Recently we moved to Migdal and rented a two-room apartment. This is a step up from our one-room apartment in Tiberias, which we have put on the market. What is more, we signed a contract to build a mission house just a short distance from here. It is situated on a beautiful hillside with a wonderful view of the Sea of Galilee. When it is finished, early next year, we will have plenty of room to put up guests. We are thankful to the Lord that He has provided most of the money already. We believe that hospitality will be part of our future work here in Israel.

In the United States we did not have a salary for many years and never bought a house. We always longed to have a home of our own and prayed a lot about it, but there was no answer. One morning Genovieva asked the Lord, “Why didn’t You answer that prayer?” She heard Him say, “You are Jewish and your inheritance is in Israel.” Now He has fulfilled His promise and given us a house here.

When we lived in the States, Genovieva took four correspondence courses with the Institute of Children’s Literature in Connecticut. These writers’ courses were very good and taught her how to write stories from her life in a creative way. She learned to write and sell stories to Christian magazines and to write books for publication. Stephen helped her to complete the courses and to sell stories to about forty-five magazines, including one to Guideposts, published in January 1997. We spend much of our time in Israel writing stories from Romania and from our experiences with the Lord in mission work. However, we did not expect these stories to stir up the hatred of former Communists in Romania…

As you may know, I last visited Romania in June 2004. I used to go three or four times a year because I loved the children and taught them to serve the Lord. One day on my last trip, very early in the morning, I had a time of prayer with Laura Sirbu, one of our staff. I then fell asleep and had a dream. In my dream, my brother Laurian came to me and said, “I met with ‘Relu,’ the chief of the secret police in Iaşi. He said he appreciated your work with poor children, but he wanted you to know that your life was in danger.” Laurian then hid me and Stephen in the trains of death, where the Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. I couldn’t wait to leave Romania and get back to the States.

I woke up and shared my dream with Laura. I did not know this “Relu” or even if he was a real person. I prayed, “Lord, if this is a warning from You, please confirm it.”

At about twelve o’clock, I went to Cantina Betel to eat with the children. While I was there, a former chief of police came to see me. He took me outside and told me in whispers, “Be very careful, because your former enemies want to kill you.”

That same morning Laurian received a call from the chief of the secret police. To my amazement his name was “Relu,” as in my dream. He wanted to speak to him privately. He told Laurian, “Every time your sister comes to Romania, it costs us a lot to protect her… We appreciate her work with poor children, but now she wrote these stories, which mention the names of those who persecuted her. The former Communists and Nazis are still around. They could easily pay someone to kill her… Tell her that if she comes, she comes at her own risk.”

When I heard that, I couldn’t wait to get out of the country. I decided not to go to Romania any more. My contribution to the work in Romania is now mainly in the books, stories and songs I write. We want to translate our books into Romanian, so that the younger generation knows what life under communism was like and do not take their freedom for granted.

We joined a Messianic congregation in Tiberias, which has about 400 members. I understand ninety percent of the service without translation. The hall is always packed to overflowing, and every Shabbat we hear wonderful testimonies from Israelis who know Yeshua. In Israel there are about 30,000 people who believe in Yeshua, and this number is growing fast. They can be divided into three groups of roughly equal size: Messianic Jews, Christian Arabs and foreign Christians. We are in a strategic position here to reach out with the peace and love of Yeshua. There are many opportunities here for us to distribute our books in English, French and Romanian. Last October at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, we met Christian believers from all over the world. We plan to attend the celebration again this year.

We have helped new immigrant families and poor Israelis who go through hard times. We buy food and toiletries and take them to their Kibbutzim or homes, pray for them, and encourage them. We would appreciate your support for our ministry in Israel.

Our vision is also to provide hospitality for those who visit Israel. We have been blessed to have a number of friends and supporters visit us over the last year. Perhaps we will have the privilege of a visit from you…

We had to close our last canteen, Cantina Adonai in Târgu Frumos, after a long struggle with the authorities. Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007 and strict new regulations for canteens were introduced. The authorities demanded that we provide a three-course meal at lunch and a two-course meal in the evening with the best food available. The law required us to operate the canteen like a luxury restaurant. It went so far that the police would come to the canteen and measure the nutritional value of every meal. It would have cost us over $100.00 (£50.00) per month to feed a child. And even if we had the money, there was another problem. We were forbidden to engage in religious activities or teach the children the Bible at the canteen. Religious activities had to be confined to a registered place of worship. There were numerous threats from the police to confiscate our properties and imprison our staff for proselytism. It was at this point that we decided to close the canteen and sell the building. We are thankful to the Lord that we fed thousands of children since we started the canteens in 1999. The Lord promised us that the seeds we sowed in the hearts of the children would produce a harvest.

We received the same threats of imprisonment and confiscation of property at Casa Emanuel. So we decided to close the orphanage, sell the property and put the remaining ten children into families. The Hodorogea children—Roxana, Camelia, Diana and Ionut—moved back with their mother in Târgu Frumos. Our staff cleaned and repaired the family apartment and whitewashed the walls. They gave them two new beds and bedding, and even bought a new door. Roxana helps take care of the younger children with the support they receive from EEAA. However, our staff will remain in close contact with them, as well as with the other orphanage children in families. We are thankful that we were able to take care of almost one hundred children who passed through the orphanage over a ten-year period.

We still own farming land in Romania where we keep storage containers, a tractor and equipment. This will remain as a means of supporting the work in the future. With the full agreement of our board in the United States and Romania, we decided to use the proceeds from the property sales as follows: 1) The funds originally donated specifically for the orphanage or canteens will remain in our mission account in Romania, to be used to support the work at the El Roi Messianic Center and 2) The rest of the money will come to us for our mission house and work in Israel.

Our vision for the future of our work in Romania now centers on the El Roi Messianic Center in Iaşi. It has been operating as a ministry center for about six months. We are in the process of registering it as a place of worship, affiliated to the Jewish Messianic movement in Romania. Laurian worked very hard on this and the registration process will be completed any day now. This will serve as a legal protection for our religious activities in the future, especially that the European Union has its own strict rules. One of the Messianic pastors from Bucharest oversees the congregation and travels to Iaşi regularly.

The El Roi Messianic Center welcomes about eighty children to the Christian programs, including the International School of Ministry video-based Bible training course at weekends. The children come with great enthusiasm to learn about the Lord. There is a huge dining hall with the best cooking facilities, and we feed children as they come to the activities. The children eat the best that we can provide, without threats from the police. Material help will be given only in the context of the congregation. The authorities have never given us any problems there, because it was never registered as a canteen. The Bread of Life Bakery also operates from there and provides bread for free distribution to the poor.

Our staff continues to help families in desperate need in Târgu Frumos with food, clothes and other items. They distribute food parcels with basic foods such as oil, rice and flour and also share with them about Yeshua. The work with containers will continue. It is a privilege to distribute help to poor children all over the country. We prepare gifts at holidays for many poor children.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.