We left Bucharest May 27, stopping in New York City to visit Milt's daughter and son-in-law, Linnea and Andrei, for 2 days. It was great to see them! We're staying with Blue and Cliff Olson, Linda's sister and brother-in-law, until the 19th, and then we head back to Romania. We wrote this from Minnesota one week ago. However, we couldn't send it because our e-mail address book became corrupted. So, now that we're back in Romania, here it is!
We left Bucharest May 27, stopping in New York City to visit Milt's daughter and son-in-law, Linnea and Andrei, for 2 days. It was great to see them! We're staying with Blue and Cliff Olson, Linda's sister and brother-in-law, until the 19th, and then we head back to Romania.
We started our stay here with 2 1/2 days of CME (Continuing Medical Education) at the University of Minnesota. Technology never ceases to amaze us. But it will be quite some time before the latest discoveries will be available in Eastern Europe.
Last week Linda helped her mother Helen go through stuff in preparation for her moving in with Blue and Cliff next month. (Big move! Big job!) We had been storing some thing's with Helen that we never had the luggage space (or cupboard space) to bring to Romania, and so this year Linda wrapped it all up and we're bringing it back with us. Also, last week Chris, Linda's nephew, graduated from St. Thomas Academy and then had a grand open house last Sunday afternoon! The open house actually celebrated 2 things--Chris's graduation from high school and Helen's 84th birthday, which both occurred on the same day!
Otherwise, we took care of medical problems with good reports, bought another year's supply of vitamins (it's amazing how much more expensive they are in Romania compared to here), picked up some medications that aren't available in Romania (all meds there can still be purchased without a prescription, but some very common things are just not available!), bought some medical and Christian books, some car parts, and shopped for some clothes.
There's never enough time to do everything and see everyone that we want to on our trips back to the U.S. But this year we cut our vacation even shorter than usual because the clinic construction has begun and we didn't want to be away from it any longer than absolutely necessary.
Work has begun! The hole was dug for the building a week before we left, and on Tuesday, May 23rd, we had a dedication ceremony for the project, attended by many of our missionary friends in Bucharest. We were going to call it a ground-breaking/dedication, not knowing when ground-breaking would actually occur, but the previous Friday, at 5:30pm, the workers came and started on the hole, worked through the entire weekend and on Monday morning it was done!!
The foundation/basement, being built in the standard Romanian construction style (of concrete reinforced with steel bars), is taking shape, we've been told by recent emails. The first container of materials for the light steel portion of the building is due to arrive next week, just after we return to Bucharest. We're looking forward to seeing how much has happened since we left!
The price for the foundation/basement came in about $20,000 higher than we had hoped, for a host of reasons, all very legitimate. The original estimate for the previous plan was too low, in retrospect, not having taken into consideration several aspects, and a new building law that went into effect Jan. 1 requires the ceilings on each floor to be 1/2 meter (≈20 inches) higher than the previous requirement. So the basement has an extra 20 inches of concrete and steel everywhere, in the outer and all the support walls. The cost for the rest of the building also went up because of the extra height required on the main floor, and we had to give up the dropped ceiling on the upper floor. Because of this increase in cost, as well as the fact that we haven't included in previous price estimates the cost of hooking up to the city water, sewer and gas (the sewer alone has been estimated at over $10,000, we probably are lacking on the order of $100-120,000 to finish the clinic. However, we have enough to get the building enclosed before winter, and to start on the plumbing, wiring, and heating pipes that need to be in the walls before the interior is finished. Two containers are already on their way to Romania, with all the light steel building supplies, but the 3rd, which contains the insulation as well as other stuff, will have to wait until we receive more funding!
However, we are confident still that this project is the Lord's will for us, and therefore, we believe that He will touch people's hearts to give to the project. We are continually amazed and reminded of God's protection of our work when we see the benefits of the delays He allowed along the way, particularly the situations which allowed us to obtain a new architect and the delays in obtaining approvals which made it easier when the building had to be completely redesigned to be a clinic only, rather than a joint project. We know in our hearts that God will provide, as He has always done for us!
We thank you for your prayers for us and our project, and for your financial support! We couldn't do without either of them. And we pray that the Lord will bless you for your faithfulness!