(view from the After School
Program building in the village)
Jesus said to them again, ’. . . As the Father has
sent Me, I also send you’ —John 20:21
Can you believe it is November?! Where has this year gone? I have only been in Romania for a little less
than 3 weeks, and yet it feels like I have been here for months….in a good
way. I know I would never have imagined
that I would be spending my last few months of 2014 in Romania, what a blessing
to be calling this beautiful country home once again. Truly when we trust in the Lord and let Him
lead us, our lives can be such adventures!
My first few weeks teaching my own children in the village
has been amazing. We always start off in
one big group with all the kids where we sing Christian songs and then have a
Bible story. It makes my heart so happy
to hear these children sing. We have no
music so it’s just our voices, and they sing so loud, they are not ashamed of
their voices and you can hear how much they love the songs.
Then we break up into 3 classrooms. I have 6 children at a time, and 12-18 kids a
day, because they are the ones who are the furthest behind the other children
in their classes and need the most attention and focus. I would say that at least 70% of the kids I
am working with have learning disabilities or are ADHD. I have my 2 hour class broken up into several
parts in order to help manage their short attention spans, while making the
most of being able to help them with their individual needs. I have a second grader for example who does
not even understand the concept of “plus” as in what is 2 + 2. I spent 20 minutes with him just trying to
help him understand simple addition, he couldn’t even show me on his fingers
what 2 + 2 meant. My poor kids. I love them so much already. I am so blessed, they came into my class super
rowdy and now are really well behaved in such a short time, I’m praying this
continues. I start each class reminding
them how special our class is and that it is a class for good, clean, nice,
beautiful children. We listen to
classical music while they eat their snack, and they know that if they want to
help me pass anything out, they have to be the ones sitting the quietest at
their desk. I can see that sometimes they
are about ready to jump out of their skins but they are trying so hard to be
good, so I always reward the effort.
After snack we work on homework and I have made up several “games” for
them to practice math once they are done with their homework.
One of my roles as the Project Coordinator for the After
School Program is to plan out the Monthly Calendar. I decided we should do a Word of the Month
that we will give the definition to and any synonyms. This word will be our “theme” for the
month. November is going to be “Thankfulness/Recunoștință”. I plan 1 Bible memory verse a week and 2
Bible lessons a week for the month that revolve around this theme. Then for the end of the month, I plan out the
craft that also reflects the word of the month and a Life Skill lesson for the
kids. I really enjoyed using the
planning/organizing part of me on this.
With the November calendar down, we will begin planning our Christmas
program for December!
One of my biggest prayer requests before I left and while I
have been here is for an apartment. It’s
so interesting how the Lord has different plans than what we have. I have not found a permanent place to stay
but the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to stay for a few months in a
400 year old house in the old city center.
The house has been renovated and it is beautiful. I will be staying while the owner will be in
the States. It really was completely the
Lord. I have been having friends call at
least 5 places a day and there has not been one place that is still available
by the time we called. Then out of
nowhere, another friend called and told me that they suggested me to their
friend Rinda, who had been looking for someone to stay in her place while she
is gone and manage “Rinda’s Room” the little apartment/room she rents out. I met with Rinda the other night and
everything went great. I am so excited
to be staying and to be the hostess for her place while she is away. I will not have to pay rent, but I will have
to pay utilities in the winter, which, could end up being as much as I would
pay for rent as the house is large and heating is really expensive here, so
prayerfully it won’t be too expensive. I
am looking forward to living so close to the main square of the city over
Christmas as it is decorated so beautifully, and I am happy to have this
opportunity to live in this area for a short time as it’s not where I want to
permanently live. It will be fun for the
few months though! Plus it is RIGH NEXT
to a Synagogue, and if you know anything about you know that I love Jewish
people and Synagogues! Every country I
go to, I try to visit the Synagogues in the cities I’m in. So… if you ever want to visit beautiful
Romania you should look up Rinda’s Room, by clicking HERE.
Her room is so beautiful and to have the opportunity to stay in a 400
year old home is such a treat! Plus the
price is great, it is usually only $30/night!
Plus if you come between the end of November and the end of February I
will be your hostess! What could be
better than that!?!?!
Anyway, I am still in limbo for housing right now. I just moved out of the first temporary place
I have been staying in, as there were some new girls arriving and I would have
had to move out onto the couch in the living room, and I go to sleep earlier
than the other 5 girls who are there, and I didn’t want to make it uncomfortable
for them. So I came here to Ioana’s
place, she is my colleague in the After School Program’s apartment. I really love Ioana and am really looking
forward to spending the next 20 days with her until Rinda leaves and then I move
again to her place. It is getting a
little tiring living out of a suitcase, but I’m trying to stay up beat! It will be 3 months of living out of a
suitcase by the time I get to Rinda’s place, and then I’ll have another 3
months at her place before I can finally fully unpack in my own apartment. Like I said, sometimes the Lord has totally
different plans than we do, but His plans are always the best! I love following Him on this adventure He is
leading me on!
Thank you for your prayers for my driving, I did practice and
the Lord brought it all back to me! I
still do not like driving here, it like driving with LA drivers, no patience at
all, and everyone is in a hurry when they are in their cars. Also the little things, like the traffic
circle and their stop lights are in a really strange place all the way on the
side, I have a hard time seeing them. Prayerfully
I will not have to drive too much if at all.
PRAYER REQUESTS!
Please continue to keep the After School Program in your
prayers and my two wonderful colleagues Juliana and Ioana, as well as all 117
of our kids! My prayer is for their
hearts to be changed by the Lord, and for this change to trickle out into their
homes and families. I will start my time
in the children’s hospital again on Friday mornings, on the
neurological/psychiatric floor with Cami in the play therapy room where I
worked before when I lived here. Please
keep Cami and all of the children I will come into contact with in your
prayers. Please pray for the Firm
Foundations team I work with, for unity and love and grace and wisdom in all
that we do. And just for the usual
stuff, for the Lord to continue to provide for me, for me to have my heart and
eyes open to His will, for wisdom for me, and for me to be a good Hostess for
Rinda’s Room, I want to meet and exceed what Rinda is expecting from me. Finally, my tooth doesn’t hurt anymore which
is a huge praise, but I would like prayers that eventually I won’t even notice
that it is there, in the sense that it will just feel normal, it sort of drives
me crazy that I still “notice” it in my mouth as being different or foreign or
something. Hope that makes sense!
I miss you all, thank you for your prayers and support! I love hearing from you!
(view the other direction from
the After School Program building looking away from the village)
Grace and Peace,
Rachel (or as my Romanians call me…Rahela)
If you are interested in supporting me and my work in Romania
financially, please click HERE.
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