Thanksgiving Prayers

Thanksgiving is a time in which we celebrate and thank God for all of the wonderful blessings that he has given us.  The first people who celebrated this day did it to show their thanks for the bountiful harvest and for God'a providence in their lives.

God provided a wonderful bounty for our thanksgiving feast with all the kids who have been and are in our program.

Jesus once used an illustration that just like crops, in people's lives there are times of planting, watering, and harvesting.  Planting is when the the gospel and/or other Biblical truths are shared with someone so that they have the knowledge of what God has done for them.  Watering is when God works in their lives and we can be a part of helping the seeds to take root and grow into faith.  Harvesting is when the faith matures and the person decides to give their life to God and become one of his children.  It is really exciting to be a part of the harvest, we have experienced it before here in Romania and it is an unparalleled joy when someone that you love accepts Christ!  

Sandel, who was baptized just over a year ago, demonstrates the happiness we feel when someone we love comes to Christ.

The times of planting and watering, though, can be very trying on one's patience.  This is where we find ourselves at the moment, sometimes feeling like we're at the end of our rope.  Kids that we love and pour ourselves into are choosing to reject God even though they know the truth.  You may know the feeling when you long for someone that you love to accept God and it seems like after every step forward they take two steps back.  It is excruciating and exhausting and no matter how much we cry out to God to save them it just seems like nothing is happening.  

Others lack respect and seem to do all they can to try our patience.  We try to teach the truth at youth group but we can hardly get a word in edgewise.  After practically every sentence comments are made and the group explodes.  Even at math tutoring after an hour I lost my cool after taking twice as long to do the lesson as it should have because they wouldn't stop talking.  Sometimes it seems like things are out of control and it is a struggle to know what to do so that we can maintain control.

Satan is working here in a big way.  He is feeding these kids and the people here in general lies that are designed to keep them away from God.  He is using discouragements to sap our energy and will to keep fighting.  He has a huge foothold here and he is using that to his full advantage.  But our biggest reason to be thankful right now is that God is on our side!  He is more powerful than the evil one by far and he has a good plan for each of us.  His plan will be fulfilled even if it takes longer than we would like, which is usually the case, hence the need for supernatural patience.

We are so thankful for all that God has done for us.  We are thankful for our wonderful family and friends who faithfully support us financially and in prayer.  We are thankful for our church families and for all of the people who are making sure we are always taken care of.

We are thankful for the calling that God has given us to minister to the abandoned kids in Romania.  We are thankful for our kids, even if they aren't always so well behaved.

We are thankful for the car that God provided through my old place of work Extol Inc.  We are thankful for our great apartment and for all of the friends that God has placed in our lives here in Romania.  The list could go on and on, you get the picture.

Please pray extra hard right now for those who are wrestling with the truth and who feel like it would be easier to give up than to pursue a relationship with God.  Please pray for us that in these hard times we would be able to keep our eyes on God and on his long term plan and to not get discouraged because we want instant results.  Please pray that God will work through us and give us glimpses of his plan and how it will be fulfilled.  Please pray for resilience, wisdom, and strength for us as we continue to fight this battle.  Thanks so much and happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Happenings

This fall has been flying by and it is hard to believe that all of our programs and classes have been going on for a month already.  We've been keeping busy with lots of extra things too. 

We took the boys from the Alternate Transition House to play soccer with some of the guys from church.  It was chilly but they all had a great time, along with Steven who played with them.  The boys are doing well but some are struggling trying to get jobs so please pray for them.  Also pray that they have the resolve to continue with the program and for them to be open to a relationship with God.

Youth group continues to go well and we are enjoying going through the book of 1 John.  We took a break this week to watch David Murphy's Testimony, he is a baseball player who does what he does for God's glory.  We wanted to encourage the kids to do well in all they do, including school, which most don't take seriously.

We always play fun games in youth group, a lot from the show Minute to Win It.  The kids love these challenge games and it is usually pretty funny watching them do it.

