Interesting

Without giving too much details, yesterday was wierd. I'm still not entirely sure about what I think of all of it, but it included Ramona and I exhorting a brother in Christ to not give up during a hard season in his life, lots of mean gossip about 'that Gypsy" Ramona and her crazy friends, (I guess encouraging a Christian brother isn't cool with the neighbor) and trying to get that sorted with Ramona's mom who didn't have an issue but is trying to protect Ramona and Corina from gossip, and watching Ramona try and teach her classmate English.
I wish I had taken pictures of that whole "English lesson" or taken a video of it, because it was HYSTERICAL. But I was too busy laughing and translating to think of it at the time.
The boy, Dani, was a tall Gypsy who looked like a Hungarian Gypsy by his build. He hadn't studied the lesson worth beans, and kept trying to engage our friend who we will call the British Pest - Ramona's and my friend from the international church - and I so as to distract Ramona from realizing how much he hadn't studied.
The BP (British Pest) was about rolling on the floor as Dani was pulling all the Gypsy tricks he could when it came to begging for mercy and understanding and excuses for not studying, and Ramona wasn't buying any of it. The two of them made quite a pair as Dani pleaded and explained and rubbed his temples and said how much his head hurt, and Ramona snapped at him about how it was such a pity that such a smart boy could be so lazy. At one point she even smacked him upside the head playfully and yelled at him for wasting such a good brain on T.V.
"Ooooh... you don't understaaaaaand. It's so haaaard. My poor heeeead!" he whined in Romanian as only a Gypsy can do. The funny thing was that Ramona is ethnically a Gypsy, and has a fiery temper that reveals itself and then hides unexpectedly like other Gypsies, but the education and wisdom gained from being raised in a godly family. So she was fully equipped to make him see the ridiculousness of what he was saying.
"You said you wanted to learn English so learn English! You are wasting my time and yours by not studying."
"But-"
"No buts!! If (the british pest) can come all this way so far from his home and study medicine and survive in Romania than you can at least turn of the telivision and study how to spell F-A-M-I-L-Y in English!!!" At which point she slammed the notebook down in his direction, intentinally barely missing whacking his fingers.
I and the BP laughed and he asked nervously if Ramona was planning on ever being a teacher.
"No offense, but I think I'll skip that class, if you do teach." he grinned. I nodded in hearty agreement. The girl is frighteningly intelligent, discerning, and kind. But also is a hard task master!

I was actually able to translate quite a bit of what was said for the BP, which was again exciting for me to realize how much God was blessing me with giving me what I had studied when I needed it. But again after I was done, my head was aching, and there were a few points later on when I would say a word or sentance in English, Romanian AND Hungarian all at once. Joy.
The day ended with me getting online and finding a friend who was going through a really rough time. Something he said made me think of psalms, so I quoted it for him, and ended up giving him about half of psalm 73. My friend asked for a moment while he copied the whole psalm down and asked for some more.
I was so amazed. This friend has really struggled with his Christian walk in the past, and if I had quoted psalms when I first met him or even a year ago, he would have shrugged it off nicely. But here he was, asking for more and finding beauty and comfort from David's Psalms!
It was really convicting for me, because I haven't been in as many rough spots as this friend has been. I've had my mountain top experiances and my valleys, like everyone else, but I think he's gone through more. A lot of times I don't know what to say because I know that God's grace is sufficient, but who am I to say this who has never truly suffered?
I remember when my friend was chatting me praying, "Oh God, what do I say?"
And then a psalm just came to me. I hadn't ever really put a lot of effort into memorizing it. But it came, and it was what was needed.
I have always believed in the sufficiency of Scripture - theoretically. But often when it came to the point of using Scripture, I was at a loss for what to say. I often let others do the expository explanation or encouragement while I prayed or nodded. But this was the first time when God showed me what to say and how to say it and where in the Bible to go. It was SOOOOO COOL!

Then the other amazing thing was that I was still feeling upset about the gossip from earlier in the day, and I told him a little about it. He turned around and encouraged ME with examples of where Jesus was gossiped about in the Bible for hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors.
I was floored. And greatly encouraged.
So it was a wierd day but good.
Today Ramona and I are going to a small city called Salonta to visit a Romanian Baptist Gypsy church there. I've been to the Hungarian Baptist Gypsy church but not the Romanian one yet. So this should be interesting. :-)

God bless,

~PrincessOuch~