Dear friends and family,
The month of April has met us with warm and sunny days, perfect for lots of work in the garden at Casa Vale. Josh has been busy building rock walls and walkways to better define the garden space, while I’ve been planting seeds and transplanting flowers. The servant team has been very helpful in all this.
The last week in March and first week of April found us near Chișinau, Moldova. You may have heard about some recent unrest there during their elections; please pray for peace in Moldova. Word Made Flesh hopes to be starting a new community here in the near future. There were several purposes for our trip: to visit existing ministries and churches to look for potential partnerships, to serve and build relationships with the community that hosted us, and to expose the servant team to Moldova as several are seeking discernment regarding future involvement with WMF.
We were hosted by Betania, a ministry of the Pentecostal church. We stayed at their property in the countryside where over 80 orphaned children live in homes. Josh and I stayed in a home with two parents who have committed to raising 10 orphaned children. It was really interesting and at times encouraging for us to see how they managed and nurtured such a diverse family. The lyrics of a song by Enter the Worship Circle kept running through my mind…”Wild and wonderful is your family, O Lord…the Father gathers all his children…orphans find adopting love.” And likewise the scripture from Psalm 68, “a father to the fatherless, defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing…”
March 29th was a day rich with pain and hope. This was the due date for the baby we lost last August. It was also the half way mark for my pregnancy now. On this day we visited an orphanage in the nearby village of Strășeni, where over 400 children live. I walked through the experience numb, but in reflection was shocked and broken by number of abandoned children there, with so few adults. Our team led games for a group of 40 first graders, and it was so strange, almost embarrassing, to stand pregnant in that room full of parentless children. I wrote in my journal,
“One little girl put her hand on my stomach and smiled- she knew – She’s the first stranger to put her hand on my belly - an abandoned child, showing her excitement for a new life, for a child that is so wanted and will be deeply cherished and loved maybe deeper than she herself will ever know…Somehow, it felt that this little girl was blessing the new life in me.”
For both Joshua and I, the Spirit seems to continue whispering into our lives…”Care for the orphans, the abandoned. Take them into your family.” We dream and wonder how God might weave these beloved children into our future.
My pregnancy continues to go very well. During our ultrasound this month, we told the doctor we didn’t want to know the sex of the baby, but he couldn’t help himself and made it pretty obvious, cracking jokes and continually zooming in on little boy anatomy, asking us what we saw there. So, in August we’re expecting a little boy!
Other events to keep in prayer….
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Our friend Kevin visits in the middle of April to explore possibilities for partnership with his church in North Carolina.
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Two dear friends from childhood, Megan & Chelsea, come to visit Robin and the WMF community for 10 days in May.
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Robin is assisting Angelique, from the servant team, on a series of talks with girls from Casa Vale about abstinence and making healthy choices. Angelique did this in schools for several years and we’re blessed that she’s sharing her experience.
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Next week (April 21st to the 28th) all of us here on staff will be leaving for our annual retreat in the village of Lepșa. We are also blessed to have the staff from Sierra Lione here with us for the retreat and for some days afterwards. The theme of the retreat this year is transformation.
May you sense Christ’s peace and rest today as you enter into the sufferings of the world, as you enter into the woundedness of those around you, and as you enter into your own brokenness. For in the silence and darkness and loneliness, Christ is risen. Hristos a înviat!
With love,
Robin & Joshua