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Online Journal - January 2007 Archive
January 31, 2007 - Wednesday - Our trip to Dobreta-Turnu-Severin (yes, that really is the complete name of the city) went very well this past weekend. We will attempt to write a more complete report at a later date (see above for why we've not written so far). I will share a quick experience and picture. This city is the location where Trajan, an emperor of the Roman Empire in the first/second century, built a bridge to cross the Danube River and conquered the native Dacian people in the area that is now called Romania and from whom most Romanians are descendants. After taking control of the area, Emperor Trajan built a small city and fortress along the river to serve as a outpost for the Empire. The ruins of this fortress/city, built in 103-106AD, are still there! Imagine walking on the foundations of a city that are 1900 years old. Following is a panorama we caught of the ruins. Scott
January 25, 2007 - Thursday - Things are back in swing since returning from the States. We have resumed our schedule with language, school, church activities and spending time with people. Stephen and I have been fighting sickness for a week now. We are both on the road to recovery, we hope.
We had a new young lady attend the ladies Bible study last evening. Hopefully, we will see her again so we can get to know her better. I still struggle with the language barrier; some thoughts are just difficult to express in a different language (even for a translator). I pray for the Holy Spirit to be in charge…He has no problems with language barriers. :-)
This evening I accompanied the Oaza kids on an outing to see a film at the local cinema…a fun activity that doesn’t happen too often for them. We had a great time before, during and after the film.
I
am trying to gather materials for a grant application for
Oaza to cover
construction costs on the new family home. There is still a long
way to go on construction. This is my first time doing this type
of thing so I could use some wisdom from the Lord. We could also
use your prayers to go ahead of this application so we would
receive favor in the eyes of the foundation…if this is how the
Lord chooses to provide.
This weekend we will travel to southern Romania (a town called Dobreta-Turnu-Severin) to visit a friend of ours from the church here. This friend moved to Dobreta-Turnu-Severin to help train worship leaders for a new church. We look forward to connecting with him and this new congregation. Pray for our safety in travel and good relationship building.
Sometimes it is
still difficult to be far from those we love at home. Sunday was
Scott’s mom’s birthday and tomorrow is my mom’s birthday. (Happy
Birthday to both of you!) We are thankful for technology that
allows us to email and call them. We also have another friend
who went to heaven just today. We mourn her passing along with
her family but are thankful in God’s promise of hope!
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad, let the distant shores
rejoice… Psalm 97:1
~~Paula
January 20, 2007 - Saturday - We would like to ask you to pray for religious freedom in Romania. We have received word from several sources of legislation that was enacted in late December by the Romanian government that severely restricts the registration of religious groups. I will include details below. We have also heard that there will be a peaceful protest march and prayer rally tomorrow (Sunday) in Timisoara, just 1 hour south of Arad. If we're able to get details, some from our church would like to attend. Thanks for praying! Scott
An influential religious freedom institute said Wednesday,
January 3, that Romania has now become "the moniker of the worst
religion law in Europe," after its president approved it last
week.
The Washington DC-based Institute on Religion and Public Policy
(IRPP) said Romanian President Traian Basescu approved the
notorious new Law on Religion December 27, but that challenges
are planned in the Constitutional Court and, potentially, the
European Court of Human Rights.
IRPP President Joseph K. Grieboski said that the "promulgation of this law by President Basescu is a blatant attack on religious freedom and fundamental rights and demonstrates little if any move away from the previous communist regimes..." Under the new legislation religious denominations can only receive official registration if they have at least 20,000 members, about 0.1 percent of Romania’s total population.
The news came shortly after Romania joined the European Union, along with Bulgaria, on January 1. In EU-member state the Netherlands, the ChristianUnion party expressed concerns that church groups and alliances, including the Baptist Union of Romania, will soon be banned. "The Baptist Union of Romania has slightly less than 20,000 members," the ChristianUnion said.
NEW REGULATIONS
"The new regulations could lead to discrimination and persecution, because smaller house churches for instance will become illegal," said ChristianUnion spokesman Joel Voordewind.
The law also creates a tiered system of religious communities, with different rights associated with respective levels, according to rights watchers. In a recent draft a religious group must wait twelve years before qualifying for and being accepted into the most preferential status, provoking disapproval from wide-ranging groups including Adventists, Baptists as well as Baha’is, Greek Catholics and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
"We can not accept [that law] within the European context," Voordewind added. Pressured by the ChristianUnion, a potential partner in a soon to be formed coalition government, incumbent Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende was to brief parliament on his efforts to pressure Romania to back down.
