the greatest high...

With a title like "the greatest high"...you might wonder what in the world is she talking about.

The past two months of my life have been filled with working with the Akins family to start a ministry called "WOW Kids OutReach".   In my last post, I talked about a few prayers that changed my life and our family working WOW Kids is due to one of the prayers.  I asked for more training and wisdom for taking teams to Romania, Father's answer was to work with WOW Kids.  So, through prayer, Scott and I obeyed the Father once again and said "Yes" to Him.  We are now 5 weeks into the ministry.  Saturday afternoons are filled with the Music Camp, Tuesday and Thursdays are filled with the afterschool program.

So....my greatest high has come at the end of the days when we are in the projects helping others.  I find that I get tired but am filled with overwhelming joy in the midst of what seems like ciaos at times.  I know that in the ciaos He will make all things calm, if only in my heart.

Prayers that go straight to the heart of the Heavenly Father...

Prayers that go straight to the heart of the Heavenly Father...

At times in my life I have wondered if the Father is hearing my prayers, even thought when I prayed it would take forever for an answer to come or did He even hear me at all.  It is said that "hind sight" is always 20/20.

In hind sight, I will share 5 of my most life changing prayers...mind you they have always been short and to the point when I prayed them.

Age 20 

Prayer: "Lord, get me out of this relationship.  I know I can't be in this and follow You."  

Answer: He gave me strength to get out of the relationship that night.  

Age 22

Prayer: "Lord, if this is real then please don't let this feeling go away tomorrow."

Answer:  Scott showed up at my parents house to pick me up and I felt just as excited to see him the next morning as I did when I went home the night before.  One a side note:  We got engaged 3 months later, married one year to the day from when we started dating and will be married 23 years next month!

Age 41

Prayer:  "Lord, I can't imagine that You are pleased with us living our lives this way.  Going to church on Sunday morning, night and Wed....there has to more to life than the way we are living it?"

Answer:  The answer to this prayer was already in the works...we as a family have always been active in our church in many areas of leadership.  However, through studying the Word of God, my heart had been stirred and I was beginning to not be comfortable to just keep going they way I was going.  Scott and the boys had been going to a weekly prayer meeting....a real prayer meeting...they were really praying weekly and it was changing our lives.  God began "cleaning house" in each life.  When the men in my family prayed....God was listening and He was answering prayers.  These things together caused our hearts to be stirred and the fast track to getting closer to the Father was about to come quickly...he brought us a 15 yr old boy...Jordan Clark.   

Age 42

Prayer:  "Lord, how can him being with our family make a difference over the 15 years of the neglect and lack of Your teaching?"

Answer:  Instant answer in my heart...heard His voice clearly... "You teach him to love Me, teach him My Word,  I(God) can do more in the three and a half years he will be in your home than the 15 years before."

Jordan had been in our children's choirs at church when he was in 4th/5th grades.  We had taken him home several times and knew little of his home life except he had a dad and moved around a lot when there was not enough money for rent. Then his dad passed away, and his mom had left the family 7 years prior.  He was left as an orphan.  Scott and I, through prayer, knew we were to be the ones to take him to live with us.  However, God told us it was to make him a part of our family, to give him a home...not a house.  So many people would say that "oh, you all did a wonderful thing"  in the midst of the battles it didn't feel "Wonderful" at all.  Let me share something with everyone who reads this post...God does not ask you to do something for someone else and leave your heart out of His work...When you surrender to follow Him, no matter the cost, He is going to do a great work in your heart.  You will love Him more, know Him more, trust Him more, depend on Him more, and I will say again....LOVE Him more!  I had never taken in a 15 year old child before and  I probably did numerous things wrong but this I do know... I have taught him that God is great...God is good and He loves Jordan and me more than we can ever imagine.  He never leaves us alone.  He is exactly who His Word says He is...You can trust Him! 

Jordan is now in his first year of college .  He will have been a part of the Daves family for four years on this Nov. 24th....his birthday!  We filed for custody of him on his 15th birthday.   I am very proud of my son and thankful that God saw fit to bring him into our family.  

Age 45

Prayer: "Lord, I need more training for taking mission teams to Romania.  I want to be fearless in sharing Your Word and telling others about You."

Answer:  Go work with the Jack and Kara Akins in the ministry they are starting in the inner city  projects.

So, the ministry of WOW Kids Outreach was born when two families joined together for one purpose...to take the Gospel to a people who are covered in darkness and to share the truth and love of the Father with them.

Let's start with a story....

