BACK HOME AND COUNTING MY BLESSINGS

One night, about four weeks ago, I was uploading photos to my Facebook profile of the Re-birth Romania outreach way into the early hours of the morning. Seeing the pictures stirred memories in my mind. Way into the following day I reflected on these thoughts and realised just how much I have to be thankful for.

Just earlier that night, I’d been complaining of how cold our house was because in sunny South Africa we don’t have double-glazing on our windows like they do in Europe. To us it was quite chilly, with the winter temperature dropping to around zero that night. But God reminded me of the families in Dallas, the gypsy community we’d spent the previous week in helping to build houses. He reminded me of the Romanian winters where temperatures drop to negative 25 Celcius. And He reminded me that these gypsies too have single glazing in their homes. And they don’t have electricity to enjoy the comforts of heaters or electric blankets, or hot showers when they get cold. I was humbled, and so and thankful for all that God has provided for my family and I.

My thoughts drifted to the nearly 600 emails – half of them probably junk mail – that I needed to sift though after having been away from work for a month. Once again, God reminded me of the men, women and children in Dallas who have to rummage through hundreds of pieces of garbage every day in heat of over 40 degrees C, or in cold up to negative 25, to find recyclable items so they can make enough to buy food for the day for their families. Again, I was humbled and thankful for my temperature-controlled office, my wonderful boss and colleagues, and a healthy paycheque at the end of every month. And I was thankful for God’s goodness and provision in my life.

 

Let me challenge you, as I was challenged. Do you recognise the blessings of God in your life? Are you truly thankful for them? And are you doing something to make a difference in the lives of those who don’t seem to have much to rejoice about?

Yes, I know there are too many needs in the world for us to meet them all, but we can still make a difference, even if it’s just in one family’s life – we did! So don’t get discouraged by all the needs in the world, rather make of point of being the difference each day.

Re-birth Romania Team: (Back) Samuel,
(Front) Paiivi, Marion, Noel, Tiia, Kyle, Christo, Sara

From South Africa thinking about Romania with love

 

Marion

Lamentations 3v22-23: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

THE DIFFERENCE THREE DAYS CAN MAKE

I cannot believe that it has only been three days since we started working at Dallas, the gypsy village on the outskirts of Cluj-Napoca. So much has happened in this short time.

We started out on Monday morning by demolishing the small two roomed house (or I should actually say shack) of the family that we are building a new home for this week. It was incredibly small – you could almost not stand upright inside.

Soon layers upon layers of walling, flooring, and roofing came down as we slowly took their home apart, taking care to cause minimal damage to what we were demolishing so that certain pieces could be reused by the community, either for building, or firewood, or some other use unknown to us for we could see little other use for the trash we were working with. Pretty much like some people would see these people.

By the time we left on Monday night, the shack was down and a pile of wood rose one and a half metres into the air. But the new house’s foundation pillars and floor were in place, and I was grateful that we had not encountered any of the creatures that live in the walls of these shacks that Bert, the missionary, had warned us about.

The family of the shack we had torn down had stacked all their worldly belongings in a small open piece of ground just opposite from their now non-existent home. They had arranged to stay with a neighbour –father, mother, and three girls. With most homes already packed to capacity, I wasn’t sure where they would sleep, so I was not surprised when we came to work on the house on Tuesday, to find some of the children sleeping on the new house’s floor, not worried that a floor was all their house was comprised of at that moment. Perhaps there was no space at the neighbour’s house, but perhaps the children just couldn’t wait for their new home.

As Tuesday wore on, the father of the house slowly started to get more comfortable joining the volunteer workers in building on his own home. By Wednesday he had become an active part of the project and one could visibly see the pride he felt in their new two roomed home that was being built for his family.

And by day three, we had begun to know who his family were - three beautiful daughters, one in her teens, the other two aged around 6 and 8.

It has been incredible to see the difference just three days can make and I can’t wait for Friday to see them moving into their new home.

Sometimes you look at the situation in Dallas and it is easy to get discouraged and wonder what on earth you are doing there –the task seems so enormous. But it’s like the story of the little girl throwing starfish back into the sea … for a few it makes a difference. And for this one family it will make a world of difference.

Contemplating my purpose here …

Marion

James 1v27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

ROMANIAN REFLECTIONS

It was a little after 3.30 A.M. Friday morning when we crossed the Hungarian border into Romania. As the bus waited in the dark while the border police came on board to check passports and visas, my mind was swept back in time. Back to an important event that took place nearly a year ago. An event that was catalyst to our being on a bus in the middle of the night surrounded by foreigners in a country so far, far away from home.

With a smile I remembered the amazing miracle of the Re-birth team crossing this same border ­- except by rail - around the 10th or 11th of August 2011; the miracle of the entire team getting into Romania, as three of the five were South Africans without visas to enter this country. But prayer can move mountains … prayer can move God’s people into the places He wants them to be. And it is through five young men kneeling on a Hungarian platform in the middle of the night pleading for God to make a way into Romania that I find myself in this country today.

As I write this blog, it has only been two days since arriving in Romania and we have already met some amazing people – some face to face, others only by name and the kind deeds of hospitality they have offered. This is the Church – God’s people being there for each other, fellowshipping with each other, serving each other. And the Romanian Christians are big on all three. What amazing people!