In published comments, the president of the Baptist Union of Romania, Paul Negrut, said he would also "fully support the idea to take further steps to the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg."
http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?article5250
http://www.religionandpolicy.org/show.php?p=1.1.1840
January 19, 2007 -
Friday -
We
traveled safely to and from
Cluj yesterday to renew our kids' passports at the American
Consulate office there (3 1/2 hour tedious drive each way, but
at least the mountains were beautiful). Everything went well,
and as a bonus we met with Pastor Nelu's youngest son, Cici, for
a late lunch at...can you believe this...a Pizza Hut! Our kids
were quite pleased. We also enjoyed the company of
Jackie Ramsey, a fellow missionary who has worked in the
Arad area for 10 years. She needed to renew her passport as
well, so it worked well to travel together. Scott
January 17, 2007 -
Wednesday -
Fifteen
years ago today we were in a hospital in Lexington, Kentucky,
celebrating the birth of our first child. Stephen is 15 years
old today! We can hardly believe how quickly the time has
passed. Our prayer for our kids since the time they were born
has been the description given to Jesus when he was a boy, "And
Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
men." (Luke 2:52) God is certainly answering our prayers!
Happy Birthday Stephen! Mom & Dad
(You can send Stephen a birthday greeting by clicking HERE)
January 15, 2007 - Monday - New adventure today! :-) We need to renew Stephen and Lydia’s passports this week. On Thursday, we take a trip to Cluj to the American Consulate to file the paperwork. Today we needed to go to the post office here in Arad and make payment for the passports and all of the fees.
We were given the correct form and completed it according to the instructions from the consulate office. Then we stood in a line…was it the correct line? Yes, it was but I learned that I didn’t complete one part of the form…no one told me to. So, step out of line, complete the form and get back into line…at the end of course. Wait, wait…oh, they are having a change of personnel…wait, wait some more. Is my form correct now? No, I didn’t write the words for the amount correctly…I followed the instructions but apparently the instructions have changed. So…step out of line again…re-write the form…no corrections allowed…oops, made a mistake…start all over again… Get back into line…wait…is the form correct now? No…I didn’t put one word in…she didn’t tell me to…doesn’t matter. Okay, at this point I begin begging…not literally but I used REALLY polite language…can’t she just write the word in really small? She goes to her supervisor…YES! We pay and we are out of there…about an hour later.
I spoke with a friend this evening and told her about it…I was laughing. She was glad I could laugh about it. Who knows what our day in Cluj will hold…
Did I mention that the Lord has also given us an ability to laugh? …That is part of His provision for us too… Thank you, Lord, for laughter…it sure beats screaming! :-)
Now…let me give you some things to pray about…
1.
Oaza is
needing funding to finish building a new home for some of the
children. There have been many problems with contractors and
finances. Please ask the Lord to provide for this need.
2. Oaza is also needing to find some new house parents. Two of
the homes will have their house parents (who are English) return
home this Spring. We are praying for Romanian house parents.
Please ask the Lord to search His world and find Romanians who
desire to serve Him in this way.
3. Pastor Nelu has not been feeling well for several weeks.
There has been much sickness in the community. Please pray for
the Lord to heal and strengthen his body and spirit.
4. Please pray that I (Paula) will receive clear direction for
our weekly ladies Bible study regarding topics, activities, etc.
5. Please pray for a more usable worship space for the church so
that we may have ministry to children on Sundays.
6. Please pray for Scott to clearly hear the Lord as he seeks
guidance on leadership training for church and community people.
7. Please pray as I (Paula) seek the Lord’s guidance on a
particular way to get involved in the community (outside of the
church).
8. Please pray for Stephen and Lydia regarding their schooling
and that the Lord will provide positive relationships with peers
for both of them.
Always relying on YOU and HIM! Smiling and trusting…Paula
January 15, 2007 - Monday - Paula and I are switching email accounts beginning today, so just in case you don't get a notice from us, here are our new addresses, effective immediately:
Scott: skipee85@gmail.com
Paula: frankee85@gmail.com
January 14, 2007 - Sunday - I've returned home now. Thanks for praying for our road-trip to England last week. Together Jerry Coleman and I logged over 4000 kilometers roundtrip from Budapest, Hungary to Preston, England! Oh, and we successfully delivered our friend and colleague, Marcie Huson, to her new home and ministry location in England!
We calculated that we spent nearly 48 hours together inside the minivan; so out of 5 days of travel, two whole days were spent in the vehicle. Yikes! Our route took us through the countries of Hungary, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and England. We drove through or near cities like Vienna (Austria), Frankfurt & Nuremburg (Germany), Brussels (Belgium), and London & Birmingham (England). The only bad part was not having time to stop and see the sites in these places. :-( That's the difference between a business trip and a vacation...
