Houses


Fund	Love Aid!
Some of the people helped by the Romania Fund


Topolog village

The Buzdugan family in Topolog village needed more shelter. (Read Voyage to learn more about the Buzdugans)
and so.... the fund bought wood, roofing....
and straw....
The shelter is finished in time for winter.

Remember this lady?

Her name is Vasile Ileana and she was pictured in September 2002 receiving three sacks of wheat (see Wheat Aid). She had been abandoned by her husband to look after her nine children alone in the village of Nicolae Balcescu.
Somebody in England was moved by the report of her plight to make a substantial donation to the fund. In response to the request of the donor the team in Tulcea have given special attention to alleviating the needs of this family.
While delivering potatoes (and clothing from Telly's Norwegian aid effort) the team noticed 'the huge garden standing idle' and made plans to have the land ploughed and sowed with wheat. This has now been done (see below).
Normally the fund avoids partiality in the distribution of aid as this can give rise to some envy locally, but in this case ackowledging the calling of the donors' heart was paramount. Finally, we can report that her husband is now back with the family.

November 2002


	Vasile Ileanas' field, ploughed and sown with wheat in the autumn of 2002. Below: Already the first shoots of next years crop are appearing!

	Vasile Ileana with Pastor Anane

Felicia

Felicia is married to Stefan and they both attend Emanuel church. Their story is amazing: Her husband was in jail when Felicia, under the guide of the Holy Spirit helped him surrender to Christ while still behind bars. After he was released they married and they are such a lovely couple. Now Stefan works as a sheet metal worker and Felicia, as a shop assistant.
Felicia lost the lower part of a leg in a tram accident when she was ten. In October 2002 the Lord helped her through the Romania Fund with 2,000,000 Lei (about £40) for specialist medical attention to her artificial leg in Bucharest.

Leonard Cretu

Leo the Champ
Amongst the gipsy community here in Tulcea are many teenagers that Jesus has taught to read and write through our sisters at the church. Among these is the new Romanian National Boxing Champion, Leonard Cretu, age 16, a champ in the 43 kilo category, won the title in Mangalia on May 23th 2002. Our Romanian Boxing Federation awarded him a gold medal and prize money worth $6 (about £4!). A wonderful incentive to work hard to become a national hero isn't it? No wonder the best leave the country!
In July 2002 Leo was invited to go to Norway, through the efforts of a wonderful Norwegian lady, Elena, who treats him as a son, and also supports his family with clothing and gifts. She has invested a lot to help Leo get out of the vicious circle of the poverty that he and his whole family are trapped in. Elena contacted the Norwegian Boxing Federation with his story and got a positive answer. The Federation invited Leo to Norway, to train at a boxing club in TONSBERG town.
He was welcomed with brotherly feelings by Henning, a teenager with a Mediterranean appetite for talking and an English sense of humour. Henning works in the social department of the local government and has helped smooth the path for Leo's integration into the Norwegian culture.
Meanwhile Leo's six member family continue to attend the Emanuel church here in Tulcea.
December 2002

Leo's family - an amazing story
Leo returned from Norway shortly before Christmas 2002 into the thick of the crisis over the family home: The house was abandoned and in ruins when Leo’s family moved in. They painted and decorated it, after which the owner came and reclaimed it and told them they had to leave. He brought a court case against them and won. Two months ago an eviction order came from the Tulcea court. The whole Leo family was in deep trouble.

In Norway, Henning promised to help the family buy the house, while here in Tulcea, all of us who felt for them knelt down and prayed hard for the Lord to deliver them from this hard trial.

Well, yesterday I received $2000 from Henning in Norway for Leo’s family. God bless you Henning for keeping your promise. I went with Carmen to give them the money (see pic).
They were overwhelmed with joy and thanks.

Miti 11 January 2003

REACHING THE GYPSY COMMUNITY IN TULCEA Maricica, a sister in our Emanuel church, did not know to read or write until last year. Then Carmen, together with Viorica (another dedicated lady from our church), began a course of reading and writing lessons. The teaching was held at Leonard’s house (Leo the boxing champ). Both the Leo family and Maricica belong to the gipsy community. Because of that they are constantly discriminated against and find it almost impossible to find work. Well this schooling was a way of reaching them with the Gospel. And so it is that Maricica plus Leonard’s mom Elena, sister Nusa, and brother Sorin are now all baptized.
	In Luke chapter 16 the Lord is giving us the parable of ‘The shrewd steward.’ In it the Lord is illustrating that the worldly are earthly-minded enough to promote their own interests and welfare. In contrast, we believers are not heavenly-minded enough to use our possessions to promote our spiritual and heavenly interest. Here in Tulcea we are trying to do just that, both with the fund’s money and our own.
Right now Viorica has begun another ‘read & write’ teaching course amongst 24 gipsy kids in another Tulcea suburb. She will be helped by Tony (who speaks the gipsy language and knows how to deal with them), and me.
25 Jan 2003: ministering at a gypsy home. Bottom right is Pastor Anane.