Dear Friends and Family,
I (Rachel) write to you in mid-September during our third week back in Moldova. I have a bit more to tell you about the summer as well as about some of the changes that have taken place since we arrived back in Moldova.
This spring and summer, as a team and for our organization, we raised $16,000 for the upcoming 12 months. All in all, we are more than halfway to the $35,000 goal we set for ourselves in March. All of the money raised went to our organization, directly supporting the program with the kids and paying our Moldovan staff salaries. We are grateful for the funds raised and the extreme generosity of all of you who support us. THANK YOU.
We also want to thank those of you who continue to support John and me personally. While we raised money for our organization this summer, we continue to receive support from those of you who donate to our personal account monthly as a couple, which helps to pay our personal salary and other needs. Thank you. We were able to use only money from our personal account to cover this summer’s expenses in order to be able to direct as much money as possible to our organization’s benefit. Having done that, we have drained most of our reserves in our personal support account. Thank you sincerely for continuing your faithful support and also for considering helping us in a special way this month to recover our support account.
We enjoyed a PACKED summer, full of time with friends, family and supporters. We even enjoyed seeing a bit more of the fun cities we were able to visit. Please see Rachel’s blog: www.remaininmylove.blogspot.com and La VIA’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AOLaVIA for photos from this summer and from our staff retreat that we took the first week of September.
So what is in store for the fall? The kids began school on September 2nd, while the start of our program will be on September 16th. We arrived back to find that a number of children with whom we have worked have been reintegrated into their families or into foster families. We have fewer socially vulnerable children at our school now and more children who come from the surrounding neighborhood for school but who live at home.
Last year we worked with over 60 children. This year we intend to work with around 30, mostly all of whom have been a part of our program for two years already, and mainly with the children who live at the school or remain here all week. We intend to go deeper with these fewer children and also give ourselves more structure and order so that we are not overwhelmed by the large number of kids. Additionally, we will be strongly focusing on relationships with the children’s families this year so that we will be able to continue supporting them as the children are taken out of the school and placed into families.
Another change upon arriving back after the summer is that we found out that the space we have been using has been allotted to another organization that supports families and their children who have special behavior challenges. While the news was abrupt and in the middle of our program planning, we knew this was inevitable. However, we have been assured that we will be able to remain in this space until the end of this school year. We are also really looking forward to many potential partnership opportunities with this organization. Thankfully, we focused this summer on fundraising and have begun setting aside money towards a building fund whether it be used to purchase, rent or renovate a new space. We have relied on God’s beautiful provision for us up until this time and know that we will continue to be cared for. This is God’s work ultimately, not ours.
Prayer Requests:
- Energy and enthusiasm for this school year.
- Flexibility to be able to adapt well to the changes that have been made as well as to the changes that we know will come.
- Continued healthy communication as a staff. We have all struggled to adapt to changes but are learning to seek understanding and forgiveness readily. We’d LOVE for this to continue.
- Mariana, one of our Moldovan staff members, got married on August 30 to someone outside of our community. Please pray for their transition into marriage.
- We have ANOTHER wedding in our community on November 2. One of our North American staff members, Rahela (Rachel Simons), will be marrying Vitalie, our staff member from Ukraine. Pray for them as they transition into marriage as a couple and the changing dynamic that may have within our team.
- We are welcoming a new member, Doina, into our community. She will be a part-time paid intern for the next three months working as a medical assistant for the kids who come to the program. After this time, a decision will be made as to her employment as staff.
With deep love and gratitude,
Rachel & John