Rachel's Romania Update - May 2009

Many, O LORD my God,
Are Your wonderful works which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Psalm 40:5

Hello friends,
I hope you are all doing well. I can hardly believe that June is here already! Time has sure been flying by. Thank you for your prayers as always for this past month. It was a busy one, but the Lord was faithful as He always is!

The first weekend of the month I had to travel to Oradea to cross the border into Hungary to renew my visa for Romania. I stayed with my missionary friend Kelly. It was a great time of fellowship and helping her with odds and ends around her apartment. I was also able to spend time with Marinela, the girl I used to mentor. She was so sweet. I always enjoy being able to see her.



My sister and brother-in-law came out to visit me for a week at the beginning of the month. They were my first official guests since I moved to Romania! It was a blessing to have them here, to show them where I live and the hospital where I work everyday.



We were able to visit some of the local beautiful “tourist” areas as well as spend some time with the babies in the hospital. I was also blessed to meet the Teen Challenge Romania leaders in Bucharest. My sister’s church works with them, so we went out and visited the center they have for rehabilitating men with drug addictions. It is always great to meet Romanians who are serving the Lord and to see their ministries. It was also nice to have some family time.



Things at the hospital are going great. My relationship with Cami the play therapist is growing. I really enjoy working with her and seeing her heart for the children we work with. She has been doing this for 19 years now, it’s great to see how the Lord works through her. I am learning so much from her on working with children with disabilities. This month we also had a large group of teenagers with us. We sometimes get teens with emotional problems as well as problems with epilepsy, etc. It was neat because some of them could speak English, so I was able to have some conversations real with them.



My neighbor Nuntii (pronounced Noontsey) and I have spent a lot of time together again this month. It still breaks my heart how lonely she is. The other day on one of our walks she said to me, “when you go home someday to America will you still think about me?” I told her of course I would! I would not be able to forget her. In a way she reminds me of Marinela, she has such a child like quality to her. I am sorry I don’t have more time in my life for Nuntii but I pray that the Lord will use me to direct her to Himself so that she can find comfort in Him. Please continue to pray for her as well.



We were not able to meet with the girls from the gypsy village this month, we were going to meet with them last Wednesday, but half of our team were sick or moving so we had to postpone it a week. I am totally blessed and excited to tell you that Sarah my supervisor has asked me to help take over the girls group. I have a heart for these girls and with all that Sarah has on her plate I am totally excited to help! Starting this week we will have a memory verse and a short devotional that goes along with the verse. These girls are all around 12-14 years old or so. In the gypsy culture this is the age that young ladies get married. Last month one of our 13 year old girls got married. We are trying to take advantage of this time that we have with them, as after they are married they have less of a chance of being able to join us for our group time.

I want to share a story with you. I will try to make it short. The Lord totally blessed me this month. On my journey home from Oradea I lost my camera! I have a love for photography and take my camera with me almost everywhere. I was very upset about this as you can imagine after having that camera for over 3 years and taking it all over the world with me, and I knew that I would not be able to purchase a new camera for at least a year, as I just don’t have any extra money right now. Next thing I knew I had my cousin and a friend emailing me telling me they wanted to help me purchase a new camera. My pastor said he could help me find a good deal on a camera. Well one thing led to another and within a week, I was able to purchase a new camera! It is not the same camera that I had before (that camera has been discontinued), but it is a good camera and the same brand as my old one. The camera was purchased and my sister was able to bring it over with her when she came and visited. I couldn’t believe how quickly it happened! I tell you this story, because my camera was just “a thing”. It was a material possession, one that I enjoyed using but still, it was not something that I “needed”. It was just something I really liked. But the Lord still provided for it to be replaced. I was in such awe of how this all turned out. I do believe that the Lord totally used my cousin and friend to bless me. And it all coincided with my sister coming out to visit (there would be no way I would ship a camera here, and they are VERY expensive here). I love how the Lord works and how He blesses us with things, even things that we don’t “need”. He just loves to bless us because we are His children.


Well I guess that is it for now. Please keep this next month in your prayers. We have a lot going on as always!

Prayer Requests:
1. Personal prayer request for wisdom in the month of June. I need the Lord to give me clarity about an issue I have been praying about.
2. Gypsy girls: For a translator when we meet with the girls and wisdom for the memory verses and devotional.
3. For the kids and the staff at the hospital that they may come to know the Lord.
4. That the Lord will continue to lead me and provide for me.

Grace and Peace,
Rachel

Something to Meditate On...

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11

"The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best."
-Oswald Chambers

So this is something I was thinking about all day today. It's funny that I have read My Utmost for His Highest every day for like 10 years at least now....but this morning the quote above struck me. I sort of laughed to myself that it didn't hit me what significance this has last year, or any other year for that matter. It seems I have always been so quick to settle for just "good" in my life (and sometimes for less than that!). Maybe I didn't have the faith before to believe that the Lord would actually bless me with something that would be considered "the best".

This past year and a half has taught me so much. God doesn't want us to just settle for "good". Whether that is settling for a person, or a place or a job or whatever. He wants the BEST for us!

