"May you be blessed by the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth."
Psalm 115:15"
Hello Everyone,
August has been an eventful month. My “word of the month” for August has to be “blessed”. As I was thinking about what to write today I was almost overwhelmed with how blessed I was this month. The Lord is always so wonderful to take care of me and provide for me. I had found out some really hard news at the beginning of the month and I remember wondering how I was going to “make it through” August…but now that I look back, I can’t believe how much the Lord truly blessed me this month.
The first week of August, I went to Slobozia on the other side of Romania. We had a youth team out from Calvary Chapel WestGrove. The team was wonderful, I was so blessed by each of them. We did a lot of street witnessing, and visited an orphanage for older boys who were mentally handicap. I really enjoyed spending time with the youth from Calvary. Sharing with them what the Lord had been doing in my life and talking to a lot of them about their future and the great things the Lord has planned for them. I was also able to visit my missionary friends, Jenny and Marius who live in Slobozia, as well as fellowship with Pastor John LaBelle, which is always a blessing. I made some great friendships on that trip.
The next week I took a train with my missionary friend Kelly to Austria for the Calvary Chapel Missionary Conference there. What a great week! We had some excellent Calvary speakers, like Brian Broderson, Damian Kyle, Boy Coy and Todd Johnson. I was able to meet a lot of wonderful missionaries from around Europe and make some great connections. This week was also extra special for me, because, 9 years ago, after a trip to Romania I was supposed to go to this conference, but was unable to due to some circumstances at the time, and had always dreamed of being able to attend. While I was at the conference that week, I was reminded of how wonderful the Lord was, 9 years later, to bring me there, with Austria only being 2 countries over, it took less than a day by train to get there. It was truly a blessing.
The next week I spent working in the hospital with my babies. I met with a Calvary missionary from Arizona, her name is Dawn, she is wonderful! Dawn is an Occupational Therapist. She taught me some great exercises to do with the disabled children in the hospital. She was so knowledgeable, she also gave me some great play ideas to do with the children.
This past week, we had a team of 3 from Germany visiting. This was my first team to lead “all by myself”. I set up the week for us, and lead the way. It was so much fun, and the people on the team were total blessings. They brought a lot of great items for the children at the hospital, the orphanage, the gypsy village and the foster families. We had a great time visiting all of these places. We had some clubs for the teen girls from the orphanage. A cooking club where we made apple cinnamon pancakes, an art club where we made candles and an afternoon tea. All had a devotional element to them.
So now I look back at this month and I am truly blessed. I see the Lord’s hand on my life, as He is still helping me get through that difficult news I learned at the beginning of the month, AND blessing me more than I could have imagined.
Oh I have one more piece of good news! I found a really great deal on tickets and will be coming home to visit over the holidays! This will be my first trip back home to California in a over a year! I’m so excited to see everyone! I will let you know more details as the time gets closer, but I truly look forward to my time with my family, friends, and church families.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I know that your prayers have really been a vital part of my time here in Romania being as wonderful as it is.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all. Amen.”
2 Corinthians 13:14
Love,
Rachel
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