Salut!
I have not written an update in awhile because we have been busy with the holidays, but I have recorded a lot in my journals. I pray you have been feeling God’s presence and His leading, and that you all had a memorable Christmas. Soon, I will send out a Winter prayer letter which has what we did for Christmas here. But now, I will share a journal entry of one of the special days we had recently. I share it so you can keep it as a prayer request as we are working on this on our end. We are working on a team-up with another orphanage for a Saturday program in the city. The Baptist church has been involved with an orphanage in the city for about 3 years, and they put on a program like Awana every Saturday afternoon for two hours. I have been there twice so far to help, and we want the kids in our orphanage to help as well. We forsee some problems, but we are trusting God to lead the way. It has the potential to be really meaningful for the kids to form relationships there. Here is the journal entry:
Saturday Feb 2, 2013
Today we joined a program in the city at another orphanage. The Baptist church’s program is very good; the kids are used to it and look forward to it every Saturday. We had games: with a big parachute and ball, a relay race with sacks, musical chairs, a game to pop balloons on chairs, and a ball pelting kids running game at the end. We also had Bible lesson on Joshua 5-6, the story of Jericho, and afterwards we drew conclusions about the life of Joshua… he was a good leader. We also talked about the angel that came to speak to Joshua about the battle, and how we don’t see angels like that nowadays. God does, however, use certain people to transmit important messages like he used that angel, so we should be listening to the wise advice around us. I liked how the kids asked questions afterwards: “did the angel wear white clothes?” The Bible doesn’t say, but we know he had a sword! Then another kid, Claudiu, said “Ali Baba” was the brother of Moses when I asked who was the helper to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. The kids knew a few of the 10 commandments, and could answer questions like, “what job did God have for Joshua to do?” and “who was the leader before Joshua?” and “how many times were they supposed to march around the city?” So they absorbed a fair amount of material. Then we had snack of biscuits and juice and gave prizes for the games.
I had fun pitching in and doing stuff with them. I found my spot easily in this crowd because the Lord led me exactly where to help and interact. I started with introductions, and after our time together, now I have some things to go on the next time we get together. One of the kids I brought from Casa Ray, Antonio, said he made four friends, so I was proud of him for having the courage to talk to people and interact and that he enjoyed the time.
When we got home, I learned that Catalina (the staff member on the weekends) had a very smooth day, everything was calm! She had good helpers all around, and she didn’t have to put them to work. Alex worked hard outside, Petrica mopped the floor, and Radu was in the kitchen, along with all the others working at their regular chores. Multumesc Dumnezeu pt asta! (Thank you Lord for this!) I came home and we made a craft for something to do, a kind of reward for their hard work in their Saturday chores.
Continue to pray for this program in the city, that I can continue to help out, and that I can take kids from Casa Ray from time to time. Say a prayer of thanks for the work that has been started by the Baptist team. In other Saturdays, I know the program has also included worship, but our guitarist was unavailable, also craft, and helping with homework. The Baptist team tries to do things extracurricular as well, like helping the orphans shop for shoes, or going to the park, or a youth meeting in another town. Ask that the Lord leads us as we the new ones fit in and work there as well. Thank you!
Domnul sa te binecuvanteze! (The Lord bless you)
adventuresinromania 