If you visit NOROC headquarters
during the two weeks before Christmas it looks very chaotic, as
we move stuff in and out on a very hectic schedule. If you stay
more than five minutes you will find yourself drafted into service.
One of my favorite compliments was by Costica. He said, “Mary
is good at getting everyone to work.” The results were gratifying,
even though the effort is exhausting. After making the lists,
checking them more than twice, this year we had no crying children
because no one was left out.
But Santa is not finished when the “pungi” are packed
(punga, singular, and pungi, plural, mean “bag”
in Romanian). Next comes the delivering of all these items. We
do not have the benefit of a sleigh and flying reindeer. We rely
on cars, buses, ferries, boats, and pe jos—by foot.
NOROC went to the end of the road and beyond for delivering. We
even went to Laguna on the ferry, which is deep into the Danube
delta. We had bags delivered to Sulina, Babadag, and the other
centers closer to Tulcea.
Of course, we attended as many of the children’s celebrations
as we possibly could. This was not facilitated by any advance
notice of when the celebrations were. This year, up until the
day before, many places did not know the exact hour or day of
their celebration. Sadly, several ended up being at the same time,
but we did managed to attend six this year.
Then there are the special parties for the small groups NOROC
sponsors. The highlight was the Christmas Eve party with my 18-and-older
elves—twenty-two of us gathered for caroling, eating traditional
Christmas sausages, opening our gifts, and partying until almost
midnight.
We did not forget the Christmas services at the Orthodox, Catholic
or Baptist churches. We even managed to have a wonderful house
blessing of the new Casa NOROC on December 22. This coming year,
no boy or girl will be left out in the cold without a place to
go, thanks to tremendous efforts by so many people in providing
our new house for NOROC activities and living space for young
men. NOROC already has an apartment for emergency housing for
girls.
A lot was crammed into these few weeks before Christmas. We spread
the good news that God loves all the children of the world, even
those abandoned and forgotten by others. None of this would have
been possible without all your prayers, love, support, and donations.
Happy New Year!
Mary Ferris
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
181
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