minus 2 more days!

Yesterday was a day of "errands", packing, and driving to Nashville for a Nashville Praise Symphony concert at Brentwood Baptist Church. It's always fun to play with everyone, but more fun to get to spend time with all our friends. This time Terry got to play because one of the regular trumpets couldn't be there. Wonderful to have Jim Gray conduct us playing his arrangement of "Simple Gifts", and of course great to see Camp and Fran Kirkland, David Winkler, and most of all, my fellow strings.....you guys rock! That said, I never did get to write anything yesterday about my upcoming trip....which, as I see by the calendar is now 2 days sooner. The sweetest people emailed me back and assured me of your prayers, and I am so grateful. Not knowing what kind of internet connections I will have while overseas or how long I will have, I would so love to have your comments on this blogsite where I can read everything all together.....that helps because many times depending on the village I'm in, there is just sporadic connection....i.e. read one email, try to go back to read another and poof! no more connection. So, thanks for subscribing and posting your comments here.
One friend, who had not been to Romania in 12 years, remembered being so sad at the conditions......since my first trip was over 20 years ago.....right after the coup, in fact, I have vivid memories of walking through the main business section of Bucharest and seeing totally empty storefronts. Funny story (well, not at the time) I flew in on Delta connecting through Frankfurt and when we got to Bucharest, my suitcase was nowhere to be found. Went to the apartment where I was staying with a lovely lady named Rita, and each morning I would call Delta. About the 3rd day, I received a call from one of the "higher up" officials who said, "don't worry about it, just go and purchase whatever you need and we'll reimburse you". Now that was a laugh.....as I said, the entire city of Bucharest had nothing to buy.......you had to wait in line at one store to buy bread. Then if you were lucky you could wait in line at another store to buy eggs, and possibly another store for milk. Where in the world was I going to buy clothes to wear? Those were very sad conditions, but today, the mood to me is hopeful. After the revolution, which started in Timisoara, the people, who were gathered in the square, began to shout, "There IS a God! There IS a God!" Jesus is the only hope for any of us, and they knew it then, and they know it even more today. In the churches Terry and I visited last June, there is much hope and joy! In fact, I wish everyone could take a trip of this kind, to see just how much the Romanian people love going to church and how joyfully they join in with the worship, especially the music!
I could go on and on about how much I love the Romanian people and how wonderful it is to be with my fellow believers........ well, just get me started!