Wow, October is over just like that… it might have something to do with us being in Europe for half of it and then trying to play catch up after that, it’s been really busy! So we’d like to take a moment to update you all on how things are going, how are trip was, and all things that can help inform the wonderful prayers that you offer up on our behalf. We hope to soon have a blog post up about our trip as well, so check back soon!
To summarize, our trip went really well. We traveled for 24 hours to get to our friends’ place in Finland. We spent a long weekend with them and it was so nice, relaxing, and fun. It was cold but beautiful fall weather so we were able to take walks and our time was really enjoyable. We were spoiled by the Lorenz family who we know from when I worked with Rainer in college! It is amazing that we’ve been able to keep in touch and even go to visit a couple times. From there we flew to Romania and had a wonderful time there, a little faster pace because we had lots to figure out and lots of visits to fit in. We were able to see many of the young adults we know that we worked with when we lived in Romania. Marius, one of our closest, stayed with us much of the time in the nice little apartment we rented from AirBNB. We were able to work with the missionaries there from our former organization H2H to go to the orphanages a few times. Honestly those times were the hardest, and the easiest to see how much time has passed since we were there. Most of the kids we know and love are gone now, and those that are there were really too young to remember us much. We did still enjoy seeing the few kids that we still know but it wasn’t the same anymore there. Our visits with the older kids that we know who are living on their own were really nice and it’s really nice to keep those connections alive. Traveling went pretty well all things considered, we had some hiccups along the way like a canceled flight and almost being on the wrong train, but everything worked out. We are thankful that Raelyn did well adjusting and she just loved meeting everyone and playing with everyone. She misses them a lot now, as do we. We are so thankful we had the opportunity to take this trip and we thank you for all you prayers along the way!
At church I was very busy trying to figure out how to finally move our Nursery back to its normal location near the sanctuary, so I had to do some rearranging of the team and thankfully training some new people to join that and the Children’s Worship team. It is a blessing that people have been willing to step into new roles in order to make these ministries have sustainable teams that aren’t on so much that people get burned out. Soon we will need a few more workers due to some transitions forthcoming, but the blessing is that nearly everyone who attends our church is involved in many different ways to serve. There is just so much need for service that we still need more workers! So this is an ongoing prayer request, even as we’d like to increase our capacity to serve the schools and to have a college ministry (since there are so many moving into the neighborhood).
Our youth group has been going well, though it’s been a hard fall due to so many of the youth being so busy at school and with extra activities like sports and plays. We’ve been really down in numbers, but the depth that we are going to with those that are there is amazing. Studying through the book of Mark has been great, we aren’t even done with the first chapter because we’ve encountered so many questions and thoughts! This week even I was leading the study and we were talking about how Jesus silenced the demons he was driving out because they knew who he was (Mark 1:34). As we looked into why he wouldn’t let them speak, we looked at parallel passages and one girl had a revelation: she was shocked that ”Jesus is God and the Messiah!” She has accepted Christ previously but said she now more fully understands who He is. This wasn’t even a question/revelation I was anticipating because I take this for granted, but God was at work and showing that his word is alive! It has been great to be studying the Bible with the youth, and also has been a learning experience, we as leaders are having to practice much self control to not just give the answers that we know, but to help the youth find the answers in the Bible, thus teaching them how to study on their own. Please pray for our group as we continue to seek transformed lives and freedom from what the world is putting on them, which are part of their discipleship.
We had a really fun end of the month event - a bonfire at one of the leader's houses. We roasted hot dogs, had chili and salads, fresh pressed cider, and s'mores. One of the youth brought their ukulele and spontaneously led us in some praise songs, and I shared about the origins of Halloween and how we as Christians can let our light shine on a very dark holiday. The feeling of the night was joyous and the fellowship was wonderful, we love our youth here!
One last thing that we’d like to invite you to pray about with us, as we come to the end of the year, is for provision of the rest of our support for the year and even a head start on next year. We have been really blessed with many supporters who are committed to our ministry and also many who have generously given at other times. So far we have amazingly started each year in the positive which is really great because we still only have about 80% of our support pledged for each year. So we pray for a bountiful year end, for God to move on hearts of people who value the ministry that God has called us to and who heed his call to generously support our ministry. We can’t overstate our thankfulness to all of you for your prayers and for all those who give.
We hope that you all are doing well and we pray God’s blessings on you all!
Love,
Mark, Rebecca and Raelyn
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