March Update!

Hello friends and family! But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5-6 Happy late Easter!  I had planned on getting this letter out this past weekend but I just was not able to.  I hope you all had a blessed Easter celebrating with your loved ones.  As a Christian, I celebrate the resurrection of my Savior Jesus every day!  He is the reason I am so blessed to live the life I live.  His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, paid the price for my sins, so that I can live a life that abundant in Him! Romania will actually celebrate Easter on May 1st, so those of us "westerners" get 2 Easters! I love it! This past month....as is usual was very busy.  So I’ll try to be brief. After School Program Things are going great with my kids.  We had a moment with one of my favorites, Vasi, where we found out she had been missing school.  To be a part of the Program, the children must go to school.  As we are not a school, but a place to continue the education they are receiving from their school, to help them with homework, and to love on them and share the love of Jesus with them through Bible stories and singing.  So when we found out that Vasi was not going to school we had to find out why.  My Romanian colleague Lidia and I went to Vasi’s school one afternoon with her to talk with her teacher.  We walked with her from our Program to the school. All our kids were SO excited to see us at there school.  While we were there we stopped in and visited with the teacher who has all 6 of my afternoon kids and introduced ourselves (Lidia shares this class with me 2 days a week).  She was so nice!  We are trying to build more bridges with the school. But anyway, back to Vasi, so we met with Vasi’s teacher.  She explained that Vasi has not been coming to school and will probably have to repeat the 2nd grade because of the days she has missed and because she does not participate in class.  She went on to say that Vasi has no friends, she doesn’t talk at all in class, she doesn’t do her classwork and she is always in the back of the class with her head down.  My heart broke!  This is NOT the Vasi I know in my class!  In my class she sits in the front, in the middle, she is always answering ALL the questions, even the ones for that are for my 3rd graders, she does all the work I assign, she is always the one wanting to be at the front writing things on the board and she always has a smile on her face.  Sometimes she talks too much!  I don’t know what it is about this class or teacher that causes Vasi to be so sad and withdrawn.  We spoke with the teacher for probably 20 minutes, letting her know that we are here to support her and what she is teaching the kids and to let her know that we care about Vasi.  We explained a bit about Vasi’s background and how she is the only one of 11 children who goes to school.  How does a 2nd grader decide that she needs to go to school and then make sure that she does it?  The talk went well and I have seen Vasi showing up with more homework lately, so I can only hope this means she is attending school more regularly again.  One of her main problems was her younger siblings kept stealing her papers, notebooks, school books, school supplies and even her backpack and destroying them.  So we also spoke with the Town Hall to see if Vasi could leave her backpack there after school and pick it up each morning.  The reality is, Vasi wouldn’t be able to do homework at home anyway, and this ensures that her items are kept safe.  She does her homework with me every day and has not had anything else turn up destroyed or missing since she began leaving her backpack at the Town Hall. This is the second year Vasi has been with me in my class, I love her, and I have such high hopes for her little life!  Please keep her in your prayers, that she will continue to grow and learn and that she will continue to have a desire to go to school and to learn! Internship This past month we memorized some verses in the Internship that are so fitting for the Easter season. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9 My times of Bible Study and meetings with the Interns are in general highlights of my week.  We are almost done with our reading through On Being A Servant of God by Warren Wiersbe, and our talks have been going great regarding this amazing book.  We are also going through a series online by Tim Chaddick through Romans 12.  It has been so good!  There is just so much "gold" in that chapter of the Bible. Please keep the Internship Program in your prayers as we are going through some changes. I know God has a plan through this all and I'm excited to see how the next 3 months are going to play out! LIFE! Well, I had to make a quick trip out of the country for my Romanian Visa.  So the cheapest and fastest way out, turned out to be Rome, Italy!  I found round trip tickets for under $30!  And Rome is less than a 2 hour flight from me!  I couldn’t leave the country by train for less than 12 hours and $60!  Sarah and Izzy decided to join me.  I actually have been to Rome before and don’t really like the city that much, but the girls really wanted to go there, so I said I would take them.  (I had found tickets for the same price to Bologna, which was going to be my choice).  It was fun to show them around the city and to teach them a bit about the history there.  They went and did all the touristy stuff.  