“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)
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
John 17:4
God, you have created work for us to do and we pray for the strength and faithfulness to do it well. May you use the work of our hands to repair this broken world and bring you glory. Please encourage all of the students at Mia’s Children this week as they study and learn, despite their difficult lives and increased physical needs.
Humility is the fear of the Lord;
its wages are riches and honor and life.
Proverbs 22:4
We ask our humble servant-Lord for humility in our own hearts and actions. Grant us the meekness to serve without needing applause or approval. Give all of the staff at Mia’s Children the faith to work tirelessly even when their service feels under-appreciated or unnoticed. Amen.
Did you know Mia’s Children accepts short-term missions teams and individuals who want to help?
With the new building, we are able to accept groups more formally to work with the students on a short-term basis.
Projects might include:
All projects would be under the direction of Mia and the Romanian staff. Because of logistical challenges like housing, size, translation, and funding, we can’t accept every group that wants to visit, but we are happy to work with you as we and the Romanian team are able.
Contact us for more information.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
Psalm 118:9
Living and all-powerful God, as the nations face war and disaster, we ask for your protection and provision. Make us into people who trust you above all other leaders and who desire your kingdom first.
The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“LORD, save me!”
We pray for Mia, who has lost many close companions to death this year. As she celebrates her mother’s homecoming and continues to mourn the loss of Costel, we pray that you will draw her to yourself and that she will learn even more to call on your name.
(The following update from Bucharest tells the story of two new members from the “wolf group” of children – arrivals at the mission who Mia and the rest of the association have very courageously taken in. Please consider their plight in your prayers this week. They represent exactly why Mia’s Children exists.)
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In times of concerns and social, economical, moral crises when people are so much focused on their own drama, trying to find answers to so many questions, God is giving us grace, prosperity, meeting His promises for us: “Don’t be afraid, I am with you !”
And He is!
Romania is going crazy through all this: the school system, the medical care, the social policy and not only these, are not covering the real life and the results are a disaster. More kids are abandoning school, all types of viruses are going around, and there are no medicines, no money, no proper education in school–the society seems that it is asleep.
But in spite of this, the Lord is giving us a special vision to redeem, to rebuild, to refill the precious spirits and hearts of those who are brought into our work. That’s why we accepted two more children, coming from” the wolf group”, Bogdan and Emi. At the age of 8 they look like 4-year olds, mal-nutitioned. Wild an scary as they lived for months and months in a place where they imitated the way beasts are walking and speaking.
It’s incredible how children can survive with no love, no care in this moment in the society and how they can try to survive, having refuge among animals, who became a kind of family for them. The first days they were speaking in strange language, imitating the sounds of animals. And it required great courage for Costi and Oana to bring them inside the group, to clean out their lice, to try to calm them and cut their wild hair, and to give them the first bath….the words are too poor, sometimes ….
It is tremendous to see how hard it has been for them, and also for the group, to all of us to change their habits. The kids are trying to adjust their new life, including the new boys. We notice the great progress the two boys are making in one month: they started to love to play with other children, to speak, to listen and respect simple rules, to take baths, to stay dressed.
They still are rocking back and forth and sucking their thumbs, and they want to be taken in your arms as babies, emitting different sounds that have no meaning for us. They started to love to be hugged and touched, and looking at the rest of the group, they want to start to write. Emi drew his first tiny house and gave it to Mia, telling her how much he loves her. He also hangs on Oana’s feet, and we discovered that one of his legs is shorter than the other. Please pray for these children and us to continue to improve their lives.
All of this is possible because God loves each of us so much, because of each of you who are praying, giving, trusting, helping to design a vision for a better tomorrow. This can be a way for a better society, an answer for a safer world, where love and peace and understanding and supporting can take place and help human beings to live in harmony with God and each other, rebuilding the moral fiber of God’s creation.
Thank you for your faithfulness and dedication, for your supporting Mia’s Children!