We have an intern, Audrey who stayed with us for a week and got to see what we do here.  We enjoyed having her with us and we worked on learning some Romanian at the same time.  She is staying here for three months and will have had a chance to work in all areas of our ministry.

Our classes continue to go well with the kids, we enjoy all of the hugs and kisses that we get every time we see the younger ones.  Many of them live near us so we often see them when we're out and about.  Sometimes we feel like celebrities because we get mobbed by lots of kids! 

Here is a class of kids that are working on the color wheel lesson that we taught.

Here are their finished products, very nice! 

The boys at the transition program are doing well too, here they are showing off some new soccer jerseys that were donated.  They have started a building/carpentry class that will last for four months.

The boys enjoyed helping to put our new winter tires on the car.  The tires on the car originally were summer tires and Romania has a winter tire law.  Also the plowing isn't always the greatest and sometimes doesn't happen for a long time after it snows so these tires should be a great help this winter.

Thanks so much to our friends John and Karen who made it possible to get these tires!

Please continue to pray for all of the kids we work with.  They need protection from the evil one as sometimes we feel like he is really working overtime to keep them believing lies so that they won't come to God.  Please continue to pray for us, for health, energy, and guidance.  Thanks so much!

New Beginnings

Every year the arrival of fall brings with it cooler temperatures, shorter days, changing colors, and the beginning of all of our programs again after a long summer of camps and special ministries.  The beginning of the school year is always an exciting and busy time, and this year it was even more so because of a couple extra programs starting.

We welcomed six boys into the boys transition house (BTH) that is run by our fellow staff member Doru.  These boys have all aged out of the orphanage and are able to come into our program to learn how to make a future for themselves.  They will learn construction and building skills and also other useful things like English, cooking, budgeting, and how to take care of their own place.

They are excited for the opportunity that they have to better their lives and to grow in so many ways.

We are teaching them how to cook so that when they get out of the program they eat more than just french fries which is the one thing most of them already know how to make.

We made some Mexican food, complete with homemade tortillas, Mexican rice, and chicken.

We found out that Ciprian is an excellent tortilla roller even though he said he didn't want to learn how to cook because someday he'll have a wife that will do that for him!

Florin reeaally enjoyed cutting up the chicken!  Sandel didn't get to help in the kitchen because he was busy getting tutored in Biology by Rebecca so that he can pass the college entrance exam next year.

Two other programs also got started, the girls transition house (GTH) and a totally new one, the alternate transition house (ATH).  The girls are taking different classes and also learning how to live independently.  The boys that are in the ATH are staying in an apartment and are learning many of the same skills as the girls while looking for jobs.

We started youth group as well and are so glad that this year we have a new orphanage director who is letting us talk about God freely!  We are doing a bible study on 1 John and focusing on what true love is and how we can live a life that pleases God.

Another change in our program is that I (Mark) am not teaching English anymore and instead Rebecca and I are teaching art together.  We are excited to give the kids a more hands on lesson and hope that we will be able to have lots of fun with this.

Here is Mariana, one of our fellow staff, with a class of kids and their coloring pages.

Please continue to pray for the kids that we are working with, that we will be able to have a great time together and for us to be able to show them the love of Christ at all times.  Pray for us and our fellow staff for energy, ideas and guidance.  Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!

It Happened On A Very Special Day NINE years ago...

 Wow, today is a special day, it is our nine year wedding anniversary!  Nine years ago today on a cold and blustery October's day we were pledging ourselves to each other and starting a new life together.  We vowed to stay together and by each others sides through thick and thin, no matter where life would take us. 

We wouldn't have guessed that nine years later we would be spending our anniversary in Europe, Eastern Europe no less.  Now we have spent one-third of our married lives working in Romania since we've been here for three years already.

Our fellow workers and friends Steven and Haley were married on the same day only five years later, so we decided to go celebrate our anniversary together in the beautiful medieval town of Sighisoara.  We've been there before but went by train, this time we drove and finally found it after some scenic detours, aka the road names aren't marked well here so we sometimes had to drive in circles to find the way.

