Have you ever watched an episode of Hoarders? Well, if you have, then you have an idea of what Ghita's house was like. Partly from depression and partly from bad health, his house was a mess. Not only was it infested with fleas, but there were heaps of trash everywhere and the yard was completely overgrown. The first thing we had to do was clear a space at the back of the property to make a fire pit. Charlie had fun working the scythe. While he, Scott & Randy worked on clearing space then digging a fire pit, Lisa and I worked on cleaning out Ghita's spare room. (Keith and Tammy were both sick so they didn't get the joy of doing the work this day).
I'm so thankful that I brought some work gloves along with me on the trip. I'm not sure what I would have done without them. It took a while, but we finally got the room cleaned out. Everything we pulled out went straight to the trash. We burned what we could and the rest got taken to the dump. The only thing left in the room when we were done was an old wardrobe. Most of what we dumped was old clothes and bedding. I didn't find a single thing that was in once piece or didn't smell horrible. I did however find his dentures, still in a jar or solution, at the back of his wardrobe. Jackie said it had probably been a few years since he had even seen them. The most interesting thing (at least to me) I found was an old glass syringe. Thankfully I saw it before I stabbed myself with it!
We also threw out dozens of plastic 1 and 2-liter bottles. He kept all the bottles to use as kindling for his fires in the winter. Yes, plastic burns well, but it's also toxic. So - out they all went - into the fire pit. However, before we could burn them, we had to empty them. I'm not sure what the liquid was that was in them, but it was putrid. I don't gag easily, but I came pretty close to throwing up at one point. So, I left the bottle-emptying to Scott and just worked on clearing the trash out of the house. I'm sure his neighbors loved the smell that fire was putting out, but it had to be done. Jackie is going to replace his bottles with fire-starter bricks so he has something that burns well but is safe.
Also going on the fire was his old straw mattress and hopefully a few thousand fleas.
Ah, yes... the fleas. I was the lucky one. I only received a few bites. Charlie however was COVERED with flea bites. After the spare room was clean, the guys moved all the furniture we were able to salvage from the bedroom into the spare room. Then the guys worked on patching the walls with cement and getting it ready to be painted. Since the bedroom is where he spent most of his time, that is where most of the fleas were. Anyone who even walked through the room for a few seconds would come out with a handful of fleas on them. *side note* We unfortunately brought the fleas back with us. The night we stayed in Budapest I opened my suitcase to get something out. Within five minutes I found 3 fleas on me. YUCK! When we got back to the states I left our suitcases on the front porch and didn't bring them in until I sprayed them with flea spray.
While all this was going on Alina, Carolyn, Lavina, & Claudia were working on painting a new wardrobe for Ghita and cleaning all the dishes we were able to salvage. They also helped with cleaning up some of the yard. Adina gave Ghita a shave and cut his hair. Jackie convinced him to wash as much of his body as he could politely expose with all the people around. He looked so much better once he had cleaned up a bit.
I think it was really hard for him to see how much of his stuff was getting taken away. But there just wasn't much to salvage. It had all been eaten away by moths, rodents and rust. Jackie bought him a new bed and a new mattress that we were able to put in his house the next day.
In the afternoon, the guys stayed at the house to continue working while we headed a couple of blocks away to hold our VBS. We had it outside under a couple of trees, in front of one of the widow's houses that Jackie takes care of. We had planned on maybe 25-30 kids showing up when we prepared things back home in the states. To our surprise we had more like 75-80 kids! VBS was good, but frustrating. Unlike Iosif's VBS where there was a clear plan of "We're doing this, then this, then this," this was more like, "Okay, now what are we doing?" I thought I had planned well, but due to me misunderstanding how much time I needed to fill, I didn't have near enough stuff to fill the 2 1/2 -3 hour VBS that was wanted. Thankfully, I work well under pressure and Adina knew some extra songs and I thought up some extra games. We also didn't have enough crafts - which we didn't realize until we already started handing them out. Most of the kids did okay with sharing their crafts, but some of the younger kids threw a fit about it (as 3-5 year olds will do). It all worked out okay in the end. Carolyn did a "Watermelon Testimony," where she used the colors of the watermelon to represent different parts of the salvation story (red - blood; black seeds - sin; green rind - growth in our faith; etc.). It was really neat. The best part for the kids was that they got to eat watermelon when they were done.
