Finland and Romania Trip 2018

Do you remember what you did two months ago? Maybe? Well we were on our big European vacation! We started out packing up and eating donuts to find our flight was cancelled! After getting that worked out and getting new train tickets, we were on our way. On the way to Finland Raelyn did really well. Those long flights make even us adults a little cranky. And then we almost didn't get into the right part of our train to Vaasa. Thankfully the man Mark was sitting by helped us realize we had to move because the train was going to separate and go into two different directions.  By that time our luggage seemed so heavy, but we made it! Rainer and the boys picked us up and we had a late dinner with the family, like 9pm which is 2pm here, so more than 24 hours after we left our house.

Rainer and Mark, a friendship forged more than 15 years ago!

Our jet lag wasn't too bad, but Raelyn had a hard time adjusting to the time change and often woke up at night needing to play a bit before going back to bed. She did really well though, once we accepted her inability to sleep. The Lorenz family helped us feel right at home and on vacation! They did everything for us except chew our food ;) It had been 4 years since we saw them last, but besides the obvious growth in the "children," we reconnected so fast and it was like only a few months had passed.

They left their trampoline up for Raelyn, and she loved it so much! It was great to have an activity for her when she just needed to get out some energy or crankiness. She loved playing with everyone, but especially Kalle. He has braces and she loved his teeth jewelry. Almost as much as she loved going up the stairs. It was so nice that we didn't have to chase her every single moment!

We took a couple of nice long walks around their house in Finland. Finland is the same latitude as Alaska so it is very beautiful and has many forests. We were able to have many good conversations as well. It was nice to slow down, enjoy tea, conversations and try the licorice ice cream!

Lea, Katri, Rainer, Mia. 15 years ago when we got married, the two then young girls were so excited to come and see my dress. They still remember our wedding! 

The whole family L-R (bottom): Lea, Mark, Raelyn, Rebecca, Katri, Rainer 

top: Silas, Lasse, Mia, Kalle

We are thankful that we were all able to be together! Lasse goes to school out of town and Lea is away at college, but they were both able to come home for the weekend. We enjoyed our stay with them immensely.

After our long weekend in Finland, we flew to Romania. We arrived in Romania already adjusted to the time, so that was a nice bonus! We were able to be very flexible with our schedule and join h2h activities when it worked for us. We stayed at an airbnb in the city. This was nice because it allowed us to invite guests to our place and have it feel private. 

Raelyn the acrobat! She did well, and we even managed at least a little nap every day!

Our first full day we went to the orphanage which we had worked in since our first trip in 2007. Things have changed a lot since then, mostly the kids. Those who were young then are now about ready to age out and leave. Also the foster care system has grown a lot and many of the kids are now in families or back with their own families. So there were less kids and different kids there on this trip. It kind of felt like starting over, save a few kids we know really well. One of the reasons we really wanted to make it there this year is that our sweet little Alina is now 17! She finished school at 10th grade and is just waiting. We don't know where she will end up, so we really wanted to see her.

Raelyn had a blast with the kids who wanted to play with her.

 These girls kept calling her Cadence. Cadence was there with her family in the summer :)

The second full day we were able to see two of the young adults who made a big impact on us. Elena, who wrote us the letter in 2008 that made us prayerfully consider coming full time to Romania. And Marius. And if you know us at all, you know who he is! He was able to stay with us part of the time and it was so good! We felt like we were able to regain that close feeling of friendship and he got to meet and be loved by Raelyn. She had seen Marius on video chat before and she just attached to him from the start. It was like she understood that he is a part of our family.

 She loved to sit on his lap and feed him. Well, she loved anything and everything with him.

 Elena. We saw her a couple times and had a nice time having desserts and walking through the city. She is very dear to us and we were thankful for the conversations we had.

We went to another orphanage we had worked a little at. We also went down to the boy's transition house for the opening of the girls & boys transition programs. We went a saw very briefly an older lady from that town who was always telling us we had to have children. She was so happy to meet Raelyn. She depends on her grown children for financial support. We may complain here about social security, but we are really fortunate and have much to be thankful for. 

We also saw Florin & Ramona and were able to here about their active involvement in their church. It was refreshing to hear about young adults eager to cooperate with the Holy Spirit! 

We also spent time with Jen & Jenny, Cristi & Amy, Tom & Gila and others we know well from the five years we served in Romania. We have many, many more pictures and stories. In short, Romania still has that home feeling. We still love seeing our kids, although most are in their 20's now! 

Our animal lover

Oh yeah, we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in Romania. We did go out to a nice restaurant and had a very romantic time...with our toddler :) It really wasn't an after thought, being with the kids we love and miss deeply was very special.

 Until next time...praying for all of these precious kids!

November Prayer Update

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

September Prayer Update

Hi again!  It has admittedly been far too long since we've used our blog, much in part to not being able to post pictures of Raelyn while she was in foster care, and due to the rise of easier things like Instagram.  However we realize that staying connected is really important and this blog is a good way to communicate.  We've been thinking about using the blog to give more prayer requests and ministry updates, so here is our start.

