Volume
7 Issue 2 - December 1997
October Trip
Three primary objectives for our trip to Romania last October were: 1.) Establish Dawn Elenbaas, from 12th Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Jenison, MI, in the Christian orphanage in Medias; 2.) Visit some of the adopted churches and pastors; and 3.) Have Bob Roskamp and Doug Hodson transform a church attic into a dormitory.
Dawn Elenbaas
When we left her Sunday, she was waving and smiling as she headed back to her new home in the Casa De Copii (House of the Children) in Medias, Romania. Monday she would begin her first week as nurse for the nearly 30 children residing there.
On her first day Dawn would face new challenges. First, she doesn’t know the Romanian language and the children don’t know English. So how will she be able to help the children? It will be very difficult for her to diagnose even the simplest of the children’s complaints until she gets some working knowledge of the language. Dawn said she’s struck a bargain with the children of the orphanage. They’ll teach her Romanian and she’ll teach them English!
Adjusting to a new culture is her second challenge. "We don’t do things that way" will probably be a phrase she’ll hear frequently.
Another challenge is getting through each day without the conveniences we all take for granted. She’ll miss the "comforts of home". She has to wash her clothes by hand and that must wait for a sunny day (there’s no washer or dryer). She has to fetch water from a well for her drinking water. Even the residents of Medias don’t drink water from the faucet.
Dawn also has to walk to the Telephone Company to call her family in Michigan. This is a mile round trip because she has no phone in her apartment at the orphanage.
During a recent conversation with Pastor Gigi, in Medias, I asked how Dawn was doing. Gigi said he was very pleased with how well she was adjusting to the Romanian culture. She’s made some close friends and is loved by everyone in his church. One of Dawn’s new found friends is Claudia, a young lady who often translates for English-speaking people visiting Medias. Dawn has "hired" Claudia to teach her Romanian!
Recent email indicates Dawn’s growing concern with the poor Romanian health care available to her friends and the orphaned children. She also writes of poor nutrition of both the children and adults.
The Pastors & Churches
As mentioned earlier, Gerri, Dawn and I visited some of our adopted churches and pastors while two of our team remained behind in Medias to transform a church attic into a dormitory.
Arad, located near the Hungarian boarder in Western Romania, was our first stop. We visited with the pastor and family of a Hungarian Reformed Church, recently adopted by a Reformed Church in Sayville, New York. The pastor gave us a tour of the Prayer House where the congregation is currently meeting for worship services. Then he took us to the construction site of the church they’re building to replace the small Prayer House. We were pleased to hear of the growing congregation and an active youth group in the church.
Next, in Beius we met with our "Key" Pastor for the area. He took us to a nearby village where we saw the small two room house that a Grand Rapids, MI, couple had purchased for the father and son "pastor team" they adopted a few years ago. The pastors and members of their Bible Study Group had begun the work of transforming the house into a building for Bible Study. A wall had been removed to allow for larger groups to meet in the house, and some minor repairs were being made as well.
In the short time we were there, at least two people walked by and asked what was being done with the house. The pastors told them and invited them to the upcoming Bible Study on Sunday morning. These are truly people who love the Lord and want others to know about the good news of His salvation. This is a great example of a new church in the making!
We distributed mittens made by Bonnie Koppenol of Holland, MI, to children in an orphanage in Beius. Then we stopped by the church in Stei (adopted by a church in Wausau, WI) to check on their construction project; and visited pastors in the area adopted by families in the United States. A few busy, but very rewarding days.
Back to the Attic
Bob Roskamp and Doug Hodson, from the First Reformed Church of Allendale, MI, were our carpenters. They spent the first few days of the project planning the layout of the rooms, preparing the attic for remodeling, and purchasing materials for the project. They were both fascinated with the Romanian lumberyards. Since buildings in Romania are primarily constructed of bricks, sandstone blocks and cement, the Romanians don’t place as much importance on selling wood for construction as we do. We had to go to three lumberyards before they found the material they needed to complete the project.
