Project Rachel. In 2004 Viorel introduced David and Christina and their Prayer support group to Bob and Helen Thomas who were members of the Holy Trinity Church in Cheltenham. Bob and Helen came and live in Preajba for two years teaching woodwork to teenage orphans in an orphanage in Targu Jui as well as helping Pastor Viorel with the children’s work in Golgotha Baptist church. Bob told David and Christina of a Christian orphanage Rachel House in the village of Preajba on the north east edge of Targu Jiu under the charity Project Rachel.
Project Rachel.In 1999 Irene and her daughter went to visit a child in Romania who she was sponsoring through Child Rescue International. During their visit they visited a Baby Home in Targu Carbunesti and a Special School, (Scoala Speciala) in Targu Jiu where 357 abandoned and orphaned children were housed.
After seeing the great needs of the children Irene and her daughter returned in May 2000 with a forty foot truck full of aid and a team of twenty-six from Holy Trinity, Cheltenham and St. Edwards School. Bob Thomas was a member of that first team who a little time later with his wife Helen and two children came to work in Romania for a period of two years.
From then on teams went out regularly. On one of their visits Irene and Shiona were told that six of the kindergarten children were being sent to an adult psychiatric hospital. By this time Irene and Shiona had set up a charity called Project Rachel,(Jeremiah 31:15). Irene and Shiona then took steps to set up Associatia Project Rachel in Romania. Irene sold her home in Cheltenham and bought a house in the village of Preajba, south west of Targu Jiu.
In September 2001 Irene and Shiona, on behalf of the Associatia were given permission to have six children. Romanian staff were trained and employed to help care for the children and to maintain the Centre for Recuperation based at Rachel House, as it was now called. Later Sami came to work for them.
In September 2004 while Bob and Helen were home in England , Bob invited David and Christina to attend a presentation on their work in Romania in his home church in Cheltenham.
During the presentation at Holy Trinity Church, Bob mentioned that Irene was in the audience, so immediately afterwards Christina asked Bob if he would introduce us to her.
With a warm handshake David passed on a greeting of God Bless you to which Irene with a sparkle in her eyes and a rich joy in her countenance responded by saying “and the Lord bless you too.” we were immediately at one in the same spirit.
After a few moments sharing all the good things that God was doing in Romania Irene remarked by saying “God has got his hand on Romania”.
Irene stood and pondered for a moment then turning and looking David straight in the eyes said,” The Lord has just spoken to me” I believe the Lord wants me to say to you both, I do not know why, “We have a parcel of land in Romania that is not being used, we want it to be used for the Lord”. We have another piece of land with a house on it not suitable to live in but it could be pulled down and a new one built. I will leave it with you.
David’s heart and spirit just filled up with emotion as he reflected on all the Lord had put on his heart. For two years God had been stirring David’s heart and mind giving him a passion to renew his understanding of farming, not knowing why. David briefly shared his thoughts and longings with Irene. David reflected on the words given to him and Christina back in July that year from Jeremiah 32 v 7 your uncle is going to come to you and say, `Buy my field. David explained his farming background and having seen the dire needs in Romania shared how he could bring his knowledge over and share it
David also shared his desire to bring a farm machine over to lighten the labour on the land, a land that is so fertile and has so much natural resource. Irene was very touch when David and Christina shared what was on their hearts.
Irene also mentioned that a Christian young man Sami living in Targu Jiu married to Marta with a young baby Ani-Ruth had recently graduated from Horticultural College and longed to set up a home to take in more of the children but also to work the land to feed the children and build green houses to extend the season. It is like Moses meeting God at the burning bush, what God has given Christina and David to do was amazing.
On their return home David immediately contacted the Christian friend who had given them the word from Jeremiah to tell her how the word she gave had been fulfilled and brought into being. She told David she was having a day of prayer and fasting that day not knowing what had transpired already, to be told she had received another word from the Lord that day from Exodus 23:20 "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21:Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.
22:If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23:My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24:Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.25:Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26:and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
27:"I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28:I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29:But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.30:Little by Little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. 31:"I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you.
32:Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33:Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you."
These words from Exodus became the blue print for the work in Project Rachel, Irene was the angel who had been sent ahead to prepare the way. It became increasingly evident that "Little by Little" was the way God was going to develop the work. But through traumatic experiences David and Christina did discovered that blessing would only follow when they did not make a covenant with the people (unbelievers) those who had no direct involvement with God’s work.
Spare horsepower - Horse being lead behind car
The approach into Preajba
History – Back in 1989 communism in Romania came to an end with the deaths of the president Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife.
During this period Nicolae Ceaușescu had borrowed money from other countries to renew their manufacturing info structure. In order to pay back the debt, Romania which was then the bread basket of Europe sold their food back to those countries it had borrowed from.
The government took over the land from the common folk and herded them into the cities to live in newly built flats, starvation was rife. Nicolae Ceaușescu ruled no contraception; folk were to have children even if they could not feed them, so many folk abandoned their children into orphanages. The children grew up in appalling conditions without heating, temperatures in
Romania in summer can be up to +38 Deg,C and as low as – 25 Deg. C in winter.
How the mission work started - Back in England soon after the fall of communism Dot Berry a Christian lady from Birmingham travelled to Romania to the city of Targa Jiu and met up with George and Lydia and their daughter Ema. Dot invited Ema to England to study later becoming an English teacher.
How the mission work in Romania started
Dot Berry on her 90th Birthday surrounded by her grandchildren 2015
Viorel (rear) Lydia and George with baby Caleb, Ema and Niece
Soon after, Christina and her friend Margaret Shaw set up a prayer group to support Ema. Ema met Viorel who she later married. Viorel felt the Lord leading him to become a Pastor. In 2001 once Viorel had qualified at the Bucharest Baptist Seminary he was offered to lead a small fellowship in Golgotha Baptist church in the village of Bumbesti Jiu, colloquially known as Sadu, 12 kilometres north of Targu Jiu in the county of Gorj in south west Romania .
David and Christina made their first visit to Targu Jiu in 2003 staying with Viorel and Ema, getting a flavour of the country and bringing much needed encouragement as Viorel and Ema under God’s leading sought to guide the little fellowship in Sadu.
Golgotha Baptist Church Sadu
Rachel House was a large summer house formerly owned by a doctor. The house was set in a ½ hectare - one acre strip of land but the charity also owned at that time two other pieces of land. The second piece of land was also approximately a ½ hectare - one acre and had a small house needing considerable refurbishment.
The third and largest strip of land was about 1 hectare - 2.1/2 acres and sat on the outskirts of the village.
In September 2001 Irene and Shiona, on behalf of the Associatia were given permission to have six children. Romanian staff were trained and employed to help care for the children and to maintain the Centre for Recuperation based at Rachel House, as it was now called. Later Sami came to work for us.
Two months later, Irene and a Christian member of staff, Lidia, set up the Saturday Club for the children of Rachel House and the children of Preajba. During the next eight years Shiona led this outreach in the village with the help of others including Lidia, Pastor Dani (Minister of Living Waters Church in Targu Jiu), Bob and Helen Thomas, Sami and Marta.
