Give Thanks

 

Even though Romanian's don't celebrate Thanksgiving like we do in the States, we have so much to be thankful for! We had a full month during November as we started preparations for the upcoming holiday season. The boys helped put up Christmas decorations and we are thankful for the opportunity to make new traditions and memories with them.

There were a few small projects that the boys worked on as well. One was to deep clean and paint one of the bathrooms. It's amazing what a new coat of paint will do to brighten things up! I'm so thankful that they were able to tackle this project. While it wasn't a big one it was much needed as there was some mold that needed to be taken care of. Nicu, Corni, and the boys were able to treat the walls so that hopefully the mold will not come back.

An after pic and Iuli and Corni working on cleaning the bathroom before Nicu painted.

Nicu and I have continued to serve in the children's department at our church, AlfaOmega. Once a month we lead a lesson, a game, and a craft with the kids. We're thankful for our church family!

We were also able to go to visit the kids at Periș once during November. There had been several cases of COVID so we had waited to visit until most of the kids were feeling better. We were especially thankful to be able to see the kids after several weeks away. Just after we went to visit the kids there were new restrictions put in place and we needed to be fully vaccinated before we could go into the orphanage. Nicu and I have had the first dose of the vaccine and will have the second dose in mid-December. After that we will be able to deliver gifts to the kids just in time for Christmas!

How You Can Support Us

Here are our current prayer requests and praises: Pray for all the kids we work with as we enter the holiday season. Some go home with families for the holidays and some will stay at the orphanage. Either situation can be hard for the kids. Pray that we will be able to get enough gifts for all the kids at the orphanages. We need over 400 gifts. Our church, AlfaOmega, and our "mother" church, Sfantul Treime, are helping with gifts. Pray that everyone will give generously and, more importantly, from their heart. Praise the Lord that we were able to get the vaccine easily here in Romania! We are praying that after the second dose we will not have any major side effects and that we will get the Green Certificate that we need quickly so we can go visit the kids. Pray that we will be able to have a Christmas celebration with the kids at the orphanages and not just drop off gifts. In addition to the gifts that we will receive from the Romanian churches we need financial support to buy gifts for the boys in the transition program and to cover any gifts that don't get bought for the kids at the orphanage. We pray that you will prayerfully consider donating to Heart to Heart this holiday season. If you would like to partner with us financially through Heart to Heart International please use the button below. If you choose to support us financially be sure and indicate in the memo section that you would like the funds to go to Nicu and Melissa Perghel, the Boys Transition Program, or Christmas gifts (if you would like to make a special Christmas contribution). You can check out our Facebook group to receive updates on the program and how God is using us here in Romania.

Giving Through H2H You can also make a donation through Walking With Orphans using the PayPal Giving link below. The transaction will appear as "Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project" (the registered name for Walking With Orphans).                             By using PayPal Giving we will receive 100% of your donation! https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1239712

A New Season

 

The past few months have been a whirlwind as we started the transition program in earnest. We have two boys, Iuli and Andrei, who are living with us and learning life skills and different trades. They have done several projects around our house in Nenciulești as well as at Pipera.

Andrei and Iuli working on the stairs at our house in Nenciulești.

Nicu, Iuli, and Corni working on a cementing project at Pipera.

Iuli working on making eggplant salad.

We were very blessed to have my mom come for a visit for a few weeks in late September. She helped with Oliver which gave me the chance to attend some trainings that I needed for my licenses and also allowed me to do some much needed organizing. Right after she left numbers of coronavirus cases started to grow again and we have been on a very strict lockdown since the middle of October. We are so thankful that she came just in time!

My mom and Oly on a walk through the neighborhood.

In addition to getting the transition program going full speed we continued to visit Periș and do youth group there. We also visited a youth group in Roșiori led by our co-worker, Sandel. Nicu was even able to make a visit to Casa Lidia! Unfortunately, a few weeks ago several kids at Periș became sick with COVID-19. We have had to stop visits for the time being until they are well again.

Youth Group at Periș.

