Summer 2014 Prayer Update

It is always amazing how summer ministry seems to fly by.  This summer was no exception, for nearly two months we put on camps and a VBS for all of the kids that we work with and more.  Now that it is over we can look back and see what a fun and fruitful summer it was and that God was at work in everything that took place.

We started with a mountain camp that turned into a Black Sea camp because of rain and cold weather in the mountains.  We had a lot of fun with the young adults that came with us. We focused on experiencing God since most of them know about God already but have trouble believing or puting their faith into action.  Through many lessons and testimonies we learned what it means to have a relationship with God and to go deeper in our faith.

With the younger kids we taught about the fruits of the spirit and did lots of crafts and games that helped them learn more about God.  We had a lot of fun with them especially on the days when we went to the transition house where we have a zipline and wide open spaces for them to play.  At the end of the summer we did a VBS program with them at the church which we all really enjoyed.  Many kids accepted Christ and will continue to go to church there, praise the Lord!

We also were glad to attend the baptism of four of the kids that we have been working with.  God has been very good to us by letting us share in the harvest even as we continue to plant and water in lots of other kids.  Being able to see kids come to Christ and be baptized is so exciting for us!

At the same time we have been feeling our time here slip away quickly and it is hard to believe that we have under one month left here.  Last week we sold our car to an organization in northern Romania that was looking to upsize but didn’t have a lot of money to buy another car.  We felt like God was leading us to bless them by selling it at a price they could afford just as it was provided for us in the first place.  We movined out of our apartment and gave most of our furniture to H2H.  We hope that others will be blessed by it just as we have been blessed and well provided for by God.

We have already said some goodbyes and have found that this is and will be the hardest part of leaving.  Seeing the kids for the last time (until we come back and visit) is hard and emotional and this is just the beginning of a hard transition for us.  We will fly home on September 26 into Chicago and get picked up from there so that we can have more baggage.  Then the next adventure begins, we are looking forward to seeing what God has in store with adopting from foster care.  Thank you for being such amazing supporters in prayer and finance.  We could not have served here these five years without you and we hope that you will continue with us in this next chapter!

Please join us in praying...

-for God to reveal his plan to us and to lead and provide for us once we arrive home.

-for God to prepare a child for us to adopt through foster care and for him to prepare us for the child.

-for God to take care of the kids here that we are leaving behind. Pray for them to be comforted and to come to know him.  Pray for seeds that have been planted to grow and mature.

Praise God for his providence and blessings on us and our ministry for these last five years. Praise him for all of our faithful supporters and pray that we can continue this journey together.

In Him,  Mark & Rebecca

You can click on this picture to download the PDF version of the update.

August, a time for more camp!

Our faithful readers may have started to wonder why we have not posted for some time.  We were deciding how to proceed because we had an issue about the privacy of our kids.  One director has taken the law to mean that we can not publicly post pictures of the kids.  No pictures?  What kind of blog is that?  One way around that is to put a password and make it a private blog.  But since we are leaving at the end of September and want to continue this blog, we decided against that.  So for right now, we have made this blog to not be searchable from the internet.  So if you are here, good job, you already know our address  ;)

At the end of July we had our last summer camp with the girls from Alexandria.  Instead of just focusing on the fruit of the spirit, we decided to teach using personal testimonies.  It was an effective and personal way to show the kids God's power and love.

The girls love to sing!

Craft time

Continued friendships

We met Miki in 2008!

The sisters (plus one), they have grown so much

First group of girls

The second group

We had some time in between this and the next and last event of the summer.  During that time we spent time playing at the orphanages and catching our breath.  Then we did a week of VBS at the church in Rosiori.  There were around 50 kids that came, with 80% of them being our kids from the orphanages.  CBC church in CA came with the VBS already prepared and we jumped in alongside of them.

Part of the kids

Everyone who helped in some way for the VBS

Prizes for memory verses with the youngest group of kids

Stefan

Puiu

Cristina

Mihaela, Mihai (and Antonio)

Andreea, Vasi, Dani

We enjoyed working with some of these younger kids from Rosiori again.  We didn't see them much during the school year because of our schedule, so it was great to spend an extra week with them.  It was the hottest week of the summer, so the team made use of the public pool again.

Chillin' with the interns

Mark jumping off the 5 meter diving board.

So you may ask what is next for us for this remaining month.  Well, lots of packing and moving out, one last weekend trip to the mountains, hanging out at Peris, Finland (for two weeks) and in a flash we will be saying goodbye.  Pray for this time of transition.  It is equally hard on us and the kids.  But God has promised He will never leave or abandon them, and that is the hope we cling to!