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April 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! We have been home for about 3 weeks and loving every minute of it! Aryana did so well on all the long plane and car rides. Thank you for your prayers! We arrived in Romania on the 11th and we were greeted with t-shirt weather! Sadly, it did not last long. The next day it turned into cold rain and then just this last week SNOW! Brrrrr!

We are eagerly waiting to move into the new Family Center! However, for now, we are comfortable in our little home in Colonie. Speaking of our little home... We were greeted with a flooded basement and small leaks throughout the house, but things were pretty good considering we had been gone for 8 months.

Betania: Seeing old and new friends! It was wonderful to see all of the children at Betania again. I hate leaving for these long trips to the States because every time we return it seems that the kids grow too fast! All of the children were overjoyed to see Aryana. It was a great "family" reunion. Easter comes a month later here than in the States. We are planning on doing something special for them this Easter. If you would like to help us please write "Easter Outreach" in the memo section of your check.

New BABY!!!! Andrei and I finally had the opportunity to meet with the mother who will be abandoning her baby at our Family Center. The mother thinks she is about 8 ½ months pregnant. We do not know if this new addition to our family will be a girl or a boy because the mother refuses to visit the doctor.

As I mentioned before, this is her 5th pregnancy and her 5th child abandonment. I wanted to cry as she told us about the circumstances surrounding all of her past abandonments. I don't understand how a woman can feel five separate lives growing inside her and leave each one alone to fend for themselves.

Andrei asked the mother if she knew who fathered this child. Sadly, he left when she told him she was pregnant. She told us that she went to the hospital to get an abortion after she found out. The cost for the abortion was 200 lei (about $75). She was too poor to afford "such a price" and decided she would rather give birth. We told her that abortion is a sin. That it is murder. She agreed with us and got very emotional. We told her that she was doing the right thing to give birth to this LIFE inside of her.

We also talked to her about future birth control. She was once interested in getting surgery but is now very against that option. She told us she is afraid to die on the operating table. We told her that we would help her with birth control if she needed help. Of course we know the best thing would be for her to come to a saving knowledge of her Father in Heaven and remove herself from a lifestyle of prostitution and substance abuse. We were encouraged to hear that she is currently attending the local Pentecostal church and has stopped drinking and smoking for the last two weeks. We pray that she continues to get help and to be saved one day.

Visitors! We love visitors! In May we are going to be blessed with two teams coming back to back. First we will be visited by the Bible College at Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita and then we will have a visit from our friends at Reverence Bible Church. Please pray for them as they prepare to come and minister to the people of Petrosani.

Please Help Us! We have many needs now that a new baby is on its way. We are in desperate need for donations of newborn and size 1 daipers and baby formula. Diapers and formula here are REALLY expensive (almost 3 times the cost in the States.) The best place to get the formula is at Costco. Please get the Huggies brand of diapers if possible. I don't mean to be picky, but I have tried other store brands with Aryana and they were not as absorbent. Also this new baby has a family history of being allergic to normal formula. So we ask for Hypo-allergenic formula. It is very important that the formula contains DHA/ARA. These babies are already off to a rough start and we really want to make sure that they get all the nutrition possible. Please, please, please if you can help us with this urgent need please mail or drop off the items at 24532 Aguirre, Mission Viejo, California 92692 (my mom's house).

We are also starting to save money to furnish the Family Center. We don't have any furniture at all! We especially need two baby cribs, a changing table and some dressers for clothes. We want to also buy bunk bed sets, a washer and dryer, stove, and rugs for the cold floors. If you want to help furnish the house please write "Family Center" in the memo section of your check.

We hope that you have had a blessed Easter with your families. We will be keeping you updated on the progress with the new baby, the Family Center and the Easter outreach at the Orphanage. God bless you!

Much Love,
The Andries Family

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for the safety and health of the new baby. Prayer for the mother's salvation.
  • Pray for our meeting with Child Protections. Pray that they will work with us and that any "red tape" would be limited and reasonable.
  • Pray for Aryana's Romanian citizenship to go through and for Kelle's Romanian residency to be accepted.
  • Pray for wisdom and guidance for the new Family Center.
  • Pray for the teams that are preparing to come to Romania. That their hearts would be prepared for the needs of the people they will be ministering to.
  • Prayer for the Local church. For unification and love to be overflowing within the body of Christ.