Diary for Tuesday 11th
December
Without a shadow of doubt
this has been the most exciting day!!! In the morning I went with Nelu from Fundatia Increderea (FI for short) – Mustard Seed has 25 needy
pensioners or families sponsored through FI and I really wanted to visit them
all and take photos to be able to report back to the sponsors – quite a tall
order for one day! We had an incredibly busy morning visiting about 15
pensioners and families living in poor conditions – some I had met before,
others were new to me. It took some co-ordinating to
make sure I had the right photo number with each pensioner!
We gave out Christmas
shoeboxes – many packed by the sponsors and food parcels and clothes also
donated by Mustard Seed. I will report back to all the sponsors – certainly no
shadow of doubt that the need is great – very great, and the help we give is
much valued. For one old soul the food parcel was all she had to live on till
her pension comes next week. Another very sad case is a lady with no legs – obviously
well educated who is totally alone in a tiny apartment in back street courtyard – of which there
are many behind rusty gates where people live in quite appalling conditions. Here
are the people who benefit so much for our help.
Then we went to have a pizza
for a very late lunch. Near Nelu's office is a
wonderful pizza bar where Phil and I have been with Nelu.
AS Phil was not with me I phoned him to make his mouth water and so he could
talk to Nelu, also.
Then we met up with Ghita a pastor who works in a gypsy village in the back of
beyond! By now we had been joined by Nelu's wife
Cristina – when the van was full of shoeboxes and boxes there was no room for
her to start with!
We turned off the main road,
onto a track that got bumpier and bumpier then we turned off onto what looked
like a path across a ploughed muddy field and - yes you guessed – we got stuck!
Nelu Cristina and I pushed the car which was well and
truly stuck no matter which way we tried. I was expecting it would have to be
towed out but no amazingly we finally got it clear – I think it must have been
the power of prayer – I was certainly praying for the Lord to send a
couple of hefty angels! We were however covered in mud – especially Cristrina who got sprayed by the wheel when it was spinning
in a muddy puddle! I was thankful I was wearing my wellington
boots.
So we went along the better
bumpy road and were told we would walk one kilometer which sounded preferable
to pushing the vehicle to be honest. But because I was the honoured
guest (I think this was the reason) he organised a
horse and cart to take us the remainder of the way to the gypsy village. The
cart was interesting – a plank to sit on but for an honoured
guest they put a cushion and a rug on top (most precarious!).
We climbed in – Nelu took photos. The horses set off at a pace, we hung on
for dear life, down the hill through the mud, through a stream, the horses steered to avoid boulders etc so at times we were
at a terrifying angle! I prayed very hard we did not tip! But full marks to the
horses and their driver we got there in one piece.
The return trip was even
more hair-raising as there were people walking down to collect goods from the
van! How we missed mowing some of them down I don't know – they jumped out of
the way as the horses seemed to have decided they were racing down the hill
with the driver shouting at them to stop; I think Cristina screamed – at least
someone did.
We gave out clothes to the
people by the van – they had never been given anything before so they were very
excited.
All in all
a memorable day.
Throughout the day we had
text messages from Bob and David the lorry drivers to say there were huge
traffic jams in