Jul. 1, 2007

July 2007 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Family, 

I write you surrounded by suitcases, packing lists and my best friend in the summer- the fan.  We leave tomorrow for our trip to the states.  By the time you get this, we will probably have seen many of you and spoken at several churches.  Even more than cheddar cheese and sweet corn, we are looking forward to sharing our boys with our extended family.  There are cousins Simeon has dreamed of camping with and Abram now gets to show off his charm to all the adoring grandparents.  It will be a busy, but good time.

Tomorrow is also the last day of school for the children at the community center.  Please pray for our program this summer.  Usually there are more outside activities and trips to the pool and museums.  We also want to work with the kids who have had an especially hard time academically this year.  Pray for the staff as they will be short staffed and working with all the children at once (usually they come to the center at staggered times).  Pray also that the parents of the schoolchildren would commit to coming to their own special camp this summer.  We want to continue to build relationships with not just the children, but their families too.  When we get a chance to leave the city and have fun in the country, it is a great time for all of us to get to know each other.  This year children's camp will be in another town, at a facility that better meets the needs of our growing community.  Pray that the children would be able to continue to grow and heal through camp.

A week ago we had a special evening for the boys who live on the street.  They came to the center for mici (grilled hamburgerish things) and soccer.  It was good to finally see the boys at the center and drug-free, if even for just a few hours.  We are going to adjust the street boy program this fall and make these evenings more frequent.  It is a continual challenge for us to figure out how to reach boys that are running away from everyone. How do you accompany someone who wants to be left alone?  Pray as we change the program that the boys would continue to be loved and challenged by our presence on the streets.

Recently, a young lady who lives on the streets gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  This is no small miracle, as she was living in a shack up to the birth and is very undernourished.  Rachel and Gabi were very involved in getting her into a home for mothers with nowhere to go.  It is a temporary program, so we are praying about long term solutions for this mother and her tiny son.  It seems that God is moving us to more relationships with young, poor mothers, as several girls we have worked with are now growing up and having babies.   We are praying about how to go about building relationships with them and assisting both mothers and babies.  Please pray for these mothers, their babies and us as we seek Gods leading.

One of my weekly responsibilities is teaching Bible study to some of the school children.  For the past several weeks we have studied the miracles of Jesus.  One day I had a piece of paper and I asked the children to name as many miracles that Jesus did as they could.  I was impressed by the list we created together.  Then I gave them each paper and pencils and asked them to draw their favorite miracle.   Of about 12 kids, 10 of them drew something to do with water.  Either the calming of the storm, or Jesus walking on water, or telling Simon Peter to lower his nets again.  In each story, Jesus shows that he is Lord over the water.  He can calm it, he can walk on it and he can multiply the fish in it. 

Historically, the sea was symbol of chaos and disorder.  Fear and the unknown were connected with the sea.  But Jesus comes in and changes all that.  He tames the wildness. He subdues the dangerous.  The waves don't overwhelm him, they are under his feet.

I believe that on some level, the children at the drop in center were comforted by the power in the Bible stories we discussed.  Each day they come to the drop in center and experience a few hours of consistent love and expectations.  This is a stark contrast to the dog-eat-dog climate of the school or the unpredictable situations at home.  Most of their hours are spent in chaos.  They have been in the boat, rocking on the waves of dysfunction for so long, they don't even know what peace is.  On the last day of our series of Bible studies on Jesus' miracles, I prayed for all of them, for the Lord of the winds and the waves to bring serenity to their lives.  Would you join with me in praying for our Savior to come?  For Him to enter the dark and deep storms of our children's lives and bring the peace only He can bring. 

 

Blessings,

Monica, Joel, Simeon and Abram Klepac

 

PS.  Check out the Word Made Flesh Romania blog.  It is a place for interaction and discussion on issues relating to poverty.  www.wmfromania.blogspot.com