The guys were still going when we were done and weren't close to being finished - but there wasn't enough work for all of us, so we headed back to Arad while they stayed and worked. We got home around 5:30, Charlie and Scott didn't get back until almost 8:30! They went late because they were trying to get the walls repaired so they'd have time to dry so they could be painted the next day.
The next day, at least for me, was a day of "hurry up and wait." The guys (Keith was feeling better so he was with them) left at about 7:30 because they had some things to pick up for Ghita's house before they could work. Adina had some things to pick up as well, but the store she needed them from didn't open until 8:00. So we waited for her. We had hoped to leave around 8:30 - 8:45. We didn't end up leaving Arad until 9:45. We stopped to pick up watermelon for VBS at a roadside stand. At some point Adina had gotten a call about a stove top the guys needed picked up for Ghita's stove. So, after getting that, we didn't even get to Ghita's until 12:45. We had just enough time to eat and then head to VBS.
I thought for sure today at VBS would be less frustrating because, now that I knew what was going on, I had planned better and had plenty of stuff to fill 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Unfortunately, it went closer to 3 - 3 1/2 hours! That is a LONG VBS when you are outside in 100+ degree weather. The main problem, which I didn't realize until much later, was that we had too many transitions. It was my fault for not going over the schedule with the other leaders beforehand so we were all on the same page. Instead, I'd get them started on one thing, in my mind thinking, "Next we'll do..." whereas, my co-leader was thinking, "as soon as we're done here we'll do..." So, there were too many cooks in the kitchen so to speak and the one with the experience doing VBS (me) didn't do a good job of making my plans clear.
This time it was the guys that got done before us. They left town around 3:30 whereas we didn't leave until closer to 5:00.
After dinner at a pizza place we went back to the apartment for our last night with the girls. While there, Keith and Ramona were chatting through Google translate. They were having a good time, then she suddenly closed the laptop and walked away. Keith wasn't sure what had happened, but she had been acting a little off all night - you could tell she was struggling with saying good-bye. Later, as I was sitting on the couch beside her she said something about telling Keith not to be mean. Then, as we were getting ready to go, she gave everyone a hug good-bye, but only shook Keith's hand. I asked Adina to talk to her and find out what was wrong because as buddy-buddy as they had been all week, it seemed to me that something was wrong.
Turns out Google Translate is not the best way to communicate with someone. Keith doesn't know what he typed, but what got translated was something along the lines of, "You're crazy," which is a huge insult. (It'd be like someone calling you an idiot.) Her feelings had gotten hurt because she thought Keith had actually said that to her. Thankfully, we finally got things cleared up and she and Keith made up. Later that night though, Keith was really struggling with it. He felt like the whole week he had spent getting to know her and befriend her and it was like it was all washed down the drain. But, thanks to the "miracle" of facebook, they've been able to keep in touch and mend what was broken.
The next day Dany drove us to Budapest where we got to sight see for the day before flying home on Saturday. (By the way, Budapest is a fun place to visit if you ever get a chance).
All in all, it was a very good trip. We were exhausted when we returned, but honestly, being busy helped the time away from my kids go by faster. Keith has walked away from this trip a different man. I think a world view would do that to most any person. But, more than being different, I think he also has a clearer vision of what God wants from him. We've talked quite a bit, and I can see us at some point doing a minsitry similar to Scott & Carolyn's here in the states. We've also talked about going back to Romania next summer and maybe staying for a longer time (and taking the kids with us). I don't know exactly what the future holds, but I know God has more planned for us than to just be sight-seers on this wonderful planet. He is calling us to get our hands dirty in kingdom work and I can't wait.
Bonus: Here is a link to Jackie's blog that talks about Ghita's house (including before and after pictures). http://jackieramseysspace.blogspot.ro
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