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