Fall 2021 Newsletter
Orphanage Plans, Cancelled Trip and Future Help
We had planned to travel to the orphanage in July – me for the month, and Drew for two weeks – however, as the time approached, I lost my peace about the trip. There is a verse in the Bible that reads, “let the peace of God rule in your hearts” and it is how I try to live my life. I do not know the reason for losing my peace. I wasn’t afraid to travel. Perhaps it has to do with the uncertainty of travel these days. We have heard stories of people having trouble returning back to the States after travel abroad.
We keep in touch with the orphanage. They were expecting us, and have some needs. They experienced a drought this year, lost crops and need food, sugar, and some large supplies (an unusual one being a used septic pumping truck for their personal use and perhaps to use as a small business). I’m a bit uncomfortable with the situation as the ministry has a policy that I need to purchase the items at the market myself, but because of the loss of peace, and now the difficulty of travel, I cannot go and am figuring out a responsible way to handle this.
Some exciting news from the orphanage: a couple (both graduates of the orphanage) are now expecting a little girl! Mama-to-be has sent pictures of her growing tummy. It blesses me to know that from the training she has had growing up at the orphanage, she will be an excellent mama. I can’t wait to see the little one!
Remembering Mum, Drew and I Finding Our Niche Together
It’s hard for me (Nicola) to believe it has already been fourteen years since Mum moved to heaven! She taught activities to the elderly for 25 years in about seven nursing homes and retirement centers. As a teen and young adult, it frustrated me to see her working into the wee hours of the morning at a job that paid her almost nothing. I complained, “Mum, why don’t you get a job that can support you?” She stubbornly stood strong, defending the often forgotten whom she lovingly called her “Sweeties”. She taught them everything from crafts to line dancing to writing their life stories for their grandchildren. Most importantly she always listened to, advised and prayed for each one, seeing both their bodies and hearts healed. My whole life, our home hosted a steady stream of women of all ages dropping in for tea with Mum. It wasn’t till much later that I realized the value of what she did. She created a warm, loving, atmosphere of sharing and growth to precious people who needed connection. As I prepared to leave for Russia I was concerned about leaving Mum, and to my relief, on my first Mother’s Day overseas she received eight Mother’s Day Cards from special friends.
As Drew and I have been in this season of Bible college and learning to minister together, I find myself naturally falling into the same role as Mum: continually thinking of people we’d like to invite to our home. For example, we want to have a dinner for those who helped us with our last move - from new school friends to construction workers. The fun thing is – Drew enjoys hosting too, and is good at things I’m not. After all these years I see the value of Mum’s teas. Funnily, as I’m realizing this, today in church our pastor said, “We need relationship. Especially in these days. Deep, real, transformative relationships. We want to change, and help change other people through godly friendships and relationships that support each other and stay with each other for a lifetime.” I feel excited that God has put this on our hearts at the beginning of our time in our new home. This summer a young couple from school asked us to mentor them, and the other week a girl at church asked me to mentor her. Drew and I have also been asked to help lead a small group discussion in our church which will be fun to learn to minister together. This seems to be the beginning of a new season for us, and we’re excited about it and interested to see where it goes.
Colorado
A few weeks ago, Drew said to me, “Oh! Today is my one-year anniversary working at Andrew Wommack Ministries.” I thought a second and exclaimed, “We were living in New York when you started!” I realized that in less than a year, we have lived in four houses in three states, moved four times, and both gone through a year of school. No wonder we’ve felt busy.
We bought a house!
When we arrived in Colorado at the end of last August, we rented a sweet little house near the Bible college. Surprisingly, even though we live in a rural area, there is a rather severe housing shortage here. I’ve heard some students in our college have been living in hotels for two years. Drew heard that the number of houses that can be built here is limited due to a finite water supply. We didn’t feel it good stewardship throwing money away on rent so at the approach of the end of our lease term we began searching for a house to purchase. Houses here are selling for well over asking price. A contractor friend had over 100 people bidding on the last house he sold. After months of searching and not being able to afford a small house, we began looking for one with extra rooms for short term rental. We feel very blessed not only to have found one, but one that didn’t show well online, so we were able to purchase it at asking price, two weeks before the end of the school year. Never having done renovations on a house before, I have been rather shocked at 1) how hard we have worked the entire summer preparing our home to simply rent three rooms, and 2) that we are not finished yet. However, the end is in sight.
Although renting rooms was not on our horizon when we first moved here, we are now super-excited about it and consider it a ministry. Someone at church was praying for us and said, “While you’re not able to travel, God is bringing the mission field to you!” and that is precisely how we feel. We believe God gave us the names “Love,” “Joy” and “Peace” for our rooms. We are decorating them according to those themes, are learning all we can about hosting, and have been praying and trust that our guests will be blessed and sense God’s love, joy and peace as they stay with us. We pray these things for you and your loved ones during these uncertain times – that you continually sense all three: God’s love, and peace that passes understanding wrapping you like a warm blanket on a cold day, and that you derive joy from the beauty He has placed around you!
With love,
Nicola and Drew