Summer, still in full swing here in Romania, has brought many wonderful experiences and opportunities for new adventures and blessings. Lately, however, I have been spending a lot of time thinking retrospectively. It’s been 6 years since I first came to Romania as a very young, very naïve 19-year old. Things have changed so much! Walter and I often comment on the ways Romania has changed in the last few years. Walter notices the expensive cars on the streets. A few years ago, you might have seen a BMW or even a Ferrari occassionally. Now, spotting them on the streets is no longer a big deal as they are everywhere! I notice the new shopping centers and malls opening all of the time. There is a huge mall in Timisoara with a KFC and a Pizza Hut. Now we have a big mall like this in Arad and they’re building another. The changes are not only in the country of Romania and the city of Arad, but also very apparent in our Global Hope family. Often, I sit around with our kids and look at them. Obviously, they have grown and changed physically. Whenever I post pictures, I always get emails and comments like, “They’re so big!” and “He’s huge!” However, being around them every day and knowing them for over six years, I also notice other changes. Many of our children have really matured. Their personalities have developed and for many, adulthood is truly just around the corner. In the last few months, three of the girls from Ana’s House (Oana Kis, Sanda and Oana Stepan) accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and were baptized. The other day, I was in a shopping center with Sanda and her sister, Simona (Ana’s House). We were celebrating Simona’s 14th birthday. We came outside and I saw this very tall, very grown-up looking young man. His back was to me and for a minute, I almost didn’t recognize him. It was Flavius (Steven’s House)! He has probably grown a foot in the last year, now towering over me. He joked with me about this the other day. I told him when I first came to Romania, he only came to my shoulders and I had to look down into his sweet face. Now, I have to look up to see his eyes! Let me assure those of you who know him that his growth spurt has not changed his endearing personality. He is still, at-heart, the same Flavius that picked flowers for all of the girls on my mission teams. The other day he came to my apartment for an English lesson. He said he had a gift for me and brought out a large plastic bag with a picture of swimming dolphins on it. He had found it at a local market and remembered that my favorite animals are dolphins. It’s not an expensive gift, but I will treasure it always because of his thoughtfulness. Most of our kids are teen-agers and pre-teens now. The kids who once eagerly lined up in the front of any room to sing to mission teams and guests now prefer to sit and listen to others sing. The changes in the kids means changes in our ministry as we try to help them become independent, responsible adults who care about others and desire to seek after Jesus with their whole hearts. This is an area where we humbly ask for your prayers. Please pray for wisdom as we try to meet the physical, educational, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs of our growing kids. Ioana’s (The House of Hope) upcoming operation in Vienna is a need that is pressing on our hearts and minds right now. We are still trying to raise the funds to pay for her surgery. We are also spending a great deal of time in thought and prayers as this surgery will most certainly affect her life in the coming months and years. The surgery on her spine will help to correct her scoliosis but it will demand a long, difficult healing process. She will use a wheelchair and will probably be pulled out of school for the year. Please pray for Ioana. This time will demand the will-power of an Olympic athlete as she will have to work through pain and many hours of therapy. Please pray for her fears. She may be mature in many ways, but she is truly just a little girl and this surgery would be intimidating and difficult even for adults. Please pray for the doctors and please pray for us as we try to prepare, help and encourage her. One other prayer request is for Marian (Steven’s House) and Simon (The House of Hope). They will be starting first grade at a school called Step-by-Step. Already, Doina (our Director of Education), Ana Gavrila (our psychologist), and Noni (our social worker) are meeting daily with the boys to help prepare them for the beginning of school. Starting first grade is a huge accomplishment and shows how much progress they have both made in the last couple of years. We also have a few other first-graders this year. Vasi, Cristina Balas (both from the House of Hope), and Paula (Ana’s House) finished the Romanian equivalent of kindergarten and will be starting school this fall. Please pray for them in this time of transition. There are so many things going on here. It’s hard to cover it all in one update. It’s also difficult to find the time to sit down and write about the on-going events here in Romania. A recent mission team member commented on this, saying that she could feel the presence of God working in Romania. It really is their time as they rise and stand on the legs of freedom and progress. Realizing this, I have been prompted to give thought to my future. At this point, I’m not sure how much longer I will be able to continue to live and serve in Romania. I have some pretty substantial debt to pay off, thanks to student loans. If I want to live a life in foreign ministry, I really want to be debt-free. Right now, I really don’t have clear answers or a clear direction. I am still waiting on God and seeking His wisdom. I am planning to return to the States in October. My past fundraising efforts have been rushed and I have never raised as much as I would have hoped for but now I know that it was all in God’s plan. I am thinking of coming back and spending some time re-evaluating before launching into fundraising. Please continue to pray for me during this time. Right now I am feeling very overwhelmed and tired. Please pray for a refreshment of my soul and that I can make the time to rest and refill. Praise the Lord for His continued blessings! He has been so good to me and Global Hope. Now, in a time of change and uncertainty, we can feel His guiding presence. He pours His love out constantly, covering us in grace and blessings. I pray that you also feel His love for you and that He refreshes you too this weekend! I again would like to express my deep appreciation for each and every one of you. Your love and support has made this experience possible for me. I can always feel your prayers here. I hope and pray that you know how thankful I am and how much I love you!

