Praise & Pray with Us
PRAISES
As a result of our January/February cell leader training, 7 cell groups have been launched (6 in one church, 1 in another church).
Cell leader training in a third church has been going well and will finish by the end of May.
Stephen has been accepted at one of his two choices for university studies beginning this Fall.
PRAYER NEEDS
Pray for a strong finish to our second cell leader training at a nearby village church.
Pray for our 2010 financial needs to be met. Giving commitments are currently at 73% of our full budget.
Pray for our transition back to the USA for one year of Partnership Building. Our travel date is June 12.
Pray for Stephen and Lydia's final weeks in their online school (May 28 is their last day). Stephen is a graduating senior; Lydia is finishing her junior year.
Monthly Prayer Guide from Prayernet.ro - Romania's prayer network (Click on this link, then click on "Prayer Points."
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By pauladunn, on July 26th, 2010
Well, we’ve officially been back in the States for 6 weeks. To be honest, emotionally it still feels like we have our “contacts in the wrong eyes”…see Scott’s blog on June 27. We know HOW to do everything, and the language is no problem, generally. One day I offended someone by using the word “toilet” (which is common in Europe) instead of “rest room”. And we forget how to pay for our meals at restaurants. The most difficult part, I think, is the tension between knowing friends have moved on over 4.5 years (which is healthy) and figuring out where one fits within their lives again. Well, then there is the overwhelming feeling we get every time we walk into a grocery store. 
 Since we last wrote, we celebrated Scott’s birthday with fireworks in downtown Columbus as a part of the annual 4th of July celebration. Okay…true, they weren’t specifically for HIS birthday…but we didn’t tell him that. Lydia participated in her first marching band activity, the 4th of July parade. It was a hot day…but she was awesome! Then came my birthday with a movie together and a week later our wedding anniversary.
 The second weekend in July was spent at the Tri-State Family Camp in East Liverpool, Ohio. We had a wonderful weekend sharing information, our stories and our love for Romania. We are thankful for the opportunity and the new relationships.
 Scott just returned from a week of vacation with is parents to see family in South Carolina. He had a great trip and got to splash in a few waves. This past week and this next week, Stephen and Lydia are participating in a re-entry seminar for missionary kids. This seminar is designed for high school/college age students who have spent a significant amount of time living overseas. Even though at first they were skeptical, today they told us they are having a great time and definately are glad they have gone. They will be back on Friday…following which I (Paula) leave for a two week visit to Romania. I will be checking in with friends and ministry contacts and spending some time with the Oaza children…and maybe a little relaxation. Please be in prayer for my trip that it will be beneficial to what God has in store.
Even though we have been asked to take the summer “off” of mission “business”, we are making contacts for speaking with churches and others about our time in Romania and what God may have in store next. Tomorrow night, I have been invited to speak with a Girl Scout group about how the poor find healthy nutrition. Easy answer…they don’t…but I’ll still have a great time helping them see another part of God’s world and Kingdom. Please be in prayer that God will direct our times of sharing and that He will use this season for His Kingdom growth! We continue to be thankful for all of your support and your prayers!! Be blessed! paula
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By scottdunn, on June 28th, 2010
Sometimes Christians have to make hard decisions about working together. Sometimes the best decision is to work separately yet still in the same Kingdom and for the same King. Over the last few weeks prior to leaving Romania for this year in the USA, we and the leaders of the Emmanuel Christian Centre (the primary church we’ve been working with these last four + years) went through a process and made such a decision. Here’s the official announcement that will be published this week:
On June 2, 2010 Nelu Andres, pastor of the Emmanuel Christian Centre in Arad, Romania, resigned his position as a pastor in the Free Methodist Church. Following his decision, on June 13, the members of the Emmanuel Christian Centre met and voted to follow Pastor Nelu and withdraw their congregation from the Free Methodist Church. The church will work independently from this point forward.
The Free Methodist Mission in Romania will continue to support the Oaza Ministries and its director, Laura Andres. In addition, Scott and Paula Dunn, currently in the USA for Partnership Building, will continue to serve in Romania via church planting and other Kingdom-extending ministries.
Do pray for the remaining members and leaders of the Emmanuel church. We love them dearly and pray God’s fruitful best for them.
