Making History

Daniel Mercado- Project Romania Rescue, Cristi- PRR,
Heather & Alec Chalmers-Faru Chruch, Chris Klop-
YWAM, Therese Wiik- YWAM, Me- YWAM, "Vinci"-
Catholic Org., Irina- YWAM, Mirjam- YWAM (missing-
Tica & Adrian- Casa Sami)

Friday night was a night in history. In our apartment we joined with all of the Christian Street Children Workers in Constanta for a night of fellowship, food and just a chance to get to know eachother better and share about our desire to work together to see the lives of the street kids in Constanta changed. Up until now we have been helping eachother here and there and have had good relationships. My team leader Chris has been meeting with the leader of two of the organizations for prayer, but we felt that God wanted to see more in our city and we needed to be united with others who are all reaching for the same goal.

Everyone was into the meeting and they suggested meeting regularly which was our hope. Man, God is so cool. One of the directors said something that I think sums up the whole idea of meeting together: "Maybe if we keep meeting like this, about 2 years from now we will look back on Februrary 24th, 2006 and say, that was the day when all of our separate teams became one team." We all have our separate organizations and projects but being able to see ourselves as one team or all, fighting for the street kids of Constanta, is going to make a huge difference.

Something NEW!!!

Street Kid Alpha Group
Yeah! We are finally getting a Bible Study for the people from the street that are either coming to church or seem to want to know more about God. And it just so happened that our pastor's wife is in charge of Alpha, a program for people to get to know God, for all of Romania. So it was natural for us to decide to do an Alpha program with the Street people. If you aren't familiar with Alpha, it is an 11 week series of basic teaching from the Bible about Jesus and having faith in him for salvation and how to grow in knowing him. The people who come eat together, hear the teaching together and then discuss the teaching afterwards.

We hope that the kids will really be into it and really have a hunger to know God more. The greatest thing about this group is that our street ministry team is actually not leading it, but a young couple from our church is and the husband used to be a street kid himself. They are perfect for this and are really excited. Their names are Ion and Cocoa. And another young man, Cristi, who was also on the street for a while is also helping. We are so excited to be working with Romanians and especially Romanians with such a special heart for these people.

We will begin the group next Friday. This Friday night however we will be getting together with all of the Christians here in Constanta who are working with street kids. Our desire is to be more connected with one another, being more of a support to one another and being in unity as we all share God's heart for these people. We will have our team, the director of a boys home and the director of a girls home here in Constanta, a couple who just moved here recently from Wales to open a half-way house for guys over 18 on the street, the director from a day time drop in center for street kids, and the director of a large Catholic organization that has a Day Center, a boys and girls home, and other services to help street people. There are so many wonderful people serving in this city and it will be great to be together and get to know eachother better. I hope all is well with all of you. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog and for praying. Blessings to you all!

He hears our prayers...

Today I was SOOO encouraged. I came into our staff prayer meeting this morning to find them all praying prayers of faith and hope for our girls home. And after we prayed one of the leaders of the base told us that they are sending out requests to businesses for support and sponsorships for the girls home. So things are moving again! After the prayer meeting we had our first base staff work day, where we worked on cleaning up the base and the girls home. I was in the girls home sweeping and getting completely covered in cement dust. It was so great! I was just so happy to be able to be a part of doing something to get this girls home to happen!

The staff at our base is really working to see the renovation of this house completed and we are seeking out the staff that we need to run it. Again if anyone out there has a heart to serve through construction and those sort of things, or if you are interested in sponsoring the girls home OR STAFFING it, please don't wait any longer! Let us know! :)

Please pray for all of this and for the girls. The girls that are in mind for it are really in need. Three of them are basically on the street and experiencing all kinds of things no 13 years olds should ever have to experience. They are hurting and in desperate need of a safe place and of unconditional love. Please keep the girls in your prayers. And please pray for me as I continue to seek out the best ways that I can help them in this girls home project.

