Retreat

Greetings,

The Carpathia resort

As we have written before, Cheryl and I have been embraced by the Christian community here in Oradea.  We were given further evidence of this when we were invited to attend a two-day retreat for young married couples.  Although Cheryl and I did not fit the description, we were full participants and welcomed by all.

Stream running through the valley

The retreat was held at a small resort about 80 kilometers from Oradea.  As you can see from the pictures, it was situated in a narrow valley within a smaller range of the Carpathian mountains.  The weather was ideal and it was a time of refreshment and of making new friends.  English was spoken by most of the participants so we were able to enjoy the fellowship of these brothers and sisters in Christ.

The retreat was organized by Emanuel Tundrea.  Emanuel is a colleague of mine at the university and his wife Nadia is one of my students in the first year Master's class.  We have had the privilege of having dinner at the Tundrea's home on a couple of occasions and have enjoyed their natural hospitality and the energy of their three young boys.

View from up the hill behind the resort

Emanuel, Nadia, Judy, Tom

The theme of the retreat was on discipleship and disciple making.  Many in the group are young pastors, so this was a particularly timely message for them.  The primary speaker at the retreat was Tom Streeter.  Tom leads a church fellowship in Zionsville, Indiana and he and his wife Judy are inspirational examples of Christ's mandate to "go into the world and make disciples of all nations, beginning in Jerusalem . . ."  Tom and Judy make frequent trips to South Haven, so the plan is to meet at Sherman's Ice Cream store and continue conversations over large amounts of butter pecan ice cream.  We found out that we have a lot in common with the Streeters and we really enjoyed having them in Oradea for the week.  Both Tom and Judy are avid readers and on their recommendation, I have added a half dozen new books to my "To Read" list.  Ordering English books in Romania can be quite expensive, so I am looking forward to our return and opening boxes with Barnes & Noble written on the package.

The whole group

This raises another observation that Cheryl and I have experienced while on this sojourn.  Although not new, we certainly realize to a greater extent how much sweeter things are when one is allowed to wait for them.  The anticipation and the waiting can bring as much joy as the actual event or possessing the actual object.  It will certainly make our reunion with each of you all the sweeter when we return in June.

Cheryl and I travel to Vienna on Sunday.  Corrie will meet us there and we anticipate a wonderful week in a city that we have never visited and one in which she studied in for six weeks.  We will tell of what we experienced in our next entry.

Pace,

Cheryl & Tom

Our neighbors

Cool guy on a cool bridge