Our children in Romania have used dance for about five years as a means to worship the Lord. They first learned the steps from instructional video cassettes which we sent from the States. Olga Mitrofan, our dance teacher, has had the understanding and patience necessary to repeat the steps and movements hundreds of times with each child. She has trained a number of them to become very good dancers for the Lord.

The children are divided into three groups of dancers, according to age. The older group is composed of fourteen children: four boys - Lucian, Marian, Ovidiu and Sebastian - and ten girls - Alexandra, Amalia, Ana-Maria, Dana, Florentina, Georgiana, Ioana, Ionela and Mihaela. The younger children’s groups are composed of children who grew up in our orphanage, some of whom are now living with families: four boys — Ionuţ, Ionuţ, Sebastian and Silviu — and eleven girls — Ana-Maria, Andreea, Camelia, Catinca, Diana, Georgiana, Mălina, Maria, Nadia, Petronela and Simona.

On December 5, 2006 the children’s dance group was invited by the Messianic Congregation in Bucharest to take part in an evening celebration of Hanukah. Thirteen of our children went on this trip, accompanied by three adults from our staff —Olga Mitrofan, the dance teacher, Iordache Ghinea, our driver and Cristian Popescu, our cameraman. Laurian Sfatcu also went along. It was a seven-hour journey in the “blue bus,” but the children were filled with an indescribable joy.

In Bucharest they were accommodated by the Jewish community and shared a meal together before practicing for the evening program. It started at six o’clock and took place in the Teatru Foarte Mic, where there were about 250 spectators. The young people from Bucharest worshiped the Lord with songs and our children with dances. The children received many standing ovations and the spectators joined in one of the dances.

Olga writes: “When I spoke to the pastor in Bucharest on the phone, he asked me whether our dances were for the glory of Adonai. After the performance he was in no doubt that we worship the Lord through our dances. He also had a gift for each of the children. The trip was a real blessing for them!

“We understand dance as a means to express our joy and and thankfulness to Adonai for all He is doing in our lives and in our work. We believe that heaven rejoices when we dance before Him. God is pleased when His children rejoice and serve Him with the best they have.

“At the end of the performance the children were taken by families for the night. The next morning we all met at the Messianic Center where the dancers taught the young people from the Bucharest congregation some dance steps. They learned “Hava Naghila” and “Shalom” from our children and will learn more from the video cassettes.”

The children made new friends and exchanged addresses and phone numbers. The dance group will keep in touch with the worship leader from Bucharest. He will arrange a time for the young people to come to Iaşi for a formal training course organized by Olga. The pastor invited the children to spend a few days of their vacation time together. The return journey to Iaşi was hampered by freezing fog, but the children were full of joy.

The Christmas celebration at Cantina El Roi also provided an opportunity to worship the Lord with dancing. The children’s parents and relatives attended the celebration and were very impressed. Hundreds of gifts from the container we sent from the States in October were distributed to the canteen and orphanage children on that occasion. Each parcel contained a jacket, gloves, a scarf, a hat, socks and a pair of winter boots.

Our bakery continues to produce the most delicious bread for free distribution to the poor.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.