May has been a little different here in Romania. In my last newsletter I asked for prayers for Costel and his surgery on his leg. The surgery was a huge success!

 

Just days after his surgery, he was already back to walking around on his cast. Steffi, Sarah, Costel and Roxi are still in Germany enjoying a little rest and relaxation with Steffi’s family. The fact that Costel is walking is such a miracle and a testament to God’s healing power.

While they’ve been gone, my job here has changed a little bit. It’s strange because I haven’t been in the hospital nearly as much, but my responsibilities have increased! I have been watching Beca, who had to stay behind. God totally answered prayers and allowed Beca to stay with Sarah and Steffi for at least another year! It was so amazing to see God’s hand and timing in that whole situation.

 

We’ve had a lot of fun together the past couple of weeks - playing outside, trips to McDonald’s, visiting the hospital, and just hanging out at home. She has been completely attached to me, so that’s been kind of fun as well (although a little mean for anyone else who tries to talk to her!) I still go to the hospital a couple of days a week, when I have someone to watch Beca.

I’ve also had to semi take over Sarah’s job as the project manager at the hospital. Since volunteers started coming this month, I have been constantly monitoring the schedule and making sure every shift is covered. I’ve also been responsible for making sure all the volunteers are happy and have everything they need. It has been a crazy month with all the volunteers that have been in. Most of our supervisors have left for the summer as well, so that has created some interesting situations! It’s all working out though and people are being flexible – the key to life here!

 

As I mentioned, we started to have our first volunteers come through the program, so I had my first roommate. Lorraine arrived in the beginning of May and stayed for 3 weeks. We were roommates for about a week before I moved downstairs to be with Beca. She ended up coming down there with me as well for a while! It was fun to have someone else around, and she was really sweet! We got along great and I think she had a good time while she was here.

 

Sibylle is another volunteer who is still here right now. She is from Germany and has been such a great help! She’s here for a month and the time seems to be flying by. Sibylle is not living in the volunteer apartment, so I’m not missing out on another roommate opportunity. She is living with some friends of her family (her mom was from Romania) in town. She also speaks fluent Romanian, so she has been a huge help in the hospital!

Meet the Babies

 

This is Robert, Beca’s younger brother. He was in the hospital last month and went home for a few days before returning. The doctor’s said he has a hole in his heart that might require surgery eventually. For now, they are just monitoring him every month to see what needs to be done. He came back with a cold and has been in for over 2 weeks. We’re really hoping the trend of leaving a child in the hospital (like they did with Beca) does not continue with Robert. He is really cute and so happy all the time!

 

This is Corina. She is without a doubt one of my all time favorites. She practically lives her life at the hospital. Watching her over the past 6 months has been very sad. She started out happy and responsive and as she’s been in longer and longer, I have watched her slowly withdraw into herself. She has started rocking in her crib and banging her head and screaming uncontrollably when she is put back. It breaks my heart to have to put her back each day. She is back home now, but I have no doubt she will return in the next week or 2 – it never takes longer than that.

 

 

This is Little Beauty. Ok, that’s not her real name, but we couldn’t find out what it was and that name just seemed to stick. Actually, the social worker did tell me, but she couldn’t even pronounce it, so I had no idea! She has been in for about 2 months now. Steffi and I fell in love with her the first Saturday she was there. She is so sweet and smiley all the time. In an ironic twist, it turns out she is the cousin of Beca and Robert! It’s a small world where all these babies come from. She has something wrong with her chest, but I’m not sure what (it’s very hard to get information about the babies!)

 

This is Viorica. She is 4 years old and was in the hospital for about two weeks. For the first few days, she would say nothing and was very timid around all of us. We would try to talk to her in English and the play therapist would try in Romanian, but she would not respond. After a few days, Rozi (the play therapist) tried speaking to her in Hungarian and her face lit up! From that point on she was a totally different child – laughing all the time and very friendly with everyone. She thought everyone talking to her in different languages was really funny!

 

Church News

I don’t have much to share here. The coffee shop is still up and running and doing well. More people are just stopping by from the street and the gospel is being shared!

 

This picture is of most of the kids I have in Sunday school (they’re all praying – it’s so cute to hear that part each week!) Currently 4 of them are out of the country, so it’s a little calmer. We are in the process of moving the little kid Sunday school down to the main church building. I’m hoping this will be a smooth transition for the kids! It will mean moving from a whole house down to a pretty small room. These kids all have TONS of energy, so it will be interesting! It will be nice to have it at church though since the church is growing and more families with younger children are starting to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer

Praises:

*Beca getting to stay with Sarah and Steffi!

 

*Costel having a successful surgery in Germany.

 

 

Requests:

*I’m traveling home in the middle of June! I still don’t have a visa, so please pray that I do not encounter any problems at the border!

 

*All the babies in the hospital. The weather is warmer, so we have fewer in, but most of them are ones we see all the time.

 

*We need more supervisors! In October, I will be the only consistent supervisor left. If you know anyone who might be interested, please have them contact me!!

 

• That God would be glorified in everything I do everyday here and that my words and actions reflect His attitude and love

 

As always, thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement! I could not do this without the support of everyone at home! ~Beth

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