Dear Family and Friends,
It has taken me several hours to figure out how to use this new email service and keep it simple. Unfortunately, because the business world seems to demand everything in a template, it makes it difficult for those of us who just want to write a quick email.
Our ministry was forced to start using an email service because many of our emails have been “lost” in cyberspace because we were labeled as “spammers” last year. The one recurring question during our time in the USA was, “Why don’t you write updates anymore?” The answer is that I DO write updates but you haven’t been getting them! Anytime you want to check, please go to our website at www.childrenintheson.com and click on “Michelle’s Journal” to see if there is an update you didn’t get. Also, you should be able to opt in or out of receiving our updates at anytime.
I wanted to let all of you know how grateful I am to The Lord for using many of you to supply the needed funds for Flori’s dental work. Unfortunately, Flori guessed wrong at how much she would need because the dentist said she only had two teeth in her entire mouth that weren’t decaying or also too far gone to repair. Praise The Lord, He put it on the hearts of many of you to give even after I told you we already had the funds committed! She started with an extraction last week and I expect it will take quite some time before I am able to send you a photo with a smiling Flori!
I took this photo during a visit this week to the home of one of our Education Inspiration girls, Alina. The abject poverty she is living in absolutely broke my heart. Her “house” consists of two rooms: the one on the left is where all four members of the family live and the one on the right they are using to house their barn animals to include a horse. They have no electricity and Alina must rise very early to get dressed by candlelight to catch the early bus to the city of Oradea.
As you can see from the next photo, although they are terribly poor, they are extremely clean. Our visit was unannounced and the house was incredibly neat.
Alina’s father just had surgery last month to have a kidney removed because of a long-term untreated infection. Her mother needs to have surgery for a herniated disc but she has no money to do so. Because neither parent is able to work, they have been unable to get out of their impoverished situation. Our new social worker for this project, Alina Cioara (yes, another Alina!) will be following up to see if we can help them qualify for any social assistance.
Alina is our ministry’s new Outreach Coordinator in addition to many other job responsibilities. She will be overseeing the girls in our Education Inspiration project and has already done an excellent job in establishing relationships with our girls. Alina has been working with her Baptist church for years doing ministry with the Roma colony they work with as well as working with American teams that work along with her church. She was a great fit for our team and exactly the piece we were missing! Here is a photo of Alina so you can see a name of the face that you are supporting to be the hands and feet of Jesus to so many needy families.
I have no clue how this email is going to look when I am finished but I wanted to let you know that you would be getting them from this new service from now on. We thank you for your emails and calls. May The Lord bless your week!
Basking in the Son,
Michelle
Posted on March 26th, 2007 by Michelle
Filed under: Michelle's Journal