March 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

We have a need: Our girls are growing and we are running out of clothes! We have used and re-used the wonderful hand-me-downs given to us by our supporters. Elena will be turning one year old on May 22nd, and Aryana will be two years old in October. Our needs are toddler clothing sizes 12mo-24mo. If you or your church can help us we would greatly appreciate it! Thanks. :-)

Quick review of 2008: There has been some confusion about this last year in our ministry and lives. To clear things up, I have attempted to write a quick review of 2008. Because of its length, I have attached it to this newsletter. I ask that you please take the time to read it, so that you can understand and more accurately pray for our ministry's needs. (I promise it is a fast read *wink*)

Renewed Passion: Especially after reading our 2008 review attachment, you will understand that we have been through a lot of transitions and financial difficulties this past year. Our main reason for returning to the States was due to the rising cost of living in Romania. Although our support is remaining consistent, the cost of living in Romania has tripled. With the unexpected costs of rent and transportation due to the delay of the Family Center, we have been struggling to pay bills and eat. The price of gas is around $8.00 a gallon, a gallon of milk on SALE is around $6.00, and one jar of baby food is $3.00. We were also without internet or a phone for a few weeks because of the rise in costs. It became apparent that we needed to return to the States in order to reconnect with our supporters and help the ministry's finances recover.

With all that said, another reason for our return to the States was to seek God for direction and renewed passion. With the many disappointments we experienced, Andrei and I found ourselves feeling lost and afraid of our future in ministry. The Lord has been entirely gracious to us throughout our visits in Colorado and California. Through many prayers and divine appointments, our hearts have been encouraged and strengthened. Just this past week, Andrei and I attended a Bible conference in Colorado about "Renewing your passion for the Church." We felt the Lord speaking to us during every session. Thank you JESUS!

New visions and a whole lotta prayer: In reality, our "new vision" is the same original vision the Lord gave us three years ago except with renewed excitement and focus. Living in Deva, although fruitful, has been a hardship on our original focus for the ministry. It seemed ideal when we were promised a Family Center location, but without the center or a church, it has been difficult. We are praying about moving back to Petrosani and continuing our ministry to the local church, orphanage and our friend Kelly Stark. The Lord has heavily placed the desire on Andrei's heart to speak with the local church leader and minister to the church's needs. Living in Deva has added an hour to our drive to Betania, and with the incredible gasoline prices, it has been a financial burden to our ministry. Please pray about this with us. We will need to start from scratch once again with finding an apartment, buying necessary appliances, etc. You may wonder why we must start from scratch. Well since it was our understanding that we would receive the Family Center building and the funds to furnish it, most of the appliances and furniture we had in our house in Colonie were donated to Betania or given to Kelly Stark to help her functioning family center. For this reason, we must purchase a few essentials if we cannot find a furnished apartment at a reasonable rate. (Thank God for second-hand stores!!!)

We are excited about returning to the mission field, and we ask for your continued prayers for direction and a renewed passion for Sufficient Bread Ministry.

16 HOURS!?!?!?! Yep! The time is coming when we will be returning to the mission field with our two little one year olds. We fly out of Denver on April 28th and land in Romania on April 29th. Please pray for our girls (actually for Andrei's and my sanity) on the flight. When we flew from Romania to the United States, Aryana did not sleep at all….so we are praying for the opposite on our return flight. Also, we always have problems at customs on the Romanian side. Please pray that we can walk through smoothly without having to wait out bribe attempts. I am also anxious (I know… "be anxious for nothing"…this is why I need your prayers) about the passport control on our return into Romania. Please pray that they are not corrupt when we return with Elena into the country after being gone for so long.

Thank you all again for your support! We love you! OH! And don't forget to read our 2008 review!!! :-)

Andrei, Kelle, Aryana and Elena

Prayer Requests:

• Prayer for direction and provision.
• Prayer for Elena's adoption process.
• Prayer for our return to Romania…the long 16 hour flight with two 1 year olds ahhhhhhh!
• Prayer for God's word to go forth without hindrance to the adults and children we minister with on a daily basis.
• Continual prayer for the corruption that is so rampant in the Romanian culture and government.
• Prayer for our social workers at Child Protection: wisdom, grace, and strength as they stand up for us in Committee meetings at Child Protections Headquarters.
• Prayer for all the babies in government care.
• NEED: We could also use some toddler clothes for the girls(12mo-2yr)…if you have some hand-me-downs, let me know :-) (sufficientbread@gmail.com)

SUFFICIENT BREAD MINISTRY
2008-2009 REVIEW

The house and the move to Deva: In 2006, we moved into our home in Colonie and began using it to facilitate our ministry to the children of Romania. The house was filled weekly with children from the neighboring houses, orphanages, and street. These children were offered the gospel, prayer, family interaction, food and shelter. The house also facilitated our Family Program with the nearby orphanage. Three to five children came home with us after our weekly visit to the orphanage to spend the weekend with us and attend the local church.

In 2007, we began praying about expanding our Family Program into a Family Center. We visited various realty offices to investigate local real estate properties big enough to house ten children and, prayerfully, offer a new church location. Only one property was available in Petrosani and it seemed to be the perfect fit. We then began trying to fundraise for the purchase price of the home. We were promised funds by very generous people but these funds were delayed for reasons beyond both of our control.

