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Special Report on Gepiu Community Project
Christmas ’08 – Easter ‘09 |
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 Director of Gepiu,
Georgi Opreanu writes:
The
end of last year and beginning of this was certainly a test for us.
We were walking in the unknown but we promised God that we will
trust Him, no matter what. At the end of last year we tried to find
the right people to teach the children in the after-school program,
but had no success. Now looking back we see that we had to be patience
and God would send us Godly people to continue the work.
 Calin,
is a fireman, but because he loves children and has time free he
wants to give this time to Gods work, so he joined the Gepiu team in
January. Alexanda is a social worker graduate and she is doing
a master degree in social work. She was praying for a part time job
that will bring her an income, but to also be fulfilling. Smile’s was
the answer to her prayers and she joined us middle of February.
Dany is a social work student
 and
because he wanted to be involved in children’s work he wanted to come
and help the children to their home work as his time permits.
The children have become very attached to all of them and are coming
to the after-school programme because they know that somebody there
waits for them and loves them unconditionally.
Last month we did a sleep over with the oldest children from the after
school programme and it was a real success. Now the younger ones
keeping asking us when it will be their turn. So, the plan is to have
this type of activity every month with one of the groups. We want to
do this because we know how important it is for these children to have
the opportunity to be in a Christian environment with people around
them that can guide them in the Christian life.
Adi
Matis
joined the
 Smiles
team as Project Manager for the 100 Love Club and has considerable
responsibilities at Gepiu. One of the responsibilities is for the
Bible Study Programmes at Gepiu Community Centre run by The Smiles
Foundation.
In the last couple of months since Adi joined, we really moved forward
with Bible Studies for the teenagers that attend the Centre, because
we believe they need to be well equipped and prepared for life. The
best way to achieve this is by teaching them the truth of the Bible.
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So,
every Thursday evening, from 6pm we have a meeting where we discuss
various subjects, finding the practical applications for their lives.
Learning from the examples in the Bible and finding the answers to the
many questions they have. This is really a time of blessing for us
all. We enjoy also the praise and worship, sometimes we watch a movie
together – we just watched “Passion of Christ” recently – and then
discussed freely about all things. Also, most importance is the prayer
time. This is something we do every time and encourage each of the
young people to participate and pray for others as well as themselves.
 The
topics for the last meetings were Fear, Disappointments,
Friendship, to name only a few. There isn’t much of a schedule
with these topics, as they have the freedom to ask any questions and
bring up any subjects for discussion and often the next week’s study
will come as an answer to some of the issues raised today or last
week.
The interest is obvious, as many of the youngsters are present each
and every meeting and they are ready to note and share their
experiences with the others, we talk about these and find the best
teaching for their benefit. There are up to 20 people at each meeting,
sometimes we also get new people visit. At the end, we enjoy together
some cakes, some drinks and we take time to talk, encourage and
fellowship together!
For the future, we want to enlarge the activities. We already
planned some guitar classes – we really could use some guitars,
anyone? – also some drums and keyboard classes and probably later on,
some art classes like photography, painting and graphics. All of these
activities are meant to get the young people involved in our group’s
activities, to make them feel they are welcome and part of the family.
We’re confident that God’s work will be done and their lives will be
touched by His love.
We do invite all of you to share our vision and get involved into
making a difference in these young lives. Be a part of God’s team!
Share your love and support for the future generation!
Best Wishes – Adi Matis
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Other news from Adi ……
Seniors Luncheon
Every month we have one or two special programmes for
seniors at the Centre. They are invited to enjoy a lunch that we
prepare for them and on these occasions they get to meet and have a
nice time together, they certainly enjoy each other’s company. There
are at least 20 people present, sometimes up to 25 and we are glad to
see them coming to take part in this fellowship.
We sing a lot of songs together, which they really like. They get
involved and share a thought, a song or a poem with the rest of us and
this way we realise the 2-3 hours of programmes get to the end way too
soon. This is a real blessing for all of us, as we can see God’s
kindness and mercy being so present and in many ways we get so much to
learn from our seniors, their experiences with God and the wisdom of
the age. And they are not shy to tell everyone about their opinion,
on any subject and the truth is, many good ideas could be taken
from this!
We have a short message from the Bible, something that
will encourage everybody in their daily walk with God and we notice
how hopeful and confident they are when it refers to the future! They
are not fearful in front of death, even though it happens that not all
the participants at today’s meeting will make it for the next one.
They continue praying for their friends, family and dear ones, and
they are very optimistic that God will answer their prayers!
We’d like to continue and even increase the number of
these special meetings, but this special program needs your support,
both in prayer and financially. We invite you to help us bring the joy
in these people’s lives, make their days nicer and easier! By doing
this, you’ll feel greatly blessed, because it is such a wonderful
opportunity to do something nice for seniors. We will all get in their
shoes at some point. Just as one of them told me recently “I
already was where you are now, but you didn’t yet get where I am now!”
Thank you, Adi
Matis
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News from the Farm and Horticulture
People come and go, but those who
believe that God has a purpose with their life and a true ‘calling’,
will stick with what God has for them even in tough situations.
Because of that, Danuts and Livia were able to start working
the land in March and we can see already that God is blessing their
work. It’s not easy, but God didn’t promise us that He will ask us to
do easy things, but He did promise that he will bless when we are
faithful.
Beginning of April we planted the two tunnels with peppers, tomatoes
and cucumbers. You can see from the pictures how beautifully they are
already growing. |
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Outside we planted
salad crops; lettuce, spring onion,
beans, peas, dill, spinach, and many others vegetables that we will be
use in our projects and store them for winter.
Middle of March we purchased 50 chickens and on Friday May 1st,
we plan to have a picnic with the children and youth of Gepiu and we
will be able to have fresh meat and spring onion because of the people
that are working so hard in the farm and horticulture project. We also
now have a sow about to give birth to hopefully at least 10 little
piglets to further support the feeding projects within Smiles.
A very special thank-you to Paul and Alison Jeanes who advise
us and support all the farming work so passionately. It is making a
real difference to many lives and this year, we believe we can make
the project really successful as we know what is happening at the site
and can trust those working daily on it.
Finally …
We want to
continue this wonderful work. As I said at the
 beginning,
we promised God that we will trust him. Sometimes, when I’m thinking
to the World’s financial crisis, I don’t know how God will supply us
the finance needed. But, we trusted in Him in the past and He was
faithful. He will bless us through people that are ready to take this
opportunity to be blessed themselves by supporting the work of Gepiu.
If you can help, please do so now. And if possible, please come to see
the work in action on one of our Mission Trips.
God
Bless you all.
Georgi
Opreanu, Director at Gepiu.
Gepiu Community Project is part of the Smiles 100 Love Club. |
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