Oh yes...I had a WONDERFUL time with Leisl! Being with her for the week was an incredible blessing and I am so thankful for her friendship to me! She also brought with her tons of clothes for the street kids from her mom's classroom of elementary school kids (thank you Sue and kids!) and from a lady at her church. AMAZING! They gave such nice clothes too, they are really a blessing. Thank you to all you who gave and thank you Leisl for blessing my life so much!!

...the other thing Leisl brought to me was the laptop I am now typing on! What a crazy blessing! Thank you Grandad Lewis, Aunt Libbey, Mom and Dad and Grandad Billings and anybody else who contributed that I don't know about! This beautiful little machine is such a huge help to me!

Okie dokie, this is all for now...man there is always so much to say! :) Until next time- let Jesus love you :)

Jesus was a drunk man dying in the street today...

We were on our way to the base today when we saw a man lying flat on his back in the middle of the sidewalk. Nobody was going over to him. We stopped to look and see if he was okay and another man was coming to see what was wrong. Then more people came and people got on their cell phones, trying to get help for this cold and miserable man. It seemed like he was a homeless man, probably living somewhere on the street in that area. He had no desire to leave his place on the ground, but his side was hurting and his head was burning up. I felt so helpless, but so encouraged to see so many people stop and help. But what this man really needed was hope. He fought as the medics finally came and put him in the ambulance. I suspect he wanted to stay there and die. He said his name was Vacile and he was 49 years old though he looked much older. Our church here in Constanta has a special ministry for the homeless elderly and hopefully they will be able to find this man once he is out of the hospital. Please pray for this and for Vacile to find hope again...

And if that wasn't enough excitement for the day, just about 30 minutes after we (Leisl and I- my best buddy visiting from the States) had gone into the Day Center, another old man was found dead, flat on his back right on the sidewalk there. Just a few meters from our front gate. What happened I don't know,and who he was I haven't a clue- just a nicely dressed old man going for a walk I guess. Its times like these that my heart hurts and I remember that my God's heart hurts so much more. Suffering was not what he intended. May he use it though to continually teach my heart compassion and mercy for those in need, and move me to love, not only in words but in ACTION and in truth. Good night friends...may your hearts be stired.

Thanks for Praying...

I have been at this internet cafe for hours now so this will be quick! :) Thank you for praying for our needs here! Unfortunately Nadia got the money for her abortion and had it Friday, the same day we went to see her to talk about seeing a doctor with her. Its tough for me because I was really hoping to see God work a miracle for this baby's life, but I know God knows better and also, it was Nadia's choice. But we will still be seeing Nadia and hopefully our relationship will grow. She also has a serious arm injury that is not healing properly so maybe we can help her with that and be a blessing to her large family of 12!

Tomorrow we get to see Vacile at church and I hope to give him a New Testament and talk to him more about knowing Jesus. I'm waiting to see what God will do with this guy and with the other kids who have been coming to church. Its so cool that they come and I am so glad that our church allows them to come there. Pray for God's Spirit to continually show up in our services!

Well, I am super excited because my best friend Leisl is coming all the way from Visalia, California to visit me on the first of February! She is coming at the perfect time as I am having to say good bye to my two closest friends here in Constanta. She is also bringing me a laptop that my family is giving me! Thank you Jesus! So hopefully my updates will be more frequent and I can get more pictures out to let you guys see what all is going on here. Please pray for her safe trip and for our time together to be blessed! I can't wait!

Well friends...you are amazing and I have to tell you that my time here has been blessed because of your love and support, packages, emails, and prayers. I miss you and hope to hear from you when you have the chance.
La revedere! (Good bye) :)

A New Beginning...

Last week we began our new year of ministry. It was awesome to be back on the street with the kids again. I was SOOO happy to see them and to see that they had done alright while our team was away. Some of the kids, including my little princesses, Elena and Angelica, have gone to another city, but most of the kids are still hanging in there as always.

The Day Center is doing well. It was also great to be with the kids there and they seem to be doing well. The outreach team from Ireland has two team members there a day so they are taking care of the special activities and for now it seems like one of the teachers is taking care of the Bible lessons which I had been doing when it was my day. I'm relieved about this because for some reason I get so freaked out about doing Bible lessons. It is so difficult keeping the kids attention in the first place and then when you have to take time for translation you really loose them. So I guess I will tackle this Bible lesson challange another time in the future. For now I am hanging out and helping with the kids and get this- TRANSLATING!