Nicu visiting Casa Lidia.

Looking ahead to the next month we are hopeful that we will be able to get into Periș and see the kids once again. And we are continuing full speed ahead with the transition program! We will be looking at doing some indoor projects now that the weather is getting colder. We are also gearing up for Christmas and will soon start collecting gifts for the kids.

How You Can Support Us

Here are our current prayer requests and praises: Continue to pray for the transition program. Pray that the boys will get along and continue to learn from the things that we are sharing with them. Also, pray for their spiritual growth. Pray for the health of the kids at Periș. We hope that they will recover from COVID and that we will be able to go back to visit them soon! That we will have wisdom about getting the vaccine and about which vaccine to get. We will need the vaccine to travel and will likely need it to get into the orphanages to work soon. We are praying about when is best for me to get the vaccine as I'm still nursing Oliver and about which vaccine is best for our family. Pray that we will have the funds to cover all the Christmas gifts needed for this year. If you would like to partner with us financially through Heart to Heart International please use the button below. If you choose to support us financially be sure and indicate in the memo section that you would like the funds to go to Nicu and Melissa Perghel, the Boys Transition Program, or Christmas gifts (if you would like to make a special Christmas contribution). You can check out our Facebook group to receive updates on the program and how God is using us here in Romania. Giving Through H2H You can also make a donation through Walking With Orphans using the PayPal Giving link below. The transaction will appear as "Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project" (the registered name for Walking With Orphans).                             By using PayPal Giving we will receive 100% of your donation! https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1239712

Camp Days!

This summer marked my sixth year on staff with Heart to Heart and 10 years of summer ministry with H2H in Romania! Last summer was so different for us because of the pandemic...it was the first time in all those years that we didn't have camps with the kids. This year we weren't able to do camps as we have in the past but we were so thankful and blessed to be able to do a variation of our summer programming with the kids.

We started in the month of July with a camp with the younger kids from Roșiori at our house in Nenciulești. We are so blessed to have a large area for the kids to play games and several extra rooms in the workshop where the kids could met for Bible stories and singing. In the middle of our H2H camps, Nicu and I hosted a group from our church, AlfaOmega, in our home. Each day they would go out to nearby villages to do VBS programs. Nicu was involved in these programs each day and had an amazing time ministering to the children. We are praying about how God would like us to continue this ministry throughout the year. As we rolled into August it was time to have camp with the Periș and Voluntari kids from the Bucharest area. We were able to get permission to take the kids to our old house at Snagov to have the camp. We also took them to pool at Pipera. Our theme was "With Your Head in the Clouds and Your Feet on The Ground" and told the story of Daniel. We talked about how our thoughts should always be on God ("head in the clouds") even while we faced difficult circumstances around us ("feet on the ground"). We were helped by several generous donors and churches to be able to have this camp and we are so very appreciative to them for making this possible! Now that camps are over we will start to shift our focus to the transition program and school year ministry. We are so excited to announce that we raised funds to have two boys full time in the program! One of the boys, Iuli, has already moved in with us and we are hoping that the other boy, Andrei, will start with us soon. How You Can Support Us Here are our current prayer requests and praises: Pray that we will have a smooth start to our transition program. Our long time friend and fellow staff member, Heather, has made the difficult decision to leave H2H and transition to another ministry organization. We know this is an amazing opportunity for her and will allow her to grow her ministry. Please pray for her, for us as we adapt our ministries to her absence, and for the kids as they won't see her for several months. We are still anticipating that the Voluntari and Periș orphanages will merge before school starts in mid-September. Pray for the kids as they go through this change and also pray that wisdom will be used in selecting the best director to remain at the orphanage. Nicu was able to get a 10 year visa for the US! We have secured funding for two boys to come into the transition program full time. If you would like to partner with us financially through Heart to Heart International please use the button below. If you choose to support us financially be sure and indicate in the memo section that you would like the funds to go to Nicu and Melissa Perghel or to the Boys Transition Program. You can check out our Facebook group to receive updates on the program and how God is using us here in Romania. Giving Through H2H You can also make a donation through Walking With Orphans using the PayPal Giving link below. The transaction will appear as "Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project" (the registered name for Walking With Orphans). By using PayPal Giving we will receive 100% of your donation! https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1239712

Summertime

 

School's out and the weather is heating up...summertime is here in Romania!