We knew that we wanted to ultimately sell our house once the Family Center was purchased. These reasons included: higher housing taxes for two homes, continuously making repairs to an unoccupied house, and having to make fires in the empty house every three hours during the winter. However, because of the "ghetto" location of our house and the state of the economy, we knew that it would be almost impossible to sell. Or so we thought. The week we received the news of the funds coming into the country, a neighbor came to our fence and asked if we were selling our house. We were shocked. He offered us a deal, our house for his almost new Mercedes Vito van. We had been praying for a ministry van for many years. The van was appraised a little over what we wanted to sell our house for, so we agreed. We also made a contract with the man stating that we could stay in the house for three months to make moving into the Family Center easier (especially since we were caring for and ministering to two infants and three troubled teenagers at the time).

To our great discouragement and frustration, the funds were once again held up by red tape. We were assured on many occasions that this would only take a short time to clear up. This concerned us but we were confident in Christ's provision and faithfulness. To our shock, the property and house we were interested in was sold to become a hotel right from underneath us! We informed our donator of our situation and he gave us permission to look for another building. After searching Petrosani for another building or apartment to rent, and finding nothing, we began looking in other cities within our county. We found another building in the large city of Deva. This building then became our new focus.

A week later, our three months were up and the new owner of our house was beginning to push us out. We needed to move in only three days. We rushed to find an apartment in Deva that would let us rent for a short period of time. Miraculously, we found an apartment and moved in two days later.

Many of our decisions were based on promises from our anonymous donator and our faith in God's work. Sadly, we are still waiting on their promises to come to fruition. As far as the Family Center is concerned, we are walking in faith and waiting for His perfect plan to be worked out. This is why we are still renting in the city of Deva.

Ministry Transitions: We had many changes in our normal routine immediately following our return to Romania in 2008.

Foster (Placement) Baby: With word out about our Family Center, we were approached by a young mother who wanted to abandon her baby at the hospital. We met with her on a few occasions to share Christ with her and to encourage her to keep her baby. This was her 5th abandonment. She had actually gone to the hospital to receive an abortion but could not afford the fee. She asked us if we would care for her baby at our Center because she is a habitual drunk, prostitute, and living with her father. We agreed. In the name of Jesus, our ministry provided for her prenatal vitamins and medication for her chronic asthma.

On May 22, 2008, Elena Rebeca, 7lbs, 47 cm long, was born at the local hospital. During the mother's stay in the hospital, we visited her everyday and brought food, formula and medicine. We picked up Elena three days later from the hospital and cared for the mother and baby for three weeks in our home. After the three weeks, the mother left and never returned to visit her child.

It has been our honor to care for this precious daughter of our Savior. With the future of our Family Center unsure, we have begun steps toward adoption of Elena to secure her safety from the corruption and evil of the State Child Care system.

Robi, Marius, and Boti: Immediately upon our return to Romania, we received the devastating news that our local American Pastor was removed from Romania for some serious charges against him. He officially stepped down from ministry while on furlough in America and did not return to Romania. Because of his removal, the former pastor left behind four orphan boys alone in his house. From the beginning, SBM had worked on creating a relationship with these boys for the purpose of discipleship and giving them a place of safety if they ever needed help.

These four boys were left to fend for themselves. They began selling things in the house for food and cigarette money. We were first under the impression that the church was caring for their needs however very soon we realized that was not necessarily the case. SBM began cooking meals for the boys and offering them work around the house.

One of the four boys was illegally living in Petrosani because he was underage. We worked with the police and paid for his return to a Christian Family Center in his home town a few hours away.

The other three boys came to live with us in our attic after being put on the street by the local church. God showed us that they belonged with us. Andrei had many heart-to-heart talks with the boys sharing his testimony and God's love for them. All three boys felt very betrayed by the church and the only Christian example they had was the pastor they had trusted with their safety. It took a lot of prayer, patience and work to gain these boys respect and trust.

Boti only stayed with us for a few weeks and then ran off to another city to live with his brother. Marius and Robi stayed with us for almost five months. The boys decided to make some very disrespectful and irresponsible decisions which included stealing and lying. We did our best to handle these situations and lead them to repentance.

From the beginning, we urged the young men to take responsibility for their own lives. They had been taught by their past caregivers to live off of others and not to take any responsibility for their actions. Robi returned to his hometown when we confronted him about some of his decisions. And Marius left about a month later after he lied to Andrei and quit every job we found for him after working just one week. It broke Andrei's heart to have to make the "tough love" decision to ask Marius to leave the Family Center. Please pray for Marius because out of both the boys, he is the most reachable for Christ. He wrote us a very loving letter when he left and asked for our forgiveness. Since this time, we have tried our best to keep in contact with him. We were very encouraged to see that since our tough decision, he has found a job and has kept it so far. He needed to be put in a situation where it was absolutely necessary for him to work. We are happy that he seems to be doing alright for now.

Ministry in Our New City, Deva: Moving to the city of Deva has brought us many exciting witnessing opportunities. We have been ministering to a local family with a little girl about the same age as Elena. The husband grew up in the same orphanage as Andrei and had walked away from the church many years ago. Andrei has been ministering to him weekly, sharing with him the love of Christ and Christ's forgiveness and grace. Recently, they have adopted us into their family and we have had the pleasure of reaching out to his extended family as well (Most who are dedicated Orthodox Christians who have never heard of God's grace).

Andrei is also seeing doors open to share the gospel to the social workers at Child Protection as well as some of the bosses. They have actually asked us to explain why we would want to care for a child that is not our own. Andrei shares with them that he was an orphan without a father in his life and God reached out and saved him. He is God's child, adopted into the Family of Christ. God has showed him love and mercy, and God commands him to do the same. James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

We love you and thank you for your prayers, support, encouragement and friendship. God bless!!!