No joke! The other day the teacher who speaks no English asked ME to translate what the kids were saying to the outreach team! I totally laughed at her because I am SOO not that good at Romanian. But I guess that kind of kicked off my year...as far as language goes, its sink or swim! In the day center they lost their aid that did the translating for outreach teams and in our street team we also lost our translator and only Romanian! So, Therese, who speaks a good deal of Romanian and I are the only ones to translate now. Its crazy. Please pray for me to get better and quickly!

Now for some serious prayer requests:

*NADIA* We know this girl, about 23 years old, and she has come to us asking for help with an abortion. She some time last year she was in a horrible accident where a wall fell on her and her baby girl, killing the baby girl and injuring Nadia. I am not sure if this accident had anything to do with this, but she is telling us that due to some surgeries she had in the past and her physical condition now, if she tries to give birth she could die. She has no money for the abortion and that is why she is asking us for help. We are really praying about how to respond to this situation as there seems to be no easy answer. Please pray for God to give us wisdom and to do a miracle in this girl's life and in the life of her baby.

*Eugenia* This woman, has had a very hard life. I won't go into her story for time-sake but she needs to pay a very high water bill as soon as possible and our team is trying to go about drawing papers for an agreement to give her a loan. We need prayer for this to go well and to take care of this is the appropriate way. We also need prayer for the money that we will need in order to give her the loan. This is going to be a huge blessing for this woman and a gigantic burden lifted off her shoulders.

*Vasile* Sunday at church a bunch of street kids came and stayed, listening to the whole message which was a simple, straight-forward, passionate message of salvation and God's love! It was the PERFECT message for street kids and as a result one of the guys from the street, Vasile, prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior! Awesome! Please pray for this young man to grow in the Lord and that we would be able to take the right steps to disciple him. We are seeing more and more that we need to start a Bible study for these guys on the street. Pray for this as well!

*More Workers* And as always we are praying for God to call more and more people with different gifts to Constanta for this ministry. We now REALLY need a Romanian or at least someone who speaks fluent Romanian. And we are also praying for a nurse/medical assistant to join our team too, but we can use anyone with a heart for this ministry! We will be losing Cressida at the end of this month (And I will be saying good-bye to a very dear friend!) and sometime in Februrary we will be having a man from Sweden joining us. He has a big heart for intercession and that will be a huge blessing for us. So God provides in his timing, but I am reminded that we need to continually seek God's face for these needs. He is our good Daddy who provides for us. Amin!

Thank you so much for your prayers and LOVE! I hope you are all doing well and I will give you more updates soon!

Brasov...The most beautiful city yet!

Here is a picture over looking the beautiful city of Brasov. Here I stayed with a friend who had been on outreach in Constanta and this is where we sent our New Years. It was amazing!

La Mult An!...Happy New Year!!!

Its hard to see all the fireworks in the background but just try to imagine it! I've never seen so many fireworks going off at once and in so many different directions! It was amazing! This is us and our friend Alin and his girlfriend Micci.

The Grand Transylvanian Tour...

So...I forgot to mention that Cressida and I set out for our Christmas vacation about a week after our break had officially begun. We first went to Sighisoara where we stayed with Aghi's parents who had just arrived from Hungary for the night. The next day we drove to the village where Aghi's oldest sister lives with her family of four and another of Aghi's sisters. we stayed there for about four days and had a great time. I love her family and especially hanging out with her sisters and little neice and nephews. Check out my pictures to see them!

After being in the village we went back to Sighi to meet the outreach team from Ireland and to show them around the city. Then we went back to the village where they are ministring for a couple of days, Teius, and here I got to meet some wonderful people and enjoy getting to know the Irish team (which is all Americans!:) ). There we went with the team to an orphanage and Cressida told the kids about Africa (she is from South Africa), and we sand more Christmas carols and read a Max Lucado story to them. Then the openned presents from Operation Christmas child! The kids were so cute openning the packages to discover what was inside. NOw I know first hand the impact of those gifts that our church has been sending out every year.