We started out the month of June by celebrating Children's Day with the kids at the Periș orphanage. Heather prepared a lot of fun outdoor games for the kids and Nicu helped her get the kids involved. Oliver and I watched and cheered from the sidelines. Children's Day activities at the Periș orphanage. Now that school is out we are shifting our focus to summer activities. We finished up our social skills group and English class at Voluntari and had an end of the year party at Pipera with Heather's music class. The kids even put on a mini concert for us! And, as a special surprise, they had all bought me roses for my birthday. End of the year party and mini concert at Pipera with the kids from Voluntari. Receiving my roses while the kids sang Happy Birthday to me. At the very end of the month we helped with the first of five summer camps that we are doing this year. This first camp was with the boys special needs school in Roșiori. Nicu helped lead a group and Oliver and I came one day to watch. At the camp the boys learned about three of Jesus's miracles, did themed crafts, and played lots of games. It was hot but the boys had a great time and everyone went home with lots of prizes. Camp #1 with the boys special needs school in Roșiori. During the month of July we will have two more camps with the Roșiori kids. These camps will be here at our house in Nenciulești! We are excited to host the kids and have enlisted Heather to help us get the house in tip-top shape for the camps. At the end of the month we will provide housing for AlfaOmega church members while they do VBS in Alexandria. We are thankful for the opportunity to host our fellow church members and glad that we have the space for everyone to comfortably stay. We also have some very exciting news about the transition program: we have identified three boys who are interested in coming into our program. Iuli and Andrei are from the Periș orphanage and Alex is from Roșiori. We are trying to raise $350/month per boy or $10,000 in one time donations to bring the boys into the program. Pray for us as we raise support for the boys and prepare to start our ministry with them in the fall. If you would like to read more about the boys check out their bios here: Transition Program 2021 Iuli

Andrei How You Can Support Us

Here are our current prayer requests and praises: Pray that our summer camps will go well and that the kids will be safe, have a fun time, and, most importantly, learn about God's love for them. We are still anticipating that the Voluntari orphanage will close before the end of the summer. We pray for a smooth transition for the kids and all the staff involved. Funds for the boys who would like to come into the transition program as well as additional funds for our family (we are still in need of $200-$300 in monthly support). We were able to get Nicu a visa appointment for the 12th of August! Pray that it will go smoothly and that he will be able to get a 10 year visa (the maximum length of time he can get a visa for). Oliver's appointment to register his birth and get his passport went smoothly. If you would like to partner with us financially through Heart to Heart International please use the button below. If you choose to support us financially be sure and indicate in the memo section that you would like the funds to go to Nicu and Melissa Perghel or to the Boys Transition Program. You can check out our Facebook group to receive updates on how close we are to reaching our goal as well as see how God is moving and working through us.

Giving Through H2H

You can also make a donation through Walking With Orphans using the PayPal Giving link below. The transaction will appear as "Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project" (the registered name for Walking With Orphans).                             By using PayPal Giving we will receive 100% of your donation! https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1239712

Changes

 

May 2021 Update

I can't believe that our last e-newsletter was sent almost two months ago! So many, many things have changed since then...

