September 2004

Dear Friends,

I would like to start this letter thanking you again for your prayer and support because none of what I am about to share with you would have been possible without you. I am writing this letter because I know that in the weeks since I have returned to the US, I have only been able to visit some of you with all my pictures from Romania and to share what exactly happened in Romania.  First, I want to tell you what these two and a half weeks looked like logistically and then I want to share some of how God worked while we were in Romania.  [Photos]

Training First!

After a long flight through Vienna and then on to Timisoara, Romania, I arrived and was welcomed by the Greater Europe Mission (GEM) coordinators (Sue and Marg) and one of the local Romanian pastors (Ben-Oni) we were supporting through our trip.  I arrived about three days ahead of most of the team so that I could participate in an intense 3-day training session.  Training included some cross-cultural preparation as well as how to literally teach the English classes for the English school we would be running during our stay.  During this training time we stayed with Ben-Oni and his family.

Teaching

After the training was complete, we picked up the rest of the team at the airport, so that we were a total of seven people from Canada, California and New York.  Together we drove to Caransebes, a much smaller and poorer town about 2 hours from Timisoara. In Caransebes we held a two week English school for the community in a local Baptist church. We spent the majority of our time in Caransebes. The seven of us were divided into groups of two and three to teach three different English classes: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. I taught the Advanced Class. Each day began together at breakfast in the basement of the church. This is where we ate all of our meals in Caransebes.  After devotions, we spent most of the day preparing for the day's classes which began each day at 4pm. We taught class for two hours, had a 45 minute break called Group Time and then taught for another two hours, Monday through Friday. Our text book for the classes came from the book of John, and our students heard about the Gospel during Group Time, where one teacher each day presented his or her testimony and through a skit or some other kind of presentation, we were able to talk about the passage being read in class time. We also spent time building relationships with our students (who were between 10 and 65 years old!). Each student had a journal, and they were required to write for the last 10 minutes of class in English in these journals everyday. They could write about whatever they wanted, and the journals were confidential. They became a dialog between us and the student: they would write to us, and we would write back to them. In these journals the students and we were able to ask questions and talk about everything and anything and ultimately this is where we were best able to share the Gospel.

Old and New

Throughout these short weeks, I was struck by the mix of old and new in Romania: cars and horses on the streets; modern, renovated homes and wooden shacks without indoor plumbing side by side; and tractors in the countryside and groups of farmers cutting grass by hand with scythes.  The people were overwhelmingly hospitable and warm.  They shared so much of themselves.  I was struck by the stories of how God had been at work in the country since the fall of communism, but then even more struck by the stories of how much God was at work in the people's hearts even during communism!

Stretching the Team

Our purpose in Caransebes was primarily to support Ben-Oni and his church.  We were there to do what the already established Romanian Baptist church did not have the resources or time to do.  All of us were stretched in ways that we did not anticipate beforehand. As most of you already know very well, I am no singer.  Somehow though, God had pulled a team together with even less musical inclination than I have, and somehow, I was leading the singing during our Group Times at the English school.  God definitely has a sense of humor!  One thing was clear, this trip was about what God had planned, and not about our own plans.

God's Promises

As we came home, I feel like God gave us two promises that I would like to share with you. The first comes from Isaiah 55:10-11

"The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same way with my word. I send it out and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it."

These verses were so encouraging because we had been working the Word throughout the entire two weeks, and no matter how much we were able to share and encourage individually with students, each student heard the Gospel through the book of John in those two weeks. I feel like God was encouraging us with these words and saying that no matter what we saw or experienced ourselves, He could and He would work in the hearts of our students.

The second promise comes from Philippians 1 :6,

"He who began a good work in you will be faithful to carry it on to completion."

Looking back even now, this promise feels like a continuation of the above promise. As we were leaving I felt like God was saying that He began a work in the hearts of our students, and even though we aren't there to see what happens with that work, He will see it through. But I also feel like He is saying that the work He began in our hearts and in my heart during this trip will also be carried on to completion.

Thank you

I feel like this letter only skims the surface of what happened, and I hope to sit down with you soon to share with you in more depth of what God is doing in my heart and how I saw Him at work while I was in Romania. Thank you so much for your love and your prayers.

Much love in Him,