Donate today, your gift will be doubled!

An extraordinary opportunity is at hand for Pathway to Joy Ministries!

If we raise $50,000 by January 15, 2010,
we’ll receive an additional $50,000 from the
Carole Mastroddi Foundation.

How can you help? Make a donation in any amount before January 15th. Your special donation will be used to purchase "Safe PLACE." This emergency placement home will provide temporary protective housing for up to 10 orphaned children at a time while we raise up foster and adoptive families to receive these children into their families — to love, nurture, and prepare them for a secure and promising future. And you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you helped give an abandoned child a home!

Please help us reach our goal by visiting our site and making a donation today.

Remember, any amount you can give will make a difference because it will be doubled. Thank you for helping us to rise to this unique challenge with the 2009 Safe PLACE Matching Gift Fund.

Sincerely,

Cornel & Karen Bucur
Founders, Pathway to Joy Ministries

P.S. Remember, your gift must be received by January 15th, so please act now.

Why do they keep coming back?

On this our third trip to Romania, I wondered how my heart would be taken. With Kevin (age 2, looking like 9 months) in my arms our last day in the hospital, I knew it happened again. Barely skin and bones, he groaned with pain from his bloated stomach and his gastrointestinal difficulties. He seemed able to relax with a bit of calm as I gently stroked his back and abdomen. I wonder every day, is Kevin still there? Will someone claim his body when he dies?

At the other end of the spectrum, my heart was claimed by Teresa, a young adult orphan resident at CP2. She’s a bright young lady who speaks Romanian, Hungarian, and English, and who is very interested in a career in the business world. I long for her to know Jesus intimately in her heart. Did I add any seeds to this possibility? My prayer is that she will open her heart wide and let herself be completely bathed in love by our Creator God.

Irene Byers

Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg Missions Team.

Hope at Last

This is a wonderful story write by Irene Byers from Calvary Chapel St. Peteburgh. You might want to view the PDF to see their faces. PDF article Hope you enjoy it.

In our 2007 visit to Romania’s Sabolciu village at Oradea, our hearts were ripped
apart with Alexandra’s empty, sad expression. Dirt covered her face. She had no
response to Sarah Christopher’s gentle swabbing. Months later we learned Alex and
her sister Alina (ages 2 and 6) were living alone in a 5x7 foot unheated hut with no
adults. Sabolciu is the poorest of two Roma (gypsy) villages we visited. Neither
have running water or heat in their homes today yet.

Fearing these girls would die in the harsh winter, Pathway to Joy Ministries entreated the government to let them place the girls in foster care. This battle went on seven months. Finally, Pathway risked losing their license when they physically took the girls, with their grandma’s permission, and placed them in a foster home, a loving rescue done just in time. Alex and Alina were both sick, suffering from frostbite, and shaking with fear. Embedded lice meant the complete shaving of their heads was necessary.

Pathway then discovered that Alina had never been issued a birth certificate. The date believed to be nearest her day of birth is January 30. She will celebrate for the first time in 2009 with the caring Christian family God has provided. Alex and Alina now have two sisters, a mommy and a daddy.

When Jim and I understood their demise and the sponsorship needed for a foster home, we knew we were to give. Our life group, led by Jeff and Shelly Kellogg, now adds enough to cover a larger percentage of their monthly foster care expense.

In October this year, we (and Angie Banks) were privileged to spend a Sunday afternoon with Alina and Alexandra in their foster home. What a miracle of God we witnessed before us – two joyful sisters laughing, having fun, and enjoying their “mommy,” Simona.

“Seeing the girls now,” stated Angie, “ and knowing the gravity of their situation, the transformation in their lives can only be explained by the Lord intervening through Pathway to Joy. The sounds of their sweet laughter brought tears to my eyes. I loved seeing the hugs and love they had for Simona and the love she had for them. This experience alone would convict me to support Pathway to Joy, when you see the fruit of their labor in front of you.”

When Chicagoan Bud Nidey in our group observed Alina and Alex a couple days later, he was taken in with their exuberance. “I recall at one point the youngest was laughing so hard she was even covering her mouth. These children bore no resemblance to the sad children I had heard about.”

Alina and Alexandra – two sisters miraculously rescued from an all-alone life with death crouching at the door. Just one case in which the Holy Spirit prompted Pathway to Joy to bring hope that lasts. It’s their mission – to offer protection, provision, and permanent solutions for the many abandoned and orphaned children in Romania. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans...in their distress.” James 1:27a NIV.

UPDATE: Orphans in Sabolciu

Great news from our foster care staff! Back in October I blogged about a prayer request for a pair of semi orphans that were living in the gypsy village of Sabolciu (read about them here). And pretty much everyone who went to the construction site with STS saw them. It was that week that our foster care staff finally worked out to get them in a home. It was very difficult because of different laws and because the mother, who was living in another village, would not let us place the kids. But finally we worked through it and God provided a family that was willing to take both of them in. The pictures here are from before and after they were placed. I have been out to Sabolciu a ton these last couple of months and honestly I think in this picture is the first time I have seen Rodica (the little one) smile. This literally will make all the difference in these kids lives. Now that Alina (the older one) does not have to provide for her little sister they can play and live like kids are supposed to and grow up in a good household with loving parents teaching them the word of God. Its not every day you get to see fruit like this in ministry so we are all very excited. Continue to pray for them as they integrate into their new homes.

STS Team: Jenny

Every spring break a youth group from Church of the Apostles in Atlanta Georgia sends a team of high school students to work with us. This is an account of one of those students.

This was my third time on a mission trip to Romania and by far the most meaningful. After experiencing many of the activities for the third time, I have seen a lot of growth in many different areas of our mission field. This has been extremely encouraging to see how God has truly worked in the hearts of so many Romanians. Through these, God has truly changed my heart and perspective. This was my second visit to the teenage orphanage. During my first visit, I remember being so uncomfortable because of the apparent darkness in the building. I remember talking to a girl named Dana who claimed that she was a stout atheist. This year, I was so encouraged to see that God had transformed her life and now she had become a beautiful sixteen year old with God so apparent in her life. On the other hand, sadly, I recognized a few babies in the hospital I have seen since my freshman year in high school. I realized that this may be the last time I will ever see some of these precious babies. I have so much appreciation for the beautiful nurses who sacrifice everyday to be with those babies. My few hours of discomfort were nothing compared to all the other people who sacrifice everyday of their life to serve God in Romania. I was so privileged to be a part of this trip for a third time and I hope that I will have many more opportunities down the road to continue to serve in Romania.