Children in Need Seminar

Buna ziua! (Good day!) I am half way through the second week of a seminar on Children in Need. The seminar is being held at the YWAM base here in Sighisoara, which is an incredibly beautiful city in the middle of Romania. I'll put pictures on here soon! I am so thankful for these two weeks as I have learned so much about myself and how much God desires to heal us so that we won't pass on our own brokenness to the children we work with. This is really an answer to my prayer as God had already begun to speak to me about healing before I left for Romania. Its awesome to see his sovereign plan working out. I have so much to grow in!

I also feel much more prepared now for the work in Constanta. My first month working there was so overwhelming and I think it was due to my perspective. I have been reminded that these are God's kids! He loves them SOOO much more than I ever could and it is only His power that can change their lives. I am only called to be obedient to God and to love these little ones. I've also gotten all kinds of great ideas for learning activities to do at the Day Center, and have been reminded about the specific areas of need children have at their different stages of development. All very important things to know!

Besides this I have gotten to know some wonderful people here from the YWAM base and a girl from South Africa who has been such an encouragement to me. She will be joining us in Constanta with the street kids as well. Thank you Lord! Well I will wrap this up with some praises and prayer requests. Thank you for your support!!!!!

Praise:
*My bank card came safely in the mail! And I was provided for while I was without money all last week and until today!
*The seminar has been wonderful!
*God faithfulness in working in my life

Prayer:
*A safe trip back to Constanta
*A good transition back into ministry in Constanta :)
*To put all I have learned into practice and to keep trusting God for EVERYTHING
SOOOO many blessings to you!!!

Mate knows Jesus!

Thank you for praying for the funeral for Ionel. It was a tough thing but in the end of course we got to see the goodness of God working through a terrible thing. Only two street kids came to the funeral but many of the other people who work with street kids in Constanta came.

But the greatest things happened after the service. Therese a norwegian girl from my team was talking with Mate one of the two street kids and he decided then and there to ask Jesus to be his Savior. So awesome! He was so interested to know more about being a Christian and now we are trying to meet up with him for discipleship and encouragement. Thsi boy went from such discouragment to so much hope. So cool! I pray that this change in him will give him the strength to leave the street and find a new life, not only spiritually but for this life as well. Please pray for Mate!

This past year three kids have prayed to recieve Jesus and now our desire is to start a bible study for them and eventually a sort of street church. We want them to really know Jesus and grow in Him and they need a community to do so. So, can you pray for this too? :) Thank you! So...despite the trials there is much to be thankful for.

Enough for now! Ciao!

Babies!

I just got back from the hospital where two people from my street team and I visited some abandoned babies and a little girl. Good times. Spending time in the hospital with these babies who would otherwise never receive touch, attention, or love is a new part of our project here. We first went to the hospital to visit the baby of one of the girls on the street, but now we go to see all the babies- there are about six at a time. Its really tough to see them in this condition but we pray that our being there might make some kind of difference. This is one of the things I was really hoping to get into here in Constanta, and look, God has already brought it about!

*Pray for favor with the nurses and doctors at the hospital
*Pray for more freedom to spend time with the babies and to be able to hold them!
*Pray for contacts to be made for the babies to possibly be placed in Christian babies homes before they are too old and unable to form attachments.
*Pray for the babies! Marian, Christina and the others ( they don't even have names!)


Thank you for praying!

More Rain

So much rain! There is flooding again in Bucharest, and lots of water here, but no flooding. Two weeks ago, however, a village about 30 minutes away was destroyed. Tomorrow we will be putting on a memorial service for Ionel, a young man from the streets that our team has been working with. Please pray for God's spirit and comfort to be there with us. This is the second death this year and is so hard to deal with, but we see God working through these trial.

There are many needs on the street so i am just going to list them and ask that you would take a moment to pray for one or a few. There is such a battle going on in the streets but God is daily answering prayer:

*Angelica, a16 year old girl is in the hospital after being beat up on the street

*Anca, a 15 year old girl, is waiting to be moved to a hospice type house, as she is dying of Hepatitus B. We are so happy she is choosing to come off the streets during this time.

*Anca's boyfriend Costel is waiting to come off the street but struggling as he misses Anca so much. He is also sick, but praying all the time and seems to be willing to support Anca in her decision.

*We are making contacts to spend time in the hospital loving on the abandoned babies there. One is the son of a girl from the street and we really hope to make an impact in his life by giving him and the other babies some of the stimulation and love they are not getting in te hospital.

Personally I am learning a lot and even learning more Romanian than ever! I will be attending a two week seminar in a week about working with Children in need. I can't wait! Besides that I am getting to know people at my base and enjoying my new life here though the challenges often overwhelm me. BUt God is giving me grace for every day and I am so happy to be a part of seeing God's great plans for Romania come about! This is such a special country!

I'm in Romania!

Wow, I have already been here in Romania for a week and a half. I can't tell you how good it is to be back. Yes I am overwhelmed and have been experiencing some culture shock and need time to adjust, but my heart is SOOOO happy to be here among people who are serving God in such beautiful ways.

The first week I was in Transylvania at a conference for all of the YWAM staff in Romania. I got to meet so many awesome people who are serving throughout Romania, most of them Romanian themselves. I think my base in Constanta has the most foreigners but we still have half of the staff being Romanian. It is so great to build relationships with such great people! ;) Can you tell, I really like it here!

