Dear Friends and Family,
I write this letter to some of you as old and dear friends, but most of you, whom I have not yet met, are old and dear friends of John. Thank you for welcoming me into your lives as John’s wife. The purpose of me writing to you this month is to introduce myself and what I will be doing as an intern with Word Made Flesh in Moldova. At least that was my intention and I will get to that, but even at the beginning of this journey I have already begun to process quite a lot. Please come alongside me as I share with you.
On February 1, John and I watched a documentary entitled ‘Children Underground.’ It depicts lives of a few children who make their homes on the street in Romania in the late 1990’s. Please take some time to watch this movie if you can. (For those of you in Columbus, it is available to borrow through the Columbus Metropolitan Library system). It is a shockingly clear picture of what life was like then for children and what we see the lasting effects of in former communist countries. The families we are introduced to in this documentary are not unlike the families of the children we work among in Moldova. I watched this documentary knowing these children were a similar age to me and thinking how radically different our upbringings were. I found myself wondering where they are and what their lives are like now; praying they are not as I fear they might be. I wept when I saw these children and their abandonment, their fleeing from abusive homes, saw how they became addicted to sniffing paint. My heart surged because I desire for these children to be protected, known and loved. That is true of all of us though, isn’t it? But our lives are less ugly, with less severe examples of abandonment, addictions and feeling unloved.
Please pray for my heart–it is quite tender–as I dig deeply into suffering in this world. Pray that I would not be shielded from pain and suffering, but that as a follower of Jesus I am able to engage suffering and see Jesus in this place and in these children. Pray that I would know Him more deeply and that I would be a vessel of bringing His Kingdom more on Earth. Pray that I choose not to ignore what is hard about this transition to Moldova, but that I seek God daily in it. You can also thank God for giving me John. God is using John and this new phase of life so that I might know and follow Him. Being in Moldova and working for an organization like Word Made Flesh is something that I have seen as a possibility in my life long before John, and God was gracious enough to use John to get me there. I fear I may never have made this choice on my own. It’s the cowardice in me.
As I begin this internship, my role will be to learn language and culture. I will go to the office with John almost daily and attend staff meetings. I will help out at the after-school program regularly and begin to get to know the children. Luckily, a huge part of my internship is reading, praying and reflecting. I will have a lot to process through and I am reading quite a few books to help facilitate this. In this time, in these books and in prayer I will begin to more deeply discern my calling in life and with Word Made Flesh. I am looking forward to reading the words of followers of Jesus and taking time to look at what is inside of me, ask questions, and enter more deeply into what God has for me in this life.
Along with this prayer and reflection and time of discernment, I will be seeking out what my role could look like with Word Made Flesh should I choose to join staff at the close of my internship in October. I am a Licensed Social Worker in the State of Ohio and have been working with women, children and families in the areas of pregnancy and childhood growth and development. I am also a certified educator in HIV/AIDS. I believe my deep passion for families, women and children, health and wholeness will fit beautifully into what the community in Moldova is seeking to do among the children with whom they are already working.
Thank you for journeying with John and me, for loving and supporting us. To those of you who know and love John, thank you for welcoming me into your life with open arms and for loving him so well his whole life. Thank you for your support of him; I’m grateful for you.
With love,
Rachel Hook Koon
Some notes from John….
- Rachel and I are doing well in Columbus. We’re staying busy and enjoying time with friends and family as we anticipate our April 14 departure to Moldova.
- For those of you in central Ohio, keep your eyes open for an invitation to a goodbye gathering at the beginning of April.
- Things in Moldova are going well as our team continues to run the after-school program. This month, we gained access to one more room in the orphanage (totaling 4!) so that we are able to expand our activity. We also now have a consistent group of volunteers that are especially helpful in tutoring children on their homework.
- The name of our local organization, LaVIA, has been officially accepted, and we are in the process of finalizing our constitution and by-laws. Please continue to pray as we begin discussions about our local vision, values, roles and responsibilities.