A nice breeze and the perfect weather we have had since we arrived had the clothes nicely dried by evening. Fedi started to dig out the well mid-morning. He worked all day pounding through the rock at the bottom and gained about 18 inches. The water just seeps in. We hope it will be enough. He also put another 3-foot concrete ring on top of the existing one and Jozsu concreted them together.

Jino has settled in nicely. She chases and eats the lizards. She has started to bark if someone comes to the house. It was worth bringing her.

Fedi left again today to register us. We found out you can’t buy a car unless you are registered with an address. As our house doesn’t have an address we may register using Csilla’s address.

The girls went to spend the night at Czilla’s. I hope they are getting along okay.
Meanwhile the boys and I are having a quiet, nice and productive day. We cleaned, did some school, made some soup, I read them a chapter of “The Call of the Wild”, took a walk to get some spring water to drink, ate lunch, and did some more school.

It’s very quiet here except with the windows open we can hear the stream. I opened all of the downstairs windows.

Yesterday Fedi and I went to town to get cell phones and some other things. I was feeling sick so it was an ordeal. I gave some money to a gypsy boy and soon another came and then another. They wouldn’t leave easy- Lesson learned. I also bought some house shoes I found on sale. No big problem. But buying the iron had me a little confused. I handed the man twice as much money as I should have. One dollar is 33,000 lei, so numbers get big. The muffler of the car we borrowed fell off in the city. Fedi found a place to have it welded on -$8.00.

Csilla told us that the pastor, Leventa, has very little money and is behind on his utility bills. So Fedi is using the donation money today to go pay them. He went in town today to look at some cars and run some other errands. I get to stay home. This is the first time I had the house to myself.

The kids and I did some school and then went on a walk to get some water from a fresh water spring. Fedi and I like the water from the mineral springs, but not the kids.

The kids proudly made some butter from our fresh cow milk. It was good but too much work to do on a regular basis. And after that they took the walkie-talkie to try and find a fresh water spring close to us. They succeeded and again were very proud.

I got out the thawed chicken I bought yesterday to cook. After opening the bag, there tucked inside were the head, beak, eyes and all. Now I’m not sure if I should use it in soup or just what the Romanian wives do?

We use the generator sparingly to save gas. We only need it for lights in the evening about 1 hour and briefly on and off during the day to build up water pressure. It will be great when we get the water generator going so we can have electricity and water all the time. The generator now is also very noisy. When cold weather hits we definitely have to have the generator going to run the circulating pump for the heating system.

Oh yeah, Fedi’s knee is getting better. He always dreads getting the shot so he very slowly and carefully prepares the needle, finds any reason possible to procrastinate, then gives a sigh and rolls over. It’s a little funny.

I do wonder at times, what are we doing here, what in the world will we do with the house after we leave? We are mortgaged up to our ears and can’t possible donate it or give it away. I know it’s a good experience for the kids and God seems to have led us here. I have to leave it at that.

Yesterday was church. Agi lent us her car as we have none yet. We only went to the 6:00 p.m. service since Fedi’s knee needs to stay elevated. He hasn’t seen much improvement but at least he is not running a fever. He is one frustrated guy.
The church service was very nice. It is a small (about 25 people) but warm church. The kids sat nicely through the service. They welcomed Fedi and I and gave us a hand made (by Edith, the pastor’s wife) stitching of a mountain scene.

We got home about 10:00 p.m. It was hard to find in the dark.

This morning the excavator came with the tractor. Fedi wants him to dig out an area in the creek up stream to be able to control the water level for the water power. It went well. They also leveled out our very poor drive, and created a turnaround by our garage and dug a hole for garbage. The cost for the whole day - $75.00.

Csilla, Jozsef, and girls came about 1:00 with the pastor, Leventa. He stayed a couple of hours.

I made lunch for the workers. As I still don’t have a refrigerator it was a sparse meal of potatoes, bread, cheese, and tomatoes. It was kind of nerve-racking as I had no idea if it was acceptable.

Fedi’s knee is looking a little better but his bottom is getting sore from all the shots I poked in him.

Hi Mom & Dad & Everyone, I thought I would send this diary as a letter. Could you save it for me, please. We are fine!

Aug. 22, 2003
We made it to Romania. After preparing all summer and traveling for 2 days, we have enjoyed our first day here.

The traveling part was nerve-racking. Fedi had to drive the dog to New York over night. His knee had started to swell and became steadily worse. He made it though and waited all day with two big, two little suitcases and the dog at the airport. Some nice man gave him ice for his knee which helped a little. It was also very painful.
Meanwhile in Chicago, the kids and I and 12 pieces of big luggage as well as 10 pieces of little luggage made our awkward way to the ticket counter to security. There every hand bag was thoroughly checked.

Our plane was delayed which scared both Fedi and I since our connection in New York was close anyway. Well we all ran in New York, loaded down with luggage. To illustrate how close it was we were at the ticket counter for another 10 minutes after we heard the final call for our flight.

Well the kids loved the first flight. They had window seats and enjoyed everything about it. The second flight from New York was not as nice but the kids were very good then and also for the uncomfortable 6 hr. drive to our cabin.

The house is so beautiful and the area is outstanding. Two men came during our first day with their two horses to do some logging right in our yard. The horses and they worked hard all day. In the evening a herd of milk cows strayed in our yard. Their owner yelled and threw sticks to drive them around the other way.

We have a milk cow rancher who lives next to us. He said we can buy fresh milk from him every morning. It tastes so good!

Fedi’s knee has gotten worse and he started to run a fever. The cow neighbor drove him to the doctor. He came home with 10 penicillin shots, which I have to give him. It is very painful for Fedi to get these shots, but at least he can stay home. He can’t work on anything since he can hardly walk.

In the afternoon we walked 2 kilometers up the road to a mineral spring and filled our water bottles.