Sometimes the Hard Thing Is the Best Thing

Sziszi (standing) and Guszti made this look easy!

Sometimes, we do what we have to…especially when it comes to those we love.

The hardest thing I have ever done was to calmly encourage Dan when we knew he was not long for this earth. In our early marriage days, I cried, refused to talk about life insurance for Dan. In my young mind, if I talked about it, I had to face that one day I might be without him.

When the time came that we knew he was going Home soon, God gave us the strength to calmly say all the things we needed to say. Dan helped me look at, and make plans for my life without him.

Knowing that it is far better to be with the Lord than to stay in this body, I calmly spoke with Dan about the days ahead…for both of us. He now has the Perfect Life, the life he looked forward to most of his days on earth.

And my life? Except for a few things, I live the perfect earthly life. Yes, in Romania…the perfect life. I live on the side of a mountain, in a beautiful apple green house. Good, decent God-loving friends abound. The Lord gives me joyful work to do helping others.

Will I ever stop missing Dan? I don’t know the answer. But God gives me strength for the journey, all that I need each day. So, I say, “Do the hard thing that you fear! On with the Adventure!” — Anne

“God will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus…” Phil. 4:19

God's love gave us this sunrise to feed our soul.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words?

It’s 10 p.m., temperature dropping to 34 F, but my house is snug, toasty warm.  WHAT is that loud thumping noise in the basement directly under me? Oh, Guszti is tossing birch logs through the basement window into the furnace room!  Sitting in my home office, looking at the lights sprinkled on the mountain across from mine, I feel very much at home.  Take a look at some of the scenes from my life in Transylvania…

In Belin, this young Gypsy mother and her family are grateful that God’s Children is providing cement and lumber to fill in the holes made by the floods.  (Most Gypsy families tell their 14 year old daughters to drop out of school, get married and begin a family.)

Speaking of my furnace, here is the 15 cubic meters of hardwood I bought to keep my house warm through the Winter. (No, the "automatic" wood pellet burning furnace never was automatic. A one year verbal battle finally got the "automatic" part accepted as defective, with a 90% refund from the Ferroli dealer in town. He said I had used it for 1 year. I explained over and over that it sat in my basement for one year, but the automatic part never worked right. Now, my house is warm when it's cold outside!

 

What do you think...will this Opel 9 seater, 5 yr old van carry 3 Red Cross workers, 990 pounds of children's winter clothing, and me to Belin? (See Adolf, Director of Covasna County Red Cross on the right at the rear of the van?) We THANK the DONORS who made this possible!

Children play on the swing set Joco helped build in my back yard. This is Step One in the Children's Bible Story, Song and Play Hour I hope to start next Spring. Mature Sr. High girls will help me.

Marti, her 3 cousins and Anne having a good time at LST party. You ask, "Why are you wearing coats & scarves inside?" I'll tell you - it was 23 F outside, and the building was too cold inside even with the stove going. Marti, from Belin, lives in the school dorm during the week so she can attend high school. On weekends, she takes an hour long bus ride home to Belin. She has been an LST Reader now for several years.

Dan's flowers...Oct. 18, 2010, Dan would have been 77 years old. It is a custom here to gather on the birthday of a deceased loved one to remember them. Friends brought flowers, candles. We read from Philipians, said prayers thanking God for Dan's influence in our lives, and ended by singing "Amazing Grace."

Peter and Rie (the lady in Lewisville who receives donations for God's Children) and their guests from Hungary drink coffee in my kitchen before they go to the beautiful outdoor Hungarian museum with houses, crafts, clothes, mill wheels, farm implements brought in from all over Transylvania to help us understand their history.

Sherrie & Neil Perkins, Rodger Fulton - LST Team with the Belin Baptist minister in the background. We were invited to attend a special thanksgiving service there when the congregation celebrated that they had lived through the 2 terrible floods that destroyed so much of their possessions, and livelihood.

Some members of the congregation. Having lost their garden that was to feed them, and their farm crops that was to provide them with a living, they are facing a drastic Winter.

We who believe await the New Dawn. Meanwhile, God is with us. We will, by His grace, be okay. "The sands of time are sinking, The dawn of heaven breaks; The summer morn I’ve sighed for - The fair, sweet morn awakes: Dark, dark had been the midnight But dayspring is at hand, And glory, glory dwelleth In Emmanuel’s land." - "The Sands of Time" by Anne Cousins

Blessings, Anne

Sfantu Gheorghe, Transylvania, Romania