Karen and I had a great meeting with the women of the church tonight. There were about 20 of them there. We shared stories, and discussed struggles that we all face. we asked what they needed most, or about how we could encourage them. Their main request was for prayers for their husbands and sons. Most of those who attend churches are women because most of the men are alcoholics. I could see the pain on their faces; this is a big problem here. There are many reasons, but probably the main ones are because of the unemployment (or underemployment) and poverty.

Please pray for them and their families. Their biggest dream is for their husbands to be sitting next to them in church on Sundays. It's not a lot to ask for, is it?

Then, of course, we talked about things that were much more fun, such as recipes! we will try to bring recipes for them when we come again, and we can share our cooking ideas. They are such good cooks.

One interesting tidbit- in the village where we were meeting with the women (Kamyanitsa), all of them grow much of their own food. Vegetables, maily - cumcumbers, tomatoes, beans, and much more. Many of them even have a cow that provides milk! (Remind us to tell you about the cows walking down the road). anyway, i shared with them that I know very few people who grow their own vegetables - especially for surviving. They commented that they know very few people who don't! We all got quite a chuckle out of that. It's quite a different lifestyle here. The women never "retire" because there's always work to be done. Lots of work.

It's time to head for bed now. We have to get up early in the mornign and we'll head for Budapest.

Thanks for reading!

God Bless,
Susan