So, the only
pictures I have to post here are of the tunnel that goes under
the English channel between northeast France and southeast
England. It is called the "Chunnel" (short for
Channel Tunnel or Euro Tunnel). Motor vehicles of all kinds
(we had a minivan and trailer, and two full-size tour buses
boarded in front of us) drive onto specially built train cars
and then are whisked under the English Channel on a 35-minute
ride. It was very cool! You can do an internet search on
"Channel Tunnel" to learn more, but here are some of my pictures
getting on and off the train with our vehicle.
Scott
January 14, 2007 - Sunday - Yes, we did make a quick trip back to the good ole USA right after Christmas. Scott needed to see his migraine doctor, we all needed some dental work…the timing seemed just right. So, we crammed seeing family, friends and doctors appointments into seven days. We really enjoyed our time!
Scott
mentioned previously that we attended a retreat in Hungary upon
our arrival back in Europe. We drove directly from the airport
on January 4 after returning from the States. It was great to
have a couple of days with our friends from Budapest,
Gyor,
and Bratislava (Slovakia). The retreat was held at
Szelpalma
which used to be a working horse farm for Lipizzaner stallions.
Currently it is a beautiful hotel/retreat center with acres and
acres of walking/hiking and a few horses for riding. They also
have a breed of pigs that were even new to Scott. The only way
to describe them is to say they were hairy. Yes, pigs do have
hair but this was curly hair and thick.
Following the retreat, we dropped Scott off in Budapest so he could help drive one of our European team members (Marcie Huson) to England. I’ll let Scott tell you about his trip (above). The kids and I drove back to Romania (my first time driving from Budapest to Arad) that night. We all wondered if the border-crossing would be any different between Hungary and Romania now that Romania is in the EU (as of January 1, 2007). As we approached the border buildings we could see that they had already torn down the guard booths on the Hungarian side. They waved us right through…we never had to stop. On the Romanian side, we stopped as normal. The crossing between the countries used to take us up to an hour…it was less than 15 minutes. Some say the border will continue to change…but it will take time.
The three of us were never so glad to get home…we were very tired. We spent the following week catching-up on paperwork (it never ends), school (we’re still behind), laundry (that takes a long time here) and relationships (this was the best part!).
Scott returned yesterday, Saturday, from his long, long journey. We are thankful for the safety of travel and relationship-building time for Marcie, Jerry (our area director) and Scott. We are thankful that we felt the Lord’s presence with us while being at home. Scott gave the sermon today in church about the Kingdom of God. It was good to be back with our Romanian church-family for worship and fellowship.
This
weekend we celebrated our 1st Anniversary! (hoots, hurrays
and hollars! :-) It was one year ago this weekend that we first
arrived in Romania. It seems rather hard to believe it has been
a year…so much has happened. We can truly say we know more today
than we did then…but we also can say that we know we have a
WHOLE LOT MORE to learn. We can NEVER thank YOU enough for your
prayers, cards, emails, phone calls, and financial support. We
have made it this far BECAUSE of your support!
Likewise, we will
NEVER be able to say THANK YOU, LORD enough for His constant
love, strength, grace, patience, peace…I could go on and on…not
one day goes by that we do NOT recognize how much we need Him!
And not one day goes by that He doesn’t come through EVERY TIME!
A verse God showed me today… “For the eyes of the Lord range
throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully
committed to him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9a We are living proof that
God gives ALL of Himself to us when we give ALL of ourselves
over to His will and plan. We are trusting Him for this next
year too! :-)
With a thankful heart…Paula
January 7, 2007 - Sunday - We've been out of town for the last two weeks. We were able to catch a flight back to Ohio the day after Christmas to see family and friends. It was very refreshing and encouraging to see everyone! Then after 8 days in central Ohio, we returned to Hungary on January 4 and went immediately from the airport to a mission retreat for Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. You can read a full report of the retreat by clicking here. Then yesterday, Paula and the kids left me in Budapest while they returned to our home in Arad. I preached at the Budapest fellowship this morning, and then early tomorrow morning I am leaving with our Europe Area Director, Jerry Coleman, and a fellow missionary from the Budapest team, Marcie Huson, to drive Marcie to Preston, England. Marcie is relocating there to begin working with the United Kingdom Conference in addition to her continuing responsibilities with Free Methodist work on the Continent. And yes, you really can drive to England. We just have to put our van on the train that runs under the English Channel (the Chunnel, as they call it). Jerry has invited me along to assist with the two-day drive. We'll return to Budapest on Friday, and I'll return home to Arad on Saturday, the Lord willing. We'd appreciate your prayer for my trip and for Paula and the kids as they return to daily life in Arad in my absence. Blessings in Christ! Scott