Dear Friends and Family:
Summer is wrapping up here in Galati and as I write, it is hot hot hot! But as fellow staff member David said: I keep saying to myself, be thankful you aren’t cold! Ahhh, so true…
And so, summer is wrapping up and with it our summer program which culminates in a summer camp the first week of September. Please be praying for this week as we hang out with the kids 24/7. I’m really looking forward to it especially because by then I will be done with my month of intensive language lessons, which are going well. I only wanted to cry 3 times during the lesson today…but I can tell that they are helping. I’m spending about 25 hours a week in study and I already understand so much more than I did a week ago. I’m hoping that it will be good to go right into summer camp and ‘all Romanian all the time’ after this month of learning.
Part of our special summer program is that every Friday we take the kids on a special outing. A couple weeks ago we were taking them to the public pool, which is little more than a giant bathtub. Seriously, there is no filtration system so every 2 weeks or so they empty the pool, clean it, fill it, and then dump a bunch of chlorine in it. You know how close to a cleaning the pool is by how cloudy it is! (They have 2 giant pools, actually, so when one isn’t in use, the other can be). So, the particular week we were going to the pool it was actually cool and cloudy outside, not great swimming weather. When we told the kids what the outing would be, they said: We are going to pray that tomorrow will be hot and sunny.
It was.
And I was thankful that God would bless the prayers of His children with a hot, sunny day. I also thought about the simplicity of their desires. They only wanted to be able to wade around a giant chlorinated bathtub. That’s it. I generally want so much more and generally I’m given so much more. Still, I have to wonder about the things I want.
Shortly after our day at the pool I left for a vacation to Budapest. It was much needed. I hadn’t realized how needed it was until I got on the train in Galati and could do nothing more than stare out the window and ‘zone.’ I also developed a sore throat that worked itself into a cold. Not a problem until I realized how much my body just needed to rest from the intensity of the previous four months. While I in Budapest I did get much needed rest and God did much in my heart, showing me that He wants to bless me with a feast…and that it’s all spread out for me. I only have to sit down and eat. He has much to give me.
Like hot, sunny days and warm bathtub pools.
It recently occurred to me that this is the longest time I have ever gone without seeing at least one of my sisters (I have three). I am missing them and my nieces and nephews. Please pray for me, for us, as homesickness runs deep and I don’t want it to crowd out the feast He has prepared for me here. My nieces and nephews are still small but I hope they are able to translate my distance into love for an eternity and a kingdom and a King that are more real than anything else I can think of right now. More real than birthday parties or first days of school I miss by being here, swimming in pools or going to the movies with them. Still, sometimes it, the Kingdom, feels as far away as they all do and I have to remember that it is closer than I know.
So, please pray for my homesickness and learning Romanian. Remember our summer camp and the kids as they prepare to begin a new school year. The families living on the street in front of our center are still there, so please pray for housing for them.
I’m so grateful for you,
April
O.P. 6 C.P. 256
Galati, Romania
800.760
april.folkertsma@wordmadeflesh.com
aprilfolkertsma.blogspot.com
P.S. Since I have extra room in this letter, I thought I’d share another story about the public pool. So, I needed to change into my swimming suit and one of our girls was taking me to the dressing rooms.
I said to her: Merg peepee (I have to go to the bathroom).
She said: Mergi peepee (you have to go to the bathroom?)
Me: Da (yes).
Her: Mergi peepee in bazin (go to the bathroom in the pool).
Me: Merg peepee in bazin? Mergi peepee in bazin? (go to the bathroom in the pool? Do you go to the bathroom in the pool?)
Her: Da! (yes!)
Me: Nu! Foarte Foarte rau. Nu mergi peepee in bazin! (No! Very very bad! Don’t go to the bathroom in the pool!)
Ah, nothing as refreshing as swimming in a giant bathtub on a hot, sunny day.
And as you can see, language lessons are helping. J