Sometimes, we have big dreams of new ways to minister and serve the Ferentari community that seem unfeasible at the time that we must trust in the hands of God. About a year ago, 30 sewing machines that had been donated to Project Ruth were pulled out, cleaned, and repaired. These machines were the inspiration for starting sewing club with the 7th and 8th graders. As volunteers spent many hours fixing the machines a dream was born: to have a sewing club for the women in the community where they could repair their family’s clothes and maybe even providing some income for their families. This dream quickly seemed further and further away as the only two of the 30 machines worked properly. On Monday, May 7th, this dream was history because sewing club/lessons are now a reality for the Ferentari neighborhood. The Naomi Center is equipped with 15 new Singer sewing machines along with a part-time sewing instructor. The doors of the Naomi Center are opened to any women in the community on Mondays and Thursdays from 10-12 for various projects and clothing repairs.
The Naomi Center officially opened its doors on April 24, 2012. The Naomi Center is a new project of Project Ruth that is funded by Exxon-Mobil with technical support from CERI. This center provides individual and group counseling sessions for women living in or around the Ferentari community. While the women are in counseling sessions, their children are cared for in a separate room with toys, games and educational activities by the counseling assistant. In addition to counseling, the Naomi Center will also host twice weekly sewing courses for up to 15 women per session. These courses are led by a professional seamstress and will be taught on new machines purchased for this program. The sewing courses will be beginning within the next two weeks.
The first group counseling session was held in the morning of April 24th. During the beginning of this session, the purpose, mission and programs of the Naomi Center were explained to the twelve women in attendance by Mihai Ciopasiu, Executive Director. Mr. Ian Fisher, President of Exxon-Mobil Romania, brought greetings and expressed Exxon’s commitment to this project. Afterwards, the counselor spent approximately an hour leading a discussion on how individuals can handle problems in their lives. These women were very happy about this program and several have already scheduled individual counseling sessions.
Spring Break for the average American high school student means two things: sleep and time with friends. For a group of teenagers from Bonsack Baptist Church this break didn’t entirely mean these things in the typical way. Fourteen juniors and seniors in high school spent the week making new friends and sacrificing many hours of sleep to serve. This team, along with their four chaperones, organized club for the Ruth School students who were on Easter Break. They, also, travelled to Glina and Bolintin in the afternoons to spend time with the children in those villages. If you were to ask the students what their favorite part of the week was some would tell you of the piggy back rides, making friendship bracelets with their new American friends while others would proudly show you their pictures that were taken by the team. In addition to sharing the love of Christ with the students, the team spent many hours painting classrooms, hallways and even the sports field fence. Bonsack Baptist Church youth served tirelessly at the Ruth School and their ministry will have a lasting effect on the Ruth School and surrounding communities.
The week before Easter Holiday is always a joyful and busy time in schools. Teachers are trying to get through all their lesson plans before the big break and students are counting down the hours. The week before the holiday was an alternative school week all across Romania. This “alternative school” is a new initiative from the Romanian government to diversify the types of instruction and allow teachers to be creative as possible. The Ruth School teachers dove into this opportunity to teach in creative ways and also provide various enrichment activities that do not normally fit into the school week. The students spent the week learning through instructional videos, hands-on activities such as collage making, tennis lessons and other classroom activities. For example, the third grade class memorized poetry and worked on their comprehension level by acting out the poetry for an audience of peers. The students are now on holiday from April 9-20, but are looking forward to the holiday clubs organized Bonsack Baptist Youth Group which will occur over this period.
Twenty-one students attended the session from March 19-23 and were instructed by Phillip Campion from Great Britain and by Terry Hamrick from the USA. Campion taught on Philippians while Hamrick explored Missiology. Both courses were well-received by the students who presented the professors with parting gifts and warm hugs at the end of the week.
As has become our tradition we held our GSS worship on Wednesday night in which our students led in singing, testimonies and preaching. We also awarded the diplomas to the graduates to loud cheering and some reminiscing by the graduates. It was a wonderful time of worshipping the Lord!
Another highlight of the week was our visit to the Roma Mission in Giurgiu. Pastor Viorel Dumitru leads this ministry and welcomed six GSS students to a worship service on Friday night. Our students again led the worship in music, testimony and preaching. A crowd of some 80 people received us warmly and invited us to return again. Praise the Lord of willing GSS students who proudly proclaim their love of the Master and wish to see their fellow Roma come to salvation! It was a privilege to witness their commitment to ministry!
This is a traditional celebration of the beginning of spring, on the 1st of March. It is a tradition in Romania, Moldova, and all territories inhabited by Romanians.
At Ruth School, teachers have worked with students to prepare some 'martisoare' (martishors), so each student will go home and offer their mothers and sisters a small gift. These gifts were made out of small bits of brightly colored paper and tied on to a white and red thread.
All of the students were excited about making a gift of their own which will be very special and unique to the mothers, sisters or aunts. Many of the students made more than one martisor so that they could be used as decoration for the spring at the enterance of the school.
