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