Rachel's Missionary Update - February 2009

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
-Philippians 4:6-7

Hello everyone! Well with the end of February comes the end of my first month back in Romania, and the end of my time in Oradea. I actually am leaving for Brasov this evening. This month has been a time of goodbyes and a time of fellowship with my dear friends here. I visited the hospital and say goodbye to my little ones and give some gifts for them I had bought when I was in the states. It has also been a time of watching the Lord work and prepare the way for me to move to Brasov.

I want to share a little story with you, to give God the glory for what He has done this past month. In Romania it can be difficult to find an apartment because of the way things are set up here. Basically, if you find a place that you like, you need to write up a contract right away or it will be snatched up by someone else. Landlords don’t wait until the 1st or the 15th of the month, they expect you to take it right then and there. This has proved a little difficult for me this past month, in that Oradea is 10 hours by train from Brasov. The other “difficult” part in this situation was that Brasov is so much more expensive than Oradea. My friend Sarah who I will be working with in Brasov, did not think that I would be able to find a place for under 300 euro even for a studio! (I was paying 140 euro here in Oradea for my studio.) The entire month we spent calling agencies and looking for a place, only to find the places either more than I could afford, they were already taken, or they were so far away I would have to travel by bus over 40 minutes to get to the hospital. I told Sarah that 300 euro was just too much and that the Lord would have to provide something for less than that.

Well this past Sunday came, and knowing that I would be moving today, I was starting to say to the Lord, “Ok Lord, I leave in a week and I don’t have anything yet!” He reminded me of the verse above and that He has taken care of me thus far. So I did my best to not be anxious and to trust in Him. On Monday afternoon Sarah calls me all excited that she has found the perfect place for me, that it is everything I wrote I wanted and that it is 280 euro. This seemed like a bit much for a studio, even though she said it was really large and only a 5 minute walk to the hospital and a 20 minute walk to the center of town (PERFECT LOCATION!), so she sent me some pictures and I realized that it wasn’t a studio apartment at all but a 1 bedroom! The Landlord was so nice and agreed to not show the place to anyone else until I saw it the next morning. So I took a night train out to Brasov that night to go see the apartment. The place is beautiful and big enough for me to have guests come over and even stay over (You’re all invited!). It is a great ministry apartment. I spoke with the Landlord to see if she would come down in price (knowing that 1 bedroom apartments like this, in this area can go for 400 euro!) and she said she would take it down to 270 euro, and I wouldn’t have to pay for my gas until May! Which is perfect cause Brasov is in the mountains and by May it will be warmer and my heating will be significantly less! The apartment is also fully furnished!

The next testament to the fact that this apartment was a gift from the Lord came when the Landlord asked me if I was ok with her writing a different amount on the lease for rent than what I was actually paying. You see in Romania, pretty much everyone who rents writes a different amount on their lease because taxes for the landlords are 60% of the rent. So they will for instance write 100 euro rent when you are really paying 300 euro. Well I believe that we are supposed to be above reproach and to obey the laws of the land, and so I told her that I was not comfortable doing this, knowing very well that she may decide to not give me the place, she made a couple of comments and huffed and puffed and then said OK! This was truly a miracle and another confirmation that the Lord was in control.

Even though my rent is now almost double what I was paying Oradea, I know that the Lord will provide. He already provided the ‘impossible’ by giving me such a great apartment in the perfect location at an unbelievable price in that city! It has been great to see Him work. I know that sometimes we don’t really ‘feel’ God in our lives or we wonder if He cares about the little things in life, but I want to assure all of you that He does! That He loves us, and even cares about where we will live!

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
-Matthew 6:25-33

So I leave tonight for Brasov. I’m so excited and blessed. The Lord’s hand has been on this move every step of the way. I was able to visit the hospital I will be working at when I took my trip out to get the apartment, and I met a lot of wonderful missionaries and volunteers I will be working with. Sarah also let me know about other organizations in town I can volunteer with if I wanted to. It is so great to know that Sarah was encouraging me to work with other organizations and that she just wanted me to do the Lord’s will. What a blessing!

