Beginning Again in Romania

Hello friends and family, this is an update about how our family has been and a little bit about what we have been doing since we left the United States and got here to Romania.
We arrived in Timisoara, Romania on August 2nd, and Sylvia Thomas met us at the airport. She took us to stay in the village of Rusca Montana, where Geta grew up. Geta's family very kindly let us stay in a seperate room out in back of the main house, but after a few days it became apparent that the walls of that room were very moldy, and it was causing us (especially the kids) to have serious breathing problems at night; they seemed to cough all night long, and breathed heavily. We tried for several days building a fire and leaving the door and window open to dry out the walls, but it didn't help at all.
On August 11th, the Thomas family was kind enough to let us use a nice, large, vacant house that they own in the town of Otelu-Rosu for awhile, until we are able to find a place of our own in the southern part of Romania known as Oltenia. Then we will move down there, probably near the city of Turnu-Severin. We have been staying in the house that Thomases own for a little over three weeks now; I am happy to say (and thankful) that the breathing problems cleared up for us almost right away after we moved here.
On August 13th we were honored to be invited and able to attend the wedding of one of our long time friends Eugen; he was married in the church in Rusca Montana, the same church that Geta and I were married in five and a half years ago. Eugen's bride is named Simona, and she is from the Oltenia region of Romania, where we will be moving to soon.
On August 20th, we were privileged to attend the ordination of one of our other long time friends, Cosmin, who was ordained in the church in Zlagna as a missionary in the area. Cosmin and his wife Mari were married in that same church just over three years ago.
On August 27th, I (Andrew) went with another good friend of ours, Ionica (who is also a mechanic), to an automarket in the city of Deva; it is like a bazaar or swap meet for cars. We went to take a look at the different kinds of cars that are available, and get a feel for the prices right now in the market. It was quite interesting -- many different kinds of cars, at all different prices; however, the prices seemed to be more expensive than they are in the united states. Ionica and I had a good time together, and it was a good experience.
On September 12th, we may be going with Utu to a meeting of church leaders in the area where we will be working. There, Utu will introduce our family to the church leaders of the area so that they will know who we are, and that we will be working with Utu and Vio in the area as missionaries. I don't know for sure yet if we are going to this meeting, I still need to hear from Utu for certain about it. I do believe it would be an excellent opportunity to meet some of the various other pastors, missionaries, and church leaders of the area. It would be a way to make new friends in the ministry, and possibly open doors for future ministry opportunities.
Geta and I and the kids do very much appreciate your friendship and your prayers. The following are specific prayer needs for right now:
#1> MEETING: please pray that the meeting on September 12th would be as God would have it, that it would be a positive experience, and that God would be honored.
#2> CAR: please pray that God will continue to guide us and give us wisdom in the matter of finding a car both for our family and for ministry. There is a possibility that God has led us to a car, but we are still seeking God's will on this issue. (This is a whole other story about the search for a car, but that is for another blog entry at a later date). God can close the door on this if He so wills, or He can pave the way for us! Please pray for us for clear direction!
#3> PLACE TO LIVE: we hope to be moving to the Turnu-Severin area within two to three weeks; this is the area we intend to be working in. Please pray that God will provide a place for our family to live, where He wants us to be, at a price we can afford.
Thank you for taking the time to read the entries in this blog; we hope you have been encouraged somehow today. Geta and I hope you enjoy the two pictures we included with this blog entry; they were taken at the house we are currently staying at in Otelu-Rosu. Please know that we are encouraged by your reading these entries and by your continually bringing us before the throne of the one and only true God.
Love in Christ, Andrew, Geta, Joseph, Ammishaddai, Elijah

...Whirlpool, part 2...

Similar to the previous entry, but a little later on in the month, August 24, we were also very grateful to be able to purchase a refrigerator for our family as well. We had looked at several different models that we liked and narrowed it down to two, but in the end We picked this Whirlpool refrigerator/freezer combo because it was a good brand, and it had a couple features we liked (such as glass shelves) inside. (No, it does not have any "6th Sense" feature :-) ). It cost a little bit more money than the other model we looked at (we paid about $474, a decent deal) but it has an "A+" energy rating, and even though it is bigger, it consumes about 90 kilowatt hours less per year than the other models we looked at. Even though it is about six foot eight inches tall, is not as heavy as it looks; I and another guy about my size carried it into the house with no trouble at all. The refrigerators here are narrower in many cases than in the United States, and much less heavy (the washing machine was another story -- it was quite heavy). As with the washing machine, it is a huge blessing to have the refrigerator, and we have been very pleased with it. Enjoy the picture of our new refrigerator attached to this blog entry! (The refrigerator area is the top portion, and lower portion is the freezer). Again, it is because of all that each of you have done for us, and because of God's provision, that we were able to have this refrigerator for our family to use. Thank you!

...Whirlpool, part 1...

We very much want to thank everyone again who was involved in any way with the Bridgeport Chapel Garage Sale this year, and also for the love and generosity that was shown to our family before we left America to come to Romania. We are and continue to be deeply grateful to each of you. As many of you probably already are aware, one of the things that we really wanted to be able to get when we came back to Romania was a washing machine for Geta. Because of everything you have done for us, we were able to get one on the 14th of August, about two weeks after we arrived in Romania. We paid about $346 for it (a pretty good deal, actually). It is really pretty much top of the line, a Whirlpool "6th Sense" as it is called. No, we don't see dead people; the "6th Sense" feature refers to the machine being able to "sense" the weight of the load and adjust water and electricity usage accordingly. Let me just say that having the washing machine has been a huge help in the day to day work, we have used it a lot, and we are very pleased with it. Please enjoy the two pictures posted of Geta's new washing machine with this blog entry. Again, thank you all very much, and may God bless you as you have blessed us!