August Update Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. - Psalm 98:4 What a month August has been!  Each month I think “my life cannot possibly get any busier” and then it does! But God has been faithful to provide me the energy I need to complete the work that is placed in front of me.  I am always amazed and truly humbled at what He is accomplishing here in Brasov and that I am able to be a part of this work. The first week of August we had a wonderful team of 6 ladies from Kingwood Bible Church in Texas, who came out and hosted a VBS for our 1st-4th graders from the After School Program I work at in the village. It was hot, and there were a lot of kids, but these ladies put together a great program!  The kids loved the Bible stories, singing, crafts and games.  It was a fun week.  During their off time a few of the ladies also helped me as I had only 10 days in August to finish getting the Intern Apartment ready for the arrival of my interns.  They helped me with last minute cleaning and sewing some curtains and pillow cases from old duvet covers we had donated.  One of the ladies even bought some really pretty fabric for us to use as an accent for pillows and part of the curtains!  What a blessing it was!

The curtains with the beautiful accent fabric!

The next week I spent every single moment for almost 10 hours a day and more getting ready for the arrival of Firm Foundations Romania’s first set of Interns!  There was a lot to be done in the apartment and paperwork wise.  I had so much fun with last minute touches to brighten the apartment and make it feel like “home” for our brave ladies.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 On Monday, August 10th, my interns, Izzy from Michigan and Sarah from England, arrived! They were so sweet with how excited they were with everything in the apartment.  Their first week was an orientation week and it was filled with information about Firm Foundations Romania and their new “home” city of Brasov!  If you would like to read my FFR blog post about their first week, please click HERE.

Our second week together we all went to the village where the After School Program is and had a week of painting!  The building we use is wonderful, but the walls had become very damaged and the rooms needed some repair, a fresh coat of paint and some new life poured into them.  It was great for team building and such a blessing to us to have their help with the hard work!  If you would like to contribute towards the cost of the paint and supplies we bought you can go to our Gofundme page by clicking HERE.

We have had an amazing first three weeks together. Each week I lead the girls in Romanian language and cultural training, Biblical discipleship, prayer for each other and a different country each week, a time of worship, and Bible Study.  The girls are given homework assignments that we go through together, we have monthly “intern adventures” to areas around Brasov and Romania, and I have monthly individual meetings with the girls.  What an adventure it is to pour into their lives, to watch them be challenged and grow in their relationship with the Lord and for me to be so blessed along the way! It is a lot of work and preparation time each week, but I am so excited for what the Lord has in store for these beautiful ladies, and I would not want to trade this time in my life for anything.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 I have also been preparing for the After School Program which starts back up on Monday, August 31st.  Getting my classroom ready and preparing paperwork.

I would like to start a new program for our kids in the After School Program where we receive postcards from around the world, to begin to make them dream about life outside of their village, and to teach them geography!  I have a nice spot on my wall next to a giant map where I would like to post these post cards.  If you would like to send my kids a post card you can write them a note and send it to: Rachel Titiriga Firm Foundations Romania After School Program Strada Dealul De Jos 18A Brasov 500080 ROMANIA This is also my personal updated mailing address, I didn’t move, but this is a more trustworthy address for me to collect my mail. We had a great meeting this past Friday with the team. Praying together to lift up the new school year, the kids, the village and families there, the local government and schools we work with and to pray for each other as a team. Our meeting was a great one, just talking about our vision for the new school year and how, with the Lord’s help we can accomplish it.  We know that what we do with these children goes so far beyond education, it has the possibility of having long lasting and eternal benefits, as we share with them love and the good news of Jesus Christ!

“Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” – 1 Corinthians 4:2 Finally this past week, I took the advice of my leadership here and took a few days away in Sibiu, a city about 3 hours from where I live.  I was once again blessed to find an apartment to rent for the time for under $20 a day!  I did spend some time wandering the city which was lovely, but also really used the time to spend in prayer and listening to some great Bible studies.  I wanted to really seek the Lord for His wisdom which I know I so desperately need to lead the Internship and After School Programs this year. The theme the Lord kept bringing to me during my time in Sibiu was “stewardship”.  It was all about being a good and faithful steward of my time, gifts and abilities, and the Gospel and grace of God.  Living a life that is purposeful in what I do, intentional in what I say, and a good steward of what I have been given by God. I was thankful for my leadership encouraging me to take the time to do this.  It was much needed for my mental, spiritual and physical health, especially before the new school year begins!