After leaving Teius, we took the train to Brasov, and there I fell in love! No, not with a person but with the city! It is a beautiful city full of all kinds of beautiful artitecture and history. You must see the pictures. We stayed here with a Romanian friend and ate all kinds of good food that his father made. We joined our friend and his girlfriend and friend on New Years watching hundrends of fireworks go off all over the city from our look-out spot on a hill. This was one of the most beautiful sights! After praying together for the new year and I committing 2006 to the Lord, sensed a real exictement for what this new year is going to hold. I can say that this was one of the best New year's I have ever had!

I learned two new things about Romanian New Year's celebrations: the first is that as soon as Christmas comes, boys, young and old and even some girls start lighting firecrackers in the streets wherever you go. New Year's eve I thought I was walking through a war-zone, trying not to get in the way of one small explosion after another!; the second thing I learned was that Romanians don't just wait until twelve, say happy new year and go home, they stay up all night! Call me boring but I fell asleep at almost three in the morning while my friend stayed up all night and even his dad was out at a friend's party until 8:30 in the morning. I tell you again, Romanian's know how to celebrate!

Christmas Day...

Christmas Day I woke up and took a shower only to come out and find that everyone had opened there presents without me! But I quickly learned that presents are such a big deal here. Everyone wakes up whenever and goes and gets their own presents and opens them as they like. This was different for me because my family makes a big deal of openning presents together, but I decided that I like this way because there is not so much focus on the gifts.

That morning we went to church for a very special service of people sharing songs, skits and poems. The youth group did a skit of the Christmas story which was very entertaining :) and other people, even me!, sang Christmas songs.

(At the top you can see Aghi and I singing a beautiful Christmas Carol in Romania! And I am wearing really cool, trendy Romanian style boots :) )

Caroling in Romania...

On Christmas eve we followed Romanian tradition and went out singing "colinde" (Christmas carols) from house to house with the youth group of Aghi's brother-in-law's church ( he is the pastor). There must have been about 15 of us by the end of the night as kids would join up with us along the way. At each house we would sing until they opened the door and invited us in for cakes and soda. I was sooo full by the end of the night, which was really the end of the night- midnight!!! Romanians know how to celebrate!

(The girl "directing" is one of Aghi's sisters Asia)

Merry Christmas...Craciun Fericit!!!
I had a great Christmas with my roommate Aghi's family (her parents, six sisters, and her sister's husband and three kids!) and Cressida from my street ministry team. We stayed for a few days in their little village way out in the country. We sent lots of time dancing with the kids, eatting great food and relaxing!

(Aghi is in the middle wearing blue, Cressida is in the back with the black shirt on and I am the blazing white girl next to her :) )

YIPPEE SNOW!!!

This is a picture from this morning, taken near our church...There is so much more snow now! It just keeps coming down!

Snow and Simona!

Its actually snowing!!!!!!!! I woke up this morning to the whole city covered in snow! I knew it was getting colder here but I was not expecting snow! It is BEAUTIFUL! During church it continued and now there is a thick blanket of this "zapada" everywhere. Now I feel like Christmas is coming! Church was great, though I didn't understand a word. One of the families that we have been visiting came to church with us today and three boys from the street as well. It was great to see them all there.

And then at the end of the service, God sent me the best Christmas present...SIMONA! Simona is the girl that has been on my heart the most since I was here last, but when I got here I found out that she was no longer part of our ministries (She is about 13 and is from a very abusive home, spending a lot of time on the street and in other unhealthy living situations). I saw her sister and boyfriend but never Simona. For THREE WHOLE MONTHS I have been here and never saw her once. But today we had a very happy reunion and let me tell you it was wonderful! :) SO thank you Jesus for this very special gift of being able to see Simona. If you guys can keep praying for her that she would start coming to church again and that Jesus would continue to draw her close. This is a special girl and I know that God can do miracles in her.

Have a beautiful day my friends...Thank you for being a part of my life!!!

CRACIUN FERICIT!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hello there!

