Rachel's Romania Update - 2.26.2008

“And in that day you will say: Praise the LORD, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth.’”
-Isaiah 12:4-5

Well February is coming to an end. My time in Timisoara is now over as well. I finished my language training and took an overnight train, 8.5 hours here to Bucharest. I am in the process of getting things organized and will start working in the hospital soon! I am very excited to get to work.

My last month of language training went very well. It was also a great time of fellowship with my teachers Dorina and Laura, as well as Laura’s whole family. I am truly blessed that the Lord brought them into my life. Their friendships mean a lot to me and I pray that I have been and will continue to be an example and blessing to them as well.

I also had the opportunity to spend time with my Romanian cousin, Julia. She came to my city this time and we spent the day together walking around town and talking about life, family and the Lord. It was very nice. We were both so happy to have another day together. Please keep Julia and her family in your prayers as her mother just passed away a couple of weeks ago, she was a wonderful woman.

The weather is finally warming up here Romania. Today it was about 60 out! Yea for spring! I spent today walking around the city...well my part of the city. I never would have thought I would end up living in such a big city. Bucharest reminds me of New York with all the tall buildings, cars and people people everywhere! I really enjoyed my walk today and seeing so many people out on the street. This city is huge! There are about 2 million people living here. It is actually the 6th largest city in the EU by population within city limits. In case you are interested in reading up on Bucharest here is a link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucharest

Please continue to keep my health in your prayers. I’m still coughing! But I’m hoping the change in the weather will help clear that all up. Also please remember to keep Dorina, Laura and her family as well as Julia and her family in your prayers. The Lord is so good and so faithful! I am so blessed to be here, and really I feel so “at home” here in Romania. I look forward to my time with the kids and to learning more of the language as I interact with people. I’m excited to see the new things the Lord is going to do.

May the Lord bless you all! Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Rachel

Missionary Update Letter - 2.1.2008

“As cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a far country.”
Proverbs 25:25

Hello everyone! January has flown by and here we are in February! January was a month full of surprises and blessings! The Lord has opened up so many doors for me since I have arrived here. I just want to share a couple of highlights.

With some encouragement from one of the language teachers here, I looked into finding my Romanian family, of whom, no one in my family at home knows. I was able to actually find a cousin of mine, Julia, and praise the Lord she only lived an hour away! So my Romanian friend Dorina and I went to visit her and some of my other cousins. She even took me to see the house my great grand father built before he immigrated to the United States in 1914. So cool! It was great to be able to share with Julia and every family member I met, that I was here in Romania as a missionary and how the Lord has given me such a love for this country and the people here. I still keep in contact with Julia and hope that the Lord will continue to use me in this new relationship.

I have since met other family members even in America I didn’t know about through some pictures I had posted on the web. The Lord is really opening up doors for me to share what He has done in my heart and what it is that I am doing here in Romania. Please pray for my family members here in Romania and those in the States.

My language training has been going great..the Lord is really blessing me with speed of learning. After speaking with Nan”n in Bucharest we decided I should stay here in Timisoara for February before returning to Bucharest to begin my work with the children. Most missionaries here study the language for a year and I have met several couples here at the school who have been in Romania for 3 years and are still coming for classes! But 3 months is all that I will give to classes...I cannot wait to work with the babies!

A few prayer requests...
Please keep Aristrita, a baby ROCK Ministries works with in your prayers. Nann will prayerfully be bringing her to the states this month to get some much needed surgery. The Lord has really been opening up the doors for this to happen, please pray that He will continue to lead the way.
Please also keep where I will be living in Bucharest in your prayers. Nann and I will be living together but we have not looked for a place yet. Please pray that the Lord will provide the right place, for the right price, in the right location, with the right landlords!
Please also pray for my last month here in Timisoara. I am so thankful for the relationships the Lord has brought my way. My language teacher Laura, her husband Robert and their 5 children have ”adopted” me into their family. They only have one daughter, so I am the new official ”big sister”. I have spent Christmas and New Years and even a birthday for one of their sons with them...we have ”family meals” together, and the Lord has really opened up communication between us about Him. He has blessed me with so much this month, it is wonderful to be able to share all He has done. Please keep Laura and her family in your prayers as well.

Thank you for all for your prayers. Please continue to pray for my health...I can’t seem to completely get over this cold!

I pray you are all doing great...

Blessings,
Rachel

Missionary Update - 12.18.2007

“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace,

goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.”
Luke 2:8-20

Buna ziua! Hello! And Crăciun Fericit! Merry Christmas! I hope you are all doing well. This is my favorite time of the year. It has been fun here in Romania as well, cause it seems every time I go to the grocery store, they are playing American Christmas music. It is always nice to hear Elvis singing Christmas songs.

I have been in Romania for one month now. I am loving every minute of it. I am really enjoying my language training. My teacher Laura is wonderful. She has also agreed to meet with me during the Christmas break so that I don’t loose so much time, which is an answer to prayer! Areopagus, my training center is closed from Dec. 20th – Jan 7th.

