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Dear Friends
This update is written from the American side of the Atlantic Ocean as we
continue the
US tour.
Having left Romania in August and not due back until October 7th
– it is certainly a long tour, but the Choir are performing well, travelling
well and continue to be a wonderful example of progress in the Tileagd Gypsy
Community after 7 years of Smiles Foundation involvement.
USA Tour 2008
As we turn October 1st - 5200 miles have
been travelled since arriving on August 29th and great concerts
have been enjoyed in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee,
Louisiana and Central Florida. Just the final week-end remains in
Jacksonville, Florida and we’ll be heading back to Romania.
It’s been a great blessing to visit so many Churches – some were known to
us, some visited for the first time. God has used the tour in a mighty way
to expand the base of support for Smiles and at the same time, raise
tremendous support for the projects. We are so delighted and thankful for
such a successful visit amidst difficult times in America’s financial
markets which we hope will soon improve.
Smiles 400 Club
The Tour was the first opportunity to launch the new
Smiles 400 Club
which aims to support the Operating Costs of
the newly opened Tileagd Complex. With an annual budget of £158,000 /
$312,000 a year, we need 400 people to support at £32.50 / $65.00 per
month. The US Tour gave us a good start which we hope to see grow in the
days ahead. This is not only crucial for the School and Medical facility,
but for the Church and the Outreach. There is tremendous need and great
opportunity to serve God and Share His Love with the people, but we need
your support.
Read Pastor Ovidiu's report for September.
If you can be a special ‘1 in 400’ – join the Smiles Club now to support the
Tileagd Complex. In the process, you will receive a gift from us of 1%
discount per donation of £32.50 / $65.00 against a Mission Trip. Details
are on the web-site. Don’t miss it.
As soon as we return to Romania on October 7th, we begin a busy
month of
Mission trips with more than 65 people booked in October
alone. We are currently at 586 visitors for the 2008 year to date. Bookings
are coming in for December and we might yet exceed the 600 barrier!
If you’d like to join us for a ‘life changing’ experience – Call the office
for December information or e-mail us now:
info@thesmilesfoundation.org
While the US Tour has been on, a lot has been
happening back in Romania. We’ve also had some great fund-raisers in the UK
this past month.
In Romania – the new educational term ‘kicked-off’ on September 15th
and both Tileagd and Gepiu were busy places. See the
special reports on the
Opening Days
of the School, Nursery and
Gepiu Centre. It’s very exciting for
Smiles to be entering its 6th year of operating the School and
truly amazing to see the progress being made in the lives of so many
children.
Changes at Tileagd
In Tileagd this past month, we had sad news that Dr Ema was
leaving after 5 years of service to the medical project. We are thankful for
all she has done during her time with Smiles and pray God will guide her for
the future and in her opportunities to serve Him. Happier news is that we've
heard on the grapevine that Jenni (our former Social Worker) is expecting
her first child. Our prayers are with Jenni for God’s blessing on her
growing family.
Education & Harvest at Gepiu
It’s been busy out at Gepiu
also with the start
of the Educational Support programme with Lavinia joining the team full-time
teaching grades I-IV. Catalin continues teaching but now able to focus and
concentrate more on the needs of grades V-VIII students.
Catalin and Lavinia are also so thankful to so many who this summer worked
very hard on the renovation of the Gepiu House. All is now finished and they
are able to move in, leaving the busy Community Centre behind them at the
end of each day.
September in Gepiu is also busy with harvesting Corn and Sunflower.
Seven hectares of Gepiu’s land was bursting with another bumper crop and by
last week-end, all the Corn had been harvested. What a harvest it was!
Thanks be to God for His supply and provision.
Fundraising
While the Tileagd Choir has been working hard in America, various
fund-raising events have been going on in the United Kingdom. Not least, in
Ayr Scotland last week-end was the second ‘Smiles Ball’ organised by
Ann Cowan – Smiles Development Associate for Scotland. Special guests from
Romania were invited, Georgi Opreanu, Nina Dandu and Pastor Ovidiu
Butnaru – all of whom were delighted to attend.
The special report gives an insight to the event and shows just how wonderful our Romanian team
looked!
After such a busy month and the fact the US Tour is still on-going, it may
be that further news and website updates will continue over the next week or
so. We shall see – but this is all time allows for now and we thank you for
your wonderful support and continued prayers.
keep in touch!
We look forward to seeing you on our travels or as
you travel, hopefully to Romania!
Do keep in touch and keep up the support, both prayerfully and practically,
to see God’s work continue through Smiles in Romania.
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