Saturday - Part One - last night we went to a youth prayer meeting that started at 10pm. We were still there at 0100! So this is a catch up for the Friday. 

3pm - we drove to the outskirts of the Oradea city and turned off the main road. Our mission - to meet a man who constructed housing containers. We turned onto a bumpy dirt track that took us in between newly built houses and spare building plots. Kicking up the dust we made our way towards what we hoped was the agreed location, only to find that it wasn't. Sorin phoned our contact and we were told that he would come out to meet us. So we parked up and waited. Various cars came - and passed on by as we looked at them and they looked at us. Then a black BMW approached driven by a man wearing shades. It drew up alongside us, the window slid down and we were told to follow him. We went back along the track took a right turn and bounced our way towards his newly built house. To one side a couple of containers were being built and our contact (the boss) explained in some detail the method of fabrication and construction. These containers are used by the likes of NATO and various relief agencies and can provide accommodation for between 2-8 people. We are looking at all possibilities for providing short-term accommodation for ex-offenders, and these containers offer one possibility.

We had started the day at Oradea prison to meet with various members of senior staff. Two of our main contacts in the prison are retiring in the coming weeks. One is the Orthodox priest who we met as we were going into the prison, so it was good to chat with him briefly and thank him for his support over the years. The other person retiring is the director, Mr John Ilea, and we were told that he would like to meet with us, so it was through security and up the stairs to his office. He thanked us for all that we had done through our programme and, in return, we were able to thank him for his encouragement and support over the last 8 years. Before we left his office, we prayed for him, his family and his future as well as for the right person to be appointed as his successor. Then it was up to the offices of the sociology department to review our mentoring programme with Florica Dudas and other departmental staff. We praise the Lord for all that he has done in the lives of different prisoners and pray that even more will be done over the coming weeks and months through this present course.