Talpos Today January 2006

Dear Friends and family,

Greetings from chilly Romania! Today it was –7º…..Celsius (19º F) Winter is still here!

I trust that you had a blessed Christmas, filled with God’s presence. This year, things were busy as usual. All the practices, making packs, decorating, baking, caroling and other normal Christmas activities kept me hopping. I prayed that God would help me keep focused on the real reason for the season and not get too hectic and wrapped up in the goings-on. Thank the Lord for His help!

The orphans and I again had a wonderful time decorating the tree at the orphanage. Giorgi and Marius had never decorated a tree before this and they really enjoyed themselves (along with all the other orphans). During special times like these I am reminded how privileged I am to be here and what a joy for me to be part of the children’s lives in this way. Thank you all who make this possible. God bless you!

We had services Christmas Eve, twice on Christmas day and twice the day after Christmas. God met with us in a special way. As I’ve told you in the past, every year the Christians here in Romania celebrate Christmas with this same schedule. I was troubled when I heard that many churches in America didn’t have services the 4th Sunday of December because it was Christmas day.

How sad to think that churches have forgotten what is the real reason for Christmas. Christmas is not first about presents, extravagant meals or even family, then as an afterthought the birth of Jesus. Christmas should be first the celebration of the birth of our Messiah; the one who came to save His people from their sins.

This year, because of all the things that needed to be done, I felt that the best decision was to take a break from having the annual Christmas play with the church children. So, on Christmas Eve we had a special service of singing and reciting poems and Bible verses. We had many visitors and God helped in a glorious way.

The day after Christmas the kids and I went out caroling. Not all the children could attend, but we still had an enjoyable time singing to several church families in the village. This was such fun for the children and for me. :)

The orphans also had a special program with songs, scriptures and poems. This year I was responsible for their program and was a bit concerned about how I was going to play the piano and also lead them, but Adriana (one of the older orphans over 18 who stays at the orphanage and helps supervise the children) was willing to lend a hand and God helped us all through this new attempt.

Along with this, I was also able to be involved in the special Christmas service from the kindergarteners at our church. I have English lessons with these children twice a week and the teacher asked if I would be willing to play the piano for their program. It was such a pleasure to be part of this first program ever given by our church kindergarteners. The children did a great job and God blessed them for their hard work.

I won’t have room in this letter to share all the pictures and information about the Christmas packs, so look for those in my next letter. However, I do want to mention that because of your giving we were able to make 70 church children packs, 50 poor family packs, 250 gypsy packs, 15 teen packs and orphan packs. Thank you to all who gave this year to help make Christmas special for so many. I pray that God will bless you for your generosity and sacrificial giving. Again I say, too bad you can’t be here to help hand out the packs and see the joy on each ones face as they received their gifts in the name of the Lord. What a privilege I have!

Thank you to all who thought of me during this Christmas Season. I received so many cards and e-mails and it was great to know that you all were thinking and praying for me.
I also want to let you know how grateful I am for your prayers and support.

God bless you!
In His Service,
Sally

P.S. Just wanted to share one more picture with you that I thought many of you would enjoy. In one of my past newsletters I shared a picture of a horse drawn sled from the village. Well..... Romania is progressing (2 of them are from my youth group) :)

Some would gather money
Along the path of life.
Some would gather roses
And rest from earthly strife.
But I would gather children
From among the thorns of sin;
I would seek a golden curl
And a freckled, toothless grin.
For money cannot enter
Into the land of endless day,
And roses that are gathered
Soon will wilt along the way,
But oh, the laughing children,
As I cross the sunset sea,
And the gates swing wide to heaven
I can take them in with me.