Beautiful blessings to you,
Sarah

The Global Hope kids (Summer 2008)

Hey everyone,

I hope the summer heat isn't forcing you indoors too often and that you are all able to enjoy some fun summer memories. Here in Romania, we were able to get away from Arad for the fourth year in a row. We took most of our kids and some others to the camp in Marga. It was an amazing time and this year, the program was led by some of our Romanian staff: Doina, our Director of Education, and Roni and Rodi Stepan, house parents at Ana's House. I am so proud to say that they did an awesome job! The program was similar to years past with crafts, games, Bible lessons, and music. It was very flexible and the daily program changed often. Doina asked a couple of the Americans to teach the Bible lessons on a couple days and one day, the teen-agers led the morning in prayer, music, and teaching. The Bible lessons centered on the book of Daniel and also drew from other verses and passages in the Bible. For example, the first day's lesson was on Daniel and his friends who refused to eat the king's food and instead asked for vegetables and water. The lesson was that God blessed them for their faithfulness and their decision to not compromise their faith in a situation of temptation. Our intern, Sarah Boyd, is such a blessing and coordinated games for the little kids everyday. Christine Bowers, our single team member, came with fun crafts and a willing heart to serve and help wherever she was needed. Walter Williams also helped in different areas and used a digital printer that was loaned to us by the Osoinachs (a wonderful missionary family here in Arad) to take pictures of the kids and then print them out for them to keep. I was in charge of coming up with games for the middle children and the teen-agers. I decided to do an adaptation of the Amazing Race (some of you may be familiar with this popular television show). The kids were broken into two teams and had to follow clues that led them around the camp. They had roadblocks and detours, and the whole thing was timed like the real show so that it continued on more than one day. As the game progressed, I worked out the kinks and overall, I think it went very well and was enjoyed by all.

The teams had to prepare and perform skits from the book of Daniel as a part of the game one day.

I also tried to interfere as little as possible, making it like the show. When a team member became frustrated and decided to quit in the middle of the game, his or her team couldn't continue the game until they worked out the problem together as a team. I think they learned that yelling at the person and demanding that they come back and play doesn't really work. I also gave time penalties for not playing by the rules and poor sportsmanship. These penalties were served by the whole team at the end before they could officially "check-in". This usually gave an advantage to the other team. When we weren't doing the daily program, the kids had free time and there was a lot of swimming, hiking up the mountain, soccer, and volleyball like in years past. There were no major issues, injuries (aside from a few cuts and scrapes) or illnesses.

We had a daily point system for good behavior, cleanliness, etc. As a reward, we set-up a store and the kids could buy things with the points they had accumulated.

Our shoppers thoughtfully perusing the store.