I know this update has been a bit longer than I usually write, but I was so excited to share with you all how the Lord has provided for me.

Prayer Requests:
1. That the Lord will go before me in the work He has for me to be a part of in Brasov
2. That the Lord will continue to provide for all my needs
3. That I will be a light and an example to everyone I come in contact with
4. For the work in the hospital and the dear little ones I will be working with

I will send pics of my apartment next month! May the Lord bless you all!

Grace and Peace,
Rachel



Mia, Maria and Marinela. The girls I used to work with at the hospital. I will miss them!

Kevin and I


Levi and I


Ioana and I


Kevin and I


The “Missionettes” Sue, Kelly and I in Budapest, Hungary. We had to make a trip there to get pages in our passports at the US Embassy for our Romanian Visas. It’s only 4 hours away! We also were able to go to Calvary Chapel Budapest while we were there, it was amazing!


Kelly and I. I was so blessed to be able to stay with Kelly this month while I was in Oradea. She was a great hostess, and is a good friend here. I’ll miss her a lot!

Great Bible Study

This is an excellent Bible Study. I listened to it this morning. It's called How to Suffer Successfully. We all have things that cause 'suffering' in our lives. Whether it is physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. This study by Warren Wiersbe, who is one of my favorite Authors and Speakers really touches on how to turn suffering in our lives into something that the Lord wants to use to bring glory to Him.

I hope you will take the hour to listen to it.

Be blessed my sweet friends.

love always
rachel

Rachel's Missionary Update - January 2009

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105

Hello everyone!

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to write you all. I have had a wonderful time here in California. I was able to see so many people, and spent a good deal of time with my family. It was nice to have the holidays at home and to see my nieces and nephews as they have all grown so much in the past year.

I leave tomorrow to begin my journey back to Romania. I will be flying through Germany again. I am very excited for my week in Germany. I will be able to spend time with my friend Jennifer, I will be attending a Calvary Chapel while I am there, and Jennifer is helping me sign up to volunteer a couple of days with the wounded US soldiers stationed at the military base where Jennifer works. Please keep this in prayer, as I am really looking forward to seeing the soldiers and I want to be a witness and a blessing to them.

When I return to Romania there will be some exciting things happening. I will be moving to a new city. During my time home, some circumstances occurred that have contributed to my decision to move. I am very excited to be moving to a city called Brasov. For those of you who have supported me through the years, you may remember me mentioning this city. It is one of my favorite places in Romania. Brasov was one of the first cities I visited in Romania in 1997 on my first trip to Romania. Since then I have visited Brasov several times. I will be working in a hospital setting again, with a ministry called Hope for the Nations. I am really excited about this, as there are many children in need in the hospital in Brasov. I have spent some time in Brasov working in the hospital with Hope for the Nations before, and really enjoyed their program and how it was set up. I also have some missionary friends who live in Brasov and a Calvary Chapel church there.

Please keep all the details of my move in your prayers. Brasov is in the middle of the country in the mountains and it is over 5 hours away from Oradea. I will need to move my belongings. Please pray that this will go smoothly. Also please pray that the Lord will provide an apartment for me at a good price. From what I understand and have heard from my friends in Brasov, it is much more expensive to live in Brasov then it is to live in Oradea. But I know that the Lord has always provided me with the money I need to live and that He can even provide a good deal on an apartment. Transitions can always be a little stressful so please just pray that the Lord will guide me and be with me through every step of the move and beginning of the new ministry.

I hope you are all doing great. I will miss you my friends and family. I enjoy receiving your emails so please feel free to write anytime they are always a blessing to me.

Grace and Peace,
Rachel

Rachel's Missionary Update - November 2008

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

Dear family and friends

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for. It was really wonderful to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year, as I was in Romania last year on Thanksgiving.

My last few weeks in Romania were wonderful. The relationships that have been built have really been blossoming. I spent a lot of time with my Romanian and Hungarian friends before I left, everyone wanted to have some special time with me, and it was a blessing to see how the Lord has worked to build these friendships.