I write this to you on the eve of our going on our big trip, first to spend time with friends in Finland and then on to Romania to see our kiddos (who mostly aren’t little kids anymore).  We enjoyed our trip to San Diego a few weeks ago to see our friends who we worked with in Romania, and Raelyn really hit it off with their daughter who is her age.  Raelyn did well flying so we are praying that is the case for this trip as well.  We will drive to Chicago and fly 9 hours straight to Finland, then take a 4 hour train ride to our friend’s place.  It will be a long day of traveling, so we ask for prayers that all will go well and that we’ll be able to rest on the way.  Also for Raelyn to be able to travel well and maybe sleep a lot, since normally she is very active and wants to run around, which won’t be possible on the plane!

Raelyn got a cold after we came back from San Diego and is still recovering from that so we’ve been low on sleep.  Also Rebecca’s jaw (mainly left side) has been hurting her pretty badly at times.  We’ve been praying a lot for healing and we invite you to join us as well.  We were blessed by some help from friends to buy a new bike to replace my old one which was stolen last month.  It has been nice to have a bike again to commute to church whenever I can, and I was able to upgrade some of my safety/security equipment.  Then a couple of weeks ago Rebeccas computer died and we had to have the motherboard replaced, which was very expensive, but she uses it for scheduling prayer ministry so we felt it was necessary.  Still, we are thankful for all that God has done for us and continues to do and we praise his name for all of his blessings in our lives.

Things have been going well at church, I have spent a lot of effort getting everything ready for us being gone.  It has been like a jigsaw puzzle with many moving parts but it seems like everything is in place now.  We are still praying for more workers in our children and youth areas.  God has given some guidance on how to restructure a little and shift people around, also asking a few new people to help, and it seems like when we get back we will be able to do some building up and strengthening of our teams.  

In our youth group we have started studying the book of Mark, with a vision of teaching the youth how to study the Bible for themselves.  Last week there was a lot of excitement around figuring some things out and we hope that continues.  We also desire to continue to be led by the Holy Spirit and to be open to times of spending time listening to the Lord, journalling, and/or asking for inner healing.  The leadership team is also rotating leading responsibilities which is how we are keeping it going while I am gone.  We sense that the enemy will ramp up attacks and ask for prayer for our youth and us leaders.  We ask for protection for their housing situations and for more friends to come.  

An answer to prayer has come in that a family from church was facing eviction and it was looking like moving in with some friends in Florida was the only option.  We prayed for something to open up and as they were packing to go something did.  It is not too far away in Wyoming.  We are praying that this family, which has two youth in the youth group and other children in our children’s ministries, will stay with us as we really enjoy having them as a part of our church family.

It is so hard to believe that fall is here, and we’re finally getting some fall weather.  Thanks again for all of your prayers, we appreciate it so much!

Love you all!

Mark, Rebecca and Raelyn

Easter Celebration at Gold Avenue Church

This has been a very joyful week for me as I reflect on everything that God is doing in our midst.  On Easter Sunday nine people stood up in front of our church and professed their faith in God, sharing with us their stories of how Jesus has worked in their lives up to this point.  Five were baptized for the first time and two participated in a remembrance of their baptism.  This was a day to remember for our church as we have been regularly praying for revival and are excited to see how God is answering those prayers.

The preparation for this day began last fall when I started hearing from some of the youth in our youth group that they were thinking of being baptized and professing their faith.  I was also working on preparing materials for a change to our communion policy that would allow all baptized believers, including children, to participate in the Lord's Supper.  It seemed like the Lord was leading to have a class of preparation that would be available to our youth and anyone else in the congregation who wished to profess their faith and be baptized if they hadn't been already.

Twelve people took the class, and the preparations for it and the Easter service when we would celebrate their professions and baptisms kept me very busy this spring.  We studied the foundations of our faith including getting to know God the Father, Jesus the Son, and The Holy Spirit.  We learned what it looks like to have a vibrant relationship with God, living as a new creation and using our gifts to build up the church and to share the gospel with those who don't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Each person taking the class had a mentor who walked with them through it and helped guide them through the many questions and faith building exercises.  It was a blessing to be able to lead this class and to be a part of their discipleship.

On the big day we started out with wonderful worship, singing praises to God.

Pastor Dave then led the time of Profession of Faith, where each person who had gone through the class was able to share their faith story and to affirm their relationship with God (three youth are waiting to do theirs at a later date when more family will be able to join them).

We love that we had such a diverse group.  We pray on a continual basis that God will bless us with more diversity as a church so that we can be a welcoming place for all who come here.

One of our youth had the great joy of professing her faith and being baptized together with her dad, we are so thankful for how the Lord has brought their family to our church!

