The Whirlwind Continues

Has it only been a month since I lasted posted!!! It feels as if time has gone very fast but the beginning of March seems like a very long time ago! Life continues to be full and very busy. There are many things going on with both H2H and the Ukrainian refugee project as well. Corni and I have continued to teach at Peris. I've continued to really enjoy this time. I feel as if we've been able to build connections with all of the kids now. This school is a combination of kids from the orphanage and poor children from the town. The kids from the orphanage know us well, but the children from town have gotten to know us and we've built new bridges. Yesterday we had a special afternoon of Easter activities with them. I used the resurrection eggs to tell the story of Easter. What stood out to me was that the kids from the orphanage knew the answers. They knew what the item in each egg represented from the story of Jesus and his crucifixion and resurrection. The children from the town didn’t know. It was a reminder for me of the importance of consistency and proof that teaching children the truth does pay off. We ended the day with Bingo (their favorite activity) and a Easter egg hunt outside.

I have a new staff member that has arrived. Her name is Caterina, but most people call her Cat. She was born in Romania and then adopted by an American family when she was four. She came back for a visit in 2010 and met H2H and has come back on 3 short-term teams and internships with us before deciding to join our staff. She's made an initial three year commitment to serve with us. One of the parts of my job is to help integrate new staff into life with our foundation and in Romania in general. That means lots of talking, showing the ropes and teaching how to navigate the public transportation system in Bucuresti. She has begun Romanian language lessons. We are happy to have a new addition!

Currently, two of my staff members Nicu and Melissa Perghel, are on furlough in the US. They are the administrators of the Boys Transition Program, so with them gone, I’ve had the two boys that are currently in the program staying with me at the team house. My favorite part has been morning devotions with them. We’ve been going through the book of James and I’ve really enjoyed teaching them and having good discussions about living out our faith. They’ve also done work projects with some of the other staff, continued academic tutoring and classes, and have helped out at the orphanage and refugee centers. Andrei started an internship at a job. Because of some special needs that Andrei has, we were anxious to see how he would handle a job. So far he’s done really well and the construction company that he is working with has talked with us about hiring him full time when he graduates from our program in a couple of months.

The refugee crisis has continued to be a big part of life here. The church that I attend has grouped with several other churches and organizations to give some organization and structure to the aid that we can offer. It is called UBC22. We have three locations that can house refugees. A large church in the city center is our intake center and temporary housing/transition center. People can stay there if they need a place for 1-3 nights and are just passing through. Our Snagov house, which is a H2H property, is for people that need to stay 1-2 weeks, and then we have a camp outside of the city for people that need to stay long term. So far we’ve had 1573 people that have passed through or are still receiving aid. In the first weeks I helped at the main location, but once we got Snagov ready to take in people my efforts shifted to help maintain that house and keep things organized and running there. I have several other people from my church that are in charge of transport and purchasing items, and I can assist when I have time from my other ministry. I go a few times a week and check in and spend time with them. I have had many special moments. I met a little girl named Masha and we played mister potato head for a long time which turned into hide and go seek. We could not speak the same language but being able to help her smile and laugh was precious. One of the mom’s said “you helped her forget about the war and be a child.”

Whirlwind

I'm sitting here on my couch this morning, just saying goodbye to 8 deaf/mute Ukrainian refugees who spent the night in our house. I'm enjoying my second cup of coffee and reflecting on the whirlwind of the past few weeks. I'm fluctuating from tears to smiles. This might be because of my tiredness or maybe because the yo-yo of experiences that this time has held, or maybe and bit of both! Most of you are aware that I had a furlough in the US in January and part of February. I started off in California at the H2H headquarters. Jim, Jodi, and I spent 5 days hashing over current and future H2H items. I got a little beach time to take a deep breath and then headed to Kansas. My Mom had fallen a severely broken her right arm, so a lot of my time in Kansas was helping my parents and being there through a surgery, multiple appointments and the start of rehab. I did some speaking, met with some supporters, and saw some family and friends. While in Kansas, I was asked often about the Ukrainian/Russian tensions and how that might effect Romania. I knew that already the conflict was increasing prices of things like gas and causing US and Nato troop build ups. Overall though, at that point, Romanians weren't too concerned about Romanian safety and were going about day to day life pretty normally. I returned to Romania and hit the ground running. I needed to catch up on things that had happened and needed tended to from while I was gone plus prepare for a small team that was coming in from Michigan. Three days after I returned, Russia began attacking the Ukraine. Very quickly I became aware of an impact that I hadn't considered while in the US. The impact of refugees fleeing the Ukraine. The millions of people that would be trying to get out. My church partnered with 2 other Bucharest churches and threw down some mattresses on the floor for the first group that showed up on our doorsteps and sent out a plea for volunteers and supplies. The team of three women that were visiting readily agreed to jump in and we spent time at the church converted refugee center helping as we could around our other ministry time in visiting and spending time in the orphanages and centers that we work with. Two weeks have passed since that plea and the church refugee center has expanded to 3 locations, including our previous girls transition house in Snagov. Thus far we've had 537 refugees come through. I've been able to continue helping out at the center and be involved in the preparing our Snagov house to receive people. Other things the H2H staff and I have been involved with is transporting goods to different locations as needed, helping renovate a building to be able to house more people, transport people from the border to Bucharest, house people in our own homes, provide meals and hygiene supplies, play and care for children,and more. I've been very, very impressed with the mobilization of the Church and NGOs to rise up and offer aid. The stories that we are hearing are heartbreaking, but out of the ashes God brings moments of blessings. The beauty of the Church embodying the Hands and Feet of Christ is one of those and I've been so humbled and blessed to be a small part and a witness to it here in Romania. We don't know what the upcoming days hold. We are being cautioned by our pastors that this is marathon, not a sprint. Pray for us to have what we need to be faithful in what we can do.