Firstly there’s the Bocanala family … Aurel and Annica who have opened their home to five of the team, and their lunch and dinner table to my husband, Noel, and I. Their son, Bogdan, whom I hope to have the pleasure of getting to know more, who collected us from the bus station and assisted us without hesitation with the necessary invitation letters and documentation for visa purposes. And finally, their nephew, Liviu, to whom my first words were, “Who are you?” which he found most amusing. It took me a good part of the day to find an accurate answer to that question. And that answer came not only with a name but with a character: poet, songwriter, a man with a great voice and guitar skills, who not only entertained us with his music but has driven the team around and looked after us.

Thank you all for giving of yourselves for this team.

Then there’s the owner of Marty’s restaurant who has freely extended the hospitality of this amazingly relaxing establishment. Thank you – we will return home with fond memories.

The Suciu family … how touched we are by your kindness in offering two strangers the exclusive use of your town home and meals at your Bistro. We look forward to meeting you sometime this week.

You are all truly amazing people with big hearts – may your kindness not go unrewarded. It is our prayer that one day we would be able to reciprocate with South African hospitality.

And lastly, Brother Costello of Prison Fellowship Ministries … thank you for sharing your life with us yesterday afternoon. You kept each one of us spellbound with your testimony, you broke our hearts with your story.

With such a beginning to our Romanian outreach, I look forward to what this week holds in store. I know it won’t always be easy, that a lot of hard work lies ahead, but it will all be worth it in the end. All for your glory, Jesus. All for your glory!

From Romania with love

Marion

2 Corinthians 9v12-13: This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of this service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.

One mother, two sons, three months, four weddings

So, allow me to explain how 1 + 1 equals 4. But before I do, here are the planned wedding dates for 2012:

• Saturday, 23^rd June 2012
• Saturday, 7^th July 2012
• Thursday, 9^th August 2012
• Sunday, 12^th August 2012

Ryan and Amy were the first to start with wedding plans when they got engaged on Sunday, September 4th 2011. After much internet research, and visits to a couple of wedding venues, they soon found the place they knew was right for their special day and a date was set … 12th August.

Ryan & Amy

That in turn set the ball rolling for Kyle’s Finnish girlfriend, Tiia, to fly to South Africa for Ryan and Amy’s wedding. With Kyle and Tiia wanting to get married too and their both being in South Africa in August, I suggested the 9th to Kyle as it’s a public holiday. With family needing to travel to Johannesburg for one wedding already, we figured it would be a good idea to do both weddings over that long weekend.

Kyle & Tiia

 

Wedding plans were then set in motion for my youngest son, even though the engagement had not yet happened. Kyle's plans were to get engaged to Tiia when he returned to Finland on Missions sometime this year, but all that changed in the twinkling of an eye on the 18th December 2011.

It didn’t take long for us to realise though that a wedding in Finland would also be necessary for Tiia’s family and friends that could not come to South Africa, and so Tiia set about sourcing a venue. The date they had set for the Finnish wedding was 14th July, but due to the venue being unavailable, the wedding was moved forward by a week … and Kyle did not complain at all. Fortunately I’m not involved in planning that wedding, but I’ll be very involved in arranging for my husband, Noel, and I to travel to Finland to attend.

Well, that explains three of the four weddings, and I’ve run out of sons. In fact, I've run out of children.
 

The fourth wedding belongs to my “adopted” (not literally) Indian daughter, Satja*. I’ll share more of her story another time, but to cut a long story short, Satja has recently adopted me and calls me “Mom.” Although, again, this will not be a wedding that we will be involved in planning, it’s exciting to have Satja bouncing wedding plans off me via BBM. Rikesh* proposed to Satja at midnight on 31st December 2011, so I wonder if their official engagement date is 31st December or 1st January 2012. I will have to ask her on my next BBM. Their wedding, the last to be planned and yet the first to take place, will happen in Durban on 23rd June. So, before Finland, a trip down to KwaZulu Natal.

Now you’ve had a brief introduction to my wonderful sons, Ryan and Kyle and my wedding belles, Amy, Tiia and Satja. I’ll tell more of each of their unique engagements in my future blogs.

* (Names changed to protect their identities as Satja and Rikesh plan to go into Missions in the Muslim world.)

Proverbs 18v22: "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord."

FOUR WEDDINGS ...

I know, I know ... it does sound like the start of a movie title, but believe me, it's true. And at this point in my life, I would love to change that famous title to "Four Weddings and a crazily busy Mother."

Most would agree that it's more than enough for the average parent to cope with one wedding in a lifetime, but four in the space of just seven weeks? - seems quite unbelievable.

This blog is my journey and how I cope with, and hopefully survive, Wedding Fever 2012. It's the stories too, of my wedding Belles (and Beaus).

So come along and join me for what promises to be one crazy year.

And just in case you think my maths doesn't add up, ie. two sons, four weddings, I'll shed more light on that next time.


Reminder to myself: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time ...


Philippians 4 v 12-13: "I have learned the secret of living in every situation ... for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength."