December 1998
Bucharest, Romania
Christmas Greetings from Our Home to Yours
We are so thankful for how the Lord has worked in
our midst this year. There was the joy of meeting new
friends and renewing old friendships we cherish so
much. Our prayer is that all of you will have a blessed
Christmas holiday with your family and friends.
This year we have seen some tremendous
breakthroughs both spiritually and financially. Seeing
God move like this helps us to continue pressing on
despite all our difficulties. We want to see only God's
will fulfilled through the ministry here.
We thank God for each one of you that are
holding up our hands through your prayer and support
on a regular basis. If you could see what your
contribution has done for the 14 children in Casa
Shalom, you would be so excited.
Since all of you can
not come to us we will try to paint the picture of what
God is doing in the lives of children he has placed in
Casa Shalom.
For example there is Mariana. Tonight
she was helping me bake some croissants in the
kitchen. She looked at me and said, "Becky you know
when I grow up, I want to have an orphanage." Her
little face was shining. She found something here at
Casa Shalom that she wants to give to others.
I told her
if she wants she can help me when she grows up, but
right now she needs to learn to read and write. I believe
God will help her to do just that. She was one of our
girls that came from a terrible home situation. She was
truly a little orphan who lost both of her parents,
wounded and hurting, but God has done such a work of
restoration in her life. He's not finished yet, but then
again He's not finished in us either. He's still working on
all of us, molding and making us into His image.
Two New Faces at Casa Shalom
Sorin (3) and Mirela (7) have now been with us
three and a half months, a brother and sister we found
over 500 miles from here on the Romanian-Ukrainian
border. They along with their older brother and sister
were abandoned by their mother to care for the sheep
on a remote hillside in northern Romania. The older
sister and brother were gone with the sheep during the
day and the little children were left alone.
A Christian
brother found them but there was no room for them in a
nearby Christian orphanage. I felt led to go and visit
several orphanages and the director of one of the
orphanages told me their story. Something in my heart
compelled me to drive a few more hours to see their
situation for myself. God made room for them, and a few
weeks later they were with us.
When Sorin first came, he couldn't talk and he even
cried like a little lamb. Now he's chattering about and
asking, Fa-ce tu fa- ce? (How are you doing?) Ce asta?
(What's this?) What's that, and do you have a bomba (candy)?
He and his sister have changed so much.
I asked Sorin if he wanted to go back to the sheep
for a visit but he said no, stai aici. (Stay here.) He and
Mirela love being here and learning so many new
things.
Every Sunday they look forward to dressing up
with their best clothes and going to church with us.
When we sing, Sorin sings out with all his might Al-le-lu-ia.
Right now they're sound asleep in their bed with not
a care in the world. God is good and now they too have
hope and a good future awaiting them.
I do not have the space to tell about all the children.
Some of them are the best students in their class.
Others when they come home can't wait to tell us the
good grade they made that day. Some of them love to
cook and clean or work in the garden and we are so
thankful for that.
Our winter garden -
Fresh spinach in December Yum, yum!!
Our Little Garden,
a Real Blessing
In May, we planted our garden. It was a family
project as all the girls helped to prepare the ground,
plant, weed and harvest the vegetables. We had 70%
of all the vegetables we needed from our own garden.
Then we canned and filled up our freezer with corn,
beans and spinach. We had over 100 cabbages we
have preserved in some big barrels for winter. They
make fine cabbage rolls. Even this week we have
shoveled away the snow and under a piece of plastic
we have even more spinach. It's like bringing it out of
the freezer.
How many people have fresh salad from their
garden in December? We may even have fresh
spinach for Christmas. God has been good and blessed
even our little garden and multiplied it.
Update on Land purchase
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Finally after waiting for five months, we were able
to purchase the land beside our garden for constructing
a new house for abandoned babies and toddlers. There
were all the legal papers that were needed, besides
taking the parcel of land out of the agriculture zoning
and putting it into residential. It was neither an easy nor short
process.
We thank God Casa Shalom finally has the
deed for the land. Yes, we had thought we would be
ready to start building in the spring but now we have to
get all the permits for the building from the governmentt. We
have a wonderful lawyer that gives us wise counsel and
will assist us in finding the right company to build this
house. We do realize it will cost us more than we first
anticipated but we know God will make a way. Now
we know the house will be built in God's time and not
ours.
Our guests Caryl and Terris Cates
Trip to the States with Rodica
In October, I was in the U.S. traveling and sharing about
our work. My accountant was with me. It was her first
trip to America. I asked Rodica to share a word with
you in this letter.