Pastor Gina gave a wonderful sermon on the gospel which tied in most of the faith stories that had been shared during the professions of faith.  There was an invitation at the end that many responded to, we praise the Lord that he was working in powerful ways.  

You can listen to the sermon and follow along just like these guys by clicking the picture below.

Then followed the remembrances and the baptisms. 

I was very blessed and privileged to be able to take part in the baptisms, it was a first for me but I'm praying that there will be many more to come.  Please join me in praying for all those that took this step of faith on Sunday, for God's blessing, protection and leading in their lives.

To close out the service we celebrated communion, welcoming the children for the first time.  As we remember Jesus' sacrifice for us through communion, we come before him with thanksgiving and gratitude for the grace that he poured out on us.  Jesus welcomed the children to come to him and it was really special to see that welcome extended to participating in communion along with the adults.

Praise Jesus for all He has done here!  Thank you for praying for us and our ministry, we continue to ask for prayers for God's blessing, protection and leading in our family, church, and ministry.  Happy Easter!

October 2017

We started off the month of October by buying a new camera!  After being the camp photographer over the summer and using a pro quality camera, I realized that it was time for an upgrade for me.  I researched for months about what kind, what brand, which model, which lenses, so many options!

  We went to the camera store a couple times to try out a couple models, but all along I had one in my sights: the Fujifilm X-T10.  I bought it used since it is the previous model so it was less than half the price of the new one.  So far we love it and the pictures we are getting from it.  Especially with the wide aperture fast prime lens (50mm equivalent) the pictures are just what I've been looking for.  It is really fun to take pictures with this camera!  We are very thankful for some financial gifts that made it possible for us to buy this, God provides!

It has been so much easier to go and do things with R since she is on a consistent napping schedule and she really loves to go out and watch people.  It is such a bummer that we can't post pictures of her yet because we have so many cute ones!

My Mom and step Dad took us out to Brann's where we enjoyed a good meal.  R loved the food, she loves to eat!

We also went out to sushi with our friends Rob and Amanda.  Of course R wanted some because, well, it's food, but she's not quite ready for raw fish yet.

Right before we were going to go to Sushi Yama downtown, the power went out all over for reasons unknown.  So we went a little further out to Ju Sushi which is a little more upscale.  Both have great sushi!

We enjoyed seeing this neighborhood cat on our porch quite often.  He really liked the chair that we needed to find a new home for.  R would make purring noises when she saw him!

We went one Saturday to make applesauce with Rebecca's parents.  We had fun watching R pick out her own apple and take a bite!

We used our new food mill that Rebecca's parents got us, it is awesome! 

 After boiling the apples with the skin and cores and all, they just go through and the mill and applesauce comes out the chute and the rest comes out the end.  We have enough to last for the year hopefully, it turned out great!

R got to enjoy a to from our childhood, the Little People farm.  The door still goes "moo" when you open it, fun!

We made some Korean food when we had our friend Jay over.  All three of us love Korean food and Jay especially since he has spent much time in South Korea and enjoys ministering there.

We had the privilege of going and seeing our twin nieces be baptized.  We enjoy being an Uncle and Aunt and are so happy for my sister and brother in law.

We enjoyed the get together afterwards at my sister's house.  Here I am with her and my "little" brother.  

She loves to empty out whatever she can and enjoys climbing into whatever she can.

Here is one of her 11 month pictures, we have taken a special picture each month for her to put in her baby photo album.  It is a fun way to see the progression of her growth, it is hard to believe how big she is now!

We enjoyed seeing beautiful fall colors all around us.  While we didn't get out for a scenic color tour, we had lots of color right in our own neighborhood.

There were still quite a few nice days to take walks and we took full advantage of that.

One evening I went to a football game that one of our youth from our youth group was playing in.  It was fun to go and show support and to cheer him on.  Being able to make connections like that outside of the group is really great and I think means a lot to the students.

We also went to watch a GVSU football game, it was an away game that was shown on the big screen at GVSU.  We got to sit on the field which was pretty fun.  We went with my Dad and step mom and sister and brother in law.

We didn't do much for Halloween because I had a youth group party at church.  That was a lot of fun, in order to get the youth to come we asked them what they would like to do.  So we played video games and made snacks in the kitchen, along with having pizza for dinner.  Rebecca and R stayed home and went to visit neighbors.  It went well until our neighbor who was dressed as Chewbacca from Star Wars picked up R and she broke down crying.  Maybe she'll enjoy it more next year!

We were also able to participate in a couple prayer trainings at church.  We learned more about intercession, which is praying for others in specific and persistent ways.  As a church we recognize that all areas of ministry need people covering them in prayer, but especially the leaders.  That includes us as we are involved in leading many ministries here.  We are thankful that we have many people who are committed to praying for us.  We send out periodic emails giving prayer requests and updates about how God has answered previous requests.  If you aren't a part of that and you would like to be, please let us know.  We are trying to raise up a team of intercessors for our youth group as well so if that is something that interests you please let us know!