Saturday, 7/30

Oh my, where does the time go?! Today, Val (the editor of the blog site) is going to share from her perspective...

The construction crew continued laying bricks out on the first side of the fifth duplex.

This sounds like a math problem to me! :) The second side of the fourth duplex...now the first side of the fifth duplex.

Way to go guys! You rock!

The medical clinic spent about half a day in Secuini (Sec-u-inn). This is a quaint village with a Hungarian influence. Clinic was held a church with grapevines covering the yard. The people are quite delightful. It was definitely the light day as far as the number of people we saw - about 50 people were seen by Doc Steve and Dr. Iulia.


After a long and grueling week, it was nice to have a short day. We came back to the Project House. Some rested for a while. Then a group headed up to the Briete. This an oak forest about 10 minutes from Project House out toward Laslea. The group spent about hour or so wandering through what I imagine Sherwood Forest to have looked like.


A day of rest tomorrow...church and worship in the morning and then it's up to the Festival!

Friday, 7/29

Today, the construction crew completed the duplex they were working on and began laying bricks on the foundation of the final duplex. They were amazed at not very far 200 bricks went! They were able to lay the first row of bricks all the way around the foundation. Then they were able to get the corners laid so that anyone coming behind them could finish laying bricks in straight lines...pictures will follow in the next few days. Pharmacist John gives us a little perspective on the medical clinic in Vanitori: Had a great experience running around town with Norman, Dr. Steve, Rosse, Andrea trying to procure additional medication of the one's we have run out. The group was able to get a few of them thru perseverance. My admiration of Dr. Steve, Norman and Linda Patterson, and the christian medical team has grown to be uncontainable. Setting up a temporary pharmacy in the most challenging of places has been rewarding. The blessings of giving medical care to these poor villages shows when they are leaving with great medical advice, medications and prayers for their healing. Norm and Linda Patterson are incredible in their pursuit of helping many poor village know that they are Loved by God!!!!

Here is a family of seven children seen by Doc Steve. They are lined up in birth order to receive both their medications and instructions.

Today, Vern and Rosse had the privilege of praying with many people. Several people gave their lives to Jesus. Vern tells of a 10-year old girl just walking up to them and asking how she can know Jesus. Praise God! One of the miracles of today was an elderly gentleman who came to clinic shaking uncontrollably from Parkinson's. After prayer, this gentleman walked away no longer shaking. He even came out of his house to wave goodbye to the team as we left. He was still not shaking and had a huge smile on his face. Vern reports that he was touched by God in a special way and completely healed. God is so good!

Thursday, 7-28

Editor's Note: This has been a grueling week to say the least. We have worked hard the past six days. A medical clinic every day this week and continued construction out in Laslea. Some of the days will have pictures and some will not. By the time we all get home, we are often too mentally fatigued to even think about blogging! :) There is however time to relax by placing Phase 10, Farkle, Bridge and Pinochle. Wednesday, the Medieval Fair opened here in Sighisoara up in the Citadel. The "Young-uns" have managed a couple of jaunts up through the all festivities. So, the blog has taken a backseat. Our apologies to our followers ~ Val, editor and owner of the blog.

Today we are getting a little synopsis of the medical clinic in Sapte Noiembrie from Mollie:

The Lord has been go to us all as we continue on day, working at different villages. This Thursday we traveled to Sapte Noiembre and saw 220+ patients! We all worked with speed and diligence to give medical aid to as many people as possible while still taking time to give the proper care to each person. Our set-up with 2 triage stations, 3 doctor stations, pharmacy and prayer station was in full heat! Every day so much raw emotion is seen, both joy and sorrow. Tears of pain are turned into tears of gladness. There is so much hurt in this area. However, when I am empty, the Lord finds a way to fill me with strength because I see that the work we do really dose make a difference and I am fulfilled again. God is so good.

One women came in today and believed she had breast cancer because of a mass on her chest. However, under the careful examination of Dr. Steve, he determined that it was just a mild skin infection that could be treated with a general antibiotic. The mix of disbelief, relief and joy seen in her face was just amazing.

To see lives being changed right in front of us makes each day we work so much worth it. Being in a position where I am helping people as well as showing the love of Jesus Christ make me feel my life has a strong purpose. It is a good feeling to know that all of us here are being Christ's hands and feet that are conducting His will to further the kingdom of God.

Spoiler Alert: There is a picture from today that might be upsetting to small children and those not enthused about the sight of blood.

The new "Power Team"...I think Doc Steve and Iulia are feeling threatened! :)





Today we did a clinic for the first time in Laslea. The population of patients who came to the town hall, where our clinic was held, presented with mostly developed world problems: we saw a great deal of heart disease and diabetes! We implemented a new 'third station' manned by Ken and Val alongside the stations run by Doc Steve and Iulia - these two nurses were incredible! They are able to take care of many of the simple cases and practical procedures (such as wound debridement and care) which frees up the docs to care for the more complicated cases. The pharmacists John and Sarah also contributed to a very smoothly running clinic today. Sarah has learned to explain, in Romanian, how to take over 10 of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the pharmacy.