By scottdunn, on June 27th, 2010
From Monday through Thursday of this week Paula and I were in Indianapolis at the home office of our sending agency, Free Methodist World Missions. As many mission agencies do, they require us to go through a “debriefing” process upon finishing a term of service. So we met with people from various departments to talk about how they can assist us with ministry, met with a group of mission leaders to reflect and review on the last 4 1/2 years of ministry, had updated pictures taken, and met with a counselor specializing in missionary care (a standard practice for debriefing). Overall it was a good week and helpful as we both reflect back on the last four + years and anticipate this year of Partnership Building in the States and what ministry will look like in the future.
By scottdunn, on June 27th, 2010
It’s been rather quiet on our blog. We haven’t forgotten…we’ve just been a bit preoccupied. Turns out it is quite a big task to shut down life in one country, move a family of 4 (plus one dog) 5000 miles, across an ocean, and restart a life in one’s country of origin. That’s what we’ve been doing these past few weeks.
We left Romania on the morning of June 12 and arrived in Columbus, Ohio later (much later with the 7-hour time change) that night…exhausted but with all of our luggage (14 checked pieces plus a dog-in-crate plus 4 carry-ons and 4 laptop bags). Quite a different transition from the days when missionaries used to spend 2-3 weeks on a ship just to cross the ocean. One cool thing about my flight (yes, Mady and I flew on a different flight than Paula and the kids because one airline won’t take dogs in the summer)…we flew farther north than I ever have before, which took us over the southern tip of Greenland. And the weather was unusually clear, allowing me to take some great photos out my window. Look for the glaciers (they look a bit small from 40,000 feet up) in the fjords.
After staying with Paula’s parents for a few days we were able to move into our new home for this year in the USA. God made a way for us to rent a very nice home from some friends here in Hilliard (suburb of Columbus). Matt and Melissa were members and leaders in the church we started and led here in Hilliard prior to our Romania days. They’ve moved to a nearby community to help start yet another new church, and they decided to rent to us rather than sell in the depressed housing market. So it’s a blessing for both families. Thank you, Lord, for this blessing.
So, here we are, adjusting back to a place and culture that seems familiar and yet a bit foreign. They call it “reverse culture shock” (google that phrase to learn more about the phenomenon). One person described the experience as being like putting your contacts in the wrong eye…things look familiar, yet something seems strange about it as well. Yes, that’s what it feels like. Pray for us as we adjust.
By scottdunn, on May 31st, 2010
 May 31, 2010  February, 2006 On February 20, 2006 we wrote in this blog (“blog” was a new word then) about purchasing our first ministry vehicle, a 2003 Opel Zafira. It had 75,000 kilometers (46,875 miles) on it then. Today when I handed over the keys to the new owner it had almost 237,000 kilometers (148,125 miles) on the clock. That works out to about 36,600km/year (22,900 miles/year), about twice the amount a normal Romanian driver would do in a year. And given the road conditions and style of driving here, those are all hard-fought kilometers! Given the mileage on this vehicle and the accompanying potential for some costly repairs, we thought it wise to sell it before we depart for our year in the USA. We’ll put the money in savings and use it to purchase a lower-mileage vehicle when we return. Many thanks to many of you who donated five years ago so we could purchase this car! It’s been a good investment.
We also own a personal car that has been Paula’s car. I was getting ready to write that we’ll be using it for our remaining days here, but Paula just called and said someone hit her, doing significant damage. She’s not hurt badly, but her neck is hurting and she hit her head on the steering wheel (a rear-ender). We’ll let you know how things are later. Pray!
By scottdunn, on May 31st, 2010
 One of the towers in the citadel wall Over the last few weekends I/we have been traveling to visit different ministries with whom we have relationship. Last weekend we made a family trip to the medieval city of Sighisoara in central Romania. Roberta Bustin and Dorothy Tarrant serve with the Church of the Nazarene, a sister denomination to our own Free Methodist Church. Roberta is a retired chemistry professor who originally came to Romania to teach ecology but ended up planting and pastoring two Nazarene churches. Dorothy is a former social work professor and has served in Romania for 14 years. She founded a social service agency/ministry called Veritas based in Sighisoara. In addition to serving many of the poor and needy in Sighisoara, her program also trains college social work students from the USA through short-term and semester internships. She will be retiring this summer and releasing leadership to a longtime Romanian employee. Roberta and Dorothy are witty ladies with true servant hearts, and it is always a joy to visit with them regarding life and ministry in Romania.
