Fall News!

September is my favorite, least favorite time of the year! Summer ministry has wrapped up and the teacher in me is ready to start a new school year. I spend a lot of time in meetings and on the phone with staff and directors trying to get all of the pieces into place. It often feels like I'm constructing a big puzzle! Sometimes I have to patiently wait on pieces to be given to me, but slowly the picture of fall ministry takes shape. This year has been a bit more challenging as we have had some location changes. Peris, one of our big orphanages that we've worked in for close to 20 years has only 7 teens still residing there. The school is still functioning with poor children from the village in addition to some of the kids from the orphanage, However the bulk of the kids have been moved to other facilities. We have been working really hard this summer and fall to visit these new facilities and develop relationships to open the door for ministry. It feels like starting back at square one in the idea that we have to build trust and credibility with the new directors and staff, but it also opens doors to new kids and potential. When we were visiting Peris last week two of the boys that had been transferred to different locations came back to visit and do hair cuts for the remaining kis. It was great to see them and see them putting things that they are learning to use.

For the second year in a row we hosted a H2H fundraiser garage sale. Garage sales are a realivly new concept here, but are gaining popularity. We had a great turnout and did better this year then last. We had people come back and said that when they heard we were doing another one they made sure they could make it. Most of you know the amount of work that a garage sale takes, but I had a great crew of helpers and volunteers from our staff, graduates and church members. I'm really pleased by the success.

The grandkids also started back to school in Sept. Plus we had Daria's 7th birthday and Ruthie's 12th. Oliver is also growing and learning to talk. So lots of fun going on in the H2H family!

We continue to have refugees staying at our house at Snagov. Karla and Kiril have become good buddies! Nadia has begun a small business of making purses to raise funds for her family (modeled by her daughter Christina).

May God bless you for all of the ways that you continue to love and support the misistry here in Romania!

Extra Summer News!

Outside of summer camp ministry, here were a few more summer highlights and happenings!

Iuli and Andrei graduated from the Boys Transition Program. The recent trend has been for us to have smaller numbers of boys and girls in the program at one time. Logistically it makes things interesting, but the ability to truly disciple them is wonderful. We develop really close relationships. After graduation they moved into one of our apartments and were both employed. The adjustment to living independently isn't easy and they've both have experienced some growing pains of adjustment, but we are very proud of them and continue to pray for God's direction in their futures.

We have continued to help out with Ukrainian refugees. We are partnering with a group of local churches to work together to help provide for refugee needs. Our Snagov house has been hosting refugees since March. We've developed close relationships with many of them. Though sometimes it feels as if we can only scratch the surface of their needs, our prayer is to offer what we can and have God multiply and provide. A couple times we were able to bring them to Pipera to swim and celebrate birthdays. If we can provide a bit of joy and celebration into their days, it is a good thing!

I was able to take Ruthie and Karla on a vacation to meet up with Jenny. We went to Portugal and had a nice break!

I caught my pinkie in a ladder in June and fractured it. Fortunately, I was able to navigate through the summer with not a lot of pain, but unfortunately, it has not healed well and I'm having to do some follow up and physical therapy.

The Peris orphanage has almost dissolved. They have moved all but 7 of the teens to other locations. We were able to have a very special spa day for the girls with the boys cooking and serving. It was a very special day as we continue to remind the kids that change is part of life, but God is constant. We hope and pray that no matter where life takes them, that they will remember God's faithfulness and love.

Summer 2022

Wow! Another summer in Romania flew by! I came to Romania for the first time 25 years ago this summer! Can you believe it! I think back to all of the summers and teams and special moments in those 25 summers and I feel so overwhelmed and blessed by all of the amazing people that I've met, extrordianry events that I've lived, and so many children that I've loved. What a Great God we serve and what an honor it has been and continues to be to be part of this ministry! The summer of 2022 again was an exceptional one! For the first time in 3 years we were able to have summer minstry teams of volunteers come and serve along side of us. We had an amazing team from Mountain View Church from Ramona, CA help us for the first two weeks of camp and then 4 other indivduals come and help for the remaining weeks. All in all we had four weeks of various types of camps.

The Mountain View Team planned a VBS/Day Camp style of curriculum that we used with younger kids from the Rosiori area. The theme was Living Courageously and we used a Circus theme. It was so well done! The H2H staff was very impressed and it made our jobs easier!

Heather, the leader of the Mountain View team, and I had a lot it common. The way we organize, lead, and think were similar in many ways. We also shared the excitement and exhaustion after two packed weeks!

Here are a few other favorite photos from the summer! As you can see we were also able to take kids to the pool at Pipera and to a climbing wall center in Bucuresti and many other fun moments!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support that went into sharing the love of God with the children and youth of Romania!!