Maria’s Desk ….
Seasons of life……
Winter is nearly here…The sun is still out there, but the air is
much colder. I’m sitting in my office looking out the window at the
greatest sunset I’ve seen in my life… Another day has gone…. Another
month.
With October month gone…November month arrives…but what’s new from
my desk? (apart from nice sunsets I see from my window?) Lots!!
We started October with a mission trip. A great group of people, 25
of them from Scotland came to share their love with the Romanian
people! And they managed to do so very well! Through all the
activities that they did on a daily basis they demonstrated God’s
love! Their visit to Romania was a dream that
seemed impossible but because God blessed a faithful servant, their dream became reality
after nearly 4 years. I would like to say thank you to one of my
special friends,
Jean Barclay for not giving up and more than me
being proud of her - God is very proud!
I would like to say thank you to the team for helping me to unload
the container that arrived the day just before they were leaving.
Well, not only to the team that was here but to ALL my Irish friends
that made this container possible!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, another one from Northern Ireland! I’m still wondering how they
do it. THANK YOU Adrian, John, David and ALL the people that
helped them to put this container together!!
We are getting closer and closer to our target of 10
containers……..10 new homes for the poor, homeless people around
Oradea!
This month my colleague,
Adi Matis
and I, were asked to go to the
State Department in order to finalise the papers for the land for
the Containers.
(The State promised us 1000 sq metres of land
for our programme with the homeless people of Oradea). At the moment
we need to make sure that all the terms and conditions that were
agreed verbally are also in writing. We’ve had experiences in the
past with the State Institutions where we’ve been let down or in the
worst case, we did all the investment and when that was finished we
had to leave the place because of different politics. Please pray
for us and pray for wisdom from God related to this particular
project.
After the first group returned home and before
the second one came, I had one week off
….well ‘off’ means ‘no
mission trip’. During this time I had two very important people that
through
their examples on a day to day basis, encourage me a lot! I told you
in my October update that I
had to sign the papers for the purchase
of the building in Salonta on my own!! That went great! As I recover
from it
it is great to know that on my next stage I’m not alone! I have Mr
Hoy, my Romanian management team and staff and I have advisors from
UK.
David Clark and Graham Wallace!
This time,
for nearly a week, Graham Wallace was in Romania in order to look at
the building in details and put the architectural plan together.
Many, many hours in the office, drawing lots of squares on a paper
simply with a pencil made the first set of drawings possible!! THANK
YOU Graham for it! You did great and I can’t wait to have you back!
Dave, we missed you this week but with God’s help I’m sure there
will be “another time”.. you are in our prayers and we can’t wait to
have you here!!
The other person I’ve told you was an encouragement for me is
Sam
Morrison. He came in Romania at the same time with Mr Hoy, for a
week…October 7th. Why did he come?
Simply to work the land at the Farm….to make sure that the land is
prepared for seeding and to
share his knowledge with us!
18 days later he was still here…..because he had not finished
the job….Commitment,
Dedication, Servant heart, are just a few of the words that I can
use to describe him….So small things that make a huge impact!!!
Thank you Sam for everything and we wait for you to come back to see
the crops….maybe
by that time, you decide to move here completely!!
And my list with people that make a difference can continue……..I do
not want to upset anybody, in case I forget to mention their names,
so I will stop here
…(Paul and Ali….you are already
part of the team..Thank you for the flowers and making me smile!J)
Just before the month finished I had another great team, arriving
from UK on a mission trip! This time from England and a few from
Northern Ireland! 28 of them in total. A great time and lots of
great experiences through the Smiles projects. I would like to say
THANK YOU to ALL of them for sharing their time and love with the
Romanian people. I would like to say a special thank you to the
ladies that cleaned my warehouse!! (and shared their time with the
mice!!! ) THANK YOU LADIES.
By the way, it is great for me to hear that people read my
newsletters every month. We had dinner the other nigh
t
with some of our dear friends that came on a mission trip and as
we were talking about my newsletter, we could not
stop laughing at some mistakes that I do in using my second
language! I’m happy that you ALL get over them and I THANK YOU for
doing that! Derek, thank you for reading my newsletter and thank you
for your prayers….I hope my mistakes are not as big as your
hippopotamus is!
So my friends THANK YOU ALL for everything you
are doing for us here in Romania. I know it is not easy, but thank
you for your commitment and dedication and Thank you for not giving
up in supporting our work!!
God will reward that one day, for sure.
Also, during November, my friends from USA will celebrate
THANKSGIVING.
I would like to say now, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
And THANK YOU VERY MUCH for EVERYTHING you are doing for the
Romanian people! May God bless you ALL!! I can’t wait to see some of
you during November. I’m really excited about visiting America this
month and can’t wait to spend time with you and share more news!
So,
October is finished indeed. We will never again have October 2010 on
our calendar! Some of us got older some of us are just born, some of
us got married some of us had dear ones pass away….lots of events!!
For my family this
month, on October 2nd my
grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday. I was at home
with her and we had a great time. I thank God for her all the time!!
On October
29th my father just turned 55 years.
He loves the fact that now he is on the “senior side”.
THANK
YOU GOD for my father as well and for ALL my family!! My
natural one and my Smiles one!! And I ask for YOUR blessings upon us
all!
Sincerely, Maria
