Casa Shalom, Jubilee, and Other Slices of Life

I am currently sitting in the front living area of the house we are living in this month in Romania, reveling in how the Lord has blessed me since I arrived here from Ireland just 8 days ago.
First, Rachael, Liz, and I were greeted at the airport in Bucharest on Tuesday last week by Megan, Kathryn, Mike, Becky (our ministry contact for the month), and maybe a couple of other people (I’m sorry I don’t remember… I blame it on the malaria!).

The “World Race Hotties” sign truly made my night – along with the water and sandwiches!

 

This month, my team is working with Teams Citizens of Hope and Ridiculous at Casa Shalom and Jubilee in Bucharest.

 

Casa Shalom started as a children’s home in the mid-1990s, and housed over 30 children at one point.

However, in 2008, the Romanian government made the decision to close down the children’s homes within its borders and send the children back to their home villages (and families).

Obviously, the focus of Casa Shalom’s ministry changed when that decision was made.

 

Casa Shalom (and Becky, its founder and director) is still dedicated to reaching out to the children of Romania.

Their mission statement (taken from the Casa Shalom website):

 

I’ve seen this statement walked out in many ways since my arrival here.

We’ve gone into the gypsy villages outside of Bucharest, and put on a “Stay In School” program for the children from some of these villages where we distributed backpacks with school supplies for the next school year, amongst other things.

This week, we are getting things organized for a rummage sale at the end of the month in order to benefit the families in the villages.

 

I wish I knew more, but I haven’t had the opportunity to visit Jubilee yet (my first full day in Bucharest was the first day everyone went to visit).

From what I’ve been told, though, Jubilee is an abandoned girls home run by a family whose size rivals my family’s (its director has nine children, from what I understand).

They’re currently praying about and seeking direction from the Lord as to which direction the house needs to go – please keep them in your prayers!

 

In case you missed the memo, there may have been a team change while I was in the hospital in Ireland.

Jonathan left us for Team Establish Dominance, which was hard, but it’s been wonderful to have Kathryn join us.

God put it on our hearts to change our name, so we did (and the blog announcing our new name will be posted shortly-ish).

 

And, after a couple of days to rest and recuperate, I joined my new team (and the other teams we’re working with) for ministry – for the first time in three weeks for me.

The “Stay in School” program went off quite well – attendees and World Racers alike had a wonderful time together.

 

 

Since then, I’ve been able to participate every day we have had ministry – all thanks to God for giving me the strength to do so!

Not to mention the “Man Night” my team put on for David, as he is now the only man on the team (visit Kathryn’s or Megan’s blogs to find out what happened that night).

 

I share all of this to say that I am well and truly blessed.

The Lord is walking me, day by day, through the process of healing from malaria, and has given me wonderful company to walk down this road with.

He has given me a ministry this month where I am able to take time to rest or to work as I am able, in a beautiful city where I can go back to a hospital in short order if things start to turn for the worse again.

And, most of all, His loving kindness has allowed me to stay here on the Race instead of being sent home – so, obviously, He still has things in store for me in the next two months that I couldn’t experience at home.

I can’t wait to see what those things are.