Dear Friends,
Thank you for praying for our week away at camp with the kids. Although the weather forecast was for rain, it only sprinkled on our way to camp and on our last morning there. Otherwise, it was a perfect, sunny week. As usual on the evening before camp, the kids came to the Center, showered, played games, and watched the movie Prince of Egypt, which was appropriate to our camp theme of Moses and the Ten Commandments. The kids then spent the night in our homes. I was a little afraid that they would be too excited to fall asleep, but I found out that a few of them couldn’t sleep the night before because they were too excited. So, they fell asleep quickly! And we continued with the strategy of wearing them out throughout camp. We packed each day full of activities: games, skits, worship, Bible studies and hikes. Some of the younger kids just ran around in big circles, taking advantage of all the green space. And they all slept well at night…maybe too well. On two nights I awoke to find a boy with his blanket in his arms, wandering around the room. I told him to get back in his bed. The next morning he had no recollection of it. It turned out that he is a sleepwalker.
We prayed that God would speak to each child about God’s heart and desires for each child, and I think that each of them was touched in a certain way. We also prayed that our relationships with them would deepen, which also happened. We continue to pray that God would continue to speak to them, to heal them and to bring them to Himself.
Last week we were happy to witness Fani’s (one of our Romanian staff) marriage to Lili (the sister of another Romanian staff). It was a celebratory day of which we were glad to be a part. It was the third wedding in our community this year. So, we suddenly find ourselves with only a couple of single people. While we welcome the maturing of our community, we also are aware that these changes and transitions affect everyone. So, we continue to ask God for grace in following Him and allowing Him to work His will in us.
We are now in the first week of school. We have been busy figuring out which children will participate in the Center’s program, the school schedules of each child, and what our activities will look like. Please do pray that we would have wisdom and the Spirit’s anointing in our plans and decisions.
I also want to tell you that I am planning on coming to the States the latter part of October. Lenutsa won’t be traveling with me this time as we are planning another trip next summer. I do hope to meet with you if possible.
I do want to thank you for your commitment to pray for us and for the children. We live and serve in the light of your intercession and support. Often, we are asked by Romanian friends and visitors about how we are faring in the midst of a global economic crisis. I can’t help but think back to the Y2K upheaval that agitated the United States as January 1, 2000 approached. Then, our Romanian friends made many jokes about how their entire society would be unaffected by the computer virus. There just weren’t that many institutions dependent on computer technology for Romania to be affected. But it is interesting to see how things have so quickly changed. With the failing economies and U.S. led recession, Romania has not responded with jokes but with fear. Romanian banks that are now owned by foreign investors are pulling out their money; multinational corporations are laying off their workers; Romanian export businesses are reducing their staff and outputs.
But when I am asked how we are affected by the global crisis, I find it awkward to answer. The short answer is, “Yes, of course we are affected.” We have friends in Romania who have defaulted on their loans and lost their homes. And we have friends in the U.S. in the same situation. We grieve with them and try to come alongside them.
But the long answer is a bit different, “Yes, we are affected, but this crisis is not new.” Because we intentionally serve among the poor, we are constantly among an economic crisis. Some are jobless. Some have no homes. Some do not have the means to meet their basic needs. Sadly, many have ignored this economic crisis or grown used to it. Although there have been those who sacrificially invest in transforming the realities of poverty, there has not been a concerted global effort to “bailout” the impoverished – something to compare to the international banking and industry bailouts.
The long answer also insists that the present economic crisis is not a surprise. Analysts in the mass-media insisted up until this last year that the economy is robust, like the false prophets in Israel that saying, “Peace, peace; but there is no peace.” Signs of unsustainability and increased economic disparity were identified but often hushed or rejected.
Now, when incomes and buying power have dropped and insecurity has risen, we may, in a small way, identify with the poor. Of course, we have many more assets, advantages, and access that our friends do not have, but we can sense something of their daily uncertainties.
The poor are dependent on generosity. It might be half-hearted generosity: when one who gives alms but is more interested in their own souls than the lives of the recipients. It might be the dilapidated and almost uninhabitable buildings that are allocated as social housing by the local government. It might be the loan of a friend to pay a bill or the simple sharing of a meal. This is how many of our friends live.
As we move out to this precarious place of dependency, we also find ourselves dependent on generosity. We have never been supported financially by super wealthy people, but by the small and faithful gifts of friends living sacrificially. We have always prayed that our ministry would not be based on the “excess” of western wealth or the “ability” to give during economic booms. Rather, we have committed ourselves to living on the precarious margins of generosity – the place where giving and receiving, sacrifice and joy, hardship and friendship meet. In a society that thinks of “philanthropy” as an option during good times, your enduring friendship has become something counter-cultural and something prophetic about the nature of the kingdom of God.
Recently, I was studying the early church in the book of Acts. It says that they shared their possessions in common (Acts 2 and 4). Sometimes this is held up as an ideal of the church. Sometimes it is seen as a result of revival and the in-filling of the Spirit. While these may be true in part, the primary motivation for the church’s sharing was not that some had a surplus and others were without. Rather, the primary reason for sharing was because they understood themselves to be a newly configured community – a people that they previously were not. Through Jesus, they knew they were now a liberated people. And as a liberated people, they expected the promises of God for His people to be fulfilled. Thus, God’s promises for the covenanted people in Deuteronomy 15 are for there to be “no poor,” and that is the reality of the early church. The sharing of possessions by Christians witnessed to Jesus’ resurrection. Their actions testify to Jesus’ present reign in the world and in the church. God’s people act counter-culturally because they know that they can trust and will be vindicated by the One who has already raised Jesus from the dead.
When we move out to the precarious margins, we also find that it is here that we meet with God. He calls us to the place of dependency so that we can affirm that our life is sustained by Him. He gives us our daily bread as He feeds the sparrows. He clothes us as He clothes the fields with flowers. What can compare to such radiant glory?
We consider it an honor to radiate God’s glory with you.
Yours in Christ,
david and lenutsa