Psalms 116:12 - “How can I repay The Lord for all His goodness to me?”
Dear Family and Friends,
I want to thank you so much for your response to my last update and your prayers. The email about our preparation for returning to NC accidentally went out to our entire email list but we were really humbled by the response of those wanting to help, even those far from NC! Again, we thank you so much for your generous, kind hearts. It appears we will have all the furniture and appliances we need!
I want to write you about the continuing saga of the fire department. We did not get the necessary approval for functioning. We did, however, get a big surprise from the man assigned to our file. He stated to our employee Nicu, “Let me give you some information to get your approval. Have your project engineer bump your incineration grade from 3 to 5 (meaning the house could burn down in 15 minutes) and totally finish the electricity in the basement.” Nicu replied, “Are you SURE that’s it this time?” to which the man replied, “Yes, I am sure.” When Nicu asked why he didn’t tell us all of this 9 months ago he replied, “I thought your engineer would know to do this.” UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!
So, we have once again submitted our file for our “surprise inspection” which is scheduled to happen within the next two weeks. If it doesn’t, I am not sure what the next step will be because then I will be certain a bribe is in order. I don’t want to involve the local media about this but if everything is done as required and they still will not give us the authorization, I will really need to pray about involving the media. Please pray for God’s favor to be with us during this next inspection and that we receive our authorization!
There are a few needs that have come up that I would like to share with you. As many of you know, the amount of children we are feeding at the local Children’s Hospital has increased steadily. We need to make up for the amount of money we have spent to make sure all children are feed good quality baby formula. In addition, the price of diapers we provide for our foster children has increased as has the price of fuel here making the foster care project even more costly.
The other need I want to mention involves the social worker, Gabi, at the Children’s Hospital. I have known Gabi all of my six years in Romania. She is not an evangelical believer but my many encounters with her has led me to believe she is very close to the Kingdom of God. Her ardent efforts are the reason many children are placed in Christian foundations rather than languishing in the care of the hospital. Gabi is also the person we worked with last year to bury eight babies who had been in the morgue for an extended period of time.
When I was in her office last week, I noticed she was doing many papers by hand. I asked her what once happened to the computer she had and she explained it had been taken from her. I was astounded given the amount of paperwork she is required to do for abandoned children (and deceased ones). I asked her about the possibility of donating a computer for her to use and she was so excited at the prospect. She asked me to keep it in the name of our ministry giving her the right to use it under a “borrowed contract” from our ministry. I did some checking and I found a good used computer for $100 which includes monitor, keyboard, and components. I can get a printer for $50 or less here making the total around $150 to bless Gabi with the tools necessary to do her job. If the Lord puts it on your heart to help with this expense, please write and let me know so I can go and purchase the items. Thank you so much for praying about this!
The below photo is from, Sovata, an area of Romania almost in the center of the country. Some of the largest salt mines in Europe are there and they claim that the mine could supply all of Europe with salt for the next 100 years. There is much history associated with this area as it relates to trade in the developing world. This is a photo of the salt canyon in Praid which is commonly visited. Daniel and I took a long weekend to visit this part of the country and we were enamored with God’s beautiful creation in this unbelievably beautiful nation. The photographer (me) could use some tips but I hope you can get see some of the beauty!
Thank you again to all of you for your prayers and support! We continue to bask in the blessings of
Basking in the Son,
Michelle
Posted on September 7th, 2004 by Michelle
Filed under: Michelle's Journal