This is a video our team put together to tell the story of how salvation in Christ came to the Lucaciu family.  Peter Lucaciu, founder of the Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission (R.E.M.M.), shared this story with our team and we felt it so important to share how God's Word changed the heart of one man, his family and then would eventually grow a ministry that would bring other Believers from the other side of the world to share the Gospel in a country where the name of Jesus could not be spoken not so long ago.

Mission Team Summer 2012

Summer 2012 Mission Team

Romania

This is a photo of our team with R.E.M.M. ministry founders Peter and Ana Lucaciu.  I am very thankful for God allowing us to work with them in Beius, Romania.  It is a true blessing to see how God has worked in their lives and built a ministry through them because they had willing hearts to listen and obey His call in their lives.  Many lives in their country have been changes because of their obedience to Christ.  However, not only in Romania has their obedience effected lives, but here in the USA as well. 

This is a group photo from the last day of Another Day Under the Son Music Camp.

Camp is held on the grounds of the Casa Josef Orphanage which a part of the R.E.M.M. ministry.

Praise God for the provision of translators who came along side us to help run the camp.

After Romania....

Well it is now almost 3 weeks post Romania mission trip.  It was an awesome experience this year!  Everytime really is awesome if you consider the awesome part that God is real and He never leaves us even if our evaluation of the situation is good, stressful, bad, confusing or any label we choose to attach to the day or experience. 
I have to say that this trip was different for me.  I saw the wonder of new experiences in those team members who had never flown or stepped foot into another country.  I found encouragment in their wonder and excitement of meeting the Romanian people, learning the language, trusting that God had brought them there for a reason and what would they learn from it all. 

God was so faithful to our team.  He answered our prayers for peace and patience.  Trust me, the heat this summer was enough to make even the sweetest person not so sweet.  However, I saw each team member willing to extend mercy to each other. 

Children at the camp were great this year.  The first day of camp I couldn't believe how many kids were in my group...they just kept bringing them in!  I thought...how many does everyone else have???? Oh My Goodness!  God doubled the number of children we had from last year!  It was amazing to see them excited about the camp and what we were teaching them.  Teaching the love of the God through music. 

Music Camp

Today was day 3 for the music camp in Beius, Romania.  It has been very encouraging to see what God is doing through the camp.  Last year was the first year and this year the word spread that we were back in Beius...we went from having 37 kids last year to this year....
Monday....64 kids
Tuesday.....68 kids
Wednesday..Today....76 kids!

Wow....is all I can say.  God is doing great things not only in the hearts of the children, but in the parents and teachers lives.  We have teachers who are coming to the camp to watch.  Music is not taught in the school in Romania and they are very interested in how we are keeping control of so many children, teaching them and also having no discipline problems with the gypsy children.  We treat the gypsy children the same as the Romanian children and they have been great!

All the songs we are teaching are about salvation and living out our faith in Christ.  There is a lot of people who just go to church on Sunday and don't understand the relationship that Jesus died to give us with Father.  We are telling them all how much God loves them.  This is a tough field to plough....keep the people in this town in your prayers.  Pray for hearts to be tender to the Word, for the children and their families to understand the Gospel and to accept Jesus into their hearts.

Blessings,
Paula

Does he speak english?

It is now 11:35 pm and we are still up.  We have had an awesome day.  Got to sleep a little late this morning, then breakfast at Casa Josef....then a long walk to the Cabana( not sure if that is spelled correctly). Cabanna is the "Cabin" here in Romania.  It is in a beautiful location right outside of Beius.  Sits on a hill over looking the town.  Sunny, warm day with the Lucaciu family and the girls from Casa Josef orphanage.  Playing with the girls today was fun and interesting.  They have grown up so much since last year.  This is the first time I have really felt that my time with them was at times like being a mother to them.  Opportunity to teach them in situations that arise the same  as I would my own children.  I was talking with them yesterday about Jordan and told them that we had adopted him.  They asked if he speaks English.  I thought it was interesting that they thought if we adopted a child he must be from another country.  Once again today I heard them talking about it, then they asked me again how old he was when he came to our family.  I don't know what is in their minds, but I can't help but wonder if the fact they can not come to live with the American families who want to adopt them until they turn 15 or older, and then only if they can get a visa...it gives them hope that there are people willing to still have a child come into their family as a teenager.

This evening ended with us eating dinner at Casa Josef, then back to our apartment at the coffee house.  We have spent the rest of the evening working out our plans for starting the camp and preparing for worship tomorrow at church.  We are so excited....we are going to a gypsy church tomorrow for worship!