It's also devotion to duty, sacrifice for your people, and a lot of just plain hard work. And if your country happens to suffer two world wars and a communist takeover in your lifetime, it means danger and suffering, exile and heartache as well. Princess Ileana of Romania endured all this and more. But her deeply rooted Orthodox faith saw her through it all, and eventually led her in her later years to the peaceful repose of monasticism. But that life included sacrifice and hard work as well, because as Mother Alexandra she was called to build the first English-language Orthodox women's monastery in the United States: the Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. Princess Ileana's story is a thrilling tale of love and loss, danger and rescue, sacrifice and reward. Her inspiring life stands as a beacon of faith and holiness for young women of all times and nations to follow.

    Why did you take so long?" -Taryn Hutchison was asked this poignant question after her lecture on democracy to a class in Bucharest, Romania. Communism had just fallen. "We waited 45 years for the Americans to come and set us free. We used to say that even if you were coming in a wheelbarrow, you should be here by now." -The Americans had come at last, but it was to offer a different kind of freedom-freedom that lasts forever. Inspiring and with humorous moments, We Wait You: Waiting on God in Eastern Europe is an uplifting story of hearts transformed as political systems are rebuilt. Unlike any missionary story you've read before, it is told by a regular person attempting to manage real life-mud and all-in a foreign culture while struggling to wait on God. History will come alive as you journey with Taryn through Romania, Hungary, Albania, and Russia during the decade after the Berlin wall came down. You will learn to trust God to provide everything you need in order to do whatever He calls you to do, wherever that may be. Questions for reflection or discussion are included at the end of each chapter. As the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 revolutions approaches, relive the unforgettable drama of the historic events that changed Eastern Europe-against all hope.

    Visit the eerily named Murderer's Lake, discover hidden Saxon villages like Biertan or soothe weary limbs at Sovata's spa resort. Transylvania has something for everyone - not just vampires.

    Social, religious and political issues are explored through an array of colourful characters and narratives focusing on the newly, supposedly liberated world. Himself an exiled immigrant, Tiganov shines an insightful light on the search for a better life from an Eastern European perspective: the opportunities and the pitfalls, the pains suffered, the euphoric hope and optimism, the naivety and the greed.