Well I've just finished my first three months here! Yippee!! And I am about to have my first Christmas away from home...but I'll tell you a secret- I think it will be one of the best Christmas' ever! :) I am missing my family lots but Romanians have so many special traditions for Christmas and being with my friend's family in her village is just going to be so different, that I can only expect it to be quite special! We are going to go caroling in the village with her youth group and eat sarmale and mamalica, which is the tradtional Christmas meal that EVERYONE eats, and I must say that it is one of my FAVORITE things to eat! Its stuffed cabbage and something like grits. I can't wait!

This week was so busy and I was pretty stressed for most of it but we had some pretty special times. Our street team took some hot cocoa and cookies and small gifts to the kids on the street. We say Christmas songs with them and Chris shared about how Jesus coming to earth is the reason we celebrate Christmas. It went pretty good over all and we had some great times with the kids.

Remember Elena that got beat up? Well, she's been asking me for a jacket for a long time and was pretty mad when I didn't bring her one. But this week we brought her one that was warm and good for the rain and man you should have seen this girl! She was SO happy! And it was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen! I will put a pic on here soon of this! And just to let you know, I think things calmed down with this kids regarding her getting beat up. Thank you for your prayers!

Do you remember Anca? She is still on the street but she hasn't been using glue and this is so great! She seems to be doing pretty good. Praise God! Despite our disappointment with her returning to the street we are happy to keep our relationship with her. She is so much fun! We have this joke about calling eachother "Miss", well "Domnisoara" and she likes to make fun of the way I say things. It is really funny! And we pretend that we are going to Discos and dance around on the street. Man, some of the kids we visit are sooo fun and they really bless my life!

Yesterday we had a big Christmas celebration at the Day Center. All the kids were dressed up like shepherds and their parents were there and they did a little program, sing songs and reading prophecies about Jesus. It was awesome! They were so stinking cute! And it was great to have the families there, many of whom our street team has been visiting. I think that God really wants to work in these families and we are looking more towards that for next year. We will see what God does!

Thank you so much for your prayers for me and for them! I know that my last updates were pretty sad, and they are the reality but I am trying to see more of the good stuff and just praise God for that. I am thankful for the simple things. Being friends with tall these kids is really a blessing and I am going to miss them over our break!

Dumnezeu sa te binecuvanteze! God bless you!!!!!!!!

Good Stuff...

Hi there! I just wanted to clarify about the girls home...I said "I seem to be the only one here with a vision for it," and I want to make sure it is clear that the staff here really wants to see the girls home happening but we are lacking people who feel called to this specific ministry. Since I came here to Romania with this ministry in mind, I see myself as the "only one with vision for this," but there are many, many people who want to see the girls home happen. They are working hard to restore the house that was donated to the base for this purpose and they are looking forward to seeing this as it is a very needed ministry, but the process is a bit slow due to the lack of people with a specific heart to carry this project further. I hope this is making sense to you guys. I just don't want you to think that I think I am the only person who wants the girls home to happen. This is not at all the case! Okay....maybe I made you are more confused now! :) Sorry!

This week a team from Ireland arrived and I will be helping to host them while they are here for the next two months. Can you believe they are ALL Americans????? They are a great bunch and I look forward to getting to know them. This week we are also having some special programs on the street for Christmas and will be giving gifts and treats to the kids and families we work with. Please pray for this and that when we share about Jesus and the real meaning of Christmas the kids will be touched. Okay...I will write more later! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of Needs

The past two times I have been out on the street with our team have been really hard. There are immense needs and my heart is broken about this and I am kind of questioning God about this and knowing that I need to get some perspective concerning the suffering that I am faced with here. I know it is not so bad as other places but it is still hard, especially because the people that are suffering have become my friends.

Pray for Anca, she is a girl who is almost 18 and our team got her to come off the street because she was going to die very soon from Hepatitus B if she did not. She stayed in a shelter for more than a month and a half, but just last night we met her on the street. She has lost her chance to be in the shelter now and doesn't even want to go back. If she starts drinking or using glue her health with deteriorate very quickly. She wants to be in the street because of her boyfriend and probably because of the freedom she has there. Costel and her really love each other and want to be together but they are keeping each other in the street. Please pray for God to work in these two. They are so precious and it is hard to see them living this life that will eventually kill them.

