September marked the end of one of the most significant chapters in our lives so far: our ministry in Romania. With heavy hearts we said farewell to the kids that we had grown to know and love over the last five years. We assured them that this would not be the end of our relationship, we will continue to hold them in our hearts and prayers and we will be back to visit hopefully in the near future.
We were blessed to visit some old friends in Finland before we left Europe. We had such a wonderful and rejuvenating time there and were sad to leave and say more farewells, but we were glad that after more than ten years we were able to reconnect and significantly deepen our relationship with them.
Once we returned home we began reconnecting with family and friends and trying to settle in and adjust to this “new” culture. We looked forward with eager anticipation of finding out what God was planning for us next. We knew that He had given us the desire to build our own family through foster care adoption and the desire to continue in ministry. We didn’t search for opportunities before we left Romania because we wanted to keep our focus on finishing well there and not neglecting our ministry because we were too focused on the future. We decided that we would simply rely on God’s leading when we arrived home.
Two weeks after arriving I (Mark) participated in an outreach at a small inner-city church on west side of Grand Rapids called Gold Avenue CRC. We had a very blessed time and at the end I briefly met one of the pastors. The following week we attended a Dunamis prayer conference where both of the Gold Ave pastors were teachers. They asked us to meet with them to share our sense of call to ministry and what we had been doing in Romania. The following week we met with them again and they shared that as a church they had been praying for God to send workers to help them start ministries to the growing number of children there and in the neighborhood. We prayed together and for a few weeks spent much time in prayer asking God if this was the path He was calling us to. We all strongly felt that yes, God is leading us to step into ministry there.
Because this is a small urban church, we will be urban missionaries serving there with a focus of reaching the hurting children and families of the neighborhood. God is already moving there and we are excited to be a part of it. Once we have more details worked out we will begin raising needed support, would you please prayerfully consider partnering with us in this ministry? We have been so blessed by your financial and prayer support while ministering in Romania and we look forward to continued and new partnerships going forward. We would also like to eventually move in to that neighborhood, would you please pray for God to lead and provide? Please continue to pray for God to clearly lead us and the church as we partner together to further God’s kingdom. Praise God for his leading and providence!
God Provides!
Before we left Romania we needed to sell our car. We were planning on using the money to buy one when we arrived home in Michigan. After a while of having no success we felt God leading us to sell our car to another organization for less than half the price. After some initial uneasiness we decided to give it to God and trust that he would provide for us when our time of need came.
One week after arriving home we found a car we liked on Craigslist. Through talking with the seller we found out that they were members of our church which lead them to reduce the price for us. We also recieved a donation which exactly covered the difference in price between our car in Romania and this car. We are so blessed and thankful to God that he is faithful and that he is our loving provider!
Click on the picture below and you will be able to download and print off this update!