So the camp really turned out to be a great success. It was clear that the Lord went before us and we could feel His spirit and the prayers of so many people covering the camp. There have been some other wonderful things happening. Right before the Marga camp, Oana Kis chose to believe in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and was baptized at the Speranta Baptist Church. Many of you know Oana and this was truly a special occassion. Roni has a bunch of pictures and I will try to send you some soon. I have really noticed Jesus working in Oana. Her heart has softened in so many ways. She used to be one who would easily grow angered and struggled to have patience. Lately, she is showing so much maturity and thoughtfulness before she speaks and acts. On a couple days at Marga, she spent hours patiently playing with the little kids. I don't just mean Paula and Lisa from her house, but also Vasi, Simon, Cristina, and Alexandra from the House of Hope. Some of you may realize that this shows a huge change in Oana. After Marga, there was another special occassion here in Romania: Franklin Graham came to Timisoara and there was a three-day conference called the Festival of Hope. This event was well-attended (I'm estimating around 25-35 thousand people every night) and featured music (including a choir of almost 2,000 people from different churches around Romania). Every night, Franklin Graham gave a message and I was so blessed by his preaching style that is so like his father's, very straight-forward but filled with compassion, love, and the promise of hope. For the Romanians, his presence in their country was very special because it reminded many of 1985 when his father came and preached the gospel throughout Communist Romania.

Festivalul Sperantei cu Franklin Graham (The Festival of Hope)

So as you can see, the summer has only just begun here in Romania, but it is very busy. Walter and I just received our visas to stay here for a year. So praise the Lord for that and so many other blessings! I also praise the Lord for all of you, for your continued support and prayers. I have included some pictures from Marga and also a little film we recorded of the kids singing the song we learned at camp about Daniel. I thought it might be fun to see and hear them. Also, it might be fun to show your friends and churches. This message will also be posted on my blogsite but I wanted to include it here with the attachments. Thank you again for helping to make the Marga camp and the continued operation of Global Hope possible! God has richly blessed us through each and every one of you and I hope you know how much we appreciate it!


Teodora and me on the balcony of the camp overlooking the mountains.


Sarah Boyd, Lisa and Sanda

Our soot-covered "gang"


Vasi and Cristina chatting at camp.

Hello everyone!

I wanted to write a little bit about my apartment. Last year, I had a little, one-bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen and a bathroom without a shower. This year God has blessed me with a palace...or at least it seems like a palace to me.


The main hallway in my apartment...the American flag was there when I moved in :)

I have two rooms which will be great because I am hosting an intern this summer so we will both have separate rooms.


My bedroom which is also the living room.


My bed which is actually the pull-out sofa.


The bedroom where, Sarah, our intern will stay.


The bathroom with the old washing machine there on the left.

I also have a large kitchen and a big bathroom with an old washing machine that works! It is wonderful. When I arrived in Romania, I was praying that God would send a place with two rooms for a reasonable monthly rent but after looking through the weekly buy and sell newspaper, I was getting a little discouraged as the cheapest place I could find was more than I could really afford monthly. Also, the cheaper places were outside of the center of town, a good distance from all of our children's homes. So I continued to pray about this and asked everyone I knew here to pray too. One day, I went to meet with Romica Iuga, the president of the Romanian side of Global Hope. I wanted to talk with him about applying for a visa and also wanted to just check-in. So I went to his office at the Speranta Baptist Church. We briefly chatted about how things were going for me and I mentioned the apartment problem. He then offered me the available apartment in the church! I never even considered the church as a possible living place. They have two apartments in the back. One is used by the church administrator and his family. The other was free. They had been talking about using the apartment. A few different ideas were tossed around. Apparently, another young missionary girl had stayed there for six or seven months. They had also occasionally used the church for guests who visited Arad and needed a place to stay for a night or two. So Romica walked me downstairs and gave me the general tour of the apartment. I told him I was interested in renting it and he asked me to come by the church that evening for the committee meeting. This is a meeting of the leaders of the church. This experience was a little intimidating because all of the committee members are men and it was a very serious meeting. I was familiar with some of the members but not because I knew them personally but because I know their teen-age children. Well, to sum everything up, the church offered me the apartment for a very reasonable monthly rent that includes all utilities and wireless internet. It is a wonderful apartment, quiet and clean. I really feel like I can escape and relax there.


My kitchen: the sink and stove (off to the right).


The refrigerator...the cabinet doors are a little broken and the door on the stove comes off on one side, but otherwise the kitchen is great.

When I told Dorel and Gabi (house parents at Steven's House) about the apartment, Dorel smiled and said, "See, we have a big God!" Yes, our God is very big and more than capable to handle all of our problems. Nothing is too big or too small for him! I hope you see His hand working in your life, too.

I am back in Romania and enjoying the warm spring weather and the wonderful companionship of good friends. My arrival in Romania was, as always, marked by some sort of small "catastrophe". This time, I flew directly into Romania. It seemed I was more irritable than ever upon landing in Timisoara (a large city an hour away from Arad). I had to continually pray for patience as I slowly worked my way through passport control and on to the small baggage claim area. Here, I discovered that only one of my bags had arrived. Many other passengers from my flight also had baggage that was unaccounted for so we all had to wait to give our baggage and contact information to the airport. Finally, an hour after I arrived (and this is a small airport, smaller than the Colorado Springs airport that some of you may be familiar with), I walked through customs without problems (I think the customs officials were afraid to stop any of the passengers from my flight because they could see how upset people were). I was met by Walter (my missionary colleague), Roni (our house dad at Ana's House) and Radu (one of the boys from Ana's House). Roni wanted to run some errands so we drove through town and the traffic at that time of day was unbelievable.

The day I arrived was a Friday and it was the day that the Evangelical Christian community celebrated Good Friday and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. We saw a theatrical portrayal of Jesus' walk to Golgotha while carrying the cross. Some people from a local church had dressed up as Roman guards and one man was dressed as Jesus. As he walked through the streets carrying the large wooden cross, the men playing the guards beat him with a whip and sticks. I later discovered that my good friend, Adi (the biological son of the house parents of Steven's House) was there in Timisoara for this portrayal. He and some of his friends followed the procession through the busy city streets.

This began a meaningful weekend for me as I celebrated Easter in Romania for the first time. Church services were held at the Speranta Baptist church on Friday night. Then again on Sunday morning and Sunday night. Then again on Monday morning and Monday night. Churches in Romania are not like American churches. They do not have multiple replicas of the same service. I was explaining this to our house parents the other day. Every service is a different program and everyone goes to every service. I went to a worship service at another Baptist church on Tuesday night because Andreea (the biological daughter of the house parents of the House of Hope) was singing with the children's choir. Needless to say, I spent a majority of my time those first few days in church. It's easier for me to go to church here now. In the beginning, it was hard to sit still for two or three hours when you had no idea what was going on. The novelty of a foreign church can wear off quite quickly at a super-conservative Baptist church like Speranta. Now that I understand most of what is said, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to remember what it was like to sit there for the first time, 19 years old and on my first over-seas mission trip.

This Easter season in Romania, I enjoyed learning of the Romanian traditions. They paint and eat hard-boiled eggs as we do but they color them all red. The red is to represent the blood of Christ. The egg represents the new life given us when we are covered by His blood. Dorel, house father at Steven's House, was explaining that the colored eggs are actually a tradition acquired from the Orthodox church. He enjoyed watching my expression as I came to the table on Sunday morning, was told to choose an egg that looked "tare" (strong or hard) and was then told to hold it in my hand with the top of the egg exposed. Flavius then took his egg and slammed it down on top of mine while saying, "Cristos a inviat!" (Christ has risen!) Whoever's egg remained unbroken after repeating this game with everyone at the table, was deemed the winner.

