More retreat deatails

Hi everyone! Finally we have some time to fill you in on some more details of the retreat.  First, here is a bit of history and Romanian culture.  The woman in Romania are not used to anyone serving them.  Their roles as wife, mother, daughter are full of work along with taking care of the house and family.  Communism only ended 22 years ago and woman's roles here are still very oppressed for American standards. These women have never been to a retreat and the majority of the women have never ever been away from their family.  Their husbands count on them for everything, so it was good that some gave permission for their wives to come. We left Friday am at 10:30 on a coach bus, drove through the countryside about 3 hours until we got to Herculane (home of Hercules).  We passed by many fields of families working and planting their fields. It looked like farming 100 years ago with no machinery, horse and plow and many people bent over planting.  We also passed by gypsy villages full of elaborate houses with tall spiraled towers. We got to the retreat and waiting for the women in their rooms were the "joy" bags we made for them filled with gifts, a scarf, soaps, journals, colorful folders and candy. They were all so surprised and felt so special to receive this. We started out with a group meeting with singing, introductions and Barb introducing our retreat topic of "garden friendships," who are the people who walk beside you in life when you can't walk anymore.  Diane shared and then free time to relax, get to know each other.  Saturday a.m. during the meeting Jacquie continued our teaching on friendship and how God uses people in our lives to display His comfort.  Free time in the late morning and afternoon were filled with card making, stamping, exercise room, sauna, or walking outside in the beautiful mountain air. The day continued with another session from Jacquie which included the plan of salvation, and how these women could have a personal relationship with Jesus.  Francine and April also shared their journeys through life with Christ. The women were very touched by their authenticity. This followed by free time of hand massages, manicures, more card making and a photo booth for them to take pictures with their favorite friend.  We had a talent show and ended off the evening with the movie, "The Blindside" with Romania subtitles.  Many deep spiritual conversations and questions were answered.  Sunday morning we ended the time with Barb speaking and Pat sharing her journey, along with a sharing time for the Romanian women. They were all so thankful for the time away and felt refreshed and energized.  One of the desires of the leadership team here in Romania was to have all the ages of women together worshiping, sharing wisdom and learning from each other.  The women all felt united and it didn't matter what age they were.  Some of the written comments from them were, " I savored the time like a coffee", " I felt loved and it was real", " My heart and mind are full of thoughts and wonderful things because I had the privilege to know what evangelicals are in my soul and I discovered that my soul has room for much love.", "Happiness of sisters from America and their openness of talking about everything.", " I felt spoiled by the Lord, felt closer to the Lord".

Salud!