November of Thanks

November was a great month with lots of reasons to be thankful for. Corni and I continued to go to Peris as much as possible. In the middle of the month they started to require a "green pass" to be able to get in to see the kids. This is the European Union document that confirms covid vaccination. Right now in Romania with out this pass you can only go into grocery stores, no other stores or public areas. At Peris we did a special Thanksgiving themed class. We did thanksgiving taste, touch, and smell, played bingo with Thanksgiving English words and with the littles did a riveting game of find the turkey.

After two years, my previous housemate and ministry partner, Jenny, was able to come for a visit. It was really nice to have her here and have her help with the H2H Thanksgiving and with Ruthie and Karla. She was here for two weeks and it felt like we put two months of activities into that time! Lots of great moments to be Thankful for! We were also able to celebrate Emi's 11th birthday during the Thanksgiving celebration.

Because of Covid restrictions, it was a little uncertain if we could have our Thanksgiving celebration. We were able to go ahead, but with a smaller group (35-40). As usual, we had a time of sharing of things we saw God do in the past year. Because of the smaller number we were able to have each person share and it was a very special time. It was a very special part of the day and I was really blessed by the time.

Taste, Touch, and Smell

Hello Everyone! As I mentioned in my last blog, Corni and I have began teaching two classes at the Peris School. This is a school for children with special needs. The needs range from behavior problems, learning disabilities, autism, and developmental delays. Some of the students come from the orphanage that is housed in the same building and some come from the neighboring village. The kids from the village seem to come from very poor families and most of the time at least one of their parents has a metal disability of some kind as well. The teachers at this school do a great job with the training and resources they have and have always been open and willing to partner with us and learn together. The main question for me as I was thinking about what to teach this year was what will meet the needs of the students? The teachers really desire to have an English class. This is an easy thing for me to teach, but does it meet the needs of the students. I delved into my teaching days at Marion, before I moved to Romania and I resurrected one of the favorite activities of my students during that time: Taste, Touch, and Smell. This is an activity that checks a lot of boxes. Each week I bring in a food item. The students have to close their eyes and then they touch, smell, and finally taste the item. They have to give me a list of adjectives to describe the food, without saying what the food is. Then after we have a list of adjectives we have someone (preferably from outside the room), that reads the list and guesses what the food was. This is a multi-sensory task and allows the kids to experience new things and develop language skills, plus its fun! We then take the list and I teach them the English words as well. Along with this we are doing some Character development with a Bible Story each week. I have three teachers that are participating as well and they are as enthusiastic as the kids!

Another highlight from October was that Ruthie turned 11! I don't know where the time is going! We had a nice birthday with some of the H2H family as well as a few of Ruthie's friends from church. Her favorite dessert is cheesecake, so instead of a birthday cake we had a birthday cheesecake this year!

Boys Transition Program Starts Again!

This September, we were able to restart the Boys Transition Program. Nicu and Melissa Perghel have taken the reins as the new program administrators. We are starting small with two young men. Both of these guys, Iuli and Andrei, come from the Peris orphanage and we've been working with them since they were little boys. They got moved into the Boys' house in Nenciulesti in September and are getting used to the new routine and program. So far things have gone really well. We are excited to see how God works in their lives in this coming year!

September!!

Wow! What a busy month September was! We finished up summer activities and transitioned into fall. I'd been wanting to try a big H2H fundraiser, a garage sale and bake sale, and it finally seemed possible with covid restrictions lifted and scheduling. Everyone on the staff and from my local church pitched in and the weekend was a great success. A lot off work, but I was very pleased with the results!

Schools started here on September 13th. Ruthie is in 5th grade this year and Karla and Daria started kindergarten.

This school year I'll be teaching two different classes at Peris and then doing my normal helping out for special events at the Rosiori apartments. I was able to get started in September and am enjoying my classes.

The highlight of the month was some special visitors! Kelly Pankratz, one of my high school youth sponsors and spiritual mentors and Maryn Robson came for a visit. We were able to visit most of our ministry locations, plus we spent a few days seeing some of the beauty of Romania. This was like water to my soul and was a great time of refreshment and encouragement. Unfortunately, not all of the pictures can be duplicated in this format, but trust me it was a terrific time. Kel was also able to bring some goodies from Buhler MB. Thanks everyone for all of the love!