Amy Carmichael said,
"And after all, is there anything in all the world to be compared with the joy of doing His will? I know of no joy like it."

And I couldn't agree more.

God is truly amazing, and His plan for our lives if we would just be obedient to Him is the BEST. Why do we always feel the need to be in control of everything?

"A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps."
-Proverbs 16:9

Let Him direct your steps. He knows what He is doing.
;)

Rachel's Missionary Update - April 2009

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
and whose hope is the LORD.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
but its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Jeremiah 17:7-8



Hello!

I hope you are all doing well and that you all had a wonderful Easter and April! Spring has finally made it to Brasov!

Things have been very busy here in Brasov. I was completely blessed this month. The Lord has been opening so many doors for me here. I am loving my work with HFTN, my work at the hospital and my time with my older neighbor and the gypsy teen girls.

Romania celebrates Easter according to the Orthodox calendar. So our Easter was on April 19th. That morning the girls from HFTN and I delivered baskets of goodies for the staff and bags of gifts we had made the day before, to children who had to be in the hospital on Easter Day. The children’s gifts were made up of a toy or two, a stuffed animal and some candy. The toys and animals were donations we had received and it was wonderful to be able to bless the children with something to brighten their day as Easter is a really big deal here in Romania. We had enough gifts to be able to give out to all the children, not just the abandoned ones, but even ones with moms. Which was a small blessing to the moms who were in the hospital on Easter too!



Right when we were done with that, I rushed off to church for our Easter service. Then after church we shared in an Easter meal together as a church body. It was wonderful!




Then when I got home from church, around 8:30 at night, my sweet little neighbor, brought me over a full Romanian Easter meal! Complete with a candle and sweets! I was so shocked! And totally blessed. I am really thankful that the Lord has been opening that door for me to be able to spend more time with her. She is all alone and her daughter and grandchild don’t really ever visit. I actually even found out after the fact that her daughter didn’t visit on Easter! I was so sad!



So, the day after Easter, as I was walking home from my time at the hospital, my neighbor was sitting outside on the porch of the apartment building. She and I talked a bit and she invited me out for a walk to sort of “give me a tour” of our city! So we met up an hour later and walked around Brasov together for 2.5 hours! It was so wonderful! We talked, we stopped and sat a few times, and she gave me some really good info about the city. She only speaks Romanian which is really helping me learn more. I am so excited about this relationship, I have been praying for so long to be able to do something with the elderly and the Lord has really opened up this opportunity!

Things are going amazing at the hospital as well. My time with the Play Therapist, Cami and the children has been great. Cami is always telling EVERYONE how much she appreciates having me! It is wonderful. I could not be more blessed to be working with her and those dear children and teens.

HFTN had our monthly meeting with our teen girls from the local gypsy village as well. We dyed Easter eggs together and went out to eat at McDonald’s. After we walked around the city. Some of the girls had not been actually out around our city, since their village is about 20 mins by car away from us and they don’t have a car. So it was fun for them to do just “normal teen” stuff with us. Our relationships with them are growing slowly. It’s hard not knowing more Romanian, but I have really been learning a lot more lately between my time with my neighbor and my time at the hospital.





I have also been really blessed by the weekly prayer meeting some of us in HFTN have together. We have a short time of worship and then we pray together. It really is a great time of fellowship and unity.



Overall I would say this month was so amazing! More than I had ever hoped for. The Lord really knew what He was doing by sending me here to work in Brasov and I’m thankful that He allowed the chain of events that led me here. I have made some wonderful friends and feel as though I have been here for years.

A group of us had a lovely picnic up in the Transylvanian Mountains overlooking Brasov for our friend Mary’s Birthday. The scenery here in Romania is truly amazing! What a creative God we serve to have made such a beautiful place!



Please keep the month of May in your prayers. It will be busy as well! And I’m very excited because my sister and brother-in-law will be visiting me for a week! My first guests at my new apartment! It will be great to have them here.

Speaking of my new apartment, I have promised photos and I finally have them! My new apartment address is:

Str. Bisericii Romane Nr. 111
Bl. 1, Sc. B, Et. 1, Ap. 5
Brasov, 500068
Romania

I live on Romanian Churches Street, isn’t that cool?!





Well I hope and pray you all had an amazing month as well!

Grace and Peace,
Rachel

Prayer Requests:
•Month of May in general
•My sister and brother-in-law visiting
•Time in the hospital
•Getting paperwork together to visit other institutions with abandoned disabled children
•God’s continued protection, provision and guidance
•The Lord would continue to grow the relationships here that have been built
•The gypsy girls we are working with
•The children and staff at the hospital
•For Brasov and the wonderful people of this city

Rache's Missionary Update - March 2009

“…'for I was hungry and you gave Me food;
I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you visited Me;
I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying,
‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You,
or thirsty and give You drink?
When did we see You a stranger and take You in,
or naked and clothe You?
Or when did we see You sick,
or in prison, and come to You?’
And the King will answer and say to them,
‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it
to one of the least of these My brethren,
you did it to Me.’”
-Matthew 25:35 - 40






Greetings from Brasov!

