June Update

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers during this past month. Although Lenutsa and I are getting back into things in Galati, we’re finding that it takes more time than we anticipated in readjusting. Even when we aren’t doing too much, we come home at the end of the day completely exhausted. As we’ve read some books on sabbatical and spoken with others who have taken sabbatical, we understand that this is normal. But we do ask that you continue to pray for us.

I’ve gotten more involved with the pastoral committee of the church in which Lenutsa and I participate. I’ve been taking part in their weekly meetings and helping organize their department for social aid. Please pray for this church that we would be faithful to God in responding to the poor and needy.

This month we will receive an intern, Kelsey, from George Fox, who will be with us through July. While Lenutsa and I were in Oregon, we took a training course called Brighter Minds, which focuses on brain development. Kelsey went through this training and wants to help us implement it, particularly with the children at the Community Center who struggle with attention deficits. Please pray that we would develop a good tool for the kids and that God would use it to help the children as they face the many challenges in their lives.

A few years back, two of our children from the Center were abandoned by their mother, who left them with extended family to work in Italy. The situation was dire for these two kids. Thankfully, God sent a family to receive them in foster care, which was an almost perfect environment for this brother and sister – although it still meant a long battle with the state authorities for approval. Sadly, after two years the family decided that they could no longer care for them. So, the two youth went to live with an aunt. They lived there for a few months until the aunt decided she could no longer keep them. They then went to the Center for Minors, a building packed with youth that are transitioning out of difficult homes and into other homes under the state’s care. Initially, the mother of our kids said that she would come from Italy to take care of them, but that proved to be an empty promise. After much prayer and deliberation, Paul and Ana decided to take them into our community home. This is a big decision for this young couple, and it means yet another home for these two kids. Please pray for Paul and Ana and for our two kids, Eleni and Florin, that they would quickly adjust to life together and that it would be a healthy and healing place for them all.

Next week we are holing our annual community retreat. The theme is discipleship. Please pray that our relationships would grow and that we would be touched and refreshed by the Spirit of God.

I also plan on going to Moldova in June to visit our young community there and to discuss with them their organizational structure. I would appreciate your prayers for that time.

Thank you for your prayer and support,

davi