My greatest need is God
Every beginning of a new session is anticipated by our team in Herghelia with great enthusiasm and emotion. We look forward to finding out who next the Lord will lead towards us and how He will fill their needs. Amazingly enough, each time this process is different!
In the session that started this spring, right after the Orthodox Easter, one of my 4 patients who had just arrived was not sure she was going to stay or leave. I did not know the reason she contemplated leaving, but later I got the message that she decided to stay. I knew that she was facing a very sensitive issue in the relationship with her adolescent daughter who accompanied her here. So, I began praying for wisdom and inspiration on how to be helpful in her situation.
Although in a previous discussion she had mentioned that she did not like massage, I was able to convince her next morning to give it a try. I asked her permission to begin the treatment with prayer and she agreed. As she began to relax a little, I started sharing the fact that we all have difficulties and burdens but that from my own experience during my recent crisis, I felt the Lord was near to me, giving me strength and peace. I noticed that she opened up little by little on the following day, sharing with me the burdens on her heart. From time to time, she made efforts to smile. On one occasion, I spoke with her about prayer, about the fact that our Lord longs for us to pour our hearts out to Him so He can bring amazing solutions to all our requests. As the days passed, I noticed that she was more peaceful. She even mentioned that she began to like my massages and that some of her unrest vanished away.
Ana & her son Adi
I continued praying for her, and to my surprise, the next Sabbath she attended all three chapel services we held. She also attended our guest Sabbath school class where she shared that Herghelia was the place where she began to realize that her greatest need was God. I was praying for her continually, and at the end of the session I was amazed at the work the Lord did in her life. At our farewell party she said: “I arrived in Herghelia crying and I am leaving today crying again – but praise God it is for a total different reason! Thank you all for your forbearance, love, kindness and the care you surrounded me with in this difficult period in my life. I arrived in Herghelia with a heavy soul but because of you, my soul got healed little by little. And to my joy I am leaving in friendship and with a close connection with my daughter, once again. I learned so many new and good things here, but the most profound discovery I made was by far the importance of prayer for healing. In this blessed place called Herghelia I began to feel that the Lord did not forsake me and that I can turn with an open heart toward Him. This experience was for me a kind reminder that genuine healing comes from inside and that our relationships can be renewed and rebuilt when we put ourselves in God’ hands. I am delighted to say that I leave Herghelia with hope, with my daughter close to me again and my heart full of faith in my Healer.”
By Ana Petrică, nurse and therapist at Herghelia
Ana is a dedicated professional team player and a very responsible single mom. With 14 years of experience in the best clinics in our country ( including Floreasca Hospital – our best emergency hospital ) and abroad ( an elderly home in Italy), she joined our team in 2023. She moved in the area determined to offer her son, Adi, the best Christian education around – our school “Liceul Dr.Lind”.
Newsletter XX Summary
This spring, from May 7-10, we had the absolute joy of hosting the Outpost Centers International (OCI) Convention at Herghelia. More than 350 ministry leaders and staff showed up, representing 64 ministries from across the world—part of the 400+ institutions that make up OCI. These amazing people traveled from nearly every continent with one common goal: to share their experiences, connect with one another, and praise God for the ways He’s blessed their projects and organizations.
I grew up in a beautiful church community, in a village where nearly all the residents cultivated vegetables in greenhouses. My family was no exception. Following the local custom of that time, thirty years ago, after completing middle school, my formal education ended. I was entrusted with a small greenhouse to manage, and over the years, I gradually expanded the cultivated land.
How does one ever describe the Herghelia Lifestyle Center? From the moment we stepped into the van leaving the airport in Cluj that cold, early spring night, we felt the warmth and hospitality that we soon discovered pervades every part of the life-restoring experience that is Herghelia. Nestled among the rolling farmlands and peaceful forests filled with birdsong, Herghelia is a gem that calls you back time and again. It is little wonder that over 40% of the guests who come for healing return, some of them many times. I’d like to be one of them.
Every beginning of a new session is anticipated by our team in Herghelia with great enthusiasm and emotion. We look forward to finding out who next the Lord will lead towards us and how He will fill their needs. Amazingly enough, each time this process is different!
My connection story with Herghelia goes back in the year of 1997 when I came across an announcement posted in the Romanian Adventist Review mentioning that the newly opened institution – Herghelia Lifestyle Center – had a few openings for nurses in it’s medical department. I remember thinking: “Wow, what a blessing, a special privilege for a nurse to work in such a setting!” But who was I?! I felt unworthy. I felt that nothing could recommend me for such a privileged position. However, in the following days, a set of circumstances convinced me that the Lord was leading me in this direction.
I am really excited about the OCI Convention I attended this year in terms of discovering and getting acquainted with this organization, its mission, the members and their wonderful work. It was also a chance to get to know Herghelia better, to discover the heart of each team member and learn of their commitment to God’s work in the medical field.
After the OCI event that took place in Herghelia this past Spring was over, in an attempt to evaluate, I came to the conclusion that it was quite unique. Like many of us, I also use to participate in different kinds of projects and events before the OCI Convention. However, none of them was ever like this. This event has opened up to those who love God’s work ample opportunities for involvement and service in different branches of ministry.
Due to the fact that the old building is undersized and outdated, we have decided to construct a new facility for our Lifestyle Center and repurpose the current building for Education/Nursing School use.
Since the new building project will likely take several years to complete, we will need to upgrade the existing building in the meantime to ensure it can continue to serve effectively during these transitional years.
HERGHELIA – THE MOST URGENT NEEDS
- Replacement of old carpet: $25,000
- Extension of treatment area (200 m²): $150,000
- Worthy student fund for “How to start and manage Sanitariums in the XXI Century” – $5000
- Certificate online course on “How to start and manage Sanitariums in the XXI Century” – $2000
- Medical Missionary Nursing School – Reframing the Medical Missionary Training Program – $25,000
Contact person: Valentina Dan
Phone: +40-748-118-084
E-mail: valentinadan1964@yahoo.com
Cont: RO02RNCB0193015969490004
SWIFT CODE: RNCBROBU
BCR Central, Tg. Mureș