From Romania

This is a note from Bekah Rust, a friend of mine from Moscow.



Maria is 8 years old, and today she made me feel huge. She did this simply by holding her hand up to mine. Maria has grown up in a crib, she has a disease that has kept her there. This disease has prevented her from growing very big, or learning to speak. Yes, Maria held her little hand up to mine, perched upon a wrist no wider than 1 inch. She looked up at me with large eyes, and slowly a lopsided grin came across her face. She lay in my arms, she can not sit up, and as I searched for ways to make her smile again, I realized that just being there holding her was enough.


I have been in Bucuresti (the i is silent as in sock :) for about two weeks, and already I am overwhelmed by the work there is to do here. I am starting to think that my two month stay is not going to be enough! One lifetime would not be enough to minister to all the children here who don?t have families. I have been to four orphanages so far. One was the rehab orphanage where Maria lives. The thing that I have noticed the most is that the kids are so hungry for love that they will come straight up to the team of missionaries with their arms open. They fight to be near us, and are content just to sit in our laps or even right next to us. As we approach the orphanages we can hear kids yelling ?the Americans! The Americans are coming! There is a flurry of excitement while kids pile into the room. It is not long before the team is mobbed from all sides by hungry kids. It is so awesome to be able to give them love and know that God is using me to reach these abandoned children.


Most of the children from the orphanages have living parents who are not able to, or choose not to care for them. Many of the kids were just left at the hospital when they were born. Still others come to the orphanages later, because their parents are too poor to provide for them. One thing that is common among all the kids however is their need for guidance and love.

I was discovered the other day, I told one of the Children to Love (CTL) staff that I majored in art in college. He asked if I could draw, and when I answered yes, he asked me to paint murals on the walls of a couple of the orphanages. I am excited to get started with this project, hopefully it will brighten up the rooms which are all a very serious shade of white. I hope also to be able to add some color to the ceiling of the rehab orphanage. There are some children there, like Maria, who barely ever leave their crib.


Please keep CTL in your prayers. They are a missionary organization with so much work to do here, and they are really making a difference in the lives of many of these kids. Pray also for the children, that they would grow up knowing God, and His love. God is so good, and I have really been experiencing the great depths of His love!


Thank you for your prayers.


Bekah Rust