lesson

I have internet access again. It took three days of calling the internet guys to come fix it before it started working, and they still haven't shown up. God answers another faithless prayer. So, for those of you who have given up on me...shame on you...and I hope you have not given up hope entirely. My mom thought I was dead.

It is snowing here. What began with a few flurries last night turned into a steady fall of large flakes stopped by the time I rode my bike about 1 mile accross town to my apartment. It picked back up today and has been swirling downward for the last few hours. I was planning on hiking across one of the taller mountains here this weekend, but I think the winter has caught up with me. As they say here: "Iarna vine" (winter comes). The only unfortunate thing is that, snow as it may, we will never have snow days. Either the kids will be able to make it down here, or I will wind up lugging their books up the hill to their house. On the brighter side, though, we have built in a snowboarding day, so when we have a nice big snow one night, we can have school on the slopes (read: I get schooled by a 12 year old on the snowboard).

If you know me, you know that I am excited about this change in the weather. It has come pretty suddenly, as I recall having a couple of days up in the mid seventies last week. But the time has fallen back now, and the days get too dark to see by 6 PM. I guess cold weather comes with that increased tilt away from the sun. So it goes. What is unmistakeable, though, is the truth that I am in the minority here. In fact, there are Romanians here who homes don't have roofs or floors, whose walls have big chinks through which the wind blows, and so don't even bother closing the door. They are concerned with survival. I would not survive.

Please pray that my team here and I will seek the Lord's wisdom and strength to meet the impossible needs that are all around us. Pray that, as we do so, the gospel will be proclaimed in word and deed.