Consider It Pure Joy: Social Workers Unite!

----Welcome to today's feature presentation... Social Workers Unite.

Sit back and enjoy the broadcast.-----

So you know the poem that says, "visions of sugar plums danced in my head.."?? Well, yesterdays visions were quite different, instead of sugar plums they were visions and ideas of helping, empowering, and fundraising! hehehe, Its craziness when two social workers connect on the same frequency! For three hours straight, Heather and I bounced around ideas and thoughts with one another about helping various people and ministries here in Romania!

Stay tuned for the rest of this riveting message....

---Commercial Break---

A Social Work Joke- For Kicks and Giggles:

"A man went to a social worker and told him he wanted help because he thought he was a dog. When the social worker asked him how long he had been thinking he was a dog, he replied: “Ever since I was a puppy.” The social worker said: “OK, lay down on the couch.” The man said: “I'm not allowed on the couch.”

----Now, returning to our feature presentation... Social Workers Unite----

So, there is more to the story than just a simple three hour conversation about helping others.

The night before, I had quite the difficult time finding any sleep. Because of my cold, my body has been attempting to rid itself of all the yucky, through the nasal passage of my nose, or otherwise a substance called snot. :) This, accompanied with coughs and sneezes, afforded me no sleep. However, I found myself praying and talking with the Lord during this time. It was a tad bit frightening for me to be sick in another country, and it was easy to think of all the worst case scenarios. Scenarios such as- what if this gets worse and I have to go the hospital, what if I can't breathe...you know those crazy thoughts that sometimes our minds tend to think of! Anyways, I really had to surrender those to the Lord, and remember not to be anxious about anything. He never slumbers, He never ceases, He never fails... I could trust Him and focus on the truth and cast all my cares on Him, even these of worry! And finally sleep came..

In the morning, Heather and I were planning on joining Kathy (the director of a ministry called Living Alternatives-LA here in Cluj) to visit some women who had formerly lived in the House of Joy (the ministry of LA). However, because of my sickness, and the fact that the women had small children, I had decided I would not be able to join them. However, Kathy called and said that she could not get her car started, and we would not be able to travel that day. Heather and I were sad she was having car problems, but were grateful that I now would be able to still visit another time!!

So because of this time we now had, we started discussing ministries here and how we could help!

This is how it all began..

There is quite the need here financially. The House of Joy is a home that Heather worked at for 10 months back in 2005 and 2006.

Here is their mission statement-

"Living Alternatives Romania is serving Romanian women facing crisis pregnancy situations or those with pregnancy-related concerns; striving to provide them with life-giving alternatives for themselves and their babies.We are dedicated to communicating the truth of God's love and redeeming power to see these women restored to a life of peace, hope, and wholeness for themselves and their children."

Currently, the ministry is building a home, right by the YWAM base. The house is larger and designed specifically for the ministry, with a classroom, offices, playroom, medical room, and staff apartments. The thing is, there are three floors, and only one floor is payed for, and by

"payed for" I mean just the structure. To finish the other two floors, just the structure, it will cost 80,00 euros (about $100,000). They are still in great need of finances and support.

Heather and I had ideas to bring out a media team from Cornerstone to record a advocacy video that the ministry could use during fundraising. It would be a great asset to bring to churches, universities, business, and people who may be able to provide financial support. We also had many other ideas, such as creating a catalog

of items the house needs, in which people could choose an item they wanted to purchase. We thought about a doing some sort of beauty day during Prom or Homecoming day for high school girls. During this time we would find hairstylists who would be willing to donate their time, as well as have some speaker for the girls. Almost like a mini little conference with a biblical message and focus!

And the wheels kept rolling, but those were just some of the ideas.

So, this post is already getting really long, and I do not want to take up any more of your time! But I wanted to share a bit about this and bring awareness to this ministry and its need! I am sure there will be more to come, and more details to follow!

Love and Joy!

~Lauren

More pics from the past few days below...