December 2017

Dear Friend of House of Hope,
Greetings to you from the ministry of House of Hope! It has been too long since you have received an update, but I want to assure you that the work of the House is still going strong and making a difference in many lives. That includes the seniors on location and the girls who are living in the Director’s house to further their education. As of this writing there are now 82 seniors who call House of Hope their home!

This past summer was a good year for the garden, and the fruit trees and vines. Presently there are 10 pigs being raised to provide a source of meat. Just recently there were 200 chickens butchered and cut up. That is the 3rd batch this year of 200 chickens!

To the right are pictured the 5 girls who are continuing to study English with me. Izabela, Melania, Magda, Alexandra, and Naomi are all at the Christian High School. One isa freshman, 3 are sophomores, and the 5th is a junior. Four of them are from the village of Copaceni, where there is no high school. Naomi is from a village not far from Sibiu. There are 9 girls in the house altogether: two others are seniors in high school, one is a freshman at the local university, and the other young lady works in 2 different ministries. These girls attend a local Baptist church just down the street from where they live.

As most of you know, the House of Hope opened in 2003, as a transition house for girls who grew up in orphanages. Over the years, many young ladies stayed there to begin a responsible adult life – starting to work, learning how to care for their rooms, learning how to cook, and also being introduced to God’s love for them. As the years went by, the need for this ministry decreased, so that is why the House is now ministering to seniors and that need is huge.

The picture to the left is of 2 gals (with me) who were at the House of Hope for 5 years. Ileana and Irina have kept the same jobs for over 10 years and each has an efficiency apartment of her own. They are faithful to attend church each Sunday. This picture was taken 2 weeks ago as we spent some time together in downtown Sibiu at the Christmas Market. Your contributions are still yielding benefits after years of your investment in their lives! There are many other former residents who are doing well and continuing to attend church.

At this time, there are some financial needs at the House of Hope. As you know, the past 2 years have seen the need for renovations to meet the new Fire Department standards for buildings for seniors. That work has been completed and, at this point, ours is the only building that houses seniors in the county that is totally compliant with the new standards. On the top floor, all the bathrooms needed to be changed so that the doors were large enough for a wheel chair to enter. The showers had to be enlarged, as well. Doing that work required new tiles for the walls and floors, as well as re-plastering. All the beds are gradually being replaced so that each one can be raised and lowered by pushing a button, like hospital beds. At present, the amount needed to finish paying off the work described above is 8000 Euros or $9400. There is a need to put on permanent screens on the windows before summer, which will cost 2500 Euros or $2900. Would you prayerfully consider if you could help with these expenses?

Please continue to pray for the Directors, doctors, nurses, cooks, and other staff who take care of these seniors. At the end of these seniors’ lives, they have a chance to hear the gospel, many for the first time. A family in my same apartment building took their mother to live there 3 years ago and they are very pleased with her care. If you are led to make a contribution, the address is Greater Europe Mission, P.O. Box 1669, Monument, CO 80132. Please designate it for House of Hope on a separate piece of paper. Thank you.

Merry Christmas and God bless you richly in 2018!

Bev

Two more pictures from the Christmas Market in Sibiu this year. Yes, there is a prominently-displayed manger scene, which is included every year.

December 2017

My dear friends of Rumania,

At the moment the german government does not seem to act lovingly, it does not seem to behave understandingly or act like a team. It is rather discriminating, there are power struggles and selfishness. I cannot feel any of the joy- and peaceful message that lies within Christmas time from those in charge. Therefore at least we should try to give a kind word, offer a hand during this special time of year. It is not a lot and yet it can break the ice.

We are very happy and grateful again and again for the girls that are entrusted to our care. Although I should better say: those young Ladies. They are very diligent and their work is being honoured with good grades. Our dear friend Beverly is teaching them English every week.
42 children from Copsa Mica (see pictures below) attended this year’s holiday camp. In Copsa Mica car tyres were burnt to generate electricity during the time of the dictator Ceaucascu. When I was there in the nineties I became a witness of the environment: Everything, houses, trees, plant and even the playing children were covered in soot. If you want to get more information about this place, find this link:

http://reporterreisen.com/zehn-tage-siebenbuergen/reportagen/die-vergiftete-stadt/index.html

Two other groups came from Medias (40 people) and from a children’s home in Ocna Mures (38 children). Most of them grow up in non-christian families. We pray that it will turn out to be a good and lasting experience for them.

We were able to recruit a caretaker. His name is Baragan Nicolae Adrian (27) and he will start at 1st November. He comes from a Christian household and has got three brothers.

Industrial ruins in Copsa Mica – while the factories were operating everything was covered in a thick layer of soot.

A blessed Christmas time and all the best for 2017

Ehrhart Weider

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Dear friends of Rumania,
My heart aches because I will not be able to travel to Rumania this fall. But my wife’s wellbeing is a thousand times more important. She had to suffer two operations at her heart that were complicated and took place in a very quick succession. She becomes stronger slowly, very slowly. I would love to be her a good support.

In order to shelter the entrance from rain a canopy was built.

At the moment the management runs smoothly and we are very grateful for that. Grateful again that we have been spared of further conditions that are difficult to understand sometimes.

Birthday parties and gymnastics are highlights here just as well as sitting together talking – there is no end to a Rumanian’s stories.

Naomi	Ana	Alexandra	Magda	Melanie	Izabela

 Naomi is new at our house. She is part of the family with “countless” daughters. Ana S. is one of her sisters. She goes to university and wants to become a nurse.
The other four girls grew up in a village called Copacheni, round about 130 km north from Sibiu. This region offers only very few opportunities to study or any other education or trainings. There are a number of cities in Rumania that are extremely appealing at the moment and Sibiu is one of them. All of the girls are good at school and want to use this chance being offered to them. Their families are very poor. A lot of people in this area go abroad for a few month per year to earn more money. Education or even university is very expensive for them. Their parents cannot afford it. The help we offer does not help right now but hopefully they will have much better chances in the future.
Alexander (I told you a lot about his wedding in my last letter) helped us in Selimbar for a while. Now we were able to get him a job in a bakery. His wife Kasandra is expecting a child. We support them with clothes and other important things.

Warmest regards Ehrhart Weider

Everyone might have his or her own opinion and point of view. To me it is very important that we respect each other instead of fighting each other.
A surprising outcome in my opinion:
Marriage is supposed to be defined as a connection between man and wife.
                                                                                               Surprise: Rumania votes for marriage

The Rumanian Parliament has made a considerable decision. There had been an initiative from the Rumanian orthodox church. They founded a nondenominational “Coalition for family”. They were able to get 3 Million signatures within a year. They have been called religios-fundamental by another group that supports gay marriage as a “European achievement” and “EU-Standart”. The decision of the Parliament however mirrors the majority of the general public: 87% are members of the orthodox church, While some states of the EU have introduced the gay marriage, Rumania stopped it with 232 out of 270 votes. The aim now is to change the constitution. Marriage is to be defined as a connection of husband and wife. The next vote will be held in the second chamber. The PNL with it’s President Klaus Johannis (who has got german roots) wants to see the “traditional” marriage only as one out of many possible constellations. Contrary to this 42 from 50 delegates voted for marriage (husband and wife). Out of 136 parliamentarians of the governing social democrats only one voted “no”.

Jürgen Henkel, ideaSpektrum 21.2017