I didn’t have the money for any of that and had done some of it already before, so I would drop them off at the entrances to all of those places, like the Colosseum or the Vatican Museum and then I would go and just wander the city.  Going up to the parks and walking around and just taking pictures and enjoying my alone time.  We went away for a weekend and honestly, I was happy to be back. I now have all of my international paperwork complete!  I have my US Passport, my Dutch Passport and a Romanian Residency for FIVE years!!!!  I no longer need to have a Romanian Visa anymore.  To be able to not worry about having to leave the country ever year at a specific date anymore is wonderful, PLUS this 5 years Residency saves me from having to renew a 1 year visa each year, which saves me about $300-$400 a year, depending on the exchange rate at the time!  Amazing!  God has been so good and so faithful during this time.  I received my Romanian Residency, which I was able to get due to my Dutch Citizenship, almost one year exactly after I began the process to apply for my Dutch Citizenship.  I feel so international!  This past month all of us here have really dealt with bad health.  From the volunteers, to the missionaries, to the kids!  But the sun is starting to shine and spring is trying so hard to break through the winter!  Praying that this change of the seasons brings about better health for all of us! Prayer “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood…” Ephesians 6:12         Please keep me and my ministry here in Romania in your prayers!  The longer I am here the more I realize how much prayer is needed! If you would like more info on how you can support my ministry through prayer, please send me an email!   Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support over this past month.  Your notes of encouragement do not go unnoticed! grace and peace, Rachel

February Update

Hello my friends and family! I wanted to write you this month specifically about the Internship/Discipleship Program (FFRDP) that I started and manage here in Romania.  We are 6 months into the program for this year and it is so incredibly amazing to see how God is working in lives of my interns Izzy and Sarah.  They have truly grown so much in their relationship with God and have matured as young women.  Seeing their giving hearts as they work in the hospital with the sick babies and in the orphanage for disabled children is amazing.  They work very hard managing our volunteer apartment and our donations program.  Both of which are a lot of hard, tedious work, that is not as much fun as working with the kids, and yet they do it with a smile on their faces. I wanted to share a bit about what we do in the FFRDP because I am currently accepting applications for the 2016-2017 Program.  The program is for young ladies, between 18 and 27 who are really interested in being stretched and growing in their relationship with the Lord.  It is a time of being able to be involved in ministry about 30 hours a week while having accountability, discipleship and mentorship.  It’s not for everyone, but for the young lady who is ready to really grow in her walk with the Lord it is an amazing opportunity! "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations..." Matthew 28:19 Discipleship is the most important part of the program for me.  Seeing these young ladies grow in their relationship with God is what this year is all about.  This is done in a couple of ways.  Each week we meet for a time of Bible study, prayer and worship.  It is our ‘church’ time together, but it is also our prayer time where we are able to lift up each other and our needs.  We also pray for a different country around the world during this time that the name of Jesus would be known there and that hearts and lives would be transformed.  We usually watch a video from www.prayercast.com to help guide us in what to pray for.  Our Bible studies are watched online and are from teachers such Louie Giglio or Tim Chaddick.  The interns are required to take notes and at the end we discuss what stuck out to us. There is also homework!  The interns are reading through 3 books this year.  The Knowledge of the Holy by AW Tozer, On Being a Servant of God by Warrant W. Wiersbe and The Autobiography of George Muller.  Each week a certain number of chapters are assigned and homework in some form regarding the reading of those chapters is given.  Once a week we meet to go over our homework and discuss what we have read.  The books have really challenged the interns (and myself) to grow so much in our spiritual lives. On top of the book reading, we are on a schedule to read through the Bible in a year.  So each day we have a portion of Bible reading to do and devotional reading.  The idea of the Bible and devotional reading is not to have the “accomplishment” of reading through the Bible in a year, but to get the interns in the habit of daily Bible reading, of daily spending time with the Lord, seeking Him, and having a real relationship with Him.  In order to have a relationship with someone you need to spend time with them and that is the goal of this portion of the program. We also have a Friday Intern Day.  We spend all of Friday meeting together.  We begin our day with “checking the pulse” to see how everyone is doing personally and how things are going in the various programs the girls work in.  We go on to our Romanian lesson that I lead and then break for lunch.  After lunch we begin with a devotional that we take turns leading and a prayer.  