We stayed at a guest house with traditionally decorated rooms.  This part of the country was inhabited by Germans from the 1200's so this looks more German than Romanian.

We had a really nice view!

This is one of the nine defense towers that form part of the wall around the citadel.  Sighisoara is one of the best preserved walled cities that is still inhabited in Europe.

This covered staircase takes people up to the old German church and graveyard.

One of the graveyard entrances, it was so interesting to see all the German names there.

This is one of the things we love the most about Sighisoara, the winding streets lined with brightly colored houses.  It has a sort of fairy tale feel to it and is really fun to explore and discover the most beautiful places.

 Here we are by one of the citadel gates with a cool neighborhood behind us.

Even the places that haven't been recently restored have lots of character, showing the bricks under the plaster and the different colors of paint, it gives a real old world feeling.

 We had a wonderful European breakfast at a nice little cafe.  With our coffee we enjoyed croissants, bread, eggs with cheese and an assortment of different meats, veggies, and jams.  The weather was really nice, right around 70, and it was really fun sitting outside at the cafe and enjoying each others company.

On the way back home we stopped by to see several of the fortified churches, just about every little village has one.  In the old days the people here didn't have enough resources to fortify every town, so they just built fortifications around their churches so they would have somewhere secure to defend themselves against invaders.

We stopped by the ruins of an old fortress, Rupea Fortress which is currently being restored so unfortunately we couldn't go inside.  It is pretty impressive though as it sits on a hill that towers over the rest of the surrounding land.

The drive back was really fun because we could just stop and explore wherever we wanted to.  

Another fortified church.

On the way home the main highway was closed so we had to take a detour - a winding road through the mountains and many small villages.  It took a lot longer to get home but we enjoyed the beautiful scenery that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.  This mountain was the standout place and it was just a reminder of God's awesomeness and how wonderful his creation is.

As we start our tenth year of marriage we want to take a moment to thank all of you who have been with us and supporting us all this time.  Thank you for praying for us especially since we have been in Romania working far from home.  Thank you so much for being a part of our lives.  Please continue to pray for us to have a strong marriage that can be a good example to the kids that we work with so that we can show them what a godly marriage looks like.

Rebecca's Thoughts

Someone told me on vacation that basically everything they see about what we do is filled with happiness.  And while it is true that there is an amazing amount of joy in what we do, there is also so much pain.  (But who takes and publishes pictures of an unhappy child?)  Sometimes we feel so helpless, like we can't do what we would like to change the situation here.  I thought about this a lot during vacation.  If you remember my post after last summer, you would know that vacation provokes many thoughts.  For the few people that did see us while we were home for my sister's wedding, maybe you weren't aware of how I was really feeling.  I tried my best to hide it...but I didn't want to be there.  Ouch, I know...

There was only one place I wanted to be, next to "my kid."  I wanted to be there for the frustration, fears, despair and anger felt.  For all you who are parents, how many of you could go on vacation (alone) if you felt your child really needs you?  That is how I felt.  My kid kept telling me to have fun and enjoy myself, and I did, but it wasn't easy when every free thought I was thinking and worrying about what was happening halfway around the world.

I am glad to be able to say that the future of my kid is looking positive, H2H will be helping to build a bright future.  But what about the others, our organization touches around 600 of the 100,000 orphans here.  And even of the 600, there is no way we can help every one.  Some of them go out into a society that doesn't support them like it should and are basically alone.