Last night we also met with Elena, one of my favorite girls on the street. She is 16, but she seems just like a little girl to me. She shakes from using too much glue, and last night she was badly beaten. From what I have heard some guys from the neighborhood make some sport of beating the kids in the street and that is what they did to Elena. Its aweful and now the boys that we minister to there in the street are ready for revenge and had a knife and 2x4's ready for action. Its a bit scary and so sad. I am seeing more and more what the reality of the street really is and I guess it is hitting me a bit hard. But I want to be strong here and not let all these bad things destroy my hope for the kids.

You can also pray for Daniel and Adrian, two guys from the street who we were helping to get to a rehab center. Neither one of them made it there after some problems, but we hope that its just a matter of timing and eventually they will make it there. As a team we need a lot of wisdom in knowing how much to help and how much to leave up to the kids. But we want to keep these guys in prayer so that they will keep thinking of leaving the street and not give up. We also hope our relationships with them will stay strong.

I could go on and on about each kid and the needs that they have but I think this is enough for now. There are broader needs, such as for the girls home to be completed and for God to call the right people with a vision for this work. I have been thinking a lot about my involvement with this as it seems I am the only one here with a vision for this. What does God want me to do? How can I be a part of this and what will that mean for my future? So, I could use prayer for this, and prayer that the house at least will be finished soon! It is taking so long and there is such a need for a safe place for girls in the night.

Please pray for Eugenia, an old woman with an incredibly big heart who we visit regularly. She is having a huge financial problem and is not sure what she can do. She is desperate and needs an answer soon about what to do.

Wow, I've given you enough stuff to pray for an hour! :) no, but I hope this isn't too much. These are some of the needs and I am so blessed to know that people back home and everywhere can be lifting these things up. Lastly, please pray for my language learning. I am looking into going to a language school for a week or so, but it is very expensive and very far away so I am not sure what I will do. I am learning more and more every day but it would be helpful to take some time out to focus just on language, and then I will be so happy because I will be able to speak with the people we are working with! yeah!

In just a couple weeks our base will take a holiday for about three weeks for Christmas and the new year. I will be traveling to visit friends and have Christmas with my roommate in her family's gypsy village. I am really looking forward to it and also to some rest and time away.

Babies, Rehab, Recovery and More

This week we offically started out hospital visits to feed the abandoned babies there. We are so blessed to have this opportunity to love on the babies and to help out the hospital. We are really in the beginning stages of figuring out how this kind of ministry will work, but for now we are happy just to know that when we are there these babies are receiving the love and attention they need. I have to be careful though because after holding them for just a little bit I want to take them home! :)

One of the guys from the street finally made it to the rehab center that he was accepted to. His name is Victor and he is about 27 and has no legs past his knees. He is a great guy who really wanted to get off the street and now he is doing it! Please pray that he will be able to beat his alcohol addiction and find the change in his life that he wants so much. Pray for his encouragement as well- it will be hard work at the rehab center and he will need it :) We are so proud of him though and so glad that we could help him get there.

Anca, the young girl with Hepatitis B is doing so well! She is walking on her own now and has put on weight and looks beautiful! I will put a picture on here of her as soon as I can. We are visiting her at the shelter where she is staying on Wednesdays and this week she asked if we can take her to church with us. Of course we would love it! It seems like she has no interest in running away and living on the street again. Thank you Jesus!

I am now looking for a language school where I can hopefully go for a couple weeks to really focus on language learning. I wish I would have done this before, but better now than never. Please pray that I find the language training I need. I really would like to be able to communicate more clearly with the kids, and I think I need to just get serious and tackle this language!

