December Update

Dear Friends,

The Christmas season is already here, and we still feel like we haven’t caught up on all that God has been doing in our midst over the past months.

In September we helped initiate a Day Center in a village called Tudor Vladimirescu that is about a 40 minute drive outside of Galati. The chairperson of our board of directors purchased an old house and transformed it into a Day Center. While we are still working on acquiring all the necessary permits, we have enrolled 6 children thus far. They are helped with their homework and have times for games and art. As you can imagine, the situation in a village are different than in the city. Many of the kids are living in families with substance abuse and domestic violence. They have less access to running water and heat and do not benefit as much from social services. As we get to know the kids and receive new ones, we hope to develop activities that are truly supportive. Anca Nebunu is coordinating the Center, but we are praying that God will raise up others to help Anca and we are praying for the resources to develop the Center.

Since September we have been blessed with three interns, one from the U.S. and two from Scotland. They have been learning about Romanian culture by living with host families and studying Romanian. So that they can understand more about Word Made Flesh, our vision and our approach, I have been leading book discussions (which has given me the opportunity to re-read books that I haven’t perused for years). Our interns have been helping us with activities like re-doing our website, teaching dance, and figuring out the kids’ health issues. They have been a huge help to us. As they discern their vocations and future involvement, we pray that they will continue to develop community here with us. We also continue to pray for God to raise up non-Romanian long-term staff.

This autumn we have also been grateful to begin working more closely with a newer church plant near our Community Center. Some of the children attend the church, and Oana, our social worker, has begun leading the church’s children’s program on Saturday. We pray that other families in the neighborhood will integrate into the church, and we pray for a fruitful collaboration into the future.

We have continued our adult literacy program. During the summer we taught reading. This autumn we focused on writing. After the word got out that the adults that did the summer program are already reading, we had many more participants this autumn. We plan on starting a new reading module in January.

We are now planning our Christmas activities. The kids are learning carols – which is especially funny and challenging for the new children. We are preparing presents. We are organizing a Christmas drama, which the kids will perform for their parents. And we are planning our all-night Christmas party for the kids. Our prayer is that each child and their entire family will understand and experience the Son’s coming into the world, His life with us, and His life for us.

Thank you for praying for us and for all your support over the past months. We are extremely grateful to participate with you in what God is doing in Romania among marginalized families.

Yours in Christ,

David and Lenutsa Chronic