I am still settling in here, looking for an apartment to rent, and praying that God will use me and shape me during this time. Things are much more expensive so I'm not sure how long I will stay but I am now, and always will be, comforted by God's enduring presence and His faithful love and guidance in my life thanks to the sacrifice and victory of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is in His name, I pray blessings upon all of you!

Cristos a inviat!
Sarah

If you have traveled to Romania on a mission team or as an intern, I’m sure that you were blessed by the beautiful voices of our children. They often sing as a choir for a variety of audiences, from mission teams to small village churches. Romanians love music and I have learned many Romanian songs. I have been surprised by how many worship songs I have learned to sing in Romanian long before I learned to sing them in English. “Lord, Reign in Me” and “Everyday” are just a couple of the songs I sang in Romanian with the Global Hope kids before I even knew they were originally written in English. Please give me a break here, there are so many beautiful worship songs and hymns out there, it’s hard to know them all.


The children of Global Hope singing at the village church in Marga, Romania (Summer 2007)

One of my favorite Romanian worship songs is also a favorite among the teen-agers at the Global Hope homes. Recently, I was thrilled to find the song in English on iTunes. As I listened to the song, I was happy to discover that the Romanian translation is very close to the English lyrics. Some of you may recognize this song: “When the oceans rise and thunder roars, I will soar with you above the storm. Father, you are king of all of life. I will be still and know you are God.” This song now has new meaning to me.

I recently finished reading a book by Karen Kingsbury. One of the characters in the book writes a research paper on eagles. Eagles are magnificent birds, often called the “king of the skies”. They are known to fly during thunderstorms when other birds seek shelter. They wait for a thermal current and use it to soar above the dangers of the storm. As I read this, I was instantly reminded of the lyrics of the song. If we wait on the Lord, He will lift us up above the storms of life.


San Isabel National Forest, on the way to visit the Community United Methodist Church in Westcliffe, CO (March 2008)

Coming back to the United States was much harder than I expected. I was so blessed by time with family and friends, but I was surprised to find my heart had changed. My passion for serving in Romania seemed to have vanished. I couldn’t help but wonder, “What happened?” As I sought the Lord, I began to see a completely different path for my life, a path that would keep me in the United States for a time. I was so discouraged and confused. I couldn’t discern what God wanted from me and for me. I couldn’t determine His will. I was facing questions and decisions that I hadn’t anticipated. There were moments of great anxiety and panic. Those moments never lasted, though. I actually felt a great deal of peace. Like, God wanted me to walk through this time. He wanted to teach me something. Even now, I haven’t fully grasped everything that the Lord had for me to learn during this time. However, I was forced to wait on the Lord. I was reminded of His divinity and His goodness. As I waited on Him, He lifted me above the storm and carried me over it. I didn’t even realize it at the time.

Now, I feel a renewed passion for missions work in Romania. It’s a different passion, quieter than the urgent excitement and anxiety that moved me to Romania last May. I think my calling is more deeply rooted in reality. After seven months in Romania, my eyes have been opened to some of the hardships and challenges of over-seas ministry. Nonetheless, I have never been more convinced of His faithful presence, lifting me above the storms and astounding me with moments of miracles and beauty. I am excited to return to Romania soon.


Enjoying the ocean at West Palm Beach while visiting the Wellington United Methodist Church in Florida (January 2008)

I recently bought my airline ticket for April 24th and I am making plans to fly from Denver International Airport to Munich, Germany and then on to Timisoara, Romania. I would greatly appreciate your prayers. I need to raise more support. After living there, I have learned that I can live there for around $18,000 a year. I also ask for your prayers about my student loans. I would like to pay them off before considering a career in missions. At this point, I’m not sure what this will look like. Please pray that God will send answers, perhaps in the form of someone to help me pay them off. Or, perhaps, He may ask me to return to the States and work to pay them. If this is the case, please pray for peace. Finally, I thank and praise the Lord for all of you. Your love, encouragement, support, and guidance is so important to me!

Mulțumesc şi Dumnezeu sa fie cu voi! Thank you and God be with you all!