“Every Christian at home should have some missionaries in the field for whom he is praying definitely, constantly, persistently, and intensely. The man or woman at home who prays often has as much to do with the effectiveness of the missionary on the field, and consequently with the results of his labors, as the missionary himself.”
-RA Torrey

Prayer Requests:

• To be healthy
• My Romanian language (I so want to be fluent!)
• Wisdom for managing the Internship and After School Programs
• My interns, Sarah and Izzy
• The staff and volunteers in the After School Program, Steffi, Lidia, Juliana and Silvana
• As always that the Lord would continue to provide for my needs

July Romania Update

My July Romania Update! “The people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the Lord!’ ” (Joshua 24:21). This is not an impulsive action, but a deliberate commitment. We tend to say, “But God could never have called me to this. I’m too unworthy. It can’t mean me.” It does mean you, and the more weak and feeble you are, the better. The person who is still relying and trusting in anything within himself is the last person to even come close to saying, “I will serve the Lord.” We say, “Oh, if only I really could believe!” The question is, “Will I believe?”.... - Oswald Chambers   This quote from My Utmost for His Highest daily devotional reading was one the Lord used a year ago to confirm to me that He had for me to move to Romania. It is incredible to me that it was a year ago already that I began planning for my move to this wonderful country.  And as I read this devotional again this year, I am reminded that it really is amazing that the Lord chooses to use me.  For I am weak, and feeble and unworthy.  But He doesn't “call the qualified, He qualifies the called”, and I am thankful for the work He is always doing in my life to help me grow and for all that He has done through me. My missionary prayer card my friend Lyrissa made me a year ago before my move! July has been an interesting month.  I feel like it was a very long month.  My 36th birthday was on July 9th, and that seems forever ago! I had a nice small little gathering with some of my friends here Brasov. That same week there was a team here from Calvary Chapel Treasure Valley in Boise, Idaho who put on a VBS for our After School Program kids in grades 1st through 4th.  The team did an awesome job and the kids really loved it.  They shared Bible stories, crafts, games and music.  The women spent a couple days working in the children’s hospital with us, and the men helped put some beds together and paint in my intern apartment, as well as laid some cement for a house in the Roma village we work in. While the younger kids were having VBS we also had an English Camp for our 5th-8th grades with this wonderful woman, Lyndsey.  She worked with our kids on learning English through songs, the Bible and games.  We are so thankful to the groups and volunteers that come through FFR during the year to bless our kids. The rest of the month the After School Program had off, but that did not mean in any way that I was not busy!  Actually I almost feel like I was even more busy than normal.  I helped our organization's president, Sarah, prepare for some speaking engagements she has in the US by helping with her speech and powerpoints. My main thing though this month has been preparing the apartment my interns will be moving into on the 10th of August!  It has been a lot of hard physical work.  I had a lot of painting to do, furniture to put together, rooms to organize, and a ton of cleaning.  The days have been very long but the apartment is looking really nice and I am so looking forward to this internship beginning!  I can’t wait to invest in these young ladies and to see what the Lord has in store for their lives.  After months of preparing the time has finally arrived to get this show on the road! I have also been doing a lot of prep work for the 2015-2016 After School Program year.  Trying to get ahead of the game this year to make things hopefully a little easier.  We learned a lot from this past year and had a really great meeting about where we want to see the program go this year. I did spend the day yesterday out with my missionary friend Dawn who is in town for work.  We went about 15 minutes by bus outside of the city I live in, to the fortified church in Harman.   It was little, but really cool.  It was also nice to get out and walk around and enjoy the cool German history of this part of Romania. Thank you all for your prayers and support and encouragement! Grace and Peace, Rachel Prayer Requests: Please keep me in prayer for my physical health, the long hours and physical work I have been doing is really catching up to me.  My CFS has been acting up a bit this month. Perseverance, I think with my having a rough month physically it is weighing on me emotionally. Prayers for my language learning.  The more I can learn, the better I will be at my job with the kids and the more personal/relationship ministry I will be able to do. Balance – As always, that the Lord will help me find balance in my life with all that is going on here.  There is much to do, but I need to remember to take on only what He gives me.  This has proven to be my hardest lesson here. Wisdom and guidance for being the Project Coordinator for the After School Program and the Internship Program. Praises! God’s constant provision and faithfulness. I really do stand in awe at how He takes care of me above and beyond my needs. Which increases my faith in Him everyday.