This shifts us into the Discipleship and Mentorship part of the day.  During this time we review our homework and book reading, talk about anything that we have been learning in our Bible and devotional reading time during the week and go over any mentorship items that will encourage the girls in becoming mature young women in Christ.   An individual meeting with each intern takes place one time a month to check in on them on a personal level, offer specific mentorship and discipleship for what they are personally going through and to challenge them in how they can grow more.  This is a time of accountability and encouragement that can be offered only in this time of meeting one on one. The next main part of the program is ministry!  The girls spend about 30 hours, Monday - Thursday involved in various ministries with Firm Foundations Romania.  Izzy primarily spends half of her time at the orphanage for disabled children, while Sarah spends half of her time at the hospital with the sick babies.  They both manage our donations program, which helps sort the loads of donations we receive so they can be distributed for our various programs, and they also help manage our Volunteer Apartment.  Once a week they plan a gathering for our short term volunteers, and they do a monthly meeting with our teens!  They help from time to time in our Kids Club and After School Program in the village as well! This allows the girls to see what it is really like to live day to day as a missionary on the misson field.  They are a huge support and help to our ministries here! This month the girls came out to the Village with me where they helped with preparing the snacks and we washed the hands and feet of my kids.  It was a very dirty but fun experience for the kids! Some of the kids were a little shy and didn't want their feet cleaned so we washed their hands and cut their nails.  There was lots of laughing and we were blessed to help love on these kids in such a practical way. Once a month we do have a craft time just to be creative, and we have a monthly Internship Adventure, that allows us to explore our city and other parts of Romania.  I want the girls to have fun in the program and to fall in love more with the culture and people of this beautiful country.  These adventures (including my costs) are budgeted into the Program Fee the girls pay when they are accepted into the program.  We have had a lot of fun in our various adventures.  This month, the girls got all dressed up for Valentine’s Day and went to the Ballet! (I was unfortunately too sick and couldn’t make it.) The program is amazing, and the results are truly from the Lord!  Each month when we meet individually the interns and I just sit there in awe at what God has done in the last month and how much they are growing.  They are getting out what they are putting in and God is blessing their desire to take a year and truly focus on Him. If you know a young lady who might be interested in this program or would be a good fit for it, please forward on this email and the link to our website:  FFR Discipleship Program After School Program Of course I have to tell one quick story about my kids in the Village. This month the kids had a week off as it was the end of their semester. So I wanted to do some fun stuff with them.  We learned about continents which was sort of fun, but the most fun part was COCONUTS!  The kids had never seen a real coconut in person before and we have been talking about it since the beginning of the school year.  So finally the grocery store had some coconuts and what perfect timing with it being their week off and me not having to worry about homework! We began by reading a very short version of The Jungle Book (anytime I can read to them I do!)  I was joined my second class by my Romanian friend Lidia who read the story during this class, it's so nice to have a real Romanian read the story! I brought a coconut into my 2 classes.  I first had them feel in a bag without looking at it to describe what they felt.  I teased by boys that it was the head of a monkey. HA! It was pretty funny.  Then we took it out and looked at it, smelled it, described what we saw and felt.  We shook it so they could heard the water inside and then we poked a hole to drain out the water.  We first tasted the water and described that.  I was so impressed with how fearless most of my kids were to try it.  Even the couple that were timid at first, jumped in once everyone else had tried it.  Then I hammered it open and we described what we saw on the inside, the color and the smell.  I cut it up and everyone tried it.  They loved it!  We colored a picture of a coconut tree and wrote the different things we felt, saw and tasted underneath.  It was such a fun lesson, probably one of the most fun times I have had thus far with my kids.  I love sharing new experiences with them, letting them know there is a world out there of new exciting things they can explore someday! Prayer Please keep my health in your prayer, this has been a rough month for me, I have been pretty sick for at least half the month and am still not 100% better. I am applying for my residency visa this week, so prayers that it all goes smoothly. Prayers for the Lord to bring along the right young lady (ladies) for the Internship/Discipleship Program. My lease for my apartment is up at the end of March so I need to see if I will be staying in this apartment or moving…. Wisdom, as always!  And for everything! Much love, Rachel