During the next ten days Bob and Doug worked hard, often in twelve-hour days. They planned two dorm rooms, with a capacity of eight people in each room, and a small study off each room. The two dorm rooms and an entry hall were completed. The study rooms were framed in, but there wasn’t enough time to finish the inside walls.
The Mission House
In our last newsletter we told you of our dream to sell the apartment and purchase a house in Medias that met a long list of needs for additional space. We spent five months this year trying to raise funds for the Mission House, but were unable to raise a single dollar. We were very disappointed, but accepted God’s will in this matter. Could God have something better for us?
In October, Gerri and I drove past the house and found it was no longer on the market. We took this final disappointment as God’s message to us that the house simply was not in His will. We continued on with the work before us, very disappointed, but trusting in Him.
There’s more&ldots;
On Thanksgiving Day we received a message from Dawn’s sister that we were to call Pastor Gigi in Romania right away. Wondering what was going on we called Romania that evening. Pastor Gigi’s response when he heard my voice was "Hallelujah, Brother Dan! The house is still for sale and they’ve even reduced the price!"
I honestly didn’t want to hear Gigi’s "good news". I’d have preferred he had a special prayer request for us. I didn’t have the heart to tell him we still didn’t have any money raised to purchase the Mission House.
Gerri and I began to pray about the house once again. For my part I asked God why we had to go through this a second time. We’d accepted His no, and didn’t need (want) to go through another struggle of trying to raise money. We took the new opportunity seriously. Once again, we sought council from family and friends just as we’d done before. To make a long story short, I’ll simply tell you that within five days we were pledged enough money to completely pay for the house!
To me, the best part of the story is we never asked anyone for a cent. God simply touched the hearts of His people who in five days brought us the money we were unable to raise in five months! God did this in such a way that we couldn’t take any credit for raising a single dollar! We called Pastor Gigi and told him to negotiate a price with the owners of the house, and he did.
The sellers want their money before Christmas, so I’m packing my suitcase as this newsletter goes to print. It looks like I’ll have an opportunity to celebrate a Romanian Christmas this year. Other than my own family and friends at home in Allendale, I can’t think of anyone with whom I’d rather share the joy of our Savior’s birth, than my "family" at Betel Baptist Church in Medias Romania.
1998 Sea Container
We’d committed to sending a sea container to Medias, Romania, with Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids, MI, only a few weeks before the matter of the Mission House developed. Once again, we see God’s timing in every thing. With the container already scheduled (shipping in late January or early February) we should be able to include some items for the Mission House.
We hope to bless Dawn and the orphanage with a new commercial washer and dryer. It’s designed to work on the electrical current in Romania, so we don’t have to send in transformers to convert the electricity for them. Used washers and dryers were donated from Germany, but they didn’t last long with the heavy use given them at the orphanage.
Quilts made and donated to us by ladies in the Allendale area; supplies for pastors and churches; and office and students desks donated by the Allendale Public Schools will also be sent in the container.
A Special Request
Bob and Helene Roskamp have made and donated over twenty afghans to the people of Romania. In October Bob took some of those afghans with him and personally handed them to ladies from our "home church" in Medias. Bob and Helene have enjoyed making the afghans, but they’ve begun to deplete their supply of yarn. Do you have yarn laying around that you’re not using or know someone that has extra yarn? Would you be willing to help Bob and Helen with their afghan project by donating the yarn? If you donate it through Adopt-A-Church we can send you a letter of donation and you can get a tax deduction for the gift.
Prayer Requests:
Praise God for His provision of the Mission House
– in His time, and in His way.
Our Thanks
We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your wonderful support over the past year.
To our prayer partners, and to those who have supported this ministry financially, we want you to know that you’ve been an incredible blessing to us and to all those we serve in Romania.
May God richly bless you and your families just as you’ve blessed your Romanian Brothers and Sisters and their families.