Romania

Here are some pictures.  All is well.  Please pray for Rachel, she's sick. Crip got his luggage back.  Having a great time.  No hot water, someone didn't pay the bill, but we are heating water on the stove for baths.
Love, Melissa

   These Glade Run members have travelled to Romania in previous years to serve in the orphanages : Amy Brown (1999), Marcia Semple (1998), and Jennyrose Spence (1997). While they have served with different mission teams, each has returned richer than when she left. Read more about their experiences and view pictures from their trips below.

   What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world. James 1:27 (TEV)

Amy Brown

   In September, I had the privilege of serving in the Romanian region of Tirgu Mures, northwest of Bucharest. The trip was organized by Holt International Children's Services, a Christian children's charity which pioneered international adoption in 1956 and currently offers a variety of programs ministering to children and families in eleven countries. The purpose in Tirgu Mures was to improve the infant/toddler areas of the orphanage, which will become a placement center modeling infant stimulation and healthcare as well as training for childcare workers. Our group stripped dozens of old metal cribs and repainted them with lead-free enamel. We also had the opportunity to choose many toys to equip the newly carpeted playroom. A playroom in an orphanage is a luxury, yet is essential, as many of the children currently remain in their cribs for the first twelve to eighteen months of life, often leading to severe developmental delays. We also visited several Holt foster families, whose foster children are thriving in a loving environment.

   The experience was heartbreaking, yet hopeful. It is difficult to describe holding Rita who is twelve months old, but looks like two months, and does not cry anymore because no one responds and plays with her.

    Eva's world has been her crib for five years, as she has cerebral palsy but has had no therapy.

    It is a joy that these children's lives will now improve and that some will find foster and adoptive families as a result. This four-month-old boy thrives in Holt's foster care program.

If you would like to adopt or sponsor a child who is waiting for a permanent family, please contact Holt at (541)687-2202 or www.holtintl.org. (Holt is also an outstanding resource for keeping up to date on international adoption issues.)

Struggling single mothers also find shelter, job training, and hope at Holt's Mother and Child Shelter in Bucharest.

Marcia Semple

    Marcia worked in Iasi, Romania, through R U Red E? Ministries Orphanage and Children Mission Experience.  R U Red E? Ministries will host you in their hospitality flat located in Iasi.  This allows you to live among the Romanians.  There are projects every year to help the orphanages and to benefit the children.  Mission teams will be able to share the love of Christ with the children of Casa De Copii Copou and to assist long-term missionaries at the St. Maria Baby Clinic.
        Attn: John Gunden
        R U Red E? Ministries
        7267 W. Michigan Ave.
        P.O. Box 49
        Pigion, Michigan  48755
        800/532-1649
        Fax: 517/453-3436
        Email: rurede@avci.net