Our first wonderful moment was last weekend as the RtC Mission Team delivered gifts to House of Hope. The team was able to share in a delicious meal complete with homemade cake and incredible ice cream. We then gathered the children, they drew numbers, and one by one they opened the gifts that had been brought for them.
Several weeks earlier, I had contacted Mama Dana, and asked her to compile a list of what the children wanted. A variety of things were requested, but most of the girls wanted a dress or shoes. We had requests for athletic equipment, a watch, a plush bunny, a diary, art supplies, and even a Bible. The beauty of this was that through your extreme generosity we were able to buy exactly what the children requested.
There was silence over the room as the children opened the gifts they had wanted and now were receiving. But the one moment that stopped me was when one of the older girls opened her gift, a Bible. She was in disbelief, and she began to cry with joy. I sat with her for awhile explaining how the study helps worked, and as she turned each page so carefully, I could tell that the Bible would be something she would always treasure.
There were many of you who donated to our Christmas outreach, and the team personally delivered over 800 gifts to children. This week we sent more of your generosity to Romania and next week another 1580 gifts will be delivered by the House of Hope children to government orphanages. Our children will be on mission sharing the hope of Christmas, Jesus, with others that need to experience his love.
Our second wonderful moment came when the RtC team had breakfast with two of our partners that are transporting aid into Ukraine. Dan Suciu, one of the partners, reported to us that morning concerning the outcome of the vans we had purchased back in March to help people flee the Donbas region.
Through your generosity we were able to save over 9000 people in the first six weeks of the war. The vans ran three times a day into the war zone, and loaded as many people as possible and brought them to safety. The number of lives gave me pause as I felt tears coming to my eyes. People we will never see or know are safe today, removed from harms way, because of your love and generosity.
Thank you! Merry Christmas!