Contacts in the States

Although our trip to the states wasn’t the type of trip we would have liked to go home for, there were some great things that happened while we were there.  Dennis and I were able to meet with some church staff in MS, as well as speak to several groups.  I’d like to share some of these with you.

While at the hospital, waiting for Hunter to come out of surgery, we met Jeff Holland.  Jeff is one of the pastors at Pinelake Baptist Church in Jackson.  During our conversation with him, we asked if the church was mission oriented – a definite YES!!  We shared with him the work that is being done in Romania and he put us in contact with their Mission Pastor.  Although we didn’t get to visit with Dan on our first trip, we did meet up with him when we returned.  What a great time to pick the brain of a mission minded church/staff member.  He shared some things with us that we hadn’t thought about.  We also got the names of a couple who are in the Czech Republic to work with the Roma people.

Dennis’ great niece, Taylor Lofton, is a part of the youth praise team at Grace Fellowship UMC in Katy, TX.  While we were in Houston, we had the privilege of watching her lead worship for the youth group.  We also had an opportunity to talk with the youth for about 10 minutes.  From this brief talk, one youth stepped up to head a school supply drive for the children here, and one of the adults spoke with me about teaching English as a Foreign Language in the mission field.  We have an invitation to return this fall to speak more about the work here.

Our first time back at Packsaddle Fellowship, I was able to speak with the children’s Bible class about the children that we work with.  I shared a video that Dennis created, and a power point show of the children.  They were full of questions about the children and their lives, which led into ways in which they could help, and even the possibility of them coming on a mission trip.

While I talked with the children, Dennis gave a brief “mission moment” for the adults.  He shared with them the importance of the container, and gave a very detailed visual of the circumstances for a little boy that we put shoes on.  This little boy lives on the downhill side of where the pigs are kept.  The courtyard that we walked through was flowing with fecal matter.  The family continually walked in and through this mess every day.  No big deal you say……..except that the youngest didn’t have shoes.  And all that contaminated material came directly into the “house” (basically one room where all the children and the father stayed), as well as absorbing into the child’s system through his feet.  We were able to give this little boy a pair of shoes……his first ever!  What a thrill it was to watch this little one do “the happy shoe dance”.  We were also able to give each of the children an apple.  The littlest one played with his for a minute and then dropped it onto the floor.  Before anyone could grab it and wipe it off, he picked it up and began to eat it.  Our hope is that the family is able to relocate the pigs to an outside area and away from the children, and that there are no long term ill-effects from the fecal materials for any of the family.

 One Saturday, Deb Guinn and I made a trip into Austin to shop for shoes; while in Payless, the cashier asked about our purchases (variety of styles and sizes).  What a great opportunity to share with her the reasons for our purchase.  She asked if you had to be a part of our church to participate, and we said “definitely not”.  I gave her one of my cards and she said that she was going to check out Another Child’s website as soon as she got off work.  She was very interested in what we do, so I invited her to check out the mission trips.

For those of you who know Dennis, he can’t stay out of a music store!  One day while in Guitar Center, he mentions that he is looking for a keyboard to take to Romania……another door opens!  The guy behind the counter says: “zi bună. ai fost în România de foarte multe ori?” Basically: good day. Have you been to Romania very often?  It turns out he has been on several mission trips there himself.  He told me he hadn’t been in a while, so I gave him our card with Another Child Foundation’s website and invited him to come back.  We talked Romania and missions for a good half-hour in Guitar Center.

On our way back from the 2^nd trip to Mississippi, we stopped in Seguin to visit with my cousin, Michelle, and her 5 daughters.  Michelle expressed an interest in bringing a couple of the older girls on a mission trip next spring break.  We shared our video and pictures, and visited a couple of hours.  All the girls were attentive and seemed excited about the possibility of doing a music mission trip (they have their own singing group….the Knight Girls…..and perform for area festivals).  They will also discuss the possibility of some of their classmates/parents coming too.  Can’t wait to see you all next spring!!!

Our 2^nd trip back to Kingsland allowed us to meet with John Hallowell, an editor for a local paper.  We met John at Dairy Queen and visited with him for over 2 hours.  He took a lot of notes, and sent me a draft of his article the next day.  On Thursday of that same week, the article came out in the paper.  Through this article, Dennis received a call from a friend that we knew from a former church.  He asked if we were available to speak with his church either on Wednesday night or Sunday morning.  Since we were heading to Dallas that weekend, we opted for the Wednesday night.  We were able to share with about 35 folks, many of them old friends, the work that we are involved in.  The folks at Chapel of the Hills are very excited to become involved with Fundatia Buckner and the work in Romania.  That night, they became involved financially through sponsorships, a love offering to purchase some needed items for the center, one person signed up for the Birthday Club, several expressed an interest in a mission trip, and many are now receiving the newsletter.  Thank you Chapel of the Hills!!!

