Loved meeting up with friends in Northern Georgia in January!  John and Linda Goetz drove from N. Carolina to visit, and to bring boxes of beautiful warm clothing to be shipped out by a Romanian company in the Suwanee (GA) area.  John is on Love From Above’s Board – and both he and Linda are precious long-term friends.  They, truly, live to serve others.

I was blessed to be able to visit my brother and his family whom I hadn’t seen in two years, and then drive from their place near Athens (GA) on Sunday morning, January 20, to worship with the folks at the First Romanian Baptist Church of Atlanta in Lawrenceville.  This is the church where I have visited regularly for the past several years when I am in GA to visit family.  Pastor Cristi’s message was wonderful on ‘sharing Jesus – no matter what’.  FRBCA is a loving church.  I just enter there, and the tears come to just sit among the people from the land where my God has assigned me over the past eighteen and a half years.  I love listening to the language and singing the worship songs in their native tongue.  However, when the pastor asked me to say a few words – either in Romanesc or English, you can bet it was all in English.  The time of Meet and Greet after the service was so special, too!  After the service, a young family, Marius and Adina Magas and their three young children invited me back to their home for dinner.  Such wonderful Romanian food!

We had a critical situation the fourth week of January.  Pastor Ovi let me know that because of the brutal winter in Romania this year, the wood for the church had all been used up – and there were people from the church who had not had any heat for more than two weeks.  I cried.  I prayed.  And then I forwarded Ovi’s email to the Board, plus a prayer group from Faith Alliance Church, my church in Attleboro, MA.  It is never uncommon for me to return to RO in the winter and learn that people have literally frozen to death, or starved to death.  Ovi had stated that the amount of money that would cover enough wood for just the church was 1000USD.  By the following Saturday, we had the thousand dollars!  A loving couple in MA had provided the entire amount.  The amazing thing is that if it hadn’t worked out that way, a pastor in MA was ready for his church to somehow provide the funds for the wood!  How interesting when we ask our God for His help, and He provides it, it is still sometimes difficult to believe He provides so amazingly!  I truly stand amazed in His presence!

The wood was delivered on January 28!

Please pray for Ovi.  He fell on the ice last week and broke a rib.  Pray that he will be able to withstand the pain – and that he will heal quickly and completely.

Also, please pray for journeying mercies for me as I leave for ‘the other land that I love’ on February 4.  The flight will be from Atlanta to Paris – and after a layover, then on to Bucharest.  Then there will be a three-your drive up into the mountains to my beautiful city, Brasov.  Please pray for our safety.

Also, please pray that I will be really strong to make the trip.  I have had bronchitis for six weeks, and it has taken its toll resulting in a lot of fatigue!  However that hasn’t stopped me from looking for some new games for our ‘kids’ at Barza Mica – and, a DVD player so that we can have our movie and popcorn days from time to time!  I can hardly wait to see our babies once again – and our precious kids at Barza!!

“Fear not for I am with you’ be not dismayed, for I am your God’ I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”   –  Isaiah 41.10