1st day in Romania

We arrived in Bucharest Romania after 18 hours of travel. Josh, Lisa and Ivy took us to Wichita, Mid Continent airport. Left there at 11:40 am, flew to Chicago, waited about 3 1/2 hours and changed planes. We flew from there to Dusseldorf Germany, waited about 2 1/2 hours then off to Bucharest, Romania. No problems anywhere. When we walked out of the terminal at Bucharest, Ninel and Roxana were standing there with a sign that said Litwiller, they had arranged for transportation to our motel, the Intercontintental in downtown Bucharest.

After getting settled in and resting Ninel and Roxana picked us up to go out on the town for the evening. We got to tour a bank building where Roxana works which was built in the late 1800's, it is incredible. It is now used for offices and corporate meetings.

We walked around a little looking at other buildings, then to a restaurant. I think they said the name in English would be Beer Wagon, because many years ago they brought the beer there from out in the country in wagons. We had an incredible meal and entertainment. There were some Romanian dancers who performed right next to our table. One of the ladies came over to me and before I knew what was happening I was up trying to dance with her. Imagine that, if you can. Later on there were a lot of people dancing and they even did the Macarana.

After dinner, we spent some time driving around Bucharest, we stopped to look at the Parliament building from across the street. Roxana told us she has arranged for us to tour it later this week, so I will talk about the history of it then.

More later.

My Birthday

Today I turned 55 years old. I have said many times that I wonder when I will feel as old as I thought my Dad was when he was my age. I know that it is all a matter of perspective, but it doesn't seem possible that I have lived 55 years. My oldest son says "you can only be young once, but you can always be immature." Sometimes I think I am trying to prove that true.

None of know how many years the Lord will give us on this earth, so I want to live every day to the fullest. Some days I accomplish that and some I don't, but it is a goal. It is my desire to live every day like it may be the last, and at the same time live like I have at least another 50 years.

I love to visit with older people and learn from their wisdom. Many years ago, I was visiting with a man in his 90's and he was telling about how his son thought he knew so much. He said that his son had knowledge, but he, the Dad had experience. I believe that is the difference between wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom is knowledge, seasoned or combined with experience.

One of my Pastors from many years ago said that the very point where we think we have arrived in our Christian walk is the point where we start to go backwards. That is true in every area of my life. The whole world is changing and moving forward. The world is not static, if I am not learning new things and moving forward, I am going backwards.

Going to Romania

Nineteen years ago began an adventure for our family that has only just begun. We had four sons, and had been talking about adopting a daughter for at least a couple of years. Through a series of miracles that I won't go into now, Jane left for Romania to try to find a girl to adopt. The communist dictator had recently been overthrown and the outside world discovered that there were a lot of children in orphanages that needed homes.

I remained at home to continue working and take care of our four sons, with the help of my wonderful Mother in law. I will try to share details here later, but for now I will just say that six weeks later, the boys and I picked up Jane and our new daughter at the Kansas City airport. As I recall, it was a Saturday, and the next day was Fathers day. What a blessing Carri has been to our family.

Jump ahead nineteen years. Ninel, is a man who along with his Mother helped Jane through the adoption process and they have been telling us for nineteen years that we should bring Carri back to visit Romania. We always said that someday we would, but it was always someday. I think it was about a year ago, we felt like now is that "someday" and started making plans to go. The passports are all in order, the plane tickets have been purchased, and Jane, Carri and I will be flying out of Wichita for Bucharest, Romania on Thursday, August 5. We are so excited, are just praising the Lord for this opportunity.

It's been so long since I posted anything, I wasn't sure I could do it. I want to start again as we are going to visit Romania in August and this will be a way to keep family updated on the trip, so here we go.

Lesson from a lawn mower

I learned a lesson while working on a lawn mower Saturday. One of my sons couldn't get his mower started, an asked if I could help. I have learned that it takes three things to make an engine run. The correct fuel / air mixture, compression, and ignition. The first thing I checked was the spark, or ignition. I got it working, and tried to start the engine with no results. Next I checked the fuel, after doing a little work on the carburetor, I tried again to start it with no results. Next I checked the compression which was high enough to run, but the engine still would not start. I even checked to make sure the timing was correct. Finally, I tried a new spark plug, and the engine started on the first pull. The spark plug would fire when it was out of the engine, but would not fire when it was in the engine under compression.

Later that evening, as I was thinking about the whole process, I believe the Lord showed me a spiritual application for what happened. Some people profess to have the fire of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and there is evidence that it is true when everything is going great, but when trials and pressures come into their lives, the fire is just not there. When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan river, the Holy Spirit descended on him and he was led into the wilderness, where he was temped by the Devil. Because of his relationship with the Father, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus was able to face the temptation and overcome the Devil.

Lord, continue to fill me daily with your Holy Spirit, so that I will withstand the tests of the enemy.

If it was easy, anybody could do it.

Although my Dad passed away several years ago, there are many time when it seems as if I can still sense his presence with me as I experience different things. Some times I can almost hear him saying things that he used to say. I am not sure if they are exact quotes or just the way I remember them. One thing Dad used to say, especially if something wasn't going right or easy was, "if it was easy, anybody could do it." This says two things to me. First, don't give up, and secondly, the person who is able to do the hard things will rise above the crowd. I have heard, and read several places that we make money by solving problems. The more difficult the problem, the more you are paid for solving that problem.

Many time when I am trying to solve a problem, whether it is trying to figure out how to get a piece of equipment working right at my job, or working through a difficult relationship, remembering my Dad saying, "if it was easy, anybody could do it", gives me the incentive to not give up.

We are told in Genesis 1:26 that God created us in His image. The Message Bible says we are made to reflect His nature. The God who created the universe, created us with the ability to solve problems, not give up at the first sign of trouble. Phillipians 4:13 says "whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am."

Don't be afraid to tackle the difficult things, ask for the Lord's wisdom in every situation. He is faithful to be there, right beside you leading and guiding if we seek Him.

Phil

Slide show added

I finally had time, or rather took the time to figure out how to add a slide show of the pictures I took while in Haiti. Several people have asked me if I could put more pictures up so they could see them. If you want to see larger pictures than appear on this blog, click on the picture and it will take you to a web album, where you can see the larger version.

The second team has returned home safely. They accomplished a lot while they were there. The new well was drilled and they put in the solar powered pump. The pump would not run at first, and after several calls to the manufacturer and the dealer, they did get it going, and it is pumping water into the tank which is on top of the boys dorm.

For those of you who want to know more about Lifeline, a new website is available. The address is haitilifelineministries.com. You will learn much more there than I am able to tell you, so instead of duplicating information, I will direct you there.

Continue to pray for Lifeline, the kids, and especially Nicole and Daniel

Phil