Horizon of Hope

Year 2012 is here and we, the HOH team, are thankful for all our partners and supporters. God has been very good to us and many friends have joined the HOH cause in one way or another. We had people from all over the world extending a helping hand either by financial donations, labor, writing encouraging words, or praying for us. Thank you so much for doing your part towards this project. Our hope and prayer is that in 2012 more people will join us in our adventure and that we will be able to begin using the HOH youth center as soon as possible.

As a present for all of you we invite you to see “The 2011 fireworks statistic” created from our blog. It will be interesting to see the major countries that are interested in the HOH project and are actively involved in reading or desiring to know about HOH. Here it is: http://jetpack.me/annual-report/3297008/2011/

I believe I should start by wishing you all “Happy Holidays”. I hope you are enjoying the Holidays with friends and family remembering that the main reason of joy is the birth of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

It is exciting to share with you a few new pictures which show the progress at the HOH youth center. In the past few weeks the electricity company gave us the approval to connect our building to the main electrical system. The price to connect was less than half compared with the first estimate we received about 2 years ago. If in the beginning the electrical company wanted to upgrade their system on our expense, they realized that we will not accept such terms and did the upgrade on their own expense. This way the connection price was reasonable and we are now connected.

Last week we were glad to host a team of friends from California who partnered with other volunteers from Fagaras and worked inside the HOH building. We were able to  dig through the bricks and make the channels for the electrical wiring. Our goal was to have at least 4 or 5 rooms ready. The volunteers exceeded any expectations and almost finished the first floor and a good part of the second floor. I will let you enjoy the photos and see the progress that was made.

David (Californian), the chisel and the hammer

Bogdan (also called Ruben) is one of the three volunteers from California

Daniel - one of our Californians digging into the bricks

Alex covering all the open space between the roof and the concrete walls

Dina - HAPPILY moving some tarps from the first floor to the attic

The "final" product (it will look better after plastering and painting the walls)

Anca & Ema - our cook and her helper/husband

Alex - ready for action (he was our grinder man)

Ema & David (the other Californian) dispersing sand

Again Dina and her happy smile

Our heating and cooking system

L to R - David, Daniel, Iosif, Paul, Gelu, Bogdan, Alex, Dina, Raluca, Anca, Ema

We had a great cook and lots of people to acknowledge that

Alex built a great big table for us

Electricians at work

We even had pregnant women at work

Heating up snow to have some extra water

Tired faces

Covering the trench we made in the road

We are so thankful to announce that the roof for the HOH center has been completed.  The windows and doors have also been installed. Two very important steps have been completed and this has been such an encouragement to us.  The building is almost sealed for the winter.

In other news, we have our first person living in the HOH center.  His name is Florin and he is 27 years old.  Florin grew up in an orphanage, and although he has some family in Fagars, he did not have a place to stay and was sleeping in a field.  God sent him to Bethany Baptist Church where he met Petry.  He is now living in one small room in the center and he holds the official title as “Guard.”