A Romanian Ministry Built With Love

Background and Goals "Romania, a country of beauty and bounty; but strangely in great need." M. Gillette, Missionary to Matthew's House Background Romania, though richly blessed by God with plentiful natural resources, has been cruelly strangled by a repressive government to the point of economic and spiritual bankruptcy. As a result of the breakdown of Communism, the most affected are the children ... the orphans. In a society of exhausted government funds these children suffer tremendously. In fact, there are rumors that the government must close existing orphanages with no indications of what will be done with these children. For the past 9 years we have been working with a state-run orphanage. But we've longed to extend our ability to help by building an orphanage which would house and school the children in a safe, happy environment staffed by caring individuals called to share the blessings of God. Receiving government approvals has not been an easy task; but we now have non-profit status, both in the USA and in Romania. We are now ready to move ahead. This Year's Goals The successful arrival of our container this summer will be a welcomed event. All of the tools for agriculture will surely make the farming aspect of Matthew’s House much easier as well as more efficient. Also, the container itself will be a useful rodent proof structure to store grain for animal feed. Pray for the successful delivery of this container and its wonderful contents. Agriculture at Matthew’s House will be in its 5th year as of this year. I am told that it takes 5 years to develop a production cycle of farming. I have seen this to be true in our case as well. The land at the farm has been under cultivation for these 5 years and the weeds have lessened their grip and the compost from animals and other things produced by the farm is now going back onto the land in significant amounts. After 5 years the orchard has 350 trees growing and beginning to produce fruit. The original plan for the orchard has now been planted and achieved. There is an enormous amount of fruit to be realized , through the maintenance care and pruning of these trees. God wants us to be fruitful, just like the orchard he wants to achieve all the potential he puts in us. Now at Matthew’s House we have the second year of strawberries which have been cared for, cultivated and pollinated by our families of bees. What is better than fresh strawberries? Help us pray that in the future we will be able to preserve these with a canning system. With missionaries coming we have begun to construct a mission headquarters/domiciliary. My little house on the prairie will not suffice. I was considering dropping the agriculture in lieu of construction. But, I feel this would be a mistake, as agriculture has been a great testimony to Romania about the love of Christ toward them. So, the goal this summer is to put under roof a missionary house for myself as well as the missionary families who are coming to Matthew’s House. This will require finances, prayer and the material to make this a reality. This is much responsibility and work; more than ever before at this mission. But by faith, we can see it come to pass.