“Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
I, the Lord, watch over it;
I water it continually.
I guard it day and night
so that no one may harm it.
In the days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will blossom
and fill all the world with fruit.”
Isaiah 27:2,3,6
Dear friends,
Last autumn I introduced you to a few of the youth I mentor and tutor each day. Currently, I meet with three students, ages 17,19 and 21. As part of our lessons, we've been working on increased reading speed and reading comprehension.
I picked up a children's Bible last week, read a one paragraph story with accompanying picture, and prompted them to answer the corresponding questions. Then I asked them to take turns doing the same. They know almost all the stories by heart, but the two girls especially enjoyed reading out loud because they can pretend to be a teacher as they read the questions and call on us by name to respond.
One of the questions about the garden of Eden asked us, “What is the most beautiful place you've ever seen?” The girls responded quickly:
“The botanical gardens.”
“The walkway down along the Danube River.” (Obviously they don't get
out of the city too much.)
We waited for C. as he carefully considered his answer and finally said, “The garden.”
“Oh. Well, which garden do you mean?” I asked, trying to clarify.
“The garden,” he repeated and pointed out the window, his eyes twinkling behind a large grin.
My eyes widened, “Our garden? Our garden is the most beautiful place you've ever seen?”
“Yes,” he confirmed, uncertain what our reaction would be. The girls just giggled, I smiled, and we continued with the lesson.
Now you have to understand that it's February as I write this letter, and our garden at the moment is nothing more than a whole lot of mud and stone dried up leaves. As for grass, we have a tiny patch beneath a few apple trees which was brought to life by careful planting and endless watering two summers ago. We also have some brittle rose bushes and a couple evergreens in the courtyard, but it's really not much to look at in the winter.
As I reflect on his answer, however, I realize that our garden represents more than just visual beauty for C. Our community center is the place he is learning about God's love for him. This is the place where he's learning to read, giving him hope to get a better job some day. This is the place he has found friends who ask him how he's doing. This is the place he can take a shower, get medical care, enjoy a hot meal and then ask for more. This is the place where he shares what's on his heart and prays for his alcoholic father to be healed.
So I am humbled, encouraged and blessed to know that God is working in our little garden here in Galati. We are planting seeds of life and hope, watering and letting God provide the growth. Thank you for joining us!
Some events to keep in prayer this month:
We have a new Servant Team of six. Jordan, Angelique, Annie, Caitlin, Mary-Margaret, and Laura join us until mid-June, so pray that their time with us will be fruitful in our lives and theirs. On March 21 my good friends Ana Maxim and Paul Rase will be married at Emanuel Church here in Galati. I'll help lead worship during the ceremony and look forward to celebrating this special day with them. March 23- April 2: I will be part of a team of 12 (including the Servant Team) boarding a bus to Moldova. We will live with a community of ten Christian families that have each adopted 8-10 children. If you do the math, that means there are approximately 100 children in this little community located just outside the capital city of Chisinau(Kee-shee-now). Pray that we will be a blessing to them as we help paint the school they are building, organize games and songs for the children, and seek to learn how we can serve them in the short time we are there. We will also visit a homeless ministry in downtown Chisinau as well as an orphanage.
May the Lord grant you to be “like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (Is. 58:12).
Peace and grace to each one,
Rachel Simons
P.S. One way that friends can support our staff is by donating frequent flyer miles. I will be doing more travel than usual this year, so if you have miles that you'd like to share, please contact me: rachel.simons@wordmadeflesh.com