Dear Friends and Family,
Rachel and I are back in Chişinău after a 5-day staff retreat we spent in a village about an hour outside of the city. During our retreat we focused on a passage of Scripture from John 15 and had meditations each day on the topics of intimacy, obedience, joy and love. Each morning we had two hours of solitude for reflection, time that allowed both Rachel and me to focus and find our center again in the midst of transition. Overall, the time was life-giving for our entire team as it allowed us to relax, decompress and focus on our friendships with each other.
After our retreat we began moving to our new office location. Because our local organization, La VIA, is now officially registered, we needed to find a new office that met certain legal requirements. What we found is office space on the 11th floor of a building next to the boarding school where we run our after-school program. The location will provide a much better work space as well as a room that we can use as a prayer chapel.
During the month of July we will be spending time with some of the most vulnerable children from the boarding school. As many of you know, these children spend the summer at a state-run camp just outside of the city, and for those who have no relatives at all, this camp is their home for all three months. We will be spending intentional time with this group of children, hoping to deepen our relationships with them and to learn more of how we can be present to them. Please pray for us as we seek to know and recognize the presence of Jesus among them.
On a personal note, Rachel and I are doing well as we adjust and learn each day about being married and about our new life in Moldova. We continue to meet with a cross-cultural marriage counselor once a month and are trying to learn each day more of how to love each other well. We are enjoying the sunny Moldovan summer and the beautiful produce we buy at open air markets and are looking forward to painting our apartment walls sometime in the near future. Thank you all for your continual encouragement and support as we adjust. Your notes and phone calls mean so much.
I want to close with a quick note about our local needs here in Moldova. Because La VIA is now officially registered, we are hoping to begin hiring more Moldovan staff in the coming 6 months. For this, as well as for our new office rent and expanding program expenses, we need to begin finding more sustainable sources of funding, something we are looking for both locally and abroad. If you are interested in joining this effort, you can designate “Moldova” under ministry support on the enclosed response card. Also, if you are interested in seeing our detailed field budget, please contact me by email (john.koon@wordmadeflesh.org), and I can send you a copy. We are incredibly grateful for your support of our efforts.
With love,
R & J