It has been a great month. This was my first month living in Brasov. I feel like I have already been here for a long time, and I mean that in the best way possible. It feels like I am “home”. I am totally surrounded by great people and a beautiful city. I feel totally blessed to be here.

My first month has been full of a lot of snow and getting settled.



I spent a lot of time working in the local hospital. The first week of March is when Romanians celebrate the coming of Spring and Women’s Day. March 1st is known as Martisor and March 8th is Women’s Day. On Martisor women and girls receive gifts with red and white ribbon or string celebrating the end of winter and the beginning of spring. (Although we haven’t really seen much of spring here yet!) And on March 8th gifts are given to women and mom’s to celebrate them! I was able to get a small gift for landlady and the women I work with at Hope for the Nations (HFTN). They sell cute little things for like 25 cents you can buy and wear.

I also have a sweet little neighbor. She is older, and for those of you who have spoken to me, you know my heart for the elderly here in Romania. I am so excited to have an older neighbor. She tells me “Think of me as your mama”. It’s sweet and she is very helpful. She is also very lonely and visits me often! It’s sad and sweet, I think she tries to think up reasons to stop over. Well, I was able to make her a cute little cup of flowers (she LOVES plants) for Women’s Day. She totally loved the gift. When I stopped by her place yesterday she showed me the flowers I had given her and how she had re-potted them. She is difficult to understand and speaks really fast, but I pray that just seeing her for a few minutes, and letting her talk and sharing a smile with her blesses her.



In the hospital I work in the neurological unit with children and teens who are mentally and physically disabled, as well as some who have epilepsy and even some teens with emotional problems who have tried to commit suicide. I work along side of a Romanian Play Therapist named Cami. She is wonderful! I truly enjoy my time with her. I think we are both learning a lot from each other.

I spend most of my time in the play therapy room, where the children come in and we work with them. We do a lot of art projects with those who are able, and motor function skills with those who are more disabled. We work on puzzles, play music and do some exercises with the children. With the older children and teens we play games and talk to them about life. I am amazed, I feel like I know so little Romanian and yet I seem to be able to communicate really well with the kids. Not as well as I would like, I keep praying that I will totally grow in my language skills. I want to be able to have a real “deep conversation” with these kids about the Lord or life in general, but I just don’t know the words yet to do so.



We do have a lovely time with the children. It’s sad for the ones who are old enough to realize that their parents are not with them. The other day I was trying to color with a little girl who just couldn’t focus, she just kept crying for her mom. It broke my heart.

We also work with children who are disabled. Some of them have autism, or other disabilities and can be very aggressive with themselves or with others. It can be challenging, but it is never boring! I am always exhausted when I leave, but I leave with a smile on my face.




It is a little different in the hospital here in Brasov, in that the children I work with don’t live here at the hospital. Although a lot of them are with us for at least a week at a time, and others come in and out often from the institutions they live in. It is always wonderful to see some children, and how their faces light up when they see me walk in. It makes my day.



It is also heartbreaking, to see signs of neglect in so many of the children from institutions that I work with. I am praying about volunteering some of my time in an actual institution where these children live. I have to find out from Social Services if this is possible and how to go about doing it.

A few mornings a week on the floors of the hospital with the babies who don’t have mom’s. They are all abandoned in the sense that they don’t have mothers with them at the hospital but not all of them are without families completely. Some just have too many siblings at home and the mothers can’t take time to stay at the hospital with them. It’s nice having time with the little ones, who just want someone to hold them and love them. We change their diapers and even leave diapers for the nurses to use to change them when we are not there.

This month I also was able to participate with HFTN, in having a craft day with some young teens from the local gypsy village. It was so much fun! I guess we work with them once a month, so this was my first time joining in! It was great, and another fun way for me to use and grow in my “language skills”.





I have been talking with a local missionary about going out to the women’s prison right outside of town. She goes there once a week for a Bible study. I hope to be able to join her as soon as we get the paperwork done. I think it will be a great experience!

I have also been attending the local Calvary Chapel here on Sunday’s and on Thursday nights some of us from HFTN get together for prayer and worship. It’s been so refreshing to be among such a good group of people.

I feel like I could write on and on about how blessed I am to be living and working here. I can see how working in Bucharest and Oradea and my language training in Timisoara have all led to my being here and the work I’m doing now. The Lord is so good at guiding us. I’m reminded of a verse that the Lord gave me when I first moved to Romania.

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

The Lord truly has guided me. It’s funny to look back at my time here and to see how the Lord has guided me. I have to admit His plans are so much better than my own and I’m just thankful to be obedient to Him.

I hope you all are doing great!

Grace and Peace,
Rachel




PS – I know I said I would include pictures of my apartment in this letter, but I only got around to taking pictures of my living room. I will send some new pics soon! Sorry about that!

Happy Easter! Paste Fericit!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
-1 Peter 1:3


I hope you all have a very blessed Easter!

Isus a Inviat! Jesus has Risen!

Grace and Peace,
Rachel

This is the perfect song for Easter! Enjoy!