cherries, peaches, plums, and apples

One of the things our yard is blessed with is lots of fruit trees!  There are four little sour cherry trees in our yard.  Technically only three of them are on our property, but since we haven't put up a new fence yet marking the boundary lines, and since the neighbor doesn't really want them, we helped ourselves to the fourth tree, too.

in bloom

getting ripe!

We not only made cherry pies, we also enjoyed eating them fresh and freezing them for future use.  My father-in-law was especially grateful for the ones we shared with them, too.  :)  Yum!

We also have two peach trees - one small and one big.  Aren't the blossoms beautiful?

These two trees have yielded quite a number of white peaches so far this summer.  They're not the prettiest peaches you've ever seen, but they have great flavor, a light fuzz, and are easy to pit.  We've frozen a couple of gallon-sized bags of them already, and there are still more on the trees.

We also have two plum trees.  We had a third one, but half of it came down in a storm earlier this summer.  It was right outside the back door, too, which wasn't very convenient, so we just decided to take it down since there wasn't much left to it anyway.  Although we didn't get an abundance of plums this year, normally the trees are laden with them.  (I'm afraid I didn't get a picture of the fruit... the blossoms will have to suffice this year!)

We also have an apple tree and a pear tree.  The pear tree is rather small and is kind of shadowed by the big peach tree, so it is not producing very much.  There are a few pears on it, though, which will hopefully be ripe in another few days.  Unfortunately, a frost killed all but five of the apples, and only one of those lasted very long.  It finally fell off a month or so ago.  We did try a bite of it, and though it wasn't ripe yet, it was still good.  Hopefully next year the tree will have a better yield.

three cheers for garlic!

Back in July I wrote about gathering the bunches of garlic that had grown up in our yard.  We picked them, braided them, and hung them in our shed, and after nearly two months, the bulbs were finally dry and ready to be stored.  

I cut off all the stems, trimmed the roots, and ended up with a beautiful pile of garlic!

Okay, so the basket did have a couple of small onions in it, too...  :)

It was a lot of fun to harvest and dry our own garlic, but we probably won't do it again.  Fresh, home-grown garlic is so cheap here that it really isn't worth our time to plant it again.  But it was fun to do this year, since we had it growing in our yard anyway.

Yum!!

:)

taken on Sunday, August 31st - Jonathan's birthday

fire!

Last week there was a fire next door.  It was a planned fire, but a fire nonetheless.  Here the villagers will often burn their fields after they have harvested their crops.  Earlier this year this field behind our neighbors' house was full of golden wheat.  Last week it was a raging fire.

the field on June 21st

I took these pictures from the kitchen window.  You can see how close the fire was to us!  Our property ends at the tall grasses, and our lawn was thankfully short enough that the fire wasn't tempted to come into our yard.  However, Geta did have to go over and beat out a little that was beginning to kindle the grasses on the property behind ours.  I was a little nervous... just about the time they started burning, the wind picked up and was blowing quite strongly.  But the Lord took care of everything.  I am glad that it's over for another year, though!

evening sky

We have the most beautiful sunsets here...

welcome! (part 5)

I never did finish showing you around our house.  There is just one finished room left to show: the bedroom!

Before...

how the previous owner had it

During...

This little wood stove heats the room up in no time!

After!

The quilt was a wedding gift from my
coworkers at The Quilt Company.  We love it!

The afghan was a wedding present from my aunt.
It matches our house beautifully!

We love the underside of our quilt, too!
It has great colors for the summer.

We have one other room on the main floor that is not yet finished.  Someday we hope to make it a guestroom so that you can come visit!  :)  The exterior is almost completed...  Lord-willing, I will post pictures of it soon!

Jonathan and Kristy's August Prayer Letter

NEXT GENERATION PREPARATION

August has brought beautiful weather to Mosnita (Moesh-neetsa), and there have been plenty of opportunities for having church services outside, as well as walking around and visiting with people.

Ion (Yone), Mariana’s unsaved husband, seems to be enjoying reading a bit more than he had. He doesn’t have much motivation to learn, as he doesn’t really see what he could be reading. But I hope that he will get saved soon, and be able to read the Bible! The reading classes are often a time when we can sit and chat and even talk about spiritual things. Please pray that God will work in Ion’s heart.

A few teens have been coming to the church services. Larisa, my younger sister, was able to talk to one of the teen girls in depth about salvation. She and her mother seem open, but are afraid to get saved because of what others might say or do to them. Please pray for Mirabela and Steaua (Ste-owwa). Kristy was able to teach one of the teen classes this month, as there were just girls. Please pray for us as we try to reach out to these young people.

One evening, we had a Romanian pastor and his wife come to our service. Brother Remus (Reh-moose) had an excellent message, and many people came to that service and heard the Word.

The Gypsies here have been hearing the Gospel preached to them clearly, not just at church, but also from us going to them and talking to them. A few months ago, we started praying daily for each one in that area of the village by name. The Lord is working, trying to break their hardened hearts and get their attention. A day or two after my dad talked very directly about salvation to Michi (Mickey, the village drunk), he basically lost his mind and went crazy. He was in a mental hospital for several days, but is now back home and seems to be OK. Gicu (Gee-cu), who often came to the reading classes, got very upset at Lili (Mariana’s daughter whom he lives with). We are still not sure why he was upset, but it was nothing major in any case. He beat her so badly that he broke one of her ribs which ruptured her spleen. She had to have emergency surgery and have her spleen removed. They have four little children. Lili made a profession of faith many years ago, but never really showed any fruit. Please pray for Lili and Gicu.

Occasionally, Rebeca, one of the saved teen girls, will spend time with Larisa, and they will come to our house to visit. With the nice weather, the other day, we were able to ride our bikes with them to the forest behind our house. We hope that spending time like this with them will help strengthen our relationships and allow us to minister more effectively.

Some missionary friends of ours from Serbia are here visiting for a few days. We celebrated my 29th birthday (August 31st) with them, and have been enjoying fellowship with them. Also, a few weeks ago, we were able to spend a few days with my parents, and Aunt and cousin from the States. We visited two castles several hours away, and it was a nice time of refreshment.

On Thursday, my dad will leave for a three week missions trip to India. Also on Thursday, our co-workers, the Freels, will be leaving to go to the States for a few months on furlough. Please pray for the Lord’s help as I will be preaching for my dad, and we will have many extra responsibilities.

Thank you so much for your prayers and for your part in the Lord’s work among the Gypsies in Romania!

Serving Him,
Jonathan and Kristy Heisey

P.S. Enjoy the attached picture of Rebeca and Larisa on our trip to the forest!