“I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed myself and quieted my ambitions. I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (Psalm 131:1-2, TNIV).
Dear Friends and Family,
Rachel and I are finding ourselves slowly settling into a rhythm after coming back to Moldova about two weeks ago (I write this on February 15). It was especially hard to say goodbye to our families this time around, but it was also reassuring for us to be reminded of how much love and support we have back in the States. Thank you to all of you for your interest in our work and lives and for your continual support and encouragement.
Our after-school program has been going well over the past few weeks. There are a few new boys who are coming to the Pinocchio group, a group for children with needs that aren’t able to be met well in a traditional environment. I have been enjoying my time with this group, in particular the weekly art projects that seem to inspire all sorts of interesting conversation. I also continue to tutor C., a 5th grade boy, each day, and plan on adding an additional daily hour with him in order to make the most of the time we have together.
In addition to being with the 4th and 6th grade class twice a week, Rachel is starting a new group with two teenage girls twice a week. As she seeks to develop a deeper relationship with each of them, they will be working on basic sewing and hand-made crafts together. Pray for Rachel as she continues to explore her role at La VIA and the way her skills and gifting, especially her passion for women and families, could match her job description.
Another new direction in our work with the children and their families is that we have started renting an apartment for the father of two boys who have been a part of our program from the beginning. He was living in an abandoned house in a village without any heat, and as we heard the prayers of the boys for their father to have a warm place to stay, we decided that something needed to be done. We helped him move into this apartment last week, and the smiles on the boys’ faces were priceless. They have also been staying with him there at night but are eating their meals at the boarding school.
As we pray about the future of our organization, we are beginning to wonder if this type of care is a direction in which we should be moving. Sometimes we have visions of not only an apartment, but an entire multi-purpose facility that would be a resource for socially-vulnerable children and their families. It could be a temporary living space for those in need, it could be a place where we offer family support and education and it could be a safe place of healing for us all. Obviously we are nowhere near having such a facility, but the small step we’ve taken in providing an apartment for one family is inspiring us to dream bigger. Our next step might be to allow some of the boys who live at the boarding school full-time and have no family to stay in this apartment on the weekends in order to be in a warm and nurturing environment for a few days. But for this, we need more staff, something for which we continue to hope and pray.
In other news, a servant team of five girls will be arriving from the States at the beginning of March and will be with us for just over three months. They will be spending their time learning language, studying spiritual formation materials and volunteering at the after-school program and in other capacities for our organization. A big focus of their time is on vocational discernment, so please say a prayer for them as they consider their potential future involvement in cross-cultural work among our friends who are poor.
I want to leave you with the words of Psalm 131 that I quoted at the beginning of this letter. “I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed myself and quieted my ambitions. I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (Psalm 131:1-2, TNIV). There are so many days here in Moldova in which I concern myself with matters too great for myself, in which I allow the gnawing anxiety to creep in, in which I try to understand what is best for our kids and in which I desperately try to discern where and how we are to move into the future. But I am beginning to realize that I need to learn to let myself be held and to stop all of my considering, even for a moment. And so may you, too, take a moment to pause, to calm yourself and to simply become aware of how gently you are being held.
With love,
John & Rachel
A fundraising update:
After our gathering on January 7, we have received pledges of almost $6,000 in one-time gifts and monthly commitments for 2012 in addition to the monthly support we were already receiving. For those of you who were not at the gathering, we communicated our goal of raising an additional $10,000 in 2012 to help support the work we are doing in Moldova. Specifically, these additional funds would go to help pay the salaries of our two Moldovan interns whom we plan on hiring in the coming months. These interns have invested so much in our kids and in our organization, and we want to be prepared to appropriately invest in them in return. This extra money would also go toward supporting our after-school program, including supplies, healthy snacks, medicine and educational materials. In order to meet our goal, we need 13 more people to commit to giving $25 per month over the next year. If you would like to partner with us in this way, please designate “John & Rachel Koon” on the enclosed reply form under “staff support.” Also, I have included an automated deduction form if you would like to have your checking account automatically deducted each month. And finally, for those of you who would like to see a detailed breakdown of our 2012 budget, please email me (john.koon@wordmadeflesh.org), and I would be happy to send you a copy.