 This past weekend I paid a visit to the Smirna church in Drobeta-Turnu-Severin (located in the south on the banks of the Danube River). I became acquainted with this church and pastor Ionut Corlan about three years ago when they were just getting started. On Sunday they had 25 adults and 16 kids in attendance for their morning worship service, and their weekly Sunday afternoon volleyball and fellowship gatherings are beginning to attract interest from the community as well. They’ve also begun planning a baptism service in the near future.
These are the kind of treasured relationships that we will miss as we transition to a year of Partnership Building in the USA (only 12 days until we get on the plane). Skype and Facebook will help us stay in touch. Pray for these ministries to keep moving forward in the purposes of God!
By scottdunn, on May 17th, 2010
 NOT in jail...just visiting a castle In the last month we have had two major departures from our team of Free Methodist missionaries here. Just over a month ago, Spencer and Lynsey Ball and their two children, Trinity and Jonathan, moved back to the USA after one year of ministry with Oaza, the ministry to abandoned children with which we work here. Spencer and Lynsey both feel a call to full-time ministry, so they have moved to Orlando to continue their education in that direction. (Apologies for the not-so-recent picture…we didn’t get one during their last week with us)
 Drew Walter just flew back to the USA this past Friday. He will be taking a full time teaching position at a Christian school in the Dominican Republic in August. Drew arrived almost two years ago at a critical time for our family as we found ourselves in need of someone to assist our kids with their online high school education. Drew is a teacher by trade, and his family and Paula’s family have known each other for years through connections in the Ohio Conference of Free Methodist churches. Drew’s father and I were colleagues as well in Ohio, and Drew’s home church is one of our ministry’s partner churches. And there is an interesting connection between Drew and the Ball family. We originally met the Balls when they inquired about helping with our kids’ schooling needs. So God still has His ways of connecting people to accomplish His purposes!
We love and appreciate both Drew and the Ball family. Our time as colleagues has ended, but our friendship remains. Thank you, and many blessings to all six of you in your next endeavors!
By scottdunn, on May 17th, 2010
By scottdunn, on May 17th, 2010
 This past Thursday night the Adoram church plant hosted a guest speaker, an African man named Toni. Toni has had an interesting journey that connects him with Romania. During Romania’s communist days the dictator Ceaucescu had a policy of bringing many young Africans to Romania for university studies. Toni, who is from Nigeria, was one of those students, and he ended up living in Romania for 12 years. He then moved to the USA for a number of years before sensing the Lord’s call to be a missionary to Benin, a neighboring country of his Nigerian homeland. Toni has had a very fruitful ministry in Benin, seeing many churches planted. One of the Adoram leaders went to Benin a few months ago on a missions trip and worked with Toni. And now Toni is back in Romania visiting churches and sharing about Jesus.
It occurred to me as I listened to Toni speak that I was seeing the “new” face of missions in our world today. A century ago nearly all of the modern missionary movement came from Europe and the USA, and Africa was the place that so many of these missionaries went to serve because it was one of the least Christian continents in the world. Today Europe is the least Christian continent in the world, and look who is sending missionaries back to Europe: Africa! How things can change in just a century. I’m thankful that our God does not change, and that He is still a missionary God.
By scottdunn, on May 10th, 2010
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Since we last wrote, we celebrated Scott’s birthday with fireworks in downtown Columbus as a part of the annual 4th of July celebration. Okay…true, they weren’t specifically for HIS birthday…but we didn’t tell him that. 
The second weekend in July was spent at the Tri-State Family Camp in East Liverpool, Ohio. We had a wonderful weekend sharing information, our stories and our love for Romania. We are thankful for the opportunity and the new relationships.
Scott just returned from a week of vacation with is parents to see family in South Carolina. He had a great trip and got to splash in a few waves. This past week and this next week, Stephen and Lydia are participating in a re-entry seminar for missionary kids. This seminar is designed for high school/college age students who have spent a significant amount of time living overseas. Even though at first they were skeptical, today they told us they are having a great time and definately are glad they have gone. They will be back on Friday…following which I (Paula) leave for a two week visit to Romania. I will be checking in with friends and ministry contacts and spending some time with the Oaza children…and maybe a little relaxation. Please be in prayer for my trip that it will be beneficial to what God has in store.
