Adventures with Tom

I think this is really cool. So two night ago I just finished writing the previous post about Tom - telling about our Chess games and asking for prayer for him etc... Well, that same night Kate and I were heading home on the 22 (that's our bus cause we live in the same area) and guess who got on? yup. Tomitsa (that's long for Tom). Crazyness. Neither of us had seen Tom outside of the chess park before, so it was just super cool that God had us meet on the bus. I was really happy to see him because I had accidentally double-booked for this saturday and couldn't make it to the Chess park. Plus I had somehow invited the servant team over to Tom's house that saturday, so it was really important that I could see Tom before in order to reschedule for next week. Anyway, I communicated that we were going hiking this saturday so I couldn't make it over to his house. He seemed skeptical, but then invited Kate and I over right then to watch a soccer match between Bucharest Stau and a team from slovakia. How could we say no to that... :-) So to make a long story short, Kate and I watched the whole soccer game with Tom and his wife at his place. It was awesome. Awkward at times, but yet awesome. Some highlights: We got to see lots of pictures of tom's two girls and two grandkids. Tom showed off some of his awards from chess tournaments. We had a few shots of nesscafe espresso - always makes the day better. We got to see Tom's cats michi and jojo - they exist! I was pretty happy about that. We got to talk to Tom for like 3 hours (in romanian) and keep building this relationship.
One thing about Romanians - they aren't afraid to ask personal questions about guy-girl relationships...marriage...making babies etc... So Tom is on a personal journey trying to hook Kate and I up with eachother. Here's a taste of some of the questions (my translation): So..Ryan, do you love Kate? No?! Why? She's nice and pretty and has a good heart - why not? I think you're lying. What would you say if another guy came along and Kate went off with him? (I said.."I would say Bravo!" to which he replied...I don't believe you :-)
This was actually incredibly funny. He probably grilled us for like 45 minutes on this. I kept saying things like "Tom, I think we really need more time...we've only known eachother for like 1 month." or in response to Tom's question of why I don't love Kate... "Tom, God knows....only He knows..." Tom and I were talking mostly because I can speak a little better romanian than Kate. This is really funny. Kate can understand most of what's being said, but at one point she didn't understand something and turned to me and asked "what's he saying?" I calmly replied "He wants to know if you love me..." That was an awesome moment.
I'm sure this will continue to come up, but at least it gives me a great chance to practice romanian...and I think shows Tom's genuine interest in our lives. or possibly it shows boredom with the rest of life...I'll assume the best :-)
So i think that's pretty awesome. I think in that moment, spending that time with Tom and talking with him and watching the game was a way to be God's love. God has answered several prayers like that with such grace and immediacy during my time here. wow. I'm excited to continue to know Tom and pray for him. Please continue to pray for him and for a true heart of love in all our relationships here, living out of a knowledge of our existence as God's beloved child.


In other news: I hurt my back today. I didn't lift with my legs. shoot! :-) So I kinda feel like an old man and, well...my back hurts and I can't run right now or really even play with the kids. I hope tomorrow it will be better - maybe it's just a pulled muscle. I would appreciate prayer for healing and more-so God's will and His grace in my reaction and the results of having a hurt back. Thanks sooo much.

We also have a group of 5 from england here. Frank, Allen, Erik, Rachel and Neil. They are great and have really sweet accents and love the Lord and this community. They are here to build stuff and fix things and do electrical work around the center here. It's such a blessing that they give up their time and money to do this. You can pray for Frank and Neil too - they are decided whether or not God wants them to join the WMF romanian team - so they need wisdom and peace.

One more thing: A girl named Gabrielal from Brazil has been working with our community drawing up some business plans for this job-creation program we're trying to start. She is a wonderful girl. Pray that God would work in her heart and reveal Himself to her. I would love to see her come to know Jesus as know His love.

Recapp: Pray for Tom. Praise God for working and answering prayer. My Back. The English friends. Gabriella.