Thank you all for your encouraging responses to my last update. Your words really meant so much to me and I am thinking about them through my week as I continue to struggle. Last weekend we had a staff retreat that was very encouraging and we even talked about knowing why we are here and how we know that God has called us. It was really good for me, but I still have some frustrations inside myself that I need to work out. But I am learning more and more every day that I am here to be a part of what HE is doing. Its about HIS plans and not my own. :) So, I'm learning...Thank you guys so much for your support! You are a constant encouragment for me! I love you much!

Update

Please pray for me. I am a little down and questioning my effectiveness here. I think I have hit a hard spot and I am needing to see what God is doing. Being here is enough, I know this, but I am having my doubts and questioning. Thank you for lifting me up :)

DAY CENTER
I had a great day at the Day Center yesterday. Mihaela, the main teacher for the kids, is great with them and we had so much fun singing songs and doing crafts yesterday afternoon. Please pray for Neazi one of the boys there. He is about 12 years old and I can see he is growing up and getting a little tougher and I just want to pray protection over him as many boys around his age stop coming to the Day Center and spend their time in the street. I really like this kid and hope that our friendship will develop.

ROMANIAN
About a month ago i started taking Romanian Lessons once a week from Ema, our base translator. I am really enjoying them and finally learning some things that are helping me to communicate more with the kids. Thank you Ema!

THE STREET
On the street things are basically the same. Oh Wait! We did have some excitement the other day! I brought my guitar on the street and we were singing with some of the kids and since there were so many there, not really anymore than usual, the neighbors got freaked out and called the police! You should have seen my face when they pulled up. I thought they were coming to take me away! :) haha, I know you guy who know me are thinking how silly and paranoid I am :) yeah its true!

You can pray for a situation on the street that has been scaring me. There are some boss guys coming around where we visit the kids and they are possibly hiring the kids to steel things for them. They are always walking around watching the kids and us and its a little weird.

Please pray for a boy named Alex who is 17 years old. He wants to get off the street but is too young to go to rehab. He has a meeting today with the director of our day center to get into another night shelter for a time. He had problems there before so we hope it will work out this time.

We found out that the only homes available in Constanta for pregnant women are government run and have just been closed. Now there is nothing available for women with this need. Please pray for something to develop for them, and for those with a heart for this to step forward!

Please pray for an older woman to take a job as a caregiver for Anca who has Hepatitus B and Coria one of the girls on the street who is pregnant. One of the foundations here has a home in a near-by town where these girls can live and be taken care of but we need a woman who can make it possible. They will be given free room and board and a small salary to care for their basic needs.

As I write this I see that there is so much going on here. We are involved in so many people's lives and this is really amazing. Regardless of my usefulness I am blessed by seeing God moving and working for those in need through so many people here in Constanta. Thank you for reading all this and for having a heart for Romania!

You Can Help!

I've been back in Constanta for over a week now. It was great to be back after the seminar ended. I can't tell you how blessed I was to be at that school! God did so much! But now to put it into practice :)

There is a lot happening in the street ministry and a lot of opportunities to get to know other people are coming up. Right now I just want to let you know about some needs that we have. I hope you will be able to pray for these things and even consider how you can be a part of bringing them about! :)

*The girls home we are building is quite an endevour. We are having trouble finding the right people at the right price to do the work and because of the way that the companies are set up it is an incredibly complicated process. We need prayer for this so that we can finish the house, but I had a thought that maybe a church, maybe my church :) or some people who are trained in plumbing and construction would want to come to Romania themselves and use their gifts to build this home for our girls in need. What do you think? Spread the word! I know there are some guys out there who would love this kind of experience! :)

*One of the girls on the street, Corea is 5 months pregnant and wants to get off the street. We are having a hard time finding a place for her to go. This is horrible as it is getting sooooo cold and she has been sick. We really need God to open a door for her and quickly! Pray that other organizations will work with us to find a place for Corea for the rest of her pregnancy. I am now seeing a huge need for a home for other young women like her who find themselves pregnant and have no where to go. Pray that God will send other people with a heart for this ministry and that a house will be openned in the future to reach out to these young mothers. This is a huge request and so important!

Thank you so much for your prayers and for keeping up with what we are doing here in Constanta! If you ever have something to share with me regarding these things or want to get involved yourself please let me know! May God be with your and be your peace!