The clinic building continues to progress. A crane was supposed to come today and lift the last roof trusses and help the workers finish putting in the preformed steel staircase to the second floor, but because of the rain (only the second rainy day this summer) it probably won't happen until tomorrow. Except for the last few trusses, the entire light steel frame for both floors is up , and the interior walls for the main floor are also all framed in. The plywood floor on the upper level is also in place. A really friendly and likeable man, John Morton, from Arkansas, came 8 weeks ago to supervise the light steel framing. We hope that the weather clears so that he can see his part of the project entirely completed before he gets on a plane Friday morning to be back to America in time for his granddaughter's 4th birthday. We keep taking pictures to put on our website, www.odmm.org. August's pictures will be on the website soon!
The plumbers and electricians will start putting in the wires and pipes this week, so that when the team from North Street Christian Church in Pennsylvania comes in October, the walls will be ready for the drywall to go on. We have contracts for the water, sewer, and natural gas lines, and work should start on these very soon. Until the mayor signs the final permit, we can't hook up the electricity, and so the workers have been using two generators, one for 110 volts and the other for 220.
The application for the final permit is on it's way to the mayor's desk again after another detour to an office called MLPAT. Don't ask me what MLPAT stands for, but we could write an entire newsletter just on all the ways that a bureaucracy can find to NOT sign a piece of paper. The new mayor has a reputation as a very honest man, and so we hope that he will sign the permit, and soon! Our last newsletter stated, "Soon is relative here!"
God has provided for the project's financial needs ever since we came here, but today we spent the last of the available clinic funds, and several more payments need to be made before the team comes in October. We know that some funds are coming in to ODMM in the near future, but probably not enough for all the work that needs to get done in order to take full advantage of the crew from Pennsylvania and the remaining weeks of construction season weather. A few weeks ago, I found myself thinking about the story about Elijah when the widow used her last bit of flour and oil, and yet her supply never ran out for three years. I wondered, "Why am I thinking about this!?" The next morning while on my Nordic track, the very first song on a tape I had never before listened to was about that very incident in I Kings 7. We aren't Elijah or the widow facing starvation, but we have the same God, and we continue to trust in Him.
It's September and many Americans are back after spending time in the States. It's fun to see familiar faces again, especially in church. The weather has also become wonderfully cooler--we are thankful!!! September is also the month that we expect to finally have official confirmation that we indeed really do qualify for Romanian (dual) citizenship. If you here somebody shouting," Thank you, Lord!" it's probably us.
School started already, last Friday, and Flori Traistaru (the boy who has had a feeding tube ever since he drank caustic soda 6 years ago) started first grade. He came in to Bucharest last week for tests to see if there was any chance that he might be able to benefit from a dilatation of his esophagus as opposed to a very major operation to replace his scarred esophagus with a sect ion of intestine. The x-ray showed that he has a great deal of scarring, and so his parents are faced with deciding whether to have him continue to live with a tube, and hope he continues to grow, or to have this major, risky operation. Not the news we were hoping and praying for, but at least his parents finally found the courage to start the evaluation.
There are many other things we could tell about too, such as a visit from an American family doctor and nurse who have developed lots of ideas to help in patient screening, etc. in the US, and whose ideas we hopefully can use someday soon even here in Romania. They also brought us a car part that was about $80 here and less than $20 in the States. :>) And we could tell you how cute Sunflower still is even though she's growing. Just like a little child, she tries her best to get into everything and knock over everything she can reach, so it's a good thing she's cute.
We are already making plans for next year. We will probably be back in the States from April through mid-July. It's Milt's turn to take the Family Practice Boards again in July (every 7 years), and the best pre-board exam course is in April, so if the clinic is not open by then, we will stay in the US and be available for speaking in churches and to other groups. Even if the additional necessary funding for the clinic comes quickly, there is another government (bureaucratic) process of multiple approvals that the clinic has to go through once it is finished before it can open its doors. So if you know of any groups that might be interested in hearing about our work in Romania, be sure to let us know, so we can start planning.
Again, we want to thank all those who help this team effort through prayer and financial support. We hope that our next letter will have even more to report. Don't forget our website, www.odmm.org, if you have Internet access. God's blessings to you!