Easter Vacation

We just had two weeks of "Easter Vacation." During this time we had special Easter activities, spent time with the Canadian Team, got videotaped for the new H2H film (coming this fall), and had extra math lessons with our BAC tutoring class.

Dying Easter Eggs

Mark and his buddy

Brothers Claudiu and Sandel

We had all the graduates and current transition house boys over for Easter. There were about 35 kids that came to the house, the team of 15 from Canada plus a two person film team and staff. It was a full house! We played Eater bingo instead of having an Easter Egg Hunt because it was wet outside. The graduates were yelling out bingo and were excited to see what their egg (prize) would contain.

Easter at Pipera

We also took another group of kids to the natural history museum in Bucuresti. It was the reward from Sanda and Rebecca's Geography/Science class.

We had 12 kids and two members from the Canadian Team at the museum.

Genica, Nicoleta, Adela

Us at Herastrau Park after visiting the museum.

Brian and Faith, the amazing film team

We had a day at Nenciulesti with kids from Rosiori and lots of play time and special activities at the Bucuresti orphanages. We were busy helping translate and being filmed...and we didn't take a lot of pictures. Although, Mark did find time to try out his new camera (Thanks Dan!) on the roof after our Bible study in Bucuresti.

This Panasonic LX-3 is an exciting little camera, we can't wait to take more awesome pictures!

This spring break was a nice change of pace from our normal day to day, and we really enjoyed being a part of the Canadian team and the film team and doing so many special activities. Too bad it's over so soon!

Spring 2012 Romania Update

The last few months have been very eventful in our lives and ministry here in Romania. Our regular classes have been going well and we continue to build relationships with the kids. Rebecca teaches part of a Geography and Natural Science class, creating slide shows about different countries. The kids get to try food from a different culture and learn about what other places are like.

We took the younger kids in this class to the museum of natural history in Bucharest. They especially liked the touch screen displays that were at each exhibit. The mammoth skeleton in the main room was also a big hit. After the museum we had a picnic in a local park and had some play time. It was a fun field trip, and we will do another one soon with the older kids in the class.

I teach English classes to a variety of kids of all ages and skill levels. Our most important classes though, are our tutoring classes for the college entrance exam. Last year only 40% of kids in the entire country passed this exam! We are tutoring a small group of kids from the orphanage in English, Math, and Biology. It is very hard because even though these kids have passed all their classes at school, they don’t know enough to pass this very hard test. We are trying to make up years worth of learning in a very short time, and they are struggling because they aren’t used to doing homework or studying for their classes. Whether or not they pass this test will have big implications for their futures, so there a lot is riding on their success.

We also are part of a youth group and that has been going well. Unfortunately we have been forbidden to talk about God or the Bible by one of the directors of the orphanages. So instead of doing Bible study we have been talking about good character traits. We try to fit references and Biblical principles in wherever we can. Each week we are presenting a different person as a hero, some Romanian and some international people. Some of the people we have studied are Martin Luther King Jr., King David, and Richard Wurmbrand, who was a Romanian pastor that was put in jail by the communists and spent 14 years in prison being tortured and brainwashed. By God’s grace he resisted and escaped from Romania and founded the organization Voice of the Martyrs.

God blessed us personally very richly this spring. Even before we came here we knew that we would eventually want a car. This year the need became even more apparent as our sharing of H2H vans became even more complicated and even less convenient. We prayed about it a lot and faced many struggles and obstacles, and one day God provided through a very generous gift from Extol Inc, the company I worked for as an engineer before we came here. The amazing thing is that they asked us what we needed without us having asked first, this is how we know that God was at work. We were able to find a great used car, a 2007 Ford Focus that was brought over from Germany. Many others also gave us gifts so that we could pay for the registration and insurance and have some saved away for upkeep. It has been great having our own car, we have been able to go to events and see friends that we wouldn’t have been able to without one.

God also provided for something else that we had wanted for quite some time, an iPad 2. Having one would be ideal for Rebecca’s presentations for her Science classes. Through a few people’s generosity we were able to get one and it too has been a real blessing. It is so amazing how God works and we feel that through these miracles he is confirming to us that we are doing what he wants here.

We want to thank you very much for your prayers for us and our ministry. We are also very thankful to those who have blessed us with their generous support and gifts!

Click on the picture below to download the PDF version of this newsletter!

What We've Been Up To Lately

In the past few weeks we have done quite a few special things outside of our normal routine.

We got together with Jenny, a friend from our small group Bible study from church. She made us chicken tacos, it is hard to find Mexican food here so it is always a treat when someone makes it. We also went to her birthday party and hung out with our other friend Kristie. They both work here with another organization. We enjoy getting together with friends when we can find the time.

We drove up to the mountains for a little taste of Transylvania. One of the new couples on our staff, Steven and Haley, had some family come so we went on a little sight seeing tour.

We saw the most famous castles in the area: Peles and Bran. We also saw the fortress Rasnov from a distance. It is always neat to see these as we just don't have anything like it at home.

Here we are with the new couples on staff and our intern Talitha. We really enjoy spending time with them!

We love nature and history so going to these areas is a great time because they are full of both.

Rebecca and Talitha became very close in her few months here. We hope to see more of her in the future...

Clear days like this are great, you can see the beauty of the mountains here.

After seeing the castles we went to the Medieval town of Brasov, which is very beautiful. We ate at a great restaurant there which is in an old wine cellar.

Last weekend we took a group of 16 kids on a field trip to a museum in Bucharest. This was a reward trip for good behavior and participation in Rebecca and Sanda's Geography and Science class. The kids enjoyed the natural history museum, especially these prehistoric skeletons. It was really hard to keep track of the kids because there were hundreds of other kids on field trips. What a time!

After the museum we went to a park and played and had a picnic lunch.

At the beginning of this week we had a special time with the special school for (mostly) boys here in the city that we work. There was a team here from the states so we went to the forest and they talked about America and we did some crafts.

After we were done playing at the park the new director of the school invited us over for refreshments as is the tradition here when there are guests. She had two really nice special cakes made up for us and talked a lot about how she wants to be a part of our team and to work together with us to make this school be a great place for the kids.

One of the team members presented her with a large world map and some other tokens of appreciation. We are very thankful for her and her enthusiasm, it is really special for a director to fight for the kids and to really want us to be a part of their lives.

We have both been sick the last couple weeks but Rebecca took a turn for the worse at the end of last week. She is now on antibiotics and is starting to feel better. Please pray that we will both regain our health and stay healthy. Please pray for things to go well as we enter into spring break time and try to plan fun things for the kids.