A lot is happening at Alpinis these days, and I would like to share it with you who are part of this work from far away. The first thing I need to say is “thank you”. Thank you for your prayers and participation in our work, and thank You Lord for your faithfulness and providence.

As I shared in the last MLI printed newsletter, the process of transforming the Alpinis villa into a ministry facility continues, the good news is that it comes very close to completion. Our first camp this summer is scheduled July 10-16. Before then we are closing a big part of the development of the villa. I will include a few pictures from the recent works.

The main development for this time is the addition of the dining hall. The cabin had a nice back porch viewing the mountains. We had enlarged and transformed this back porch into an enclosed dining hall with windows, heating and a very nice suspended deck. The building only had a living room until now, and the dining hall will be a great asset as we now have room for larger groups both for meetings and meals. Before we had to do both activities in the living room which was difficult. We also built a wood shed for tools and fire wood, the attic of the shed is equipped for sleeping 10-12 people in ‘hay loft’ conditions. This will enlarge our capacity to approximately 40-42 people for the summer.

The agenda for this summer is quite full. We are having a camp with teenagers from Bethany Baptist in Timisoara July 10-16. The following two weeks of July we will have two camps with churches from Giurgiu area and Fetesti area in the south and southeast of Romania and a team from their church partner in the USA, Zionsville Presbyterian Church. In August we are expecting a group from a church in the south of Romania, a journalism and writing camp with Written Word organization (August 21-26) and a one week mentoring retreat at the end of August. In September we will host a camp with the girls from Deborah House and the Vessels of Mercy team from Virginia, USA. I will ask your prayers for all those who are coming to Alpinis as camps will include hikes, mountain activities and games, Bible studies and worship, team building and discipleship.

Please pray for the mentoring retreat at the end of August. We intend this to be a first of many such events where we invite young adults to a time away for personal and spiritual formation. Our objectives are that participants:

• will be challenged to a deeper life with God;
• will be exposed to Christian perspectives in areas like art, literature, and theology; (this is open to seeking non-believers also)
• will grow in understanding of themselves and gain new abilities in personal management, relationships, learning/thinking styles;
• will be assisted/mentored in areas of spiritual and practical/professional/intellectual interest.

The underlining word in all the above is modeling and mentoring as the retreat will not have a conference format, but participants will spend personal quality time as well as be part of group activities with gifted and well equipped Christian leaders.

Back to development: once camps and summer activities are over we still have work to do on the building. The main job for the autumn remains the outside insulation and finishing of the building, and if possible raising the small apartment on the side building. Being located at approximately 4,500 feet altitude, a good management of the building and resources imposes good insulation. At once with working on the outside we would like to give the building more of a mountain look, the present look is a mixture inherited from the previous owner and our additions to the cabin.

I really appreciate the generous support coming from churches, individuals and organizations in the US. I will not make a list here of all of you who supported Alpinis but I will highlight how important this is for us. Whether you gave little or much, please know that your money has come as a blessing and bears with it the spiritual weight of you being a part of this work with us. Please feel free to ask questions and we will be happy to give more details about various projects. The recent developments are not yet fully covered and the needs for the rest of the year are far from being met at this point. The matching grant of $50,000 from the ProVision Foundation, Knoxville, TN has been a great help. I am very thankful to ProVision and to all of you who made this match possible and thus furthered the work here. The costs for camps and retreats are being covered by participants, yet we do that at a cost that is affordable for most Romanians. This means that operations remain a need at Alpinis also. I hope this report bears a realistic note of gratitude and appreciation for what we have done together, and a clear expression of the need to continue to walk together in this work.

In closing I want to emphasize that we are building and adding and working so that PEOPLE will be served and assisted to find God and be enriched in their walk with Him.

Joy and Peace to you all,
Emil Toader