I was even able to visit my “other family” in Timisoara for a couple of days.

And I spent my last 2 nights with my good friend Kelly, who is also a missionary in Oradea. I miss my kids at the hospital already. But I am keeping in touch with all of my friends from there over the internet, it is so great to be able to still talk with them from here.

I was also blessed to make a short stop in Germany on my way home. I used my frequent flier miles to fly home, and because of this I had to have 2 separate tickets, one from Romania to Germany and one from Germany home. The blessing of this, was that I could take some time off in the middle to visit a friend of mine that I had met at the Missions Conference this past summer. We had a wonderful few days together, it was also a blessing to break up my travel time with this little trip.

My time in California has been a whirlwind so far. Meeting with lots of people, seeing friends and family, church, and a mini vacation for a few days with my mom up the coast of California. It has been a time of refreshment and a time to seek the Lord and what He has for me.

I ask that you all will continue to pray for me, as I am seeking the Him during this furlough. Please also keep my back in your prayers, it has been hurting so much since I have been home. I guess lugging around my suitcases aggravated it again.

I pray you will all be blessed over this holiday season.

Grace and Peace

Rachel

Rachel's Missionary Update - October 2008

But as for me, I trust in You,
O LORD; I say,
“You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand...
Psalm 31:14-15a

Buna Ziua! Well, I cannot believe it, but I have lived in Romania for only a couple weeks short of one whole year now. The time has flown by. I was thinking the other night of all that the Lord has brought me through this year. It has been a year of growth and blessings. Great joy and even sorrow. But I find myself today, as I am looking back on the past year, full of thankfulness. It has been a truly amazing year. I have totally seen how the Lord has been faithful to take care of me and guide me every step.

This past month I finished volunteering for PTJM the ministry here in Oradea I was helping out with. I am very thankful to be moving on to some new things here in the city. I am still in the hospital and loving it there. One of our little ones, Anca, is 2 years old and has lived her whole life in the hospital. She is blind, and was considered hard to place in a foster home because of this. But after much prayer a home was found for her! She spent her first night in a real home for the first time in her life last week. What a miracle!

(Anca and Mia right before Anca left for her new foster home!)

I am now also helping out with another ministry in town that works with young adults who are physically and mentally disabled. It’s like a day center for them. I have really enjoyed getting to know the people there, and look forward to working more with them.

Marinela, the young girl I mentor, is doing great. We have started English lessons, and she is doing really well. I always enjoy my time with her.

(Marinela and I)

Today, Marinela, Ana (another young lady who works with us at the hospital) and I all went to the local zoo. We had such a wonderful time together today, the weather was warm and beautiful! Totally different from the weather we’ve been having.

(Marinela, Me, Ana at the zoo!)

My prayer meeting is going great too. Not necessarily in numbers, it is generally just my missionary friend Kelly and I, but the Lord has really been answering specific prayers we have been having. We are thankful to have the time each week to lift each other up in prayer and to fellowship.

Well with my first year here in Romania coming to an end I will be leaving for California in 17 days! I am so excited to be home to see my family, friends and church. It should be wonderful. I will be home for 2 months and already have a packed schedule. I will be working for a couple of weeks while I am home at Casa Teresa where I was working before I left for Romania, to basically pay for my trip home. I’m looking forward to a time of refreshment and time with the Lord to seek His will for what is to come in 2009.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, I hope to see many of you while I am home. I will continue to write my updates while I am in California. Please keep the next 2 weeks in your prayers. I have to move out of my apartment before I leave, as there are some pretty serious problems with the place that are not able to be fixed. So I will be moving my stuff (AGAIN!) to my friend Ibi’s house while I am gone.

(Ibi and I)

There is a lot going on as always, and I am so excited for the holidays at home! Thank you all for your prayers about my back, it is doing much better, I am still not 100% but I am getting there and am very thankful to be back out working with the kids in the hospital!

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Grace and Peace,
Rachel