“So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height,
for the people worked with all their heart.”
Nehemiah 4:6
Dear friends,
Happy spring! As you may have guessed, I have been eager for spring to arrive. In my letter that I wrote in February I quoted a Scripture passage from Song of Solomon: “See! The winter is passed…Flowers appear on the earth.” Little did I know that Romania's primavara (spring) would not arrive in Galati until closer to May! I was getting ahead of myself to quote “Flowers appear on the earth: the season of singing has come” back in February! But now I'm finally beginning to peel off the layers of clothing (although I still sleep at night with three blankets doubled over) and roll up my sleeves to get my hands dirty in the rich garden soil out under the sun.
During the past months I've written to you mostly about myself, reflections on various topics and prayer requests. This month I'd like to share more specifically about the work I'm involved with and how your financial giving contributes. To get an idea of how your gifts are used, I'll give you a quick snapshot of the ministry in Romania and what we're up to today.
The presence of WMF staff in Romania began in 1998 when David Chronic (Romania Field Director and Int'l Director of Community Development) came to live in Galati. Partnering with local Romanian believers, David began to develop relationships with street children through soccer games, singing, and meals and opened an apartment where street boys came to live with him and Lau Archip, a Romanian staff member. When I came to Romania for four months in 2000, my team spent most of our time outdoors with the kids playing soccer, card games, sharing meals and practicing our limited Romanian skills. At that time there was a tiny drop-in center (one room apartment) but my team spent little time there due to lack of space.
The purchase of a fairly large property in early 2001 sparked new growth in the community as the staff AND children came together to renovate this house broken down house into a functioning drop-in center. Affectionately known as Casa (The House), this property has become the locus of our activities and programs for children-at-risk over the past two years. We currently employ eight Romanian staff full-time, have eight foreign staff (including myself) and several Romanian volunteers. The 15-25 children that come to the House regularly are between the ages of 5 and 24. Some of the current activities include a medical clinic, a garden initiative (where kids plant vegetables and care for them, selling the produce to our cook), a healthy meal together at the lunch hour, daily art lessons, music, drama, homework tutoring for the school children, and two weeks of summer camp annually. Other functions of the House that we plan to implement once renovations are done include a chapel, woodworking shop, computer center, laundry machines, and swing set and see-saw. Currently, we are searching for another house or apartment to serve as a boys' home where Joel and Monica Klepac (with their baby, Simeon) plan to become house parents when they have found a suitable place and have sufficient funds.
I could write a lot more, but I believe this snapshot shows a basic sketch of the WMF ministry in Galati. If you have more questions, you are always free to write me (I never refuse mail!) Right now, my personal financial needs are being met by the generous support of my home church; therefore I encourage those who desire to give financially to prayerfully consider directing those gifts toward the WMF Romania Ministry Account rather than my personal staff account. This means that your gifts would not be used for my personal needs, but rather go directly to meet the needs of the children I serve, sustaining the growing ministry that we have here in Romania (our annual budget grew to $35,670 this year!). As a staff member, I have access to these funds for any of the activities I oversee and I regularly use funds from the Romania Ministry Account when I buy food for the street boys at soccer games three days a week.
If you'd like to participate in this ministry financially, designate your gift using the enclosed response card (not in the memo on a check) for WMF International Ministry in Romania. All gifts are tax deductible. There is also the option of Automatic Funds Transfer – for those interested, contact the US office (1-800-CRY-4-KIDS).
I'd like to close by sincerely thanking you who have been giving financially, praying for me, sending me letters and encouraging emails during the last eight months. The winter proved to be harder than I expected and I truly appreciated all the encouraging letters and prayers. I was reminded by many, “We were made for beauty!” and have made a promise to myself to always keep flowers in my room. I also took a four day trip to the mountains which proved to be very refreshing. Thanks for supporting me through that tough time.
Grace and peace,
Rachel in Romania
O.P. 6 C.P. 256
Galati, 6200
ROMANIA
rachel.simons@wordmadeflesh.com
PH# 00-40-236-494-938