I am very thankful for all the Lord has done, in answering my prayers to learn the language quickly. Romanian is nothing like English, even the way the sentences are constructed is completely different. But I am catching on pretty quickly and I pray that my next month here will be even more fruitful than my first. It is really vital to be able to speak the language, so that I will be able to communicate and be a better witness to the older generation who don’t know English, especially the staff I will be working directly with in the hospitals.

Thank you for your prayers regarding the holiday time. I am not lonely at all here! And I have many options here in Romania of places to visit during Christmas and New Years, so we will see what I will end up doing, but either way, I praise the Lord, for always comforting me and for blessing me with so many wonderful people in my life, both here in Romania and in the US.

I pray you all have a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! You are in my prayers, and I thank you for your continual prayers. Oh, one more praise! Thank you for all of your many prayers for my knee and back, the Lord has been very good to me. I have only had mild soreness, but absolutely none of the serious problems I was experiencing when I was in the US. All glory to Him!

Please feel free to visit my flickr site to see the pictures of Romania I have taken since I have been here. I will be updating the site often. Romania is so beautiful, I want to share it with you all.
www.flickr.com/pocait

Mulțumesc pentru tot! Thank you for everything!
Love,
Rachel

Rachel's Romania Update - 11.25.2007

" Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."
~Psalm 37:3-4

Hello! It has been really wonderful receiving so many emails from so many of you! It is a little lonely here in Timisoara, as all I have to do is study Romanian! There is not a lot to see within walking distance. But this is ok, I am here after all to study Romanian! I have received many of the same questions from a lot of you so I thought I would send out an email and let you all know what a day is like for me...

My day starts with devotional time. I read my Bible and this great devotional book by Jon Courson. I am really being blessed by it right now. I also spend time in prayer...

Monday - Friday I have Romanian training, one on one with my teacher Laura. I like her very much, she is really nice and super smart, and we get along very well. My class is from 9am-11am. I always have at least an hour or so of homework that she assigns me, plus I try to study the words and ideas we have learned during the day.

After class, I usually try to go for a walk. The weather here has been really nice. Sunny, and not too cold, probably in the 60's, maybe the 50's. Who would have thought a southern California girl would be saying the 50's and 60's aren't too cold! But I haven't even needed to wear my beanie yet. :) So anyway, I usually go for a walk around town, Timisoara is huge! I haven't made it to my favorite area yet, the center of town. But I go to the park and to the grocery store a lot! Timisoara is where the revolution that ended communism in Romania began. So it is a very special city. It is also one of the most beautiful cities in Romania, in my opinion. It is very clean and not as crowded as Bucharest. I am happy to be here now. I will try to take some pics for your all to see the city and where I am living soon.

After walking around for an hour or 2 I usually come back home and eat and study. I am finding that there is more that I can eat than just salami and bread! I haven't been feeling too good lately so I have been taking it easy and having soup and other nice things like that.

I only have access to the internet from 9am -2pm, Mon-Fri and then on the weekends. So I try to get down here to their computer room everyday, to say hi and keep up with people. It is nice to be able to communicate with friends this way. Unfortunately because I am using their computer room, I can't do Skype right now, but when I go back to Bucharest I will be able to. So hopefully at the end of January I will be able to talk to those of you who have Skype and have been asking me about it! :)

The rest of my day really just entails, eating, showering, playing with pics on my laptop, forcing myself to watch Romanian TV to help me learn the language (it's mainly soccer! AAHH!! I miss my basketball!!!) studying and then my day ends as it began, with devotional time.

I feel very blessed to be here, I am so thankful that the Lord would use me.

I hope you are all doing good, I miss you all, thank you for your prayers and your support!

Love
Rachel

Rachel's Romania Prayer Letter - 11.10.2007

Well, this will be my last email from the US. I leave this Wednesday morning at 6am to begin my journey to Romania. It has been a blessed 6 months as I have been preparing for this trip. It is so great to see how the Lord has been faithful in bringing me to this place, and I know He will continue to be faithful in the time to come.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
~Philippians 1:6

I am sad to be leaving so many dear friends and family behind, but I know that we will keep in touch and also knowing that you are here praying for me offers me such peace and joy. I am excited and looking forward to the future and all that God is going to do. I can’t wait for these next 2 months as I will be learning the Romanian language, and then beginning my ministry with the children and babies. This is something the Lord placed on my heart so many years ago, and to finally have the opportunity to be going full time to do this, seems unbelievable. What an awesome God we serve!

Please keep my family and friends in prayer. Please keep me in prayer as well, that I will have a safe journey and that all things will run smoothly. Below is my itinerary:

Wed. November 14
LAX-Frankfurt
Depart LAX:
United Flight #0944 - 6:00am
Arrive Frankfurt:
5:45am

Thursday November 15
Frankfurt - Bucharest
Depart Frankfurt:
United/Lufthansa Flight #9184 - 10:40am
Arrive Bucharest:
2:00pm

I will have internet access once I get settled, so please keep in touch. It is always a blessing to hear from you. La revedere!

With love
Rachel
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