Rodica says: "It was a wonderful experience for me
to go to America. I was so impressed with everything I
saw and the people I met. I especially enjoyed the
churches with the power of God at
work. I want to thank all of you for supporting Casa
Shalom. Now I know how hard Becky works to get
new support for our house."
Problems and Prayer Requests
- Our vehicles - My van doesn't want to start with
the cold weather. We have had this problem the past
three winters.
- We need to build a building which can be used
for a garage for our vehicles and storage area for
building materials and our vegetables.
- We need all the permits for both the house and
the garage.
- We are asking God for new supporters so we
can cover all the building costs.
- We pray all the people desiring to support one of
our girls on a monthly basis will be blessed and able to
fulfill their commitment this coming year.
- Pray for our computers and printers. We have
had them break down many times this summer and
were not able to correspond with our supporters like
we would have liked to.
- Our cook (Magdalena, age 38) just lost her father
very unexpectedly last week. Pray that God will comfort
and strengthen her.
The children's Christmas drama
Loved Ones Called Home
This year several of our good friends that we have
known for many years have gone on to their reward.
Several years ago Bro. Charles Shaffer and his
wife, whom I've known for 20 years, told me they had no
children and were adding Casa Shalom to their will. Bro
Shaffer passed away last year and now this year his wife.
The bank told me a little monthly check would be
coming to us. The Bible tells us, we may die but our
works will follow us. This is so true. They may not be
here, but they are continuing to work.
Then contributions came this year also from the
families of two other friends. Pearl Bigler and our dear
friend Doris Dorau in Texas. These have all touched my
life and now the lives of our children. Thank you for
remembering us.
"WRITE THE VISION...
Make it
plain upon tables, that he may run that
readeth it."
Habakkuk 2:2
It was on May 23, 1996 that the Lord spoke to
me as I was sharing with my first co-worker about the
vision God gave me. As I looked out over the field in
front of our house, God spoke to me and said, "And
even this field will belong to Casa Shalom."
At that
time we were just managing the house for another
organization. I had so many problems with the house
there was little time to think about the vision God
showed me that spring morning. Now, two and a half
years later our house problems are solved and once
again God is reminding me of the vision.
I already saw the house which we are getting
ready to build this coming year. The vision had several
big three-story dorms in it for younger and older
children. There was even a home for some
handicapped children. Then there was a little
kindergarten and a Christian school for the children.
In one of the buildings, the children were learning
to play instruments, sing and participate in Bible
theater.
There were beautiful gardens and fruit trees
everywhere. The older girls were being taught life
skills. There was a building where the girls were
learning to cook and sew. I saw things being sold out
of this building. Then the same for the boys. They were
learning construction and working with wood. There
were also things being sold from this building. There
was even a staff house where the workers could relax
a bit. I thought that's quite amusing. Then for me, the
most beautiful thing
was the church right in the middle of all the other
buildings. Everything seemed to lead to the church, even
the little streets circled the church. The children
were putting on performances at the church and the
public was coming to see and hear from the little ones
at the Casa Shalom Village.
It seemed so real, but at that time, in reality, we
owned only 400 square meters of land. Since Nov. 1997,
we have bought three little parcels of the
land I saw in the vision. Now we have over 9,000 square
meters of land. Right now we have almost one third of
the land I saw in the Vision. This year we will begin
construction on the first house which will be for the
abandoned babies.
This brings so much joy to my
heart to see God moving and using people that I have
never met before to help fulfill the vision He put within
my heart. This vision is so much bigger than me.
Sometimes I feel so inadequate for such a task. Then I
think about all the children here in Romania that have
no future and have no hope. I believe God has been
preparing me for such a time as this. My husband
Joseph has been such a tremendous help this past
year.
Our Casa Shalom girls are starting to play the
Mandolin quite well. In a few years, if the Lord, tarries
they'll be playing in that new church in the middle of
the field. There are times I think, can God trust me?
Then there are times I ask, can I trust God? Well,
every day we are learning to trust Him for the 14
children, and we will trust Him the same for the 50, and
the 100, and 200, and build as big as God wants us to.
I realize more and more that money is something we
can only use on earth. It doesn't have any value in
heaven. How we need to invest it wisely! How
beautiful it will be to take a stroll on the streets of gold,
hand in hand with some children you helped to reach
for eternity. Let's build where neither moth nor rust
can destroy. Help us invest in the life of a child.
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"Please tell me more."
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