“Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”
Psalm 143:8
Dear friend,
Trying to think of highlights to share from this month is overwhelming because it seems there have been so many. I also want to give some updates on things I’ve shared in letters earlier this year.
First, I want to share about M. and her baby boy who was born on May 13. They were admitted into a shelter for pregnant women in crisis, and seem to have adapted very well. M. is adamant about keeping her baby and takes measures to keep him clean and well-fed. The concern now is that she learn to be a mother that meets more than just his physical needs. Continue to pray for her and her son.
We welcomed another baby into the world during the first week of September, this time a baby girl. Pray for V. as she lives at home and learns how to care for her baby.
We have another teenage girl expecting to give birth soon, which will make three births in the space of six months! Several of us have gathered together in prayer and have felt led to visit these young mothers on a regular basis with the hope to eventually begin a young mothers group that will meet once a month, possibly more often depending on how things unfold. Pray for us in this.
One of our staff, Audra McAvaddy, is also expecting a baby girl soon, due on November 8. We found a clinic that will allow her husband, Ron, to be present at the birth and doesn’t require bribes… but it’s in a city five hours away by train. I plan to join the McAvaddy family for the weeks immediately before and after Audra’s delivery to help care for the McAvaddy boys, Gavin, 4, and Avery, 2. Pray that all will go smoothly.
As for my housing situation in Galati, many have expressed concern about the lack of stability this year, and I recognize that it has been a source of stress for me. I’m not sure how to explain this any better except than that God has me on a journey, He’s stripping me of security and pushing me to my limit, and my only response can be to trust Him. The issue is not that I cannot move into a place of my own and set up my own little independent life. The issue is that God is showing me the irreplaceable value of family and asking me to stay in it and learn dependence, on Him and on others. Please pray for me as I continue to trust and seek to follow God’s direction. And pray for the other members of my host family: Ana, her parents Petrica and Anisora, her siblings Cristi, Bogdan, Antonel, Larissa, Mihaela and her nephew, Gabi.
On September 6, I renewed my covenant of service with the other WMF Romania staff. As we sat in a circle on the floor of our chapel, eighteen members of the community recited in unison,
“Through the faithfulness of God to His promises, we choose to make a covenant with you to pray for you in faith, to serve with you in hope, and to support you in love; we make a covenant with you to reflect the Triune God in community through relationships of mutual submission, to live in humility that others may be delivered from humiliation, to live simply so that others may simply live, to recognize our personal brokenness that the broken may be healed, to suffer with one another as a sign of God s presence in a hurting world, and to walk together in intimacy and obedience with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in your service to Him among the poorest and weakest.”
This was a special time of affirmation and encouragement. Pray for me as I walk into this season of service.
We have recently begun visiting “Modern Shopping Mall”, an area in the center of town where many young children spend their free time begging outside the entrance to this shopping complex. We have begun simply by prayer walking in the area and getting to know the children’s names. Pray for God’s direction as we interact with these children, intercede on their behalf, and believe that God has a promise of hope and a future for each one.
May God bless you and keep you.
Please send me a message to let me know how you’re doing and what I can be praying for.
Peace,
Rachel
Rachel.simons@wordmadeflesh.com
O.P. 6 C.P. 256
Galati, 800.760
Romania