When you think about the negatives, it can be so overwhelming.  But I remember something I read one time about a man throwing starfish back into the sea.  A person asked him why, what was the point when you can't save them all.  And he replied that for the one he just threw back in, it mattered.  We can't focus on what we can't change, what we can't do, on those we can't reach.  We have to focus on what is before us, what we can change, what we can do.  For Mark and I, we get to love the kids who let us into their lives as well as teach them about what things matter most.  For you readers, you can support us like most of you already do.  In prayer most importantly, we and the kids need it so much.  And secondly, through financial support.  God has blessed us and we are fully supported.  But you can always give (directly to h2h) to help the kids.  It helps us help them...from shoes to a chance to succeed and everything in between.  I can't stop children from showing up abandoned, or the tears over their families who couldn't support them like they needed, or all the hard things they go through.  But I can be there, I can listen and let them know about the only hope we all have.  And you can be here too...by physically coming or knowing that your support is what makes us be able to be here.  And we will keep showing pictures showing the joy of ones chosen to be thrown back in.

Summer 2012 Recap - Romania

Summer in Romania is always a highly anticipated time that we look forward to all year long.  Working with the kids through summer camps enables us to minister to them in a whole new way.  We get to take them out of their normal environment where feelings like loneliness, anxiety, and oppression are ever present and bring them into a high energy, fun filled time.  We also have more freedom to talk and study about God and to share His good news with them and make it real through our testimonies and interactions.  This summer was no exception and we really had a great time!

We started out with a special camp for teen girls and two trips to the mountains with some of the older boys.  The girls enjoyed an olympic themed camp at the girls transition house.  In the mountains with the boys we set up our tents inside the protective fence of the mountain rescue station to keep out the bears and other animals that roam around there.  We did lots of hiking and sight seeing and we had many chances to talk about God and what it means to be his follower.  We focused on how we can honor God, grow, and be joyful in the trials that we face.  We also followed the life of David and used him as an example of how to be a man after God’s own heart.  We had an awesome group of guys come from America to help us and they contributed a lot to making these trips great.

We then started day camps with the younger kids, from ages 3 to 14.  We brought them out to our transition house in small groups and did a sort of VBS program with them.  We sang, learned about the Bible, and did olympic themed crafts and games.  The weather was so hot most of the time, usually mid 90’s to low 100’s, so we played lots of water games like duck, duck, goose with water balloons, balloon toss, and slipping and sliding on a giant slip and slide.  These camps were the highlight of the kid’s summer and they never wanted to leave!

After two more older boys and girls camps were finished a small team from FairHaven Ministries, our home church, came to help us run a fun VBS program for the kids at one of the orphanages.  We had a really great time ministering with them and they did a great job of working with the kids.  We were really encouraged and blessed by them coming and are hoping that more people will come on a trip that we are planning for next year. 

At the very end of summer we headed to Vienna, Austria to visit our friend Carolin, who was an intern with H2H last year.  We really enjoyed touring three palaces, seeing impressive cathedrals, going to a Mozart & Strauss concert, and eating amazing food.  We then headed home for a short visit which included being part of Rebecca’s sister’s wedding.  We enjoyed seeing family and friends but our time home was way too short to even begin to see everyone.  Don’t worry though, we’ll be back sometime around Christmas for a longer time so we’ll get to share with our churches and spend more time visiting with everyone.

Please Continue To Pray:

- Praise God for such a great summer. He sustained us even as it was very busy and taxing.  Pray that the seeds that we planted will grow into faith that will be put into action

- School is starting soon!  Please pray for guidance and wisdom for us and all of our staff as we plan our classes and work on scheduling

- Both transition programs will also be starting soon, for the first time in two years for the girls program. Pray for the kids coming into the programs that they will have a great growing experience in the programs.  Please also pray for all the staff that will be involved in these challenging programs

- None of our students passed the college entrance exam, only 40% in the whole country did!  Pray for their next steps as some enter into our transition programs and others will be helped by H2H to find apartments and jobs.  Some will continue to study to take the test again next year

- Praise God for all of our support partners and pray that God will bless them and continue to provide for us.  Pray also that H2H and our churches will be fully funded.  Pray for staff unity and for a great year in which we can see a big change!

To download a printable copy of our newsletter click on the picture of it below and download it.

Also check out the promotional video that H2H had made with all new footage from this spring!

New H2H Promotional Video

Thanks as always for your prayers and support, we couldn’t do this without you!