A cycle has developed at Alpinis over the last year. We are running camps and retreats during the summer and the skiing season and working on the building during spring and autumn, when we have less activities. The process of transforming the villa we bought in 2003/2003 into a ministry facility continues.

Before the summer camps in July, we want to complete the conversion of the porch into an enclosed dinig area, and develop the activites area with a volleyball court and playgrounds. We have six camps scheduled at Alpinis over the summer and a few more to be organized and planned. After the summer, we need to finish the outside of the building with insulation and if we have the resources, we will add a small apartment on the side of the building.

Somehow building and adding doesn’t seem to stop. Facilities are cruicial in what we are doing. We had two church ski camps at Alpinis this winter and we hosted a few Christian groups for recreation and skiing.

I am excited for all God has in store for us at Alpinis and espeically for partnering with you and others in ministering through camps and spiritual formation retreats.

Recently a group from Stonegate Fellowship Church in Midland, TX came to visit Alpinis together with Mr. Alec Woodhull and Mrs. Lauren Clevenger from Knoxville, TN. Building continues on all dimensions. We are building a dining room and facilities needed for camps and ministry. At the same time, we are building a team, working on spiritual retreats and the ministry of Alpinis. We are very grateful to friends and partners who believe in this project and came to be involved even before seeing the fruit. I need to mention here ProVision Foundation in Knoxville, Tennessee, has provided a second matching grant to Alpinis, and friends who gave and thus made the grant (as well as new funds) available. It would be difficult to name everyone here, but please know that your generosity is very much appreciated and well used. I invite you to take part with us in building the Kingdom this way.

Here are some specific ways you can participate:

• Pray and ask the Lord for His grace on this work
• Come and work with us as part of a team or as an individual; we have teams coming to work on the building or to run a camp together with a Romanian group
• Support our operational and/or capital investment costs; we still have to raise approximately $5,000 to complete the matching grant, and our needs for the year are far from being covered.

Please feel free to contact us and the USAffairs office in Maryville, TN with any questions you may have about this work.

Emil Toader