Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
Please give Mia the energy and endurance not to give up on the many tasks in front of her, especially as she works on securing a visa to the US. Open the doors for her to come and make her way easy. Let her not become weary in doing good. Amen.
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:13 (NLT)
Lord we take time today to remember what it means to sacrifice one’s entire life. May we learn to be more grateful for the many men and women who have done so for us, and may this Memorial Day bring us to a deeper understanding of how much you love us. Amen.
Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9:7
Lord we lift up to you the men and women fighting in wars around the world right now. This past week Romania lost soldiers in Afghanistan – a rare thing for that country. We ask for resolution to the violence, and we pray that you will give us hope for your kingdom and the peace we will share there. Amen.
Open Door Medical Clinic – Bucharest
Did you know Mia’s Children has our very own medical team?
Okay, well not exactly, but we do have a special place to take the kids if they get sick or need checkups.
Drs. Linda and Milt Hanson, a US couple, run a medical mission in Bucharest called Open Door Medical Center.
From their website:
Situated in the city of Bucharest, capital of Romania, Open Door Medical Center is a full-service family medicine clinic that primarily serves low-income Romanians, gypsies, and refugees from Africa and the Middle East. Services include prenatal care and well-child care, geriatrics, and preventive care. The medical staff includes Drs. Milton and Linda Hanson, associate professors with University of Minnesota School of Medicine.
Most patients are very low-income Romanians, many of whom make less than $40 per month. The Romanian government provides no safety net medical care, and most low-income persons simply go without, but for the charity care offered at Open Door.
Refugees from Africa, and Iraqis and Iranians living in Romania also frequent Open Door Medical Center, as do some Americans and Western Europeans living in Romania.
Open Door’s two physicians are a husband and wife team. Milton and Linda Hanson are associate professors with University of Minnesota School of Medicine.They first came to Romania in 1994, learned the Romanian language, received their hard-won Romanian medical licenses, and then initiated the Open Door Medical Foundation in 1997.
For many years Mia has been able to bring the children and her own family to the center for quality, compassionate health care. What a blessing in a country with overburdened medical programs and a struggling economy.
Learn more about Open Door Medical Center and how you could get involved with their work.
Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
Job 38:41
We pray this week for the Romanian economy, which every day causes more and more people to struggle. Please give world leaders and Romanian politicians wisdom moving forward and a deepened desire see their country healed from financial turmoil. Amen.
I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:18-19
God we ask you to provide Mia and Mia’s Children with all of the funding they need this month to cover their costs and the needs of the newest children in the house. Please send them financial support during Romania’s economic struggles and let them know that they are cared for – by you, through us. Amen.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21
Lord, we confess our own misguided priorities. We are lost without you. Please help us to treasure what you treasure, to love what you love. Amen.
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19
Lord we beg for your mercy on behalf of the new family Mia describes as “wolf children.” Please break their hearts to the love and compassion they find at Mia’s Children and make them receptive to care. Give the staff patience and affection for them that could only come from you. Teach us all how to love people who are difficult to love, and to help the foreigners in our midst – as you have asked from us and taught us to do. Amen.
A woman begs on the street in Bucharest
France is again returning Roma people back to their home country of Romania, even though the practice has been controversial.
The displacement of the Roma population is at least partly political. Many Roma people have squatted in France and live there illegally in conditions much like a refugee camp. The decision to destroy those quarters and move the Roma back to their home countries began in late summer of 2010, as part of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to crack down on illegal immigration and crime.
Regardless of my views on France’s action and the immigration issues that surround it, one question that stands out to me is, “Who will love these marginalized people?”
France claims that the Roma live on the outskirts of society. But whether they are in Romania or in France, they are blocked from employment. They receive little to no education – often because the parents will not encourage school attendance, but sometimes because they are denied access or bullied by educators once there. They have almost no path for moving up in the world. Without the encouragement and opportunities to learn to read and write, it is very difficult for them to integrate into any community.
When Mia’s Children first started, one of the biggest tasks was ensuring that all of the kids would get an education. Roma students who were willing to attend school were treated badly by their teachers and ignored. Mia would have to tutor them for hours in the afternoon, because essentially they were not given any attention in class compared to the other students.
The problem continues to this day. Mia has found it very discouraging trying to get education for Roma children who were born without birth certificates. The country does not recognize such children as people (without a birth certificate, you obviously were never born!). And as non-persons, they can not be in school.
Mia has managed to open a path for these students by teaching them herself. God bless her.
Who else will love these unloved children? Will you? Will I? Is it acceptable to say that a child found in a trash can with dark skin is less a child? The Roma people are looked down on as nomads and criminals, but when a person is blocked from all employment crime becomes normal. It is a terrible cycle that can only be addressed through Roma children becoming properly integrated, educated, faithful men and women who know they are loved.
There are many problems inside the Roma population. As much as Mia cares for the children, she doesn’t deny the many generational sins that burden Roma families and affect their reputation as a people group. But love can reach through darkness and save a person from anything. Love never fails.
Even as Romania and Western Europe fail the Roma, love will not fail them, and neither should we.
– Joanna Miller
Some prayers and prayer requests from Mia:
“I continue to be inspired by what God showed me in spite of all the trials we have to go through. In the same time, we look at what happened in the world and we see Japan many other places and we realize again that the world has to come back to God, as the only hope for the future. Let’s pray and work together and look forward, to build bridges between people from different parts of the world, as all need God .
As we are waiting to again celebrate Easter, let’s take inside of our hearts and souls Jesus’ death and resurrection and continue to march with Him in the world. Together with Him we are strong!
Romania is passing through very difficult times, like all the world. What’s worst is that many people lost their hopes: the suicide rate it’s incredibly high, more people are depressed, many are sick with diseases resulting from poverty, malnutrition, a lack of medicine being available, proper food and hygiene products scarce.
For us it became more difficult to keep going with our mission as the dollar continues to be devalued in time when the prices are continually going up. There are days when we don’t know how to manage the situation other than to pray and look forward. In spite of everything, we are optimistic and this is encouraging other people to know and understand “our key “. We witness in this way what we know the best: ‘all things are possible with God!’ ”
Please, pray for:
We thank you for making a way for us in these difficult times. Your help, support, prayers, encouragements mean so much to us. Blessings and much love to all of you.
(Mia)