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!
