Visitors from Romania

I was so blessed last month to have two of my dear friends from Romania - Jen Schroeder (an American living in Romania) and Cornelia Fieraru (a Romanian I have known since 1999) - visit me for 2 weeks. It was so much fun! I hadn't seen either one of them for so long and it was so great to be with them as they experienced Africa for the first time.

While here, they spent most of their time on Children's Ward, which was wonderful. Both of them have a gift with children, and it was a blessing for the many children in the hospital who spend day after day with nothing to do. One mother thanked them for making her son happy for the first time in weeks.

Jen with David, one of her favorite patients

They also came and watched me do my work. I think they enjoyed seeing the C-sections the most!

Jen is ready to assist!

Corney loved the newborn babies

We also had the opportunity to have dinner at Mikal's house, our "wazungu hostess" here on station and my Kenyan mom. At the end of the night, she said that she now has 2 Romanian daughters :)

From L to R: Rhiannon and Emma (2 medical students from London), William and Mikal, Corney, Jen and Me

The end of their week here in Kapsowar brought a memorable memento of Kenya for Jen. While playing basketball with some of the kids here on station, she put out her hand to stop herself and broke her wrist. So, 2 days before we left for safari, Bill, our surgeon, had to reduce her fracture and put her in a cast. She was a trooper, though, and we had many laughs about it.




Probably the neatest thing for me was seeing Corny's reactions to things. Cornelia grew up in an orphanage in Romania, which is where I first met her. Many of you who have followed my work overseas since then will remember me talking about her the year I lived in Romania. She came to our Bible studies and became a great friend, but never became a Christian while I was there. A few years ago, Corny became a Christian and now works as a missionary with Heart to Heart. It was amazing to me to see the life change God has done in her. While she's still herself, the hard edge that was always there with her is gone. It was great to see her see, for the first time, a place that was more poor than Romania and see how she responded to that. I was nearly moved to tears as I listened to her talk about how she was affected by the children at the orphanage here. I know that God changed her life while she was here.