Saies

Today was hard. When we counted at the beginning of the day there were 70 kids in a 10x16 room. The decibel level was incredible. By then end I think we had accumulated at least 90. I don't know where they all came from. We only had 2 translators who stayed with us the whole time, so it was difficult to corral all the kids, because of sheer numbers and the energy level of these kids with little ability to communicate what was going on. These are pics of the kids I bonded with, the other 70 or so were so hyper I couldn't deal with them. I also didn't sleep well last night, so maybe my fuse was a little shorter than normal. We went to bed at 1 and our rooster friend decided to start screaming from 2 a.m. till 3 a.m. last night. I'm praying his life is cut short soon as punishment for the evil screaming he likes to do at night. Aren't roosters supposed to wake you up in the MORNING?

The picture I put up is of the church we were at. The condition of this village seemed better than Laslea, but still much worse than anything in America. The families are running out of food, and work is very hard to find because the village is 90 percent gypsy. Usually they try and get a job as a field worker in Romanian fields, but there are so few Romanians in the village. We visited 2 Christian families. The house we visited first was a two room house (no bathroom!), maybe 400 sq. feet total. The couple had 6 kids, and everyone slept in one room. The condition of the house was unthinkably bad. It made an american trailer park look like the finest luxury. We chatted and gave them food bags, and when Nathan prayed with the family we couldn't help but just weep for these people.

As bad as the conditions are now, it is only going to get worse. Most Romanians live off of about $200 a month. Roma (the gypsies) live off of significantly less than that! Starting next month the Romanian government has completely cut all gov't aid to families, and everyone who has a salary job is getting their pay cut by 25%. Everyone who gets retirement is getting theirs cut by 15%. Pastor Florine said that in the winter they eat only bread and water to survive. When they run out they will eat anything, even grass. Starvation is going to be a very real danger for these people in a few short months. Pray for our brothers and sisters here in Romania!