But my time here is not without its struggles as I ee the challenges that come with this kind of service. The girls I had in mind to be working with are not doing well and have stopped coming to the Day Center we have for them. The girls group home is not opened yet either, so we will see what God is going to do. Please pray for Ramona, Simona, Felicia and Marcela. These girls are the ones we had in mind for the girls home and it seems that Satan is not so pleased with us wanting to keep them out of the street life. So there is a battle going on for them I think. Yes, for sure. Thank you for your prayers and I will try to write something more concise next time. Right now I am a little jumbled. :)

All in the Family of God

Today was my last Sunday at my home church in Ashland. My friend Elijah had me come up front and he prayed for me, sending me out to Romania. Everyone's hands were stretched out towards me and people were "um hum"-ing and "amen"-ing. I was so humbled and so encouraged at the same time. I know this family of God will keep me in prayer while I am in Romania and that is such a comfort! Afterward the service more people came up and prayed for me, taking me before the Lord. This was so powerful for me. I'm not in this journey alone. I am going with God and I have people here at home bringing my cause before Him. Thank you so much Lord. After all my complaining about your Church in America, you know how to remind me of what really matters.

Friday was my last day of work, tomorrow will be a day of solitude, Tuesday is my little brother's 19th birthday, and then Friday I will leave for Redding, CA to spend some last moments with some friends from college. Then I willbe off to my cousin's wedding in Alabama (pray for the weather) and then on to Romania! I can't believe it is coming so soon! As soon as I arrive in Romania, a friend from the YWAM base will be meeting me and we will be taking the train together to my favorite Romanian city, Sigisoara. It is so beautiful there! Then the next day we will be going to a conference for all of the YWAM bases in Romania. This way I will get to start off my year with a fresh perspective of what God is doing through YWAM in Romania. It should be awesome. I just hope I survive the jetlag and all of that! God is so good my friends! Even when we are whiney little kids he continues to remain our loving and faithful Father. Rest in who He is!

How it all began...

The street kid outreach that I will be a part of for the next year was begun by three amazing guys, Walley Fipps, Syrus Beck and Seth Clarke. They set out for a country basiclly unknown to them, in search of finding street kids that were in need of the Love of God. So they rounded up some people off the streets and started a soup kitchen, giving out a free meal and lots of hugs and love, along with a message that God loved them so much and had a special plan for their lives. That was about four years ago and since then the simple soup kitchen outreach has grown to having a Day Center for children up to 18 years old, a group home for teenage girls, and providing contacts and opportunities for getting into rehabilitation and treatment programs. PRAISE GOD! It has been amazing to witness the growth through the years and get to know the people who have been a part of making it all happen. In September I hope to join in this effort to see the Street Kids of Romania be transformed by the LOVE OF JESUS... It is God who first loved us and has given us any ability to give out that love to others. What an honor.

My departure is drawing near... I really need to get my newsletter out! Should have been doing that instead of messing around on the internet! :) Please go to this link to see pictures of that first year of the soup kitchen outreach. A friend, Pierre-Luc, that we met in Turkey took them while he came to visit the guys in Constanta. They are beautiful!

http://www.pbase.com/plucpel/romania

This is Felicia, one of the girls I will be spending time with in Romania. This was about three years ago when I first met her in Constanta. Please pray that she will be able to be part of the girls home that will be openning up in September 

just a month to go...

How funny! My theme song from my last trip to Romania just came on the radio, "Blessed Be Your Name." Yes, our Lord is soveriegn and so good. I was supposed to leave for Romania this month but because my cousin is getting married i decided to stay for the summer and leave after her wedding. This has had its share of trials but i am really seeing how God has used this time to teach me. To reconnect me to him. I want to be like Jesus, i want to love like he loves and really know him. To not preach this Christian culture that i have grown up in but rather teach people about how much God loves them, and that he proved it by coming to earth Himself, being a human just like us but who lived radically and died in OUR PLACE so we could have peace with God and be with Him. This simple Gospel is beautiful.

So, as always, I am learning. Need to learn more about living with grace for others and myself. And i must learn how to share this love of God with those who have never heard. May it overflow from my love relationship with Him.

I'm learning more Romanian finally, practicing with CDs and books. And trying to start getting stuff together to take. I can't wait to be there and see what the Lord has for my time there. Its scary, its exciting, its stretching. Thank you God for this wonderful opportunity and dream come true...

technologically challenged

well i have spent about the past hour and a half trying to figure out this blogging business. I hope it all works out and this helps everyone keep in contact with me. As of now i leave for Romania in 60 days. I will be arriving in Bucharest, the captial city of Romania, just in time for the National Romanian YWAM conference. i can't wait! i have most of my support raised and am currently working on being able to receive donations through a non-profit organization so that they can be tax-deductable. I am working at a local coffeeshop in Ashland and also a couple of nights a week I serve concessions for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I am helping out with the high school youth group at church and will be leading a girls Bible study with another young woman from my church. I've also been doing a lot of traveling and now it is time to buckle down and learn some Romanian! i will share more later! Blessings to you!

Getting Started

My name is Leah and I am going to be moving to Romania in September to work as a volunteer with YWAM serving street kids. Right now I am in Oregon raising support and looking for a job for the summer. I have been to Romania twice before and can't wait to be back there! I miss the kids that I will be working with and the staff as well. This bolg will help me keep my friends and family updated on all that I will be doing over there. For now I will be writing about my preparations and things leading up to the trip. YEAH for Romania! May the Lord use my life to bring HIS life to Romania.