Vacation/Furlough in Michigan

We have arrived safely back in Romania after a month at home in Michigan.  We arrived there just before Christmas so we were able to celebrate Christmas with our family and friends.

  We love giving gifts from the glass factory that we found up north, they make such beautiful things.

We celebrated Christmas many times with all of our family.

We spent lots of time with friends too, sometimes staying at their places when it worked out.

We're always amazed at how fast our friend's kids are growing!

We visited with family or friends just about every evening and also for some breakfasts and lunches.  We really enjoyed getting to see everyone and had a good time spending time with them.  Here we are eating sushi, yum!

Our friend Dori came and visited from Denver...

...So we took her to see some Michigan sights, like all the ice on the pier in Grand Haven.

Michigan really is a beautiful place!

We had great weather with very little snow right until the end which is pretty unusual for January in Michigan.  It was very nice for traveling all around like we did.

We were able to speak about what we're doing in Romania at all four of our supporting churches.  We were very encouraged by all of the people who said that they are praying for us and our ministry.  We know that this would not be possible without all of you so thank you very much!

We really enjoyed our time home and wanted to say thank you to everyone for your hospitality and kindness.  We did miss our kids in Romania though so it was time to come back and see them.  Now we're trying to get back into the swing of things and beat this jet-lag   We are looking forward to what this year has in store for us and our kids!

Christmas Parties and Celebrations in Romania Part 2

Celebrating Christmas in Romania is always a fun time where we get to sit back and watch our kids sing, dance, and recite poetry.  Before we arrived in the USA for our month long vacation/furlough we were able to take part in many of these programs and we really enjoyed it.

At the girls school in Alexandria we saw many of the girls that we don't get to work with normally during the year.

They performed many funny skits.

We also handed out Christmas presents there and it was really fun to see the girls react to their wonderful gifts.

Then we went to another celebration put on by the kids in the other orphanages that we work in.

We always love being there for the kids that we love so much, like Georgiana who still calls Rebecca Mommy.

Christmas time is always such a fun time to be with the kids and to be able to remind them about the real reason that we celebrate Christmas, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Christmas Parties and Celebrations in Romania Part 1

We've arrived at home in the states and have been enjoying spending time with family and friends.  This is a great season to be home because we get to celebrate Christmas with everyone.  Before we got here we also had many parties and celebrations with the kids in Romania.  

For our Christmas parties at the boys special needs school we watched "Mikey's Christmas Carol" and had lots of snacks.  We also talked about the real reason for the season - Jesus Christ's birth.

We had more parties at Sanda and Mariana's place for the kids in the other orphanages.  We watched more movies and had good snacks.

Shhh, don't tell anyone, we let some of them jump on the couch!

All of the kids had lots of fun and we pretty much memorized the story of "A Christmas Carol."

We also had a christmas party with our Bible study group from church.  We did a white elephant gift exchange and had lots of yummy desserts.

The first Christmas program was at the boys school.  We enjoyed seeing all the kids that we work with up on stage singing their hearts out.

We also enjoyed watching some funny skits.

After the program we handed out their Christmas presents.  You can imagine how excited they were to receive some very nice presents.

This picture says it all, thanks for all those that donated items for our Christmas gifts!  

Homeward Bound

It is hard to believe that we are coming home in just about one week!!! We will arrive at the Grand Rapids Airport on flight BA6961 from Chicago on Sunday December 23 at 7:50pm. We will be home for around a month. We are really looking forward to seeing everybody and would like to start scheduling visits. Please let us know when we can to get together, here are the dates we are free, we can do breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Please let us know sooner rather than later so that we can try to see everybody!

January: 2,7,9,10,11,12,14,15,16,17,18,21,22,23

Even on some of the dates not listed we have lunch times open so if none of these work let us know and we'll try to work something out.

We will be speaking at all of our supporting churches, so if you'd like to see us during one of those services, they are listed below.

Evergreen Ministries 4512 48th Avenue, Hudsonville, MI 49426

Sunday, December 30, 9:15 & 11:00 am

FairHaven Ministries 2900 Baldwin St., Hudsonville MI 49426

Sunday, January 6, 9:00 & 10:45 am

At 4:00 pm January 6, we will have a get together at FairHaven where we will be able to share for a longer time about what we've been doing in Romania. We will be able to share more pictures and a video and answer questions, and there will also be pizza provided. We will also talk about a trip that we are putting together for those who want to come and volunteer in Romania, so if you are interested in that be sure to come. All are welcome and we'd love to see you there.

Red Pine Bible Church 17195 Red Pine Dr, Kent City, MI 49330

Sunday, January 13, 10:30 am

Caledonia CRC 9957 Cherry Valley SE, Caledonia, MI 49316

Sunday, January 20, 9:30 am

As usual, we will need to borrow a car while we're home, we will be traveling around a lot for our get togethers and we won't be able to do it without a car. If you have an extra one and can lend it to us or you know someone else who does, please let us know. Please ask around for us as it would be a huge help to us.

We hope you are doing great and are looking forward to seeing you!

With love from Romania,

Mark & Rebecca

Meaningful Encouragement

Ever since we last wrote about how hard of a time we were having with the kids we have been encouraged by so many people!  We want to say thank you for your prayers, kind words, and helpful Bible verses.  It would be so incredibly hard to do this kind of work alone, but thankfully we aren't.  We have so many great people in our lives and even though we are separated by distance, we are close through our heavenly father.

Things have been going better in the last couple weeks.  One of our biggest prayers was answered, our friend Marius got a job at Starbucks!  It hasn't been the easiest for him and his supervisor was hard to work with, but he is changing locations this week so we pray that it will be better.  He still needs prayers to come to Christ as do so many of the kids that we work with.  Other things have been going better too like our youth group.  The kids seem to be getting the idea that we can't function well as a group if they aren't respectful of us and each other.  Kids are kids though, we just need to continue to have patience!

We went on a little trip to the glass factory and then stopped by the lake with our friends Steven, Haley and Audrey.

We had an early birthday dinner for Rebecca: pork chops with savory cranberry sauce and spiced baked potatoes.  For dessert we had molten lava cakes.

Here is a Swiss Cake that I made for no special reason other than to enjoy an awesome dessert.  I started with the chocolate cake, made marshmallow fluff for the filling and chocolate ganache for the frosting.  Lets just say that it was amazing, and there was enough leftover marshmallow fluff to make peanut butter fudge (for a christmas party) for the first time in Romania!

We attended a program for Saint Nicholas day on Dec 5 and enjoyed watching our kids sing, dance, and recite poetry.  This is the first of many to come very soon!

Me with my girl Mihaela after she danced so beautifully at the program.  We know how parents feel watching their children in school programs, it is great.

We got to see Aurelia at a Christmas party that we went to at one of the orphanages that Steven and Haley work in.  We used to work there too but now are working in a different city so we don't get to see these kids very often.  In addition to having a really fun time we also got lots of hugs and kisses from the kids.

Here is Rebecca helping to open a present during a game.

We put up some decorations in our apartment, these are glass ornaments that we got at the glass factory.  I made the boxes out of some cardboard we had laying around and we found these packing peanuts for snow. 

The lights are up in Bucharest!  This year they are more spectacular than ever with hundreds of different colored Christmas trees hanging over the main road through town.

And finally, we got our first snow of the year, and it is still going!  There is snow forecast for most of this week so it should be interesting, especially with parking.  Thank goodness our car has great winter tires that should allow us to get around easily and safely.

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!