The morning of August 3rd was warm and sunny. My wife Linda and I eased into a pew in the little Varennes Presbyterian Church in Iva. We were there to attend the wedding of Ioana Florea and Daryl Loftis. She is a physical therapist at St. Francis Hospital in Greenville. He is a deputy sheriff for Anderson County.
Waiting for the marriage ceremony to begin, our minds collectively drifted back through the years to another warm, sunny day. This time in Bucharest, Romania.
A week earlier, we had landed in Bucharest to take part in the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s missions partnership with Romania. There to welcome us to her country was our translator and companion, Ioana Florea. Her efficiency and kindness made an indelible impression on us.
And here is the story of that other warm, sunny day mentioned earlier. As our mission trip to Romania neared its end, the three of us – Ioana, Linda and me – strolled through a picturesque park in Bucharest. We talked constantly, the conversation tinged with some sadness at the thought of our departure from Romania and separation from each other.
At midday, over pizza at an outdoor cafe, we asked Ioana, “Why don’t you visit us in Greenville?” We could not have imagined what our question and her answer would eventually mean to all of us.
Later on – it was in December – our turn came to greet Ioana, to welcome her to Greenville and to our home. On the evening of her arrival, she accompanied us to the annual Christmas dinner for the staff of The Baptist Courier. It was a good introduction to Greenville and to Baptist life in South Carolina.
The weeks that she spent with us went quickly. Too quickly. While with us, she expressed interest in going to school in the United States. Eventually, she would decide to do just that – in South Carolina.
Ioana, who had studied medicine in Romania, enrolled at the University of South Carolina. Her sights were set on a Ph.D. in physical therapy. While working at the National Health Care Center in Greer as part of the requirements for her doctorate, Ioana again was our guest, living in our home for several months.
After graduation, she settled in the Greenville area to further her career – and what she perceived as God’s will for her life – in physical therapy. It was through her service as a physical therapist that she met Daryl, whom she treated following an injury.
The marriage ceremony in the white-framed church was simple, brief – and elegant because of that. Only family and close friends had been invited to the home church of Daryl’s mother.
At the reception, Ioana’s mother and father came to our table. We remembered meeting her mother in their Bucharest apartment. We had not met her father, an engineer. He speaks English well. “You were her second family,” he said to Linda and me, “and sometimes you were her first family.”
That warm, sunny morning in early August was filled with joy for my wife and me. We feel deep gratitude to God for bringing Ioana and Daryl together, and for the life they will share. We are also thankful that God, in his providence, interlocked the lives of Linda and me with this intelligent, spiritually-minded and delightful young woman – for the blessing of us all.