It has been a wild and crazy trip so far with a full schedule. I apologize for not posting yesterday, but we didn’t get home until around midnight last night. It is now 10:17PM on Sunday evening. The Saturday evening conference in Arad called “Women for Women” was so very sweet. I was deeply grateful for the opportunity to speak to these precious women a message of encouragement. Then after having the opportunity to pray for several ladies through an interpreter. Jackie Ramsey and Mary Jill Callery did a fabulous job coordinating the conference and the young musicians were fabulous. Before I ever spoke, the Spirit of the Lord had come into the room with a sweet fragrance and a freshness. The room was very warm, but a cool “breeze” descended upon us. I loved the way the Lord ministered His mercy and tenderness to the hurting and hungry women who came. Blessings on Jackie and Mary Jill as they plan the next meeting for Nov. 13th.
On Saturday around 1:00PM, Carolyn and I picked up Dea here in Timisoara, and traveled north to Arad for the meeting. Dea is a darling young lady who translated for me last night. Before we went to the meeting, we went by my printer/publisher, Mircea, and picked up the BGT flyers which I had him print. They were beautiful!! (Thank you, Sweet Michele C., for reconstructing the old flyers into these pretty new ones!) I had a good meeting with Mircea about current and future printing jobs for BGT.
At the conference, Jackie was the emcee. She is totally hilarious!! I just love her sense of humor, transparency and great love for the Romanian people. She cares for widows, orphans, poor and needy folks, Gypsies, and also pastors a Gypsy church. I know she does a ton of other things, too! Mary Jill was a fabulous speaker (founder of Certain Women) and totally animated. She delighted my soul and gave a specific Word to me from the Lord. I was brought to tears. What a blessing from the Lord.
After the break, we had a door prize drawing. Too fun!! I actually won a serving tray. :o) Then it was my turn. The Lord poured out a tender sweetness through me to the ladies. I was touched deeply by the love God has for them. What a privilege to spend the evening with them. The closing time of prayer was precious as I was able to pray for and hug some dear ladies. One hurting single mom broke down crying as I held her tightly.
The sweet young man named Bogdan, who translated during part of the evening and during the prayer time touched my shoulder as we stood alone at the end. He was so tender when he shared that he had been paralyzed as a small child. After major surgery and a year long rehab time away from his family, he knew the hardships of being like a special needs child. He hugged me and said that he was very sure my son, Caleb, really appreciated all I did for him. He encouraged me to persevere, and I once again was brought to tears. Such sweetness. I went to minister, and I was the one who received the ministry. Isn’t that just like our God??
We then went to a local restaurant owned by Christians. Good food and air conditioning!!! Woooo-hoooo! We had lots of fun and laughed alot. As we were leaving, Jackie and I paused to speak to the owner. When he pointed to a table next to ours with several young people, I realized he wanted us to meet them. It turns out that two of the young ladies were from Phoenix, AZ who were there on a missions trip. They were originally from Romania, but moved to the US at a young age. It blew my mind when Ligia and Adriana said they had originally started coming to Romania to do women’s Bible studies and called their group, “Women to Women”. Well, pick me up off the floor! I had just finished speaking at the third meeting for “Women for Women”! They now were working mostly to get shoes for Romanian children. So, we all exchanged information, and Jackie will meet with them this Wed. I wish I was closer, so I could go too. :o( I absolutely love God’s divine appointments!!!
Since we got home so late on Saturday night (midnight), Scott, Carolyn and I slept in this morning. We got up and headed out the farm where the boys home is being built. We needed to feed the animals and watch Scott milk the cow. Too funny!!! He probably didn’t think it was funny, but I was snickering in the background. :o)
Then we headed back to the apt. to shower and get ready for church tonight. Stopped by the grocery store on the way in. Before church, though, we went over to visit the Girls’ home, Osana House, which Scott and Carolyn help with. Lovely meeting the house parents, Cerbu and Nadine, along with some of the girls, Angi, Andreea, Sorina, and a visiting missionary, Anna, from New Zealand. I had an opportunity to visit with Nadine about her two young daughters, one of whom has Polymicrogyria (PMG). It was a blessing to share our hearts as mothers of Special Needs children. Angi makes lovely earrings and gave me one of the pairs as a gift. She is a Special Needs young woman.
We dashed over to Emanuel Baptist Church to hear my dear friend, Frank Camarotti, preach at the Missions service. We had to leave early to get over to the church where the Leadership conference will be held on Monday evening. Had to set up the tables and decorations. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to speak to him and to Alex Vlasin, the Missions Coordinator for the Romanian Baptist Union. They leave early Monday AM.
Good evening at home relaxing and putting the conference folders together. Will work on the gift packs tomorrow AM (hmmm… looks like it is now the AM). I paused for quite a while in between the blog entry beginning and the completion.
Heading to bed in just a few minutes. Will head to Alfa Omega TV productions tomorrow and then get ready for the conference.
Night night to all. Thanks so much again for your prayers. I have tried unsuccessfully to post the pictures, but can’t get it to work. Arrgghhh!! I truly detest it when a technical device out smarts me! I promise to post the pics tomorrow.