The week before we left, I was able to inventory and pack up the items that Packsaddle Fellowship had been collecting.  When everything was finally sorted, rubber banded, folded and packed, there were 34 boxes of misc items.  These items included socks, shoes, hats, gloves, coats, clothing items, craft items, musical instruments, as well as puzzles/games/toys, and 1 ladder.  All total, over 910 items were packed and ready to ship.  Great job Packsaddle!!!

Since we were flying out of DFW, we made a final visit with Richland Baptist Church in Richardson, TX.  There we spoke with an adult class about our mission.  Several members picked up our cards, and 2 people signed up for our Birthday Club (if you want to know more about this, shoot me a FB message or email).  Thank you Forrest and Katy Scarborough and Cassie Glover for setting this up!!

Many doors were opened while we were around, and we were glad to share.  We’re excited about having friends and family express interest in the program, and hope that the seeds were planted will bear fruit.

Where Have We Been????

I apologize for not updating the blog in a while, but we left Romania to head back to the states for a couple of months.  The reason: my 11 year old nephew, Hunter, was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  We headed to Mississippi for his surgery and recovery.  As many of you know, he came through the surgery with flying colors, but we are not out of the woods yet.  Before he began his radiation/chemo treatments, he underwent an in-depth MRI and a second tumor was discovered.  The doctors originally thought a second tumor was there when the first one was found, but a biopsy of that area confirmed an abnormality – no tumor.  Just when we thought we’d have only one thing to deal with, here comes another one.  Because of the location – very deep in the temporal lobe – the decision was made to opt out of surgery and treat with radiation.

Treatments have been going well.  Hunter finally started losing his hair last week, so they shaved his head.  He now has a t-shirt that reads:  Too sexy for my hair, that’s why it’s not there!  The loss of his hair was depressing; up to that point, there were no visible signs that he was sick.  He has since perked up and is back to his old self.  He will have his last radiation/chemo treatment on June 19.  After that, another in-depth MRI will be performed to determine how much shrinkage has occurred.  Currently, he will be free of treatments for one month, then begin his 2^nd round of chemo.  Please pray that the doctors are thrilled with what they will see on his MRI.

You can follow his progress at:  caringbridge.org

                                        Site:  Michael “Hunter” Smith

Or you can follow him on Facebook at Hope for Hunter Smith

Dennis and I came home on May 30 and we’ve been trying to catch up since.   I will continue to write new updates as quickly as possible.

Day 2 with Red Page

Our 2^nd day with the Red Page mission team involved more home visits and distribution of groceries/shoes/clothing and VBS.  The group we were in visited 5 homes, only one of which had a child (11 months old).  Most of our visits were to older people.  We were greeted at the courtyard entrance and invited into most of the homes (some we chose not to go into because of the size of our group, and the size of the home).  One family of three (mother, father and adult son) invited all of us into their home (one room about 10’ x 10’).  The even brought in chairs so that everyone could sit down.  The family was very warm and friendly, and glad to have us as their guests.  The lady of the house made some powdered sugar coated doughnuts (very similar to beignets).  Knowing that this family is very poor, we didn’t want to eat their food, but also knew how important it was to them to share with us.  We ate the goodies and thanked them tremendously for their hospitality.  It was a great time!

As we left another home, the great-grandmother gave each of us a pair of knitted socks that she had made.  We were all so excited to receive something that was special to her.  The glow in her eyes was priceless, for she got to share with us.  What a blessing!!!

Across the street for this family, we met a man in a wheelchair and an older woman; they were sitting outside their gate.  They both began to speak to Adina (the pastor’s wife who translated for us) and then they both began to cry.  We found out that they had both lost a loved one recently – the man his wife, the woman her daughter (both of them sharing the same loss).  My heart broke for them both, as their pain was still so fresh.  The man explained that his wife (daughter of the woman) had died in January of 2011 and he had his leg amputated in October of the same year.  He was suffering from not only one loss, but two.  All I could do was hold the hand of the woman and cry with her.  It doesn’t matter how old your child is, when they’re gone, your heart breaks.  Mine was broke again.  As I type this update, I’m still crying tears of sadness for them.  I don’t know if the daughter/wife was a believer, so I couldn’t give them comfort in knowing that they would be reunited again.  I just pray that they will find comfort and peace, and know that there is still joy to be found.

