October 2008
Dear friends,
Thank you for praying during our September camp with 30 kids. During the week of camp God showed up in new and remarkable ways. I didn't feel ready to spend seven full days with all these youth and children, but that's where prayer came in and changed everything.
If the highlight of last year's camp was relationship building, this year the highlight was seeing a transparency and openness in relationships that allowed for special times of healing, comfort and growth in both staff and children. We closed each evening by hearing a staff member share their testimony, and later in the week, two of the teens shared their testimony of surrendering their lives to Christ. Please do pray that the seeds planted in this camp will take root and grow.
Many of our youth are now going through the crisis of adolescence. At school they are surrounded by pressure to cheat, steal, get into fights, gossip and worse. At home many of them are faced with overcrowded living spaces, alcoholic and abusive parents, or their parents are absent altogether. During the summer I noticed a new aggressiveness in many of them, through words and actions, which I believe is their means of survival. My hope and prayer is that the daily discipleship and mentoring they receive at the Community Center will give them an alternative to a life of organized crime or prostitution, a path that many of their peers and family members have fallen into.
I am also praying that God will pour out His Spirit in a new way among us. I saw this begin to happen at camp. And I see some of these youth eager to know God and understand His ways. As we are learning to become a community of worshipers, directing our gaze to Christ more often, praying for one another, and seeing God answer those prayers in concrete ways, I believe that these teens will be used by God in their families and schools and local community in a powerful way. Please pray for them and us in the intense battle we find ourselves in.
I am hoping to begin a girls' Bible Study in my home once a week for five or six of the teenage girls. I'm excited about this, but also a little worried that busy schedules and other pressures will keep them from coming. Pray that this will not be the case.
As the school year begins, I have returned to my role as teacher, friend and mentor to six young adults enrolled in a special school who come to the Community Center for four hours each day. Some of them have learning disabilities and personality disorders which I often feel under-qualified to address. But I am learning as I go, and encouraged to see their progress in spite of my lack of experience and knowledge.
Teaching Romanian is rather comical since I often have to stop and ask how to spell or write the words. Last year I learned how to write in cursive all over again because many of the letters, although the same Latin alphabet, are written differently in Romanian cursive than what I was taught in 3rd grade English. When I don't know the meaning of a word, things get even trickier. If they also don't know the meaning, we look for someone else to ask. If no one is available, we make a few good guesses and then just move on.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
If you'd like to hear from me by email let me know. In addition to this letter I also send periodic prayer requests by email. rachelingalati@gmail.com rachel.simons@wordmadeflesh.com
Peace in Christ,
Rachel