Christmas is near!

Today was an awesome day! We started our day with a daily devotion and prayed that God would keep us safe and prayed that His light would shine through us as we went through our day. We went to Selgross, a shopping center similar to Sam's and bought 50 lb. bags of potatoes 16 lb. blocks of flour to deliver to 49 families, some from the church in Tinca that FMN has been working with and some for families of the children that will soon be in the center. We couldn't resist getting cookies too as a treat for the families. We got a lot of looks as we walked through that store with six or seven full carts. Marion, our driver, is awesome and part of our team. We loaded all of the food onto a trailer behind the van and we will start making deliveries tomorrow. We'll start with the families of the children that will be in the Children's Center when it opens. Please pray for us and the families we will see as we know that it will be very sad, and very hard to handle because of the extreme poverty and horrible conditions they live in. These families are not Christian and we want to show them God's love, and let them know that they matter to us and they matter to God. After shopping we had lunch at McDonald's! Yes, there is a McDonald's and a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Romania! There were kids begging on the street for money or for food. McDonald's had our order wrong and we ended up with an extra big mac and fries. We made one little hungry girl very happy when we gave her the food. Her name is Mundra and she is 11 years old. We delivered the food out to Tinca where the Children's Center will be and stored the food in the house. It rained today and it was very muddy, but with our boots, we waded through and everything will be stored there and we'll make several deliveries each day. There was a sweet little girl named Naomi, maybe about 12, and there in the rain and mud, she watched our every move as we loaded the food in the house. She was wearing only flip flops, and waded through the mud to walk us to the van to say goodbye. Before we came back to the hotel, we visited a lady in Tinca named Elizabeth who just lost her husband last week. She was grieving and so lonely. We were able to talk to her, love on her and pray over her. It was a very moving time and we know that she was able to feel God's arms wrapped around her. It was an emotional time for all of us. We came back to the hotel and Caminul Felix, and a wonderful meal was waiting for us. Lidia, one of the house parents from Caminul Felix I prepared the food and had help from a couple of the kids from CF. It was delicious and the hospitality at the hotel is top notch! What is awesome too is that the hotel has been opened for a year and a half, and we learned today that everything is paid off because of the many teams that have stayed here. Now all of the profit will go into the ministry here at Caminul Felix. God is so good! We wrapped and wrapped and wrapped the many Christmas presents we were able to purchase from all of the sponsors from First Baptist Church for 250 kids in Tinca. We are so excited and just can't wait to celebrate with them next week. Thank you First Baptist and others who gave so generously! We are so thankful for how we saw and felt God at work today! We are truly blessed to be part of this team and we are truly blessed to have our loving and supportive families and church families. We may be here in Romania, but we have a large team in Indiana! We love you all and thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for our health, for our safety, and for God's love to be shown through us. May His light shine bright!