Dearest Friends and Family,
I hope this letter finds you all well in the midst of a lovely autumn. I’d like to share with you some highlights from the past two months in which we have been actively running the program with the kids.
Since September we have raised over 4,800 MDL (370 USD) by selling handmade greeting cards and sewing items. We have been able to sell at the international church, the international school and the International Women’s Club of Moldova (IWCM). We are looking forward to another sale at the IWCM next week. Please pray for more opportunities for the children to share their voices and talent with the people of Chisinau.
Adriana, our executive director, has contacts at the Moldovan embassy in Spain, and they have requested 200 of our Christmas cards for this season. We have currently made over 115 and are thrilled to be able to have a place to sell these cards as well as share the voice, talent and work of some of the vulnerable children of Moldova in Spain.
Another opportunity we have been presented with, but not yet been promised, is to be able to sell our products at a very popular winter bazaar held here in Chisinau. Pray that this would work out and that we would be able to share the work of La VIA with a much larger audience.
We had the privilege of hosting seven of our children’s parents at a gathering at the end of October, welcoming them into our space, spending time with them and providing some food to them in hopes of blessing them in a small way. We look forward to our next gathering of parents; please pray more and more are able to come each time we gather.
We are now planning our Christmas celebration with the children that will take place at the school in mid-December. We are inviting all of the family members of the children in our program as well as teachers and the rest of the students who are enrolled in the school in which we work. Pray that this celebration would be another opportunity to gather together as a team, work together and encourage the kids to express their gifts, talents and personalities through song, skits and poems.
Please keep praying about finding a new space for our organization and program. We have a few leads and are praying for direction towards where we need to be.
Thank you to all of you who responded to our last prayer letter by giving when we shared with you about our support account status. We are so thankful for the sacrifices you make to support us, on top of the ways you already do, and are happy to say that our account is once again healthy. We have also made recent changes to better utilize what we have been given.
As this year comes to a close we’d like to share with you our projected 2014 budget of $35,000. This includes our salary, travel expenses, health insurance, administrative fees and development costs. If you would like a detailed breakdown of our budget, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Thank you again for your friendship and faithful support as we enter into this new year.
With gratitude,
Rachel and John