Tuesday, June 18, 2013
End of School Year
Greetings,
I hope you are enjoying the warm weather and for those of you who have a summer break I hope you take advantage of this great weather.
We have been very busy here at SELAH the last few months. The end of year assessments are finally completed and there is one week left of school activities. Thank you for your for all your support this school year and your prayers for your child here in Romania.
This school year was a huge success despite our many transitions and changes! I want to thank my colleagues for their hard work and also want to thank our students for their amazing progress!
There is a new Facebook page we just started with our Selah Junior kids, please take the
time to like our page and see what your child is doing.
As you are aware, we have a sponsor program to help with cost with each child that allows
us to meet the needs of each child for their grade level fees and supply cost. If you would like to sponsor a child for $10 a month or would like more information on how you can help our programs please feel free to write me and I would love to answer any question you have. Besides sponsoring a child we are also in need of sponsors for teachers. We currently have a need for 2 extra teachers. That means more funds for our budget. We need 2 teacher salaries of $300 or 200Euro a month. This is our minimum salary that we hope to give our teachers. We currently have someone in mind that is perfect for the job and would really like to see her start this next school year with us and the children.
Cera Farkas is a mother of two and is the sister of Lomis who helped start this project three years ago. Cera helped Lomis during my time in America due to visa issues. During the 3 1/2 months she worked with Selah, Cera grew to love and understand our heart for this work and the children. It is our desire to see her continue with this work and work along side us as we continue this next school year.
There are a lot of fun and educational activities that will take place this summer. Please enjoy the updates and feel free to write us and correspond with us. I look forward to hearing from you.
Warmest Wishes,
Sandy Garcia
Lomis Chiriac
Monday, April 29, 2013
A year Later
Wow, I can not believe a year has passed since I last updated this blog. I admit I am very bad with communication and when it comes to updating information. I find that Facebook is the fast-food form of communication. Quick and easy. Here I have to think about what has been going on and make it fun and interesting to the reader. It is already interesting for me but thinking of ways to post it for you can be a challenge.
As many of you know by now in 2012 volunteer and humanitarian options were eliminated for Americans when applying for a visa. This created a dilemma for many people. I, however, had a plan and I knew that God would back me up with that plan. Well, God had a better plan and while mine was a good one His was best.
In January of this year I thought that I still had three months to process my visa but I was informed that I would have to leave Romania for three months until I could either resolve for a visa or leave Romania altogether. While I knew that leaving Romania for good was not my plan I thought that maybe it was God's plan for me. I was very disappointed the way I had to leave but at the same time I had hope of returning to Romania at least within the next year.
After just a few weeks in the states I received a call from a friend saying that she found a way for me to get a visa. Immediately I was overjoyed and knew that it was God opening my door to return. I started the process and as of now my visa is still in the works and everything looks great.
As I look back on the way things happened and how I left Romania I can see the big picture. So many times we are so close to our problems and situations that we only see one piece of the puzzle but it takes so many pieces to make that picture clear and we miss so much. As I have slowly stepped back these past three months from my kids and youth and precious friends I can now see the bigger picture. First of all, I needed to see that I along with everything that I love we where sitting on God's hands. He was in control. Second, I have seen that I am the most blessed missionary. There were so many words of encouragement and love when I arrived home. Prayers for open doors and direction for my return to Romania or any other direction God had for me. Third, I saw that my love for the ministry God gave me was really His plan for me. While I knew it would take some time for me to get used to being away from a seven year ministry It was all I could think about.
God's plans are better. I can see clearer and am more focused on the vision God has given me for Romania. To train and equip the gypsy youth in the Word, love and education.
I will be returning to Romania May 14th! I am more than excited and can't wait to get back to my kiddos.
Thank you for making my life so blessed.
As many of you know by now in 2012 volunteer and humanitarian options were eliminated for Americans when applying for a visa. This created a dilemma for many people. I, however, had a plan and I knew that God would back me up with that plan. Well, God had a better plan and while mine was a good one His was best.
In January of this year I thought that I still had three months to process my visa but I was informed that I would have to leave Romania for three months until I could either resolve for a visa or leave Romania altogether. While I knew that leaving Romania for good was not my plan I thought that maybe it was God's plan for me. I was very disappointed the way I had to leave but at the same time I had hope of returning to Romania at least within the next year.
After just a few weeks in the states I received a call from a friend saying that she found a way for me to get a visa. Immediately I was overjoyed and knew that it was God opening my door to return. I started the process and as of now my visa is still in the works and everything looks great.
As I look back on the way things happened and how I left Romania I can see the big picture. So many times we are so close to our problems and situations that we only see one piece of the puzzle but it takes so many pieces to make that picture clear and we miss so much. As I have slowly stepped back these past three months from my kids and youth and precious friends I can now see the bigger picture. First of all, I needed to see that I along with everything that I love we where sitting on God's hands. He was in control. Second, I have seen that I am the most blessed missionary. There were so many words of encouragement and love when I arrived home. Prayers for open doors and direction for my return to Romania or any other direction God had for me. Third, I saw that my love for the ministry God gave me was really His plan for me. While I knew it would take some time for me to get used to being away from a seven year ministry It was all I could think about.
God's plans are better. I can see clearer and am more focused on the vision God has given me for Romania. To train and equip the gypsy youth in the Word, love and education.
I will be returning to Romania May 14th! I am more than excited and can't wait to get back to my kiddos.
Thank you for making my life so blessed.
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