We really want to thank all of you who have prayed for us during our four month home assignment, and also those of you who invited us to speak to your church or a group in your home! Our last 2 months were so busy that we didn't have a chance to send out a news update! Sorry! And we also appreciate your prayers for our Romanian foundation director, Ruxanda. She survived without us, although she probably has some gray hairs to show for it. This week she and her husband have gone away to an English language camp put on by a Christian organization, so they are escaping the Bucharest heat as well as the building project!
Since our last letter at the beginning of May, we traveled to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington State and California. We met many wonderful people who love the Lord dearly. We did a lot of speaking and had a lot of fun! We learned that potlucks are not just a Midwestern thing! They are delicious anywhere in America! We also had the pleasure of a couple of side trips. When we were in Pennsylvania, we traveled with a couple from the church there up to see Niagara Falls--only a 4 hour distance. It was magnificent! 34 million gallons of water per minute go over the Falls! Also, when we were in California, we were taken to Disneyland on free passes, and that was wonderful as well! We never thought we'd have the energy to be there for 11 hours, but we did!!
When we returned to Minnesota for our last 13 days, we spent almost the entire time packing! Global Health Ministries gave us 12 used computers with monitors and 2 printers for our clinic, and we packed them into 20 boxes, using 1 1/2 inch styrofoam insulation sheeting to pad the inside of the boxes, along with quilts that we were given as well. They are on a boat on their way here now. Hopefully, we will navigate our way through the customs process as easily as the boat navigates to Europe! (Some organizations here have had major problems with customs officers, even though the organizations did everything legally, but the bribe situation is slowly improving. We have never given bribes, and won't start with this!) We also shipped 30 other boxes in 3 different shipments, mostly stuff for the clinic but a little personal stuff as well. That was a whole lot of packing!!
While we were in Pennsylvania in late May, the electricity to the clinic was finally connected!! Yay-y-y!! And the next week we finally got our TVA (Value Added Tax) refund from the 4th quarter of last year!! We're still waiting for the refund from the first quarter of this year, but it is not a large amount.
The construction team was waiting to return to finish the work on the clinic until the electricity was hooked up, and then they waited another month, so work finally restarted about 2 weeks before we arrived back in Bucharest. When the tilers returned, they found that some of the tile purchased in February for the upper floor was gone, probably because of a guard we had briefly, but who was fired for other reasons. So more tile had to be found that would match the colors we already had. Now the sinks and toilets are being installed and soon the radiators, actually fan-coil units, will be installed. The cement subcontractor is working on the revision of the back stairs and also the front stairs and wheelchair ramp. We finally have enough money for that, which is good because the architect said the clinic wouldn't be approved to open without the wheelchair ramp. It still makes me a little crazy to see that we're paying for a wheelchair ramp that has a reinforced concrete foundation that goes down into the earth more than 6 feet! But "Asa este," which means: "So it is," or essentially: "Such is life!" The phrase is usually said with a sense of resignation, realizing that battling the bureaucracy over the topic is futile.
So now, what more do we need and how much will it cost? We need a phone system that is all networked together (about $4,000). We need kitchen cupboard type cupboards for the lab and nurses stations for both floors and also the treatment room and behind the reception desk (about $5,000 when we last priced them--for a lot of cupboards). We need the reception desk (about $900) and about 55 chairs for the waiting room, exam rooms, lunch room and library (about $1,300). We need up to 20 chairs with wheels for the doctors in the exam rooms and library and management offices (about $1,200). We need miniblinds for all the windows in the building (about $4,000, maybe less). We need a copier (about $2,500), a lab machine that does hemoglobins and white blood counts (a refurbished QBC machine is about $1,000 from a mission in the U.S.), and an alarm system ($2,000-5,000 depending on how much of the building we want protected). We need lockers for the locker room (the store Metro sold metal lockers for about 4 months last year, and then they disappeared, so we don't even know where to find these) and we need lots of little stuff like paper towel dispensers, soap dispensers, etc. etc. We would like to get a "chiller" or air conditioning unit to add to our system, for about $19,000. The bid we received for the parking lot and sidewalks was over $14,000, so we are planning to delay on the parking lot, just put in the sidewalks and let the earth settle a year before the parking lot. But we need a front gate and fence, which will be $3,800. We also probably need 5 new doors for the main hallways on the 2 floors, because the plans the fire department approved called for "60 minute doors", meaning that fire wouldn't get through them for 60 minutes, but when the inspector came out from the fire department, he said the doors we have are "15 minute doors". We don't know how that mistake occurred, but the plans are "irrevocable", so it appears we may have to change the doors. We'll use the ones we have when it comes time to finish the basement.
So that comes to about $23,500 not including the parking lot, sidewalks, alarm system, air conditioner, new doors and the little things. Also, there is a tax that we have to pay once the building is approved to open, which is a minimum of $2,000, or 1% of the calculated value of the building. We think that this is the amount that we need in the near future in order to start the final inspection/approval process. All the funds that we currently have are going toward the front steps, wheelchair ramp, back stairs and plastering the outside of the basement.
So, we have a little way to go still. We ask for your prayers that those people whom God has in mind to help us with these costs will indeed sense the Lord's urging and act upon it.
When we spoke to a missions committee in Minnesota, the head of the committee started out with devotions, including reading Ezekial 16:49. This verse had never imprinted itself on our minds in the past, but now it does, especially after being in the U.S. again and seeing the wealth that is considered normal and necessary now. The verse is: "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." In comparing the U.S. to Romania, a person on welfare lives better and has significantly more spending money in the U.S. than an upper middle class Romanian! It is the norm here to live on less than $100/person/month! And 40% receive less than $35/month to live on! But prices are not significantly less than in the U.S., unless you can grow your own food.
Another passage that we still don't always know how to deal with is Luke 6:30, which says, "Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back." We have walked by so many beggars already in our 7 days back, and it seems that more and more of them are elderly. Here, pride keeps most adults from begging, and usually they are really desperate if they do beg. We have so much more than they do--more income (even as a missionary), more options, etc.! How do we decide to whom to give and to whom not to give, with this Bible passage in mind?
So we covet your prayers for us, for our project, and for wisdom in making all the decisions necessary regarding the building project as well as regarding more day to day issues, like to whom to give help. And we appreciate your financial support! We thank you for being part of our team here in Romania through your support in both areas.