Today was a special day because, we were able to spend a lot of time together as a team. Most days, the medical team sets off to a new location, while the building team goes their separate way to do construction. Today, we worked in the same town, which meant that we were able to share the mid-day meal together.

After both teams had finished work, we went for a fun dinner all together at Hotel Dracula. It was a time of encouragement and refreshment for all - perfect mid-trip oasis from the clinics in a beautiful setting. We are at the half-way mark! 4 clinics down, 4 more to go!

Dr. Iulia and Aaron F

Tuesday, 7/26

Today the construction crew went off to work on the house and the medical team went to set up our third clinic in whatever the name of that was that starts with S (That would be Seleus). The clinic was set up in the community center the extra space was great to have, and this time we had three "Doc stations" the third being Val and Ken, which really helped with the flow of helping people today. By the time lunch break rolled around we had seen almost 150 people a new record of people to see before lunch, afterwards maybe 20 more people showed up. We saw the usual wide variety of people come through today from the aches and pains to abdominal surgery gone horribly wrong. Finishing early meant we had a couple hours to rest before dinner which was I think much needed, and everyone enjoyed having. All in all we've had a good day and ready for another one tomorrow. From Alison

Val here...what Alison didn't mention was she did her own triage station so we could have two people triaging to keep up with the three "Doc stations." Good job, Alison!

On the construction side of things, the crew continues to make excellent progress on the duplex out in Laslea. Along the way there are a few stories to tell as told to me (Val) over dinner or around the coffee table in the evening.

On Saturday, "the boys," that would be Cowboy John, Aaron and Aaron, found full suspension mountain bikes out at Laslea. There was a wedding happening on the main street of Laslea. "The boys" decided to take a bike tour of Laslea. In the process of riding on every street, they rode through the wedding festivities...with Cowboy John on a hot pink bike wearing his cowboy hat but no shirt. Sadly, no cameras were handy to get a photo or video. I am certain that will be one of the memories that poor bride and her mother have of the wedding.

Monday, the crew spent the day again working on the duplex but David McGuire spent the day with them. Apparently at one point in the day, David got thirsty so he took a small swig of what he thought was lemon lime soda out of a lemon lime soda 2L bottle. He found out in seconds that it was actually not soda, it was gasoline! Say it isn't so! Thankfully, what could have been a very bad situation turned out well. Good thing there is a doctor in the house! He did become the object of some pretty sad jokes. I am certain he was feeling the love yesterday!

Today, the construction crew needed some dry wall and screws. The local building supply was willing to deliver these items to the construction site in Laslea. While at the building supply store, Brad had a stare down with a man driving a horse pulled cart. Apparently the driver of the cart wanted Brad to move his car so he could drive on down the road unimpeded. Brad refused to move so he and the driver had a stare down. (See below)

After returning to the building site, the building supply store delivered all the dry wall but no dry wall screws. A little later, here comes the delivery from the building supply of the dry wall screws - in a front loader. One smallish sized box of screws in the large scooper! No one got that one on a pictures...that one would have been a doozy!

Monday, 7/25

• Greetings from Romania. We had our 2nd clinic day in Soard. Busy, busy day, we saw 171 people. I was told that this was probably the hardest village we would go to. Linda, our host mom, took us on a walk about to see how they live. Most of the people we see are Gypsies, Romania has 3 classes, the rich, the poor and the Gypsies. They usually live on the out side of the villages, or even the woods. They live in a one room house, made without foundations and walls of manure. Most have worms, and of course open sewers, usually the street. It was truly heart breaking to see, especially, 10-15 year old mothers. Yet truly an honor to be part of a team here to serve the Lord, being Jesus hands and feet, giving a cup of water. The clinics have gone great, thanks for all your prayers. From Ken's perspective...
• From the construction crew: We checked the web and saw that we were supposed to build a shed. So, we didn't...at least not yet. We continued working on the duplex out at Laslea. We covered vent holes in the attic, built partitioning walls, dry walled and a few other tasks. Our excitement came after David McGuire mistakenly took a sip of gas (petro) from a lemon lime soda 2L bottle thinking it was actually lemon lime soda. Silly man! He paid a visit to Doc Steve and Pharmacist John who definitely made him feel better. From Brad's perspective (with a little help from Val)
  

This morning was church with the Tigmandru congregation. We enjoyed worshiping with them with Romanian worship songs and a message from Norman. Through Norman, we heard the Lord speak of how much all people are precious and valuable in His sight. After lunch, we had a free afternoon so some of us walked around town and others went for a short bike ride (in the rain!). Then we rejoined the Tigmandru Church of the Nazarene for evening worship. Brad delivered a message from the book of Job regarding the way we all encounter hardships in life and that God's desire is for our faith to sustain us through anything in life. After service we handed out candy to the neighborhood children who made quick work of the lollipops and were all smiles as we left. Overall, it was a beautiful day of rest and fellowship with our fellow believers in Christ.










By Aaron D & Sarah