If you follow me (Melissa) on Facebook then you know that the first big change is that baby Oliver decided to make his appearance six weeks early! Thomas Nicolas Oliver Perghel (Oliver) was born 9 March 2021 at 10:50 p.m. by emergency c-section after my water spontaneously broke at 34 weeks and 1 day. Oliver spent 30 days in the NICU before coming home. I stayed in the hospital as well so that I could visit him twice a day. Because of COVID-19 restrictions if I had left the hospital I would not have been able to come back in. Once we left the hospital there were several doctors visits for various issues: to check for fluid in his chest, to monitor his pulmonary hypertension, and to monitor and treat anemia. We are so thankful to God that all the reports have come back good: there has been no fluid accumulation in his chest, his pulmonary hypertension is very minimal, and he has almost completely recovered from the anemia! Because he was premature, Oly will still get more check-ups and be monitored more closely than most babies but we thank God each day that Oliver is healthy, happy, and on the path to stay that way! Thomas Nicolas Oliver Perghel Born 9 March 2021 We have also gone through changes with our ministry as well. Of course we are still planning on running the transition program but are in need of funds for the kids before we can begin. Until then we have been able to go to both Voluntari and Periș orphanages to have programs. On Friday we go with Heather and Corni and help with an English class. Then I (Melissa) have a social skills group. Usually Nicu ends up hanging out and mentoring some of the older kids and playing soccer once the kids have finished their classes. On Saturday we go with Heather to Periș where we help with Youth Group and then have free time with the kids. And yes, Oliver goes with us to all locations. He is very much loved and looked after by both the kids and the orphanage staff. And we want him to be immersed in ministry life. This is, after all, why we are here! Top (L-R): Marshmallow relay game at Voluntari. Nicu hanging out with Denisa, Denisa, and Costica. Bottom (L-R): Oliver at church for the first time to celebrate Easter. Helping Heather during English class. Top (L-R): Denisa and Nicu during English class. George, Armando, and Nicu during Youth Group at Periș. Bottom (L-R): English class at Voluntari. Youth Group at Periș. Top (L-R): Social skills class at Voluntari. Denisa and Darius during social skills class. Bottom (L-R): Nicu helping Lucica with Oliver. Social skills class at Voluntari. As we start looking ahead to summer ministry we expect to see changes there as well. With the drop in COVID cases we have found it easier to see the kids and work with them. However, we have heard that one of the orphanages may be closing down and the kids will be moved to other foundations or orphanages. We are hoping that we can do a VBS style day camp with the kids in the Bucharest area on site at one of the orphanages. Top (L-R): George and Iuli helping with Oliver. Heather leading Youth Group at Periș. Bottom (L-R): Nicu, Andrei, and Iuli helping clean the pool at Pipera. Doru and Oliver. Top (L-R): Oliver with his big brother, Iuli. Angi and Oliver. Bottom (L-R): English class at Voluntari. Bianca and Oliver. How You Can Support Us We continue to need lots of prayers for our family and our ministry: We have an appointment at the US embassy to register Oliver's birth abroad and to get his US passport. We are still waiting for the embassy to open up for visa applications so that Nicu can get a visa to visit the US later this year. AlfaOmega church would like to stay at our home while they do VBS in Alexandria this summer. We still have many repairs and renovations to make. One thing that would help us greatly is if we were able to bring boys from the orphanage to Nenciulești for several days to help us. Pray that we will be given permission to do this. Funds are needed for the kids who we would like to take into the transition program. We need to try and raise $300/month per child. We have five very strong candidates for the program and 2-3 additional kids who could possibly join us. Our family continues to need an additional $200-$300 a month in support. God blessed us with a supporter who donated enough for Oliver's health insurance to be covered for the remainder of the year, a nearly $1700 cost! God has been abundantly faithful to us and we know he will continue to provide for us as our family grows. Our summer programming schedule and the ability to take the kids out of the orphanage for trips to the pool/museums/the park/etc. A smooth transition if/when one of the orphanage closes. If you would like to partner with us financially through Heart to Heart International please use the button below. As I mentioned, we are trying to raise support to begin the transition program. If you choose to support us financially be sure and indicate in the memo section that you would like the funds to go to Nicu and Melissa Perghel or to the Boys Transition Program. You can check out our Facebook group to receive updates on how close we are to reaching our goal as well as see how God is moving and working through us. Giving Through H2H Visit H2H's Website You can also make a donation through Walking With Orphans using the PayPal Giving link below. The transaction will appear as "Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project" (the registered name for Walking With Orphans). By using PayPal Giving we will receive 100% of your donation! https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1239712