Dear Friends,
It's been a few months since my last prayer letter. In March and April we spent more time away than in Galati. We traveled to England where we met with some friends that are great advocates for the children in Romania. We were able to share in a church one evening, meeting old friends and making new ones. While in England I was also able to visit the London Bible School where I am taking some correspondence courses.
From England we flew to Sri Lanka for the Word Made Flesh Directors' Forum. Lau, Vali, Lenutsa and I represented the Romania community. The leaders from every field and some of the board members represented their communities. We discussed the leadership structure, responsibilities, and inter-relationships for the development of WMF. I also led a few morning devotionals on incarnational ministry. The meetings were good and the scenery beautiful, but we most enjoyed just being together with everyone.
From Sri Lanka, Lenutsa and I traveled to Chennai, India to visit the WMF children's home and then onto Kolkata, India where we heard amazing stories about how God has been working to save and free the girls trapped in prostitution. The community there has been focusing on worship, relationships of integrity, and intercession. As a result, they have seen the Body of Christ respond from all over the world to work together in establishing a business that will offer alternative employment to the girls. The business is called Sari-Bari, offering vocational training in sewing blankets made from used saris. We pray that the business will flourish so that many women can be freed from the sex industry.
From Kolkata we flew to Kathmandu, Nepal. Upon arrival we saw soldiers smothering the airport. We bought a bus ticket into the city and saw platoons set up every 500 meters with sandbags and machine guns. After a short ride, the driver told us to get off. We then walked two miles through a dispersing crowd and street fires to the city center. We learned that there had just been an anti-imperial demonstration. The demonstrations were planned for the entire week. To counter the demonstrations, the king instituted a day-long curfew and gave his army the command to shoot on sight any violators. Over the next few days the protests continued and many were beaten with sticks and some were killed. We tried to get out before or after curfew a couple of times and witnessed some of the beatings. People were kept from working and therefore suffered during the curfew, but eventually the king gave in to the demands of the political parties. Now they are trying to re-establish democracy. In the midst of all the violence, the pastor that we met with said, “Bring it on! We need to be shaken up so that we turn to God.” Over the past months, the community in Nepal has seen a revival among the street children. They have come to church, given their lives to God, and been healed of their drug addictions. Now there is a home for the boys to come off the streets and grow in their new life in God.
On our way back to Romania, we stopped again in England and shared at the Easter service of one of our favorite churches. A week later we celebrated Easter again, as Romania follows the Orthodox calendar. On Holy Saturday we went with the rest of the country to the midnight liturgy. At midnight the candle comes out of the Holy of Holies and spreads from one candle to the next throughout the church courtyard. We all sang, “Christ is risen from the dead; walking from death on death; and giving life to those in the grave.” On Easter Sunday the children sang and acted out an Easter play for their parents. Then we all had a celebratory meal together.
The following day the whole community boarded a bus and we went to the mountains for our annual staff retreat. The retreat was both a hard and refreshing time where we were pressed closer to God and closer to one another. This year's theme was “identity in community.” Before the retreat we all read Henri Nouwen's book on Rembrandt's painting The Return of the Prodigal Son, which we found in Romanian. The book became the working motif for the retreat as we thought about our calling “to become the father.” Each morning we had a devotional on: personal identity, identity formation in children, identity and service, identity of men/women, and identity and the poor. Then each person went off for two hours of solitude and contemplation. After that we came back together to share what God spoke us. In the afternoon we had a time of games, relaxation and time together. We came together a few times a day for worship which flowed out of the Kyrie Eleison. In the evenings we had a time around the campfire to worship and to pray for one another.
On one evening Lau and Vali presented a PowerPoint on the history of Word Made Flesh Romania. The seeds of this work were planted in Chennai in the early 90's when Patrick and Victory prayed for Romania every Thursday. In 1996 I came to Romania and began to develop relationships with street children and children with HIV. In 2001 we established Word Made Flesh Romania as a legal foundation. So, 2006 was sort of a 10-year and a 5-year milestone for us.
After the retreat we welcomed Josh and Robin Fowler who came for a 2 week internship to discern their next steps in full time involvement with Word Made Flesh. Please pray for them as they take these steps!
At the same time, we also hosted some dear friends from England. They have welcomed us into their home on all of our visits to England. Now it was our turn to get them back. Actually, they are incredibly supportive of us and of the children we serve. Last year they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. As a gift, they were given a trip to Romania to visit the children for whom they pray and raise awareness. It was a delight to have them and to see them interact with the children.
In my last prayer letter I asked you to pray for the parents of the children because we are considering doing camp for them this summer. We have definitely decided to do this and are in the preparation stage. Please pray that the Spirit would work miraculously during this time away.
Please continue to pray for the boys on the streets. Since the weather has improved, they come less often to the Community Center and have little motivation to give up their addictions. They are heavy on our hearts, and we are pleading that Jesus would pluck them out of the streets.
We are currently in the process of looking for property to develop a job creation project. We are specifically looking to assist the older children and the parents. Please pray that we would be sensitive to the Father's leading.
Thank you for carrying us in your prayers.
In service of our King,
david and lenutsa