October 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from a very chilly Petrosani! We are expecting our first snow very soon. The weather is changing so fast that I don’t know what to wear anymore. One day is warm, then freezing, then rainy. The weather is keeping us on our toes. We have been blessed with a few weeks without heavy rain, so we are able to continue work on the outside insulation of the house. All of the work that Andrei and Ene have done to the house is making a huge difference in these winter months. Everyone who enters the house comments on how warm the house is. We are so blessed.

This first month and a half has been VERY busy, yet a continuous blessing. Ministry has been keeping Andrei and I up and running. But, that is how it should be. Praise the Lord!

Ministry House: We have made great progress on the house; thank you for your prayers. The heating system in the house is working and keeping us warm in these early winter months. The kitchen and living room walls and floors are finally completed. We are hoping to take in two children from the local orphanage within the next few weeks. We have to finish our bedroom first before we can move in the bunk beds for the children.

I am excited to share with you some of our near future plans!!! Andrei and I have been going to the local orphanage “”Betania”” every Saturday to play with the kids and teach a Bible study. It has really been a blessing. We have a wonderful relationship with the orphanage administrator, Brother Crisan (Creeshan). He has given us full permission to work with the kids in anyway we desire. We want to take advantage of this relationship and take the kids up to the local mountains for a 3-day retreat in November. This next week I will be researching the costs and getting permission slips submitted. Please keep the planning of this retreat in your prayers. This is the first time we have been able to do something like this and we are really excited!

Also, we are working with Betania’s administrator to make a special Christmas for the children. We were invited to spend Christmas day with the kids! We asked Brother Crisan what the children’s needs were and he immediately told us “Shoes!” We will be getting a list of names and sizes soon. We desire to make up personal gifts for each child. We were thinking to have the packages filled with shoes, socks, a toy, a Bible, and candy. Our focus this Christmas is to give each child a Bible of there own to use when we come for the Bible Study and prayerfully for them to use in their personal time as well. We will be splitting the cost of food with the orphanage to allow for a big feast!

Andrei and I are also praying about taking three kids in placement. They are siblings that we want to help stay together. From Andrei’s personal experience this is VERY important; Andrei lost his younger brother at a young age. He returned from school to the orphanage to find his younger brother gone without any information of this whereabouts. Even to this day we are still looking for him. Due to INS red tape we are unable to receive them into our home in placement until Andrei is a citizen of the United States. We would love to have your prayers for wisdom and patience.

The INS saga continues: From what I have read on the INS website, Andrei and I will need to be in the States eighteen months out of the next thirty-six months. So we will be doing a “beautiful” ballet of flying from Romania to the US and back again for the next thirty-six months. I have got it mostly planned out. Right now, it looks like we will be returning to the States in January and then leaving again in March to prepare for two missionary teams coming in April and June. We will then have to return to the States in July and stay until February of the next year ( eight months). We are staying that long to get most of our eighteen months done in one chunk. During that time we will be training and getting teams together to come to Romania. We will be keeping you all updated on our “ballet” dance. (Boy, ballet was sure easier when I was three years old! Ha-ha)

Please enjoy the pictures I have attached of the orphanage and house! God bless you and thank you for your support and prayers.

With love, Kelle and Andrei Andries

Prayer Requests:

• VISA UPDATE: are still working on Kelle’s Visa in Romania. The Medical Insurance building in Romania tried to cheat us out of almost 300 dollars. With great wisdom, Andrei told the man that we would return later to finish the paperwork. Andrei later told me he did not feel comfortable at all with the arrangement. Later we found out that everything the man told us was a lie and he would have been stealing from us. Please continue to pray for the corruption in Romania. Also, pray that we will only receive true information and get all the paperwork completed and submitted before the deadline.
• We are looking for a building to start a church in the future. We have seen some possible locations but we ask for prayer and wisdom.
• We are also praying for a Permanent Pastor.
• Pray that the construction of the house goes quickly so we can begin to invite people and children into our home!!
• Please Pray for the siblings that we are praying about taking into the ministry house. We need wisdom and strength to make a connection with the children.
• Pray for peace in Petrosani and a softening of hearts towards God’s word.
• Pray that things will go well for Alex’s grandmother to receive full custody of Alex.
• Pray for Alex’s safety at his school.

Praise Reports:

• Safe travel for us upon our return home.
• Our meeting with the administrator of Betania went very well! We are working together to help those children! God was glorified! Thank you for your prayers!
• The Living Room and Kitchen walls are completed!