Since our last letter we have had visitors from our mission in the U.S., we went home for a short vacation, and we found a new building company that is already approved in Romania. And the shipment of medical supplies that has been collected in New York will be coming to Romania with Christian Aid Ministries!
Fred and Roberta Anderson, the East Coast Coordinators for World Mission Prayer League, visited us the last 6 days of March. They had worked for a year in Mongolia and were interested in sharing with Romanians about their experiences in mission work. Milt arranged for them to speak in Sibiu at a regular missions evening meeting of the Stanca (the Rock) church there. We really enjoyed the scenic drive to Sibiu, and the next day were able to visit the Bishop's church of the German Lutheran Church in Romania, which was built in 1370 by the Germans living in Transylvania even before they became Lutheran at the time of the Reformation! We then visited 2 of their retired friends who come to Romania yearly for a month or more to help in an orphanage in Campulung-Muscel. We tried to take a short cut on the way there, and ended up on one of the worst "roads" we have ever encountered! There were several places where Milt drove and the rest of us walked to lighten the car so it wouldn't bottom out in the ruts! Then a couple days later they gave their presentation again to a group of young Christians from several different churches in Bucuresti. We really enjoyed their visit!
Two days after they left, we also left for a short vacation in Minnesota. We especially wanted to spend time with Linda's family. Unfortunately, we weren't able to fly to New York or Seattle to see Milt's grown kids. We spent a lot of our time shopping for things we can't get in Romania, as well as taking care of our routine medical and dental needs. However, on Linda's mammogram, an abnormality showed up. So she had a breast biopsy 2 days after the follow-up x-rays, and in 24 hours got the good news that there was no cancer present. Praise the Lord! We also were interviewed by 2 newspapers, and one published the article while we were still there! It was very well written and positive! While we were there, we were also contacting several organizations to try to find shipping for all the medical equipment that Dr. Mikaelsen and Amy Manierre had collected for us. Then we received a call from our friends at Christian Aid Ministries, the Marzas, who said that Amy had contacted them and they were willing to ship it--for free!!! Christian Aid Ministries has helped us and encouraged us in so many ways--we really appreciate them and their work to help Romania!
We also met with Terry Nicholson, a former patient of Linda's, who has spent a lot of time setting up a web site for Open Door Medical Ministries. Its address is: www.odmm.org. We also had a meeting with the Open Door Medical Ministries board of directors, and discussed the building project. Just 3 days before that meeting, we received an email from a missionary working in Braila, Romania. He had received a copy of our last update newsletter from a friend, who got it from the brother of one of Milt's former medical colleagues! He has helped set up 2 Romanian/American businesses here, including a construction company that is already approved for light steel construction! After several emails and faxes over the next 3 days, he was able to give us a detailed proposal and estimate in time for the board meeting! A definite advantage is that they could build the whole building, including the concrete foundation, the bomb shelter, and even the triangular portion that has to be added to the front in order to comply with the zoning requirement that it must line up with the street! We were obviously very interested in meeting with him when we got back.
We left Minnesota on Tuesday, the 20th of April, and arrived back in Bucharest on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday we drove out to Braila, a pretty 4 hour drive from our side of Bucharest. We had a very good visit with them and visited a church-sponsored clinic and a combination light steel/red iron building that they have already completed in Braila. We drove home Saturday, and they came in to Bucharest to meet with the architect the following Thursday. The Certificate of Urbanism has finally been signed by the mayor! The next big step is the Autorizatia de Constructie, essentially a building permit, which will probably take another 2 months to receive. We have to make our final decision as to which building company to go with very soon, because the architect needs exact design information from them.
Another big step forward is that Campus Crusade for Christ of Romania has received approval by the Eastern European Director to go ahead with buying the upper floor portion of the building! We are really happy to be having them as neighbors!
In addition, we went to the ICC (Adventist) orphanage and did medical check-ups on most of the children, all of whom seem to be progressing since coming to this orphanage, where they are receiving love and attention. We attended a meeting of the BEL church council, of which we are members. We go to our individual Bible studies, and Milt will be starting a new Bible study for men in a week. We also continue to see a lot of people for medical problems.
We want to thank you again for your faithfulness in prayer and support!