A Bowl of Strawberries

Lumina is where I start my day Monday through Saturday. It is 3 or 4 blocks from where I live and after a stop at the bakery I arrive at 7 a.m. I heat the water and not long after, I hear in the distance the sound of voices echoing in the hall and coming up the steps to the second floor.

Four years Lumina has been serving food for the Turkish Gypsy children and many others in the area. Monday-Friday 50 to 75 kids receive a hot cereal breakfast and a sandwich to take with them. Most, if not all are Muslim, but each day they fold their hands and thank Jesus for the food He provides for them.

There are hundreds of kids from the villages to feed each day, however, not all the children are required by their parents to attend school. Most roam the streets with nothing to do and beg for food and money. They stand outside bakery's and food shops. Everyday I see the same kids on the street and ask them to come to Lumina, if they are not already coming. I always have bread, fruit or a special treat in my bag for them.

On Saturdays we have a special time for the kids. We take time out to pray with them teach them a bible story and then some activity. The past 2 Saturdays we celebrated Easter and a birthday. They received candy and special treats and all went home with shoes, beans and a special toy.

It is not about the food the eat but the food we give them for their spirits. A place they can come that is always the same, full of love and hope. Something they lack in their everyday lives. I often wonder if a toy, a bowl of hot cereal and a sandwich is enough? When you see the conditions of their homes and the lives they live, it is heartbreaking. Then I see the excitement they have when you give them a special treat like fresh strawberries! They ew and ah like it is a bowl of money! Then I know, that I know, that I know that we can change their lives one bowl of strawberries at a time!

"Casa Alba" (White House)

When I thought about what to write next...I wanted to post something happy. As the last post was not so easy. So...I begin by telling you about Casa Alba. It is not the White House in America, not even close.Everyone knows it and basically stays away from it.

I have many pictures of the building, it is literaly a mess, like the lives inside of it. It is a five story building that has 8 families on each floor. The rooms, I mean the house they live in, well maybe 10x12 and a shared toilet and shower on each floor. You may ask, where is the kitchen? In the hallway. How many people live in each house. Depends on how many people they have in their family. All legitimate questions I asked myself!

Really, the building is ugly, the trash on the ground is terrible, people spit on each other out of their windows as a joke. Why? I don't know! But I do know this...In all the ugliness you have people inside who's lives are just as messy as the building!

When I first came to Casa Alba I only looked at the shell of the building and didn't not see the possibility of it transforming. After 3 week I see the possibilities for change, I see what God can do. It is from the inside out...When we begin on the inside and invision the possibilities for these lives, it really is endless! Eighty rooms and at least 500 people whose lives can be transformed with the love of Christ.

When I open the eyes of my heart I don't see the dirt, the filth and ugliness. I only see the beautiful faces shown above in the pictures. Faces that are loved just the same as you and I. Clean or dirty, rich or poor, fat or skinny, ugly or beautiful we all can enter the Kingdom of God. How? Just as we are! He loves us all the same.

16"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Eating what you make!

We just finished celebrating Easter this weekend here in Romania. It was a very special time with the kids. As we were able to do fun craft projects, have a party and tell them about the Resurrection of Jesus! He is Alive! How do I know? Well, it is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel that it is there.

We decorated over 50 eggs, which was not enough but we did have paper that substituted for an egg but it was not edible! On Saturday we had a party at Casa Lumina, the house of light, with sweets and gave hand made dolls from some women in England. Afterwards we went to Casa Alba, the white house, and gave over 100 Croc's out to the children. The Croc's were donated by a factory in Canada that has closed. It was a great blessing to the children and they were excited to receive them.

I would like to thank you all for your love and support! It is a great blessing. Your responses and emails have encouraged me and I enjoy reading everyone of them. I will be sending out and email soon for specific prayer request. The ministry is growing and getting ready to break forth! In the meantime, I hope to get to share some more personal stories of the lives of the people here as well as my personal thoughts. Bless you and thank you for reading and praying!

Starting at the end....

13Jesus answered her, All who drink of this water will be thirsty again.
14But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never, no never, be thirsty any more. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto (into, for) eternal life.
15The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may never get thirsty nor have to come [continually all the way] here to draw. John 4: 13-15 (Amplified)

I start this email with the end of a story to tell you because what I saw this particular day was something I needed to work out in my heart before sharing with you. After one week in Romania we went to a small squatters community of "Gypsy's" to bring bread, beans and shoes. Open Doors Foundation, http://www.open-doors-foundation.org/, has good relationship with this community and the 7 or 8 families began coming out of the mud and straw homes to receive us. Homes that are no bigger than some of your bathrooms. In Guatemala I have worked with communities with poor water conditions but not any with no water at all! If you ponder the thought and view the photos you will understand a small glimpse of what I experienced in person. The smell is something you can't even ponder, although it was a windy day.

As I hand out bread my heart breaks for them! A baby scavenging moldy bread in his own home! Snotty noses, filthy hands, lice infested heads, scabs and infections that will eventually kill them. I must admit, I felt mad at God for a minute! How can He allow these children to be born into such tragic conditions? Why? How? What? Who? Then I realize who the thief really is and stand against it in prayer everyday!

The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. John 10:10

This has impacted me in ways words can't express and fuels the fire I have to help change their lives. It starts with a drink from the well that will never dry, Jesus is the only one who can heal them and change their spiritual condition. The physical is ugly but if you see it with the eyes of God you don't see the ugly! Please continue to pray for us, it is an awesome ministry and together we are changing lives here and being changed!

Sorry this is so heavy but I wanted to share the urgency and the impact we are having here.
Bless you all and.....
THANKS FOR SENDING ME TO THE NATIONS!