Today was our second day in the country and with the family. It was a tourist day for us when the family took to see some sights and buy some souvenirs. We went north out of Campina toward the Carpathian Mountains where we passed through a couple of resort towns geared toward tourist and business visitors. They cater to conventions and sightseers in the warmer months and skiers during the winter. They are very beautiful places with amazing views of mountain peaks and expansive valleys spread below. I never thought of Romania as such a place.
Our final destination for the trip was a town called Bran and its famous castle called, appropriately enough, Bran Castle. There are a ton of pics showing the inside and outside of it at this link. It's notoriety is based upon it's being the point of origin for the Dracula legend. Construction on the castle began in 1377 and the tour of it was pretty amazing. I recommend seeing it if you have the chance. However, the odds of you having as exciting a visit as we are very small, as one of our team--Nick--managed to fall approximately 10 feet down the side of a rock ledge in a small, but impressive, cascade of rocks ranging from pebbles to about melon size. He received a cut on the bridge of his nose, a badly scraped right knee, a gashed left knee and an ankle injury that may or may not be a fracture. We won't know that until he is able to have it x-rayed tomorrow. It was quite an adventure. Dan doctored him as much as we could (we had climbed up to the entrance to the castle) and then he and I carried Nick back down to the valley and placed him in the care of the Vasile family while we caught up with the rest of the group for the castle tour.
In spite of the pain and frustration of the injuries, Nick has been a great sport; because, as soon as we determined that he wasn't permanently damaged, we had a bit of fun at his expense. There are also pics of this at the link above. Dan was actually taking a picture of him as he began to fall which captured him just as gravity reclaimed it's dominion over him.
Our supper tonight was great. We had grilled sausage and beef with fresh bread, tomatoes and the most incredible jam I've ever tasted--and I'm still not sure what kind it is. Bruce knows, but he's holding out on me. Also, we have met all of Pastor John's (pronounced Yon) kids now. He has 3 sons--Andre, Emmi and Timmy; and 2 daughters--Christina and Ewana. Timmy (13) and Christina (16) are still in high school and Emmi is still in college. They are all great people who are already like family to us.
Tomorrow we go to some of the local churches that Pastor John has planted to help with the services. Chris, Ken, Josh and I will be preaching at various ones and Lucy will be singing. Pray for us in these efforts as we will be working entirely through interpreters.
More tomorrow.
Mike
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