What did we do for Christmas? We ate! We found 2 turkeys from England just a week before Christmas! We served Christmas dinners with turkey and all the trimmings twice before Christmas with two sets of Romanian friends. Then on Christmas day we celebrated at the home of some Campus Crusade friends. The next day we went to dinner at another Romanian friend's home! We enjoyed the candlelight service at church the evening before Christmas eve! It will be a Christmas to remember!
We don't often talk about the weather, but January felt like Minnesota - cold! It started with a snowstorm on New Year's Eve. Especially in rural areas, people lost their electricity, not because of Y2K but because of the snow! (Thankfully, Y2K went off without a hitch here!) It warmed up a little, but then it was significantly below freezing for three weeks straight. We had 2 additional major snows, and although the city is good about plowing the main streets, the side streets rarely are plowed and the snow turned to ice in ridges. And of course, since there is no place for most people to park their cars, the plows plow in the cars parked at the curbs and people then park outside the snow piles. (We're glad we have a regular spot on the sidewalk for our car.) The snow does have one good point, however. Milt got to go cross-country skiing in Bucharest a couple times! It suddenly warmed to a few degrees above freezing on Sunday and the snow is starting to melt.
In previous winters most apartments that were connected to the city hot water heating system at least had some heat, although the buildings are generally so poorly insulated and the windows so loose fitting, that most people were cold a lot, even in their apartments. But this winter the hot water company is disconnecting people and apartment buildings who haven't paid their bills. In some cities like Iasi, in the north, we've read that over 50% of the apartment buildings are receiving any heat at all. Here in Bucharest dozens of apartment buildings have also been disconnected. And the heating company has had difficulty getting the needed loans to buy the crude oil for this winter, because of the collapsed economy. The newspapers are always saying that "there's only enough crude oil for another 10 days!" Then somehow the government comes up with the money (at least so far).
Our life recently has centered around seeing patients and giving lots of telephone advice, since the cold and ear infection season has been here for awhile, and the flu season has arrived. There have been scattered true influenza cases reported in the country for the last 3 months, but in the last week many cities are putting their hospitals in quarantine (meaning no visitors) because of the flu epidemic that is hitting. It's just now hitting Bucharest. We were at the orphanage last week, again. Five of the children have the chickenpox, but no flu so far!
Two weeks ago a family came to see us from another city with their son, Bogdan. He is 8 years old and was normal until age three when he started to decline, stopped talking, and then after another couple years, stopped walking. Now he needs to be cared for completely for all his needs, and will probably die in the next few years. There are no cures for any of the possible diseases that might cause this decline, but his family, both his mother and father, impressed us so much with how much they love him and how well they take care of him. This in a culture where even a child with a cleft lip or some other minor problem often ends up in an orphanage. His parents are strong Christians. We prayed together and we received peace and a sense of victory, even if the ultimate victory for Bogdan will mean being with Jesus at a young age. We also promised to try to find out if there is any way here to determine the exact diagnosis, so that his parents will be able to know what to expect. But we pray for a miracle for Bogdan, and invite you to pray for this as well. The next morning we read Lamentations 3:32,33: "Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men."
We're excited about the progress that's occurring with the clinic project! We have met with the new architect several times, and he is honest and straighforward. He has already prevented us from making a big mistake (the building as designed originally was a meter too wide) which would have resulted in not receiving the final approvals to open the building! In retrospect, all the frustating delays of last summer were really God's way of protecting us from huge problems down the line and also teaching us another lesson in "Remedial Patience and Trust 101." The re-engineering of the smaller building should start soon, and it's even possible that ground-breaking could take place in April!
We also continue to receive additional funding for the clinic project. We won't know the exact cost until the re-engineering is completed, but we are confident that we have enough funding for the structure and foundation and hopefully most of the plumbing, heating, and electricity, etc. We probably don't yet have enough for the interior finishing, furniture, phones, computers, and some of the other expenses such as fencing, gates, parking lot, etc.
Milt gave another lecture to the Family Practice residents this morning. We bumped into Dr. Restian last Tuesday, and he invited us to his lecture this morning. We said, "We'd love to come." And then he said, "You can give the first hour's lecture." So Milt spent all week preparing the lecture, and then working with Gabi to translate it, and it went just great. This group of residents really seem interested and motivated to become good family doctors. Teaching is so much more fun when the students seem interested!
Thank you again for your prayers for us and your support for our ministry here! We really appreciate it!