Romania Update & Prayer Letter - July. 2004
Romania
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WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE?
This was a question I was asked by a young
man while walking back to the orphanage after having gone about a kilometer
earlier in the evening to play games. The Orthodox teacher had not been with
us so we were able to talk about Jesus. I was talking through a translator
and I told her, "Tell him the good news. He died because of His great
love for us but He arose from the dead and we can have a personal
relationship with Him." The smile on his face said it all. There was hope for
him.
Romania 2004
What a challenging four weeks it was. Nothing
was set up the way it was suppose to be. Then I allowed the nationals to
promote Jesus the second day without first having built a relationship with
the teachers. This led to the children from the school being pulled out of
the program and the children from the orphanage no longer being allowed to
come to the church. We were told we would have to go out to the orphanage
everyday, a three kilometer walk one way and we would not be allowed
to talk or sing about Jesus at the orphanage.
Everyday we had to take the children to a new place to
play. Notice I said we weren't allowed to talk about Jesus at the
orphanage. There was nothing stopping us from talking about Jesus as we
walked in groups to and from the places we had to take the children to play.
Also after a few days the orphanage staff, if the orthodox teacher was not
with us, encouraged us to talk and sing about Jesus.
The director told me, "Many people come and
tour my orphanage. They
all say they will be back. Not one has ever returned."
On the last night when I was saying goodbye to the
director, she said: "Many people come and tour our orphanage, and they
all promise that they will return. Nobody ever has. When you left at
Christmas, I thought I would never see you again. You came back. When we
changed everything on you and no longer were allowed to bring the children
to church, I thought they will not come out here even though you had
promised us a two week program. You came daily. Even when we said you had to
have all the children at one time, you came. (Children ranged in age from 6
to 23, all with a handicap). You kept your word."
The Protector of the Children who had been monitoring the
program through social workers liked what he saw and heard and gave us
permission to go into the kindergarten orphanage. The school and the
orphanage directors were not pleased and only gave us six children the first
day. Second day - eight. Third day - twelve. Fourth and fifth day - fourteen
children of different ages and disabilities
What was the result of me keeping my word?
The first orphanage has asked me to come back and run a
winter camp program. She has promised me that we will be able to use the
school gym after school to do all the crafts, play all the games and sing
and talk about Jesus all we want. I have also been asked to come back and do
a week of overnight camp program for the children next summer. (We will only
be offering a day program).
The kindergarten orphanage director has asked me to come
back when school is out so that we can do an all day program with the
children. In her letter of recommendation to me she commented, We know you
are concerned for their souls.
The Protector of the Children sent his friend to meet with
me as he was in meetings and could not meet with me personally. He wanted to
make sure that there were no hard feelings and that I would return and run
more programs for the handicapped. As he said, Nobody ever does anything for
the handicapped. If someone comes and wants to work in an orphanage, it is
always the regular orphanages. No one ever wants to work in a handicapped
orphanage. You are the first one. When he found out I was going with a
medical team to Navodari, (by the Black Sea), he asked me to please check
out the orphanage there and start a program. This I did and have committed
to a week of Day Camp for the orphanage. The local church has also started a
street ministry to the children who live on the streets and in the sewers in
the city about 10 kilometers from Navodari. I have committed to a week of
day camp for them.
Highlights
A pastor I met on the medical team is looking for
handicapped orphanages for the handicapped in Bucharest. He would like to
see some day camps started for the handicapped.
I was asked to speak at a local Christian high school
about faith and trusting God.
A local church in Pitesti has voted to have me come back
full-time and work with the handicapped.
This trip was a trip of faith. None of the team that I
took in with me, the nationals, or even the local church knew what to do or
expect. We went in on faith and trusted God to open the doors and bring
glory and honor to His name. Satan also took notice and did everything
possible to try and stop us. This took a very heavy toll on me. As one
individual on the team said to me, "What it all comes down to is you.
You are the bottom line, all the final decisions, everything rests on you
and you have no support or back up here to help you." But by the Grace
of God I survived and learned many valuable lessons. I am finishing a
Grammar course so that I can get a certificate that is recognized around the
world that I am qualified to teach English as a second language. This will
be a tool to also be able to get into the schools and orphanage for the
handicapped. The children in these orphanages face a very bleak future. Even
in the orphanages living conditions are very poor. For most of them, they
have never heard about God, let alone Jesus Christ or that they can have a
personal relationship with Him. We can make a difference. But I cannot do it
from here in Canada. For $1,200 per month I could be living in Romania
full-time working with the local church and nationals to help them learn how
to reach into the orphanages and schools and share Jesus Christ and His love
for them. I have enclosed a financial support sheet. We have the hope and
security that those in the orphanages have not even dreamed of. For example;
I just lost my mother after a long battle with arthritis. I watched her
suffer in unbelievable pain, and yet she was calm and endured for she knew
that some day her battle would be over and she would be going home where she
would no longer be in pain but have peace. She died peacefully in her sleep
June 20, 2004. She is now in heaven and I know that I will see her again.
This hope the handicapped and their staff in Romania do not have.
In Romans 10: 12 - 14 it reads; For there is no difference
between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses
all who call on Him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved. How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how
can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they
hear without someone preaching to them?
I am hoping to be back in Romania by Christmas, 2004.
There is a growing number of Romanian nationals who are asking me when I
will come back full-time to work with them and teach them how to reach the
handicapped for Christ.
Please check out our web site, In the coming months I will
be posting the places and dates for 2005 Day Camps in Romania. We are in
need of volunteers who are willing to give one or two weeks of their time
and to come help share the Love of God.
Sincerely
Henry Paetkau
Romania
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