“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27).

Greetings to you in the Name of Yeshua HaMashiach, the Lord Jesus Christ!

On June 15, 2005 the process of placing the orphanage children into families was completed. Of the thirty-eight children at the orphanage, sixteen have returned to their own families and are in the care of their mothers, grandmothers or aunts; fourteen have been placed in foster families in or around Iaşi; three with special needs have been placed in specialized state care and five remain at Casa Emanuel, where they continue to be cared for by our staff.

The children that remain at Casa Emanuel are those that were there on the basis of a contract made directly with their relatives. We are free to provide for their religious education in the future without being accused of proselytism. This was not the case with the other children, who came to us via the state authorities.

Our staff in Iaşi worked very hard over a period of several months to find suitable homes for the children who went into foster care. They selected the best homes from more than 200 local Romanian families that applied to take the children. Opportunities were provided for each child to interact with prospective families before any final decisions were made. This allowed time for changes and adjustments as necessary.

The staff ensured that as far as possible the children remained in a position where they can to grow in faith and knowledge of the Word of God. The families that were chosen support the religious education of the children and promised to bring them to Casa Emanuel for the regular worship and training programs. Some of the families are already involved with these activities and have participated in prayer meetings and Bible studies with the children.

Casa Emanuel will become a messianic training center for children where they are taught to love Israel, to celebrate the festivals of the Lord and to study the Jewish roots of the faith. The International School of Ministry, the Scripture memory programs, the dance classes, the choir and the orchestra will all remain an important part of the children’s education.

The orphanage facilities will continue to be used to help poor children, but the emphasis in the future will be more on training and education.

We continue to provide financial support for twenty-three of the thirty-eight orphanage children. The monthly cost of supporting these children, whether in their own families or in foster care, is $250.00 (£167.00) per child. If you would like to help support one of these children, please send a gift marked “foster care” and it will be used for that purpose.

Nine-year-old Alexandra Balint was the first girl from Casa Emanuel to be placed in a family. She tells her own story about how the change affected her. She recognized that the transition from the orphanage to a family was one of life’s exams. She believed that the Lord had planned it and would help her through it. All the lessons she had learned at the orphanage had to be put into practice.

Alexandra was sorry to be separated from her half-sister, Dana, but the family that took her could only take one child. While she was spending some time with a prospective family, she noticed that someone made the sign of the cross.

She drew attention to the practice: “We have to worship the Lord Jesus Himself,” she said, “and not the cross on which He died!” The person in question was amazed at the child’s spiritual maturity, but as it turned out, the family decided not to take her after all.
Some time later the family which took her half-sister changed their mind and agreed to take her as well. Alexandra was overjoyed! She never doubted that the Lord had a wonderful plan for her and that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28). This verse served as an anchor for our staff and children as they went through this difficult time of transition.

We are pleased to report that the container that we sent last month from the States has arrived in the port of Constanţa. Laurian obtained all the papers necessary for clearing it through customs. The coats, boots, shoes, socks, gloves, hats and scarves donated by listeners to WBCL in Indiana will be a great blessing to thousands of children later in the year when they are distributed.

The extension work at Cantina El Roi is now going full speed ahead thanks to a special partnership with Pastor Eric Nordin and his church in Delaware. They visit Romania several times a year to minister to our children and are sharing the burden of this project. They will have three rooms and a bathroom on the top floor of the canteen to be used as they minister to the 700 children who eat at our canteens, as well as to the children at Casa Emanuel and to those in families.

When Cantina El Roi extension is completed it will provide badly needed facilities to feed many more children, as well as more space for the educational programs already in operation. The authorities in Iaşi told us recently that the state-owned building we use for Cantina Betel is scheduled for demolition in order to make way for an amusement park, so it is important that we finish the extension to Cantina El Roi as soon as possible. We still need about $90,000 (£60,000) to finish the project.

Laurian obtained the papers necessary to renovate the mission office in Iaşi, Genovieva’s family house, Casa Sfatcu. Work is now being started on the foundations of the house, essential before it can be rebuilt.

Here in Israel a Romanian Jewish family visited us in Tiberias for a couple of weeks in June. They want to immigrate to Israel and we helped them to apply for citizenship using DNA evidence, as they had no papers from Romania to prove that they are Jewish. We also helped them to buy a four-room apartment, not far from where we live. They want to use it to help us with hospitality for new immigrants. One of the missions the Lord gave us here is to help Jews make “aliyah” to Israel through DNA. Many of them have no proof that they are Jewish except for DNA evidence. If you would like to help financially with this, your gifts marked “Israel” would be greatly appreciated.

We attend a messianic congregation here of about 200 that meets on the top of Mount Carmel. It is not far from the place where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal. The services are conducted in Hebrew with translation into English and Russian. About half of the congregation is composed of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who arrived by ship via Odessa. Some of your donations are used each month to help them materially.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.