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For one month our days have been totally dedicated to overseeing the construction renovation of the building in Ferma Larga.  I remember that early on in the project there was a lot of doubt that the roof could get done.  One man came down and laughed that we were only just beginning to start on the roof and commented that October was definitely not the month to begin roofing jobs.  The summer was over and there was no chance according to him that the roof would get done.  In late September when we began construction on the roof we were hopeful that the roof would be completed before the next stage of renovation on the building was scheduled to begin – that of working inside the building; however, that did not happen. The completion of the roof has indeed taken longer than anticipated due to the fact that all the support beams had to be replaced.  Many of them had rotted clear through and turned to powder when they hit the ground. I am amazed the roof had stood up as long as it has.  Mr. “Nelu”, our project manager, insisted that if the job was going to be done well, it would take longer and new beams would have to be laid first.  Originally we were told it would take only about a week; however one week went into two weeks, which passed on into three weeks.  After two weeks I realized the roof would not be finished before the American construction team was due to arrive. I was definitely disappointed and getting somewhat nervous of the two teams working at the same time. I knew that there were cultural differences, language barriers, and different ways of doing things that could cause difficulties and I was more than a little concerned.  However, the Holy Spirit assured that this was a divine appointment for both teams.  He had orchestrated it to bring about His Work. And once the two teams were on site together, it became clear that indeed it was His Work.

 The priority project for the Americans was to open up rooms by taking down adjoining walls to make them more useable.  Earlier in the summer the local engineer for the Ferma Larga area had shown us which walls could be taken out and which walls had to be left standing.  So when the American team arrived they began to “bring down those dividing walls.  Trouble was that the walls the engineer had told us could be torn out were not the right walls. We found this out from the Romanian team, in particular “Mr. Nelu” who had actually helped construct the building back in 1985.  After the walls came out, he came in and noticed that two of the walls that had been taken out were “structural” walls and should not have been torn down.  Things got a bit “tense” for the rest of the day. The air was literally thick with emotions from both sides.  However, the next morning the Holy Spirit impressed me to begin the day on site with prayer with both teams present. Pastor Gary Lentz led the prayer and afterwards I asked “Mr. Nelu” what could be done to resolve the situation.  He showed us how we would need structural beams to be framed into the walls for support. More Beams!!!  So the Americans set about putting in the beams and before the day was out I began to see the Holy Spirit working.  He had taken a tense situation and caused both teams to begin to work together to resolve the problem and by the end of the day they were all working together, laughing, and communicating with hand signals.  Now, “ain’t” God good!  

Well, it sounds like our days were pretty easy going but they were not as easy as it might appear.  Each morning we were up at 5:00 a.m. to wolf down some breakfast, and speed toward Ferma Larga by 6:30 to take the Americans to the building and drop them off in the dark and cold while we rushed to pick up the Romanians by 7:30 and get them back to the site by 8:00. Containers of foods had to be prepared each day, one for the American foods and another for the Romanian foods –lunches, cokes, snacks, etc., etc.- in short enough food to feed thirteen hungry men a day while shuttling back and forth and back and forth to Cluj to pick up more supplies and equipment.  The first day the Americans attacked the walls that were supposedly “paper thin” but were actually battleship thick with all their might. Their muscles were strained to the limit. 30 lb. sledge hammers just bounced right off and had no effect.  So back to Cluj we flew to purchase electric-powered hammer drills and it still took an hour or longer to make a dent in the wall to open up a hole the size of a small plate. 

 Hour by hour inch by inch the walls began to crumble. While all the chipping away and hammering in and on the building was going on, my favorite of all favorites was being constructed out back – our TOILATA- (and what a toilata it turned out to be) - a condominium outdoor toilet complete with accommodations for big and little people!  Praise the Lord!  Now for the first time in four years we can really relax and enjoy our time in the village. Work continued each day until late into the night when we had to leave the Americans once again in the dark and cold and take the Romanians homes then back to Ferma Larga to pick up the Americans and head back to Cluj.  12 and 14 hour days were the usual thing but it sure paid off.  It was indeed an amazing week – two rooms were enlarged upstairs, all the old military toilets (functioning now as entryways for the local rat populations) were torn out and the holes cemented to keep the rats out, four large windows (handmade) were framed and glass put in, a new front door installed, not to mention the shelves for Copii Regelui’s next year’s program constructed and installed in an old shower, more of the closed off areas of the building cleaned of debris, and of course the toileta.  Still more, the old brick and old broken roof tiles were hauled off in horse and wagon to fill ruts and holes in the road that long ago needed filling in.  Almost looks like a “red brick road” leading up to the building.  Even some of the families up the hill began to get the ideas and they came down and took off some of the broken brick and filled in their own holes.

Yours in Christ,

Freddy and Rita