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From Maria’s Desk (currently mobile!!) … March 2010
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Dear
Friends,
Thank you so much for your e-mails and for your prayers as a
response to my February update report! It is encouraging for me to
know that there are people that are reading my updates and people
that are praying for the work we do and for me!
The sad news is that 3 days after we post on the web page the
updates for February, and I told you about my grandfather’s stroke,
I received an e mail from home telling me he had died! A hard time
for me and Octavia on the road, my family back home, but I’m
thankful to God for ALL the people that were around me and Octavia
on the day we received the news and the few days after that. I’m
sure God had it all planned well before it happened.
THANK YOU SOO MUCH for
everything!
We still need to adjust to the situation and I’m sure once we get
home it will be a bit harder, but I’m so happy that my grandfather
is in heaven now, looking down at me and not stuck in a bed,
impossible to move around. As I could not be there for the funeral
(Mr Hoy and other people wanted to send us home, but we, the
whole family decided not to do that) I wrote a letter that one
good friend of mine,
Beni Paunovici,
read it at the funeral. I would like to share with you the end part
of it:
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“dear family
and friends, I’m sorry I can t be there with you today to say good
bye to grandfather, but he is not there just his body, he is in
heaven looking at us and waiting for us there. My dear friends,
don’t be sad and please don’t forget we are ALL gona go through
this moment on this earth.....but what is important is how?? And
what is our final destination. I pray we all get in heaven, the
place where there won’t be pain and sorrow.....Thank you God for
my Grandfather and for the honour you give it me to be his
granddaughter...I will do my best to see you HOME, in Heaven one
day!!.”
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So, please continue
to pray for me, my family but more important for my grandmother as
she is missing my grandfather a lot. This month they were supposed
to have celebrating 60 years of marriage and she is feeling down.
Please pray for the rest of my family that does not know God as
their Saviour... I really want to spend eternity with them all!
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So
to the rest of life, how is the tour going??
How this affected my work? To be honest it did affect but in a more
positive way! The way that I present my story now I really mean it
and what I share with people is coming from a different heart! We do
not understand why God is allowing this type of thing to happen in
our life, but I realised in a practical way, it’s better for us and
is making us stronger! He sends reminders to us, through people,
through messages. The one it encourage
me the most was from a sermon this past Sunday when God reminded me
that HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT to keep me going!!
The
tour is going great.
We meet old friends that we love to spend time talking with and new
friends that we love sharing the story with. I realised that one of
the most important things that we are left with from these tours
around UK and USA are the relationships. Yes, I’m wrong if I say
“the financial support is not welcome and needed for the work we do,
it is needed” but you know, money comes and money goes as fast as it
comes, but people stay and their input to the work we do is amazing!
Their prayers move mountains that are impossible to be
moved....Their faithfulness and commitment in small things makes the
bigger ones to be real miracles!!!
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Looking at myself and looking at the
kids this time, from a different angle (they had to put up with me
and Octavia being sad ), I remember the only prayer that was left without
crying is “God give us families that take care of us and show us
love and understanding!”. And HE DID/DOES!!! ALL the families we
stayed with were AMAZING, friendly, loving, caring for us!!!
But this past weekend surprised me. As we went to a new area where
Smiles had never been since My Hoy and Nia stopped touring. I
remember asking Mr Hoy non-stop “ are this
people nice, are they good? Do they like kids/ naughty kids like us!
Are they patient??” (sorry to the Groveport people that read
this but they probably had the same questions about us)”. The night
we got there came, and we were sent to different families. Me and
the 3 younger girls were sent to a lady that is 79 years old. I
remember as we drove to the house I was thinking “ how it will be??
Why now?? What do I need to learn because I don’t really want
anymore lessons”....The outcome of the 3 days
we spend with her was WONDERFUL!! Sunday after the morning
service as we changed the
costumes, the entire choir group had the same dilemma: “what is
different here??
Why we all had the same experiences and still do not understand and
we do not have the answer!??” It took
as
a
FULL
day to figure out and the night before we went back to the families
we got it. Their love for God and for people
is amazing! My host lady, Thelma is her name, taught me a great
lesson, “ACCEPTING the thorns in your life will make you stronger no
matter in what form they are coming - big ones or small ones.....Other
people from there - Paul, Diane, Betty and all the others
(sorry I can t spell ok all the names) taught me that the age has no
limits to serve God from small things – to prepare dinner for 30
people- to big things – travelling around the World and share God’s
love! Thank you for an amazing weekend. It’s in my mind and I will
never forget it!! I really like you guys now!
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So,
now
we are back on the road travelling and in the middle we have two
days off. Two of the kids from the choir, Aneta and Cornel, have
their birthday, 18 for Aneta and 15 for Cornel...... We were
thinking to do something nice...and Mr Hoy arranged a very special
dinner at Rainforest Café in Disney Village, Orlando FL. We had an
amazing time and so much food. Thank you Sefu! Now we have one week
of concerts and continue meeting old and new friends. Pray for God’s
blessing upon us! Pray also for a safe travel back home and a good
time for the kids to adjust and get back to school and to their
regular family life.
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As for me, I will see most of the UK
friends at the conferences, and share with you more news....But for
my US friends, thank you very much for an amazing month and for the
blessings we received from you.
For you I will close my update this month with the same thought I
close the concerts here each evening : “ thank
you very much for everything.....I pray I see you again in US or in
Romania but if not on this earth, I pray we see each other in
Heaven!”
And if you read for the first time my report, I thank God for you
and for the time you took to read it! You are my new friend so feel
free to come back or send me an e-mail so that I can share with you
more of the work GOD is doing in Romania through the work of The
Smiles Foundation.
Love you all!
Sincerely,
Maria Cimpoca
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Previous letters from Maria:
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July2009 June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
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