Dear Family and Friends,
On Thursday afternoon, I traveled out to Crizantina’s village to check on her progress adjusting to her family. I was surprised to find that she was not at home. Her father had taken her with him in an attempt to find work. I was disturbed when her mother told us that Crizantina has been hitting her younger siblings and acting horribly towards everyone and crying for me all the time. The mother has asked the father to take her to give the other children respite. I decided to find Crizantina in the neighboring village to examine her wounds and legs. (I have attached a photo of her current house).
(For those of you who know about the princess dress, you will be delighted to know that it was hanging over a rusted fence drying from recent laundering but looking somewhat out of context given the surroundings. For those of you who don’t know about the princess dress, it was a gift to Crizantina by a couple in the Chicago area that housed Crizantina and I while we were in Chicago. This dress was used about 4,328 times as a bargaining chip/bribe for her good behavior. I explained this tactic to the mother and she has obviously incorporated it into their lives. Thank you once again, Jerry and Gayle)!
It took us much longer than we anticipated to find her. The Romanians that accompanied me declared that the village we were in was not on the map and they were correct. I didn’t think we could get more rural than her village. I was wrong.
We had given up hope of finding them when we spotted a horse in the distance moving slowly up the road in our direction. Adi and Flori, the Romanian couple that drove me, were doubtful that this was the horse we were looking for but we were pleasantly relieved to find a smiling Crizantina riding in the most pitiful cart I have ever seen. I see carts all the time on the streets here but this one was so shabbily constructed that it immediately made one wince that people were riding in it. Crizantina was nestled among nice blankets in one of her American frocks sporting all the jewelry ever given to her. I spoke to her and she looked a bit perplexed. (She is already loosing her English). I then began speaking in Romanian and she looked slightly relieved.
On the way back to Oradea, we had to stop the car about 72 times for a plethora of species that were crossing in front of the car. This included baby chicks, ducks, dogs, sheep, old men, cows, and mostly pigs. Apparently, the time of day we were driving was the time that pigs are herded back to wherever it is they sleep. Because resources are next to none, the farmers use the same roads for driving to herd the animals. We had already stopped about 5 different times for pigs when Adi came to a squealing halt (pun intended) on a bridge. We hooted and hollered as the car was surrounded by a sea of pigs. It took only minutes for them to navigate around the car and down the road but I was laughing so hard that I started snorting (like a pig of course) and then we were all hysterical. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera!!!
Crizantina’s legs were incredibly straight and she was clean except for various feathers on her dress. The mother and father are doing the exercises I taught them everyday and bathing her every other day as I requested. I am very proud of this family for how wonderfully they have adjusted to her and the patience they have demonstrated. Esti has found several houses nearby to buy but we must wait until my non-profit papers are legal. We are praying that will happen this week barring anymore unforeseen “stamps” needed on paperwork!!
Esti is doing a fantastic job! She will be getting married this Saturday so I get to attend my first Romanian wedding. Barbara and I will be giving her an American style shower on Thursday night and she is thrilled! (More so about eating spaghetti than actually having a shower.)
Barbara and I had the awesome opportunity to meet some people from New Zealand this week. One of them is a pediatric intensive care nurse and she very much wants to return and work in the hospital here. I am encouraging this!! She has also invited me to visit her in New Zealand during the first part of the new year which I am sure makes many of you truly pity me! 
At the invitation of my pastor, John, I spoke at international church service today. Many of the people have followed the story of Crizantina and want to know her progress and how God has provided. Their mouths were all agape when I told them that God had provided $6,200 for her family to have a new house. Many of the Romanians from the church are now interested in ministering to the gypsy people in that area. Praise God!!! I spoke about how God had laid the scripture from Matthew 6:25-27 on my heart while I was pondering over what to do regarding Crizantina’s transition back to the US. Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Amen!!
Barbara has resumed Allie’s position of caring for the abandoned infants in the hospital and the hospital has asked us to help them establish a volunteer system to coordinate all the volunteers that are working in the hospital. Barbara has already started collecting ideas from different resources in the US and Canada and I am sure the new program will be implemented soon!
The weather has been superb here. I am in disbelief that I am still wearing shorts and t-shirts. Barbara was not prepared for this weather and is forever seeking cooler clothing and a fan! We have gotten quite a few laughs at the ingenious ways she has managed to stay cool. I am loving it and I am praying for a mild winter here!
Thanks so much for the prayers and emails that I have received. I am finally catching up to responding to emails!! May God bless each of you as you serve Him all over the world.
Basking in the Son,
Michelle
Posted on September 26th, 1999 by Michelle
Filed under: Michelle's Journal