Guest Writer

Our recent guest, Anna Klemm, posted this on her blog. Thought you'd enjoy a visitor's perspective on our life...

Bircii, Romania's only paved road.

High on a hill was a lonely goatherd...
Posted: 06 Dec 2009 04:26 AM PST


My school scheduled a welcome, albeit oddly-timed, two-week break from classes near the end of the trimester. Luckily, the break fell over Thanksgiving, and I got the oppotunity to visit a missionary family I went through training with last year, the Roberts. They live in a village the size of a large American high school in the middle of a lot of Romaninan farmland.It's been incredibly encouraging to see my friends again and to feel so useful out here. Seriously. When was the last time you did something that involved a little bit of physical labor? It's so satisfying. I've helped to do things like shovel "gravel" (read: dirt) to fill some of the ruts in the road, sew curtains by hand, assemble furniture, and fetch water.The latter has proven the most interesting so far.While the Roberts have running water (half the village doesn't), it isn't really suitable for us dainty Americans to drink. So, they drive about a mile and a half a couple times a week to fill plastic bottles at a spring.Except when the car has a flat tire. Then they walk. Like we did on Friday. Paula, Mikayla, and I each picked up two empty 2-liter bottles (except Mikayla, she was brave and took three) and set off. It's an interesting but muddy walk along the rut-filled dirt roads, past the unofficial town dump (a spot by the creek where villagers leave plastic bottles that they don't want anymore), past the orthodox church, and around the big hill.
Yes, I am wearing heels. Because, yes, I am a city girl.

While we were filling the bottles, a truck full of men in red jackets pulled up across the street and they got out and started hopping around while the truck played old American songs that had been dubbed in Romanian. They were campaigning for an upcoming election. (Obviously)On the way back, we started talking about how it's so freeing to get rid of all your old stuff when you move. "It's amazing how God has provided so much since we gave away most of what we owned and left home," Paula was saying when we saw a man running down the hill. He was wearing the same sort of outfit his great-grandfather would have worn as a Romanian peasant 100 years ago. The man ran across our path and over to where several bored-looking goats were sniffing around the dump. (He was a goatherder, in case you hadn't figured that out.)Now, the thing about two-liter bottles is that once you fill them with water they get kinda heavy. Mikayla especially was kinda struggling juggling her three bottles, so when the lonely goatherder walked up and asked (in Romanian) for some water, she just gave him a whole bottle. "What a great object lesson!" Paula exclaimed. "See? God always provides."She was right, too. We got the tire fixed the next day and were allowed the luxury of driving to get water once more. So, the next time you drink from the tap...well, just be glad that you can :)

Want to read more about Anna and her work in Slovakia? Visit:
http://www.slovakianna.com/