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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