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Monday
In the evening, we were invited over to Pastor Cornel's house for supper. We had a great time sharing stories and fellowshipping with him and his family. We pray that God will continue to bless his ministry.
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Tuesday While we were talking and walking, I asked Alina if she would like to be an official part of the pictable ministry and to paint in Romania. She happily agreed. The pictable ministry got planted. It was very exciting and another revelation of God's will.
Next up was lunch. We had been walking around looking at art galleries, art supply stores and other places. I was a bit hungry and thirsty.
On thing that we did while out walking was to go shoe shopping. Alina wanted to look for shoes. Not your typical girlie shoes, but hiking boots. And she shops like a guy. She walks into a store, looks at the shoes and if she doesn't see anything immediately, she leaves. As time was passing away and it was getting colder, we would go into store to get warm. On place was an antique shop. It lots of neat items from Romania's past. It was kind of like a jumbled history lesson. I got Amie a set of nesting dolls there.
Then it was time to say bye to Malina. She had a class that night and we had to go to church. So after we left a sporting goods store, I said goodbye to her and then they said their good byes because Alina was going home for awhile. It was hard. The previous afternoon when I had finished painting, I had collected a bunch of bottles to give to Alina to use. This was going to be a surprise for her. I had told both girls that day that I had a surprise for them when they started keeping secrets from me. They were actually just not speaking in English and then laughing at me. I had always intended on leaving all of my supplies if I found an artist in Romania. But I did not intend on doing what I was about to do. Later that night I told her about the paint. She was estatic. Then went one step farther. When we had talked about her doing the pictable ministry there, I was questioning how she would handle the canvas and easel situation. Here I have two different types of easels that both take up a lot of space and then there is the canvases. They are 3.5'x5.5'. That just wouldn't fit into a vehicle over there. It just wouldn't. God was stirring my heart. What if? So I told her that I was leaving my easel and some tools. This way she could be small and portable like I was there. She was completely overwhelmed. Speechless. I even saw some tears. She didn't know what to do or say. I told her that this was from God and that He would be there for her. She has a great support group in Malina, Cristi, Brigitte, Rebecca, and many others. God was calling her to this and He doesn't give us more than we can handle. The real question is what we do with what He calls us to do. I think that she will do great! I'm also hoping that Malina might pick up the brush and become a part of the pictable team too.
After the service, we said our good byes to everyone. Cristi came up and gave me a great big hug. I look forward to working with him again soon. It was great to hang out with Daniel too. Then I said goodbye to Alina. I felt like a father leaving his child at college for the first time. You could see it in her eyes. Excitement and fear at the same time.
After a great day together, it was difficult to say goodbye to these two fellow artists and sisters in Christ. They meant a lot to me. It was hard. Real hard! But I pray that God will bring me back. Back at Abram's Rest we got a chance to hang out with our hosts. Octavian has a smile so large that his face seems like it can't hold it all. His smile and laugh were very contagious.
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I got picked up by Nelu's wife, Virginia, and taken to the orphanage to paint. I was hoping for a full room but it turned out that about 15 kids were there. I painted a brand new one of smiling kids. They enjoyed it and were thankful that they get to keep it. Afterwards I handed out some Christ face cards and some prints to them. I actually just laid them on the drop cloth and the kids came storming to grab up what they could. Then they asked for autographs. That night when I told Shannon about the autograph session, he said that if there was any place in the world to be "famous" it would be in a Romanian orphanage. They even extended an open invitation for me to come back when I am there again. I will.
In the afternoon, I painted the mural for Soterius's church in the driveway at Abram's Rest. It was a triptych. I had a lot of fun painting it. Got messy too. The day was overcast and there a few ominous clouds on the horizon. It was not warm enough for the paint to dry like it normally does. Now to make matters worse I just squirted blobs of paint out leaving huge puddles of paint. It didn't dry that quickly. We ended up having to move it under an awning to keep the dew off of it. Later I used a little glow-in-the-dark paint to add another dimension to it. But due to the cold weather, it took a few days to dry.
Once we picked up Malina, we went to a bunch of art galleries. It was great to be able to look at Romanian art with them. I love art and this helped add to the trip. We even had the chance to visit a couple art supply stores to see if they had available the same type of paints and materials. They did. We looked at two separate stores that were right across from each other. They had different types of paint so that allows here a variety to choose from. The prices were about the same or slightly more expensive but they don't have as much money there. One they are college students and then the prices for everything have gone dramatically up because Romania wants to join the European Union. But they have two great stores to get supplies.
When we left the art supply store, I smelled something being grilled. I asked where it was coming from and Malina said Gregory's. So we set out to find this eating joint. I estimate that it was around an hour or more later we found the place after passing it before. We sat down to eat and chat. They looked through my sketchbooks and I shared my testimony. It was a good time of sharing. This would be our last time to be able to talk together without having to be walking.
I was supposed to go to the EE meeting that night. I wanted Alina to go along with us but she had to get back for the women's meeting. So we decided to stay for the Bible conference service that night. The speaker was from India and had been persecuted for his faith. That night his sermon was very convicting. I even nudged Alina a few times at key points. She needed to hear it that night. So did I.