Later in the afternoon, the youth went out into the village to pass our invitations to the evening VBS.  About 50 kids showed up around 5p for a Bible story and game (the armour of God).  There was a craft time planned, but it was decided that it wouldn’t be well received.  We were also running out of time.  The kids seemed to enjoy both the story/application and game.  Afterwards, pizza was served!!  Everyone enjoyed the pizza and drinks, with some taking the extra pieces home for siblings.  It was a great time to visit with the kids and encourage them to continue coming to activities at the church.

Wednesday morning, Dennis and I said our goodbyes to the group and headed home.  But, along the way we detoured to a town named Hunadoare.  Why, you asked?  Castelul Covinolor.  It’s a 14^th century castle built with Baroque, Renaissance and Gothic styles of architecture.  It is said that Vlad the Impaler was held prisoner there.  We enjoyed touring through this massive structure and would recommend it to anyone who visits the area.

 

 

We finally arrived back home around 6:30p.  After unloading all the bags, and sorting through dirty laundry, I was ready to sit down and write my blog.  NO……our internet was down.  Bummer.  Well, I did get all my pictures unloaded off the camera card and materials ready for classes today.

Next adventure………Larry and Celieta Leifeste (former coworkers at Llano ISD, who are now living in Prague, Czech Republic) are coming to visit the last weekend of the month!!!

Day 1 with Red Page Ministries

We began the day with a flat tire :(    Much to our surprise, the spare was a regular sized tire - no doughnut.  Thank goodness we were running ahead of schedule.  Changed the tire and headed for the vulcanizare to get it fixed.  Total cost - 12 lei (about $2.85).

After our early morning exercise in tire changing, we met with the mission team from Lubbock to purchase groceries for the families that they serve in the Susani area.  After purchasing the food, we returned to the church to separate into bags.  80 bags were filled with 1 bottle of oil, 1 bag of flour, 1 bag of beans, 2 bags of sugar, a small can of porc pate, 1 bag of pasta, 1 roll of salami, 1 bag of cereal, 4 apples, 1 tub margarine, 1 tub of hazelnut spread and a bag of wafer cookies.  The team also picked out shoes and clothing, along with some personal hygiene items, for 10 families.

After lunch, we divided up into 3 teams with specific families to visit.  We loaded a bag of groceries, the clothes and shoes for each of the families, then headed out to make a home visit.  The 1^st family that “our” team visited had 13 children.  We were greeted by one of the older girls, who was taking care of the smaller children.  We entered a courtyard area, with pig stalls to the left.  Ovidiu, the local pastor, shared with us his concern about the health of the children – the pigs are usually out in the courtyard.  This becomes an area contaminated with fecal material, and the children are running around in it with no shoes on.  Also, they will play with things outside (getting it on their hands) and then go inside and eat.  Or, as in what we saw today, they bring the feces inside on their feet/shoes and track it in on the floors; the baby dropped his apple several times on the floor and then picked it up and ate it.  The bedroom was about 12’x12’ and held a crib, 1 toddler size bed, and 2 double beds.  The only other room I saw was a kitchen area that we entered the home through.  I’m not sure if there was another bedroom, or if the entire family slept in that one room.  Anyway, the children were excited to get a new pair of shoes.  The baby acted as if this was the 1^st pair of shoes he’d ever had.  What a joy to see the excitement on the children’s faces!

 The 2^nd family consisted of 10 children.  Their home was a one-room shack about 10’x’10’, where all of them lived.  The father is currently in Germany where he is working.  As I took some pictures of the kids, the mom pulled out their school pictures to show us.  The pride in her face and eyes was amazing.  The family is attending a local church, where the children are learning to play instruments – mainly guitar, with one drummer.

 

We visited 3 other families, each with their own stories.  It was great to meet new people and share with them.  What a wonderful ministry that Red Page is doing with these families.

The last visit today was to a new family.  Since this was the 1^st contact, we thought it best if just Ovidiu made the initial visit.  When he returned to the van, he said it was good and he thought they could be some help to the family again.  As we were backing out of the yard…..as we were backing out of the yard………….as we WEREN’T backing out of the yard………we were stuck!  Dennis and one of the college students got out to push……….didn’t work.  So the rest of the group got out to lighten the load………..no good.  Now several are pushing and we’re all laughing at our situation.  Bet the other teams didn’t have this much fun!!!!

 

Returned to the Precept Ministries for supper and plan out tomorrow’s VBS.  Will do more family visits and deliver food/shoes/clothes in the morning.  Can’t wait…………..