June 22, 2008 - Sunday -
Here
are some pictures from my time in
Herculane this past week.
Some are from an excursion the group took on Wednesday
afternoon--a cruise on the nearby Danube River. I'll let the
captions tell the story, some of which dates back to the
Roman Empire's conquest of Romania in 103AD.
Our next summer ministry team arrives
tomorrow from the
Galion Free Methodist Church in Galion, Ohio (USA). This
team of 12 will be splitting their efforts between some
construction work on one of the Oaza homes and VBS-type
ministry with the Oaza children. Pray for a good week of
ministry. The weather is predicted to be VERY hot...near 100
Fahrenheit early this week. Yikes!
Also, the latest edition of our newsletter is now available
on this site. Just click on the "Newsletters" link above to
find our May/June issue. And feel free to share it widely. Scott
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June 17, 2008 - Tuesday - I
(Scott) Spent Friday-Sunday traveling and visiting leaders
and ministries in Hungary (Budapest and Gyor) and Slovakia
(Bratislava).
Our fellowship in Gyor is now focusing on two
distinct ministry venues, a Friday evening Bible study in
the
city of Gyor and a bi-monthly Sunday home-church that
meets in two nearby villages. So I visited the Bible study
group on Friday evening, joining them for a summer grill
party, and the home group on Sunday morning. Gerry and Kati
McNamara are giving leadership to both of these ministry
venues. It was good to connect with our people and leaders
in both settings.
On Saturday I drove the one-hour trip further
north to Bratislava, Slovakia to visit with our missionary
family there,
Josef, Lynette & Simon Sykora. Josef, a native
of Czech Republic, serves on the pastoral staff of another
evangelical church in Bratislava. Lynette is active in the
church as well but also gives "member care" to our Free
Methodist missionaries in all of Europe.
Josef
had earlier been asked to participate in the infant baptism
(Catholic) of a friend's baby in Czech Republic (near
Brno),
so we had arranged that I would ride along and just spend
the day with them. We spent the day together traveling,
talking, playing with Simon, and experiencing a bit of Czech
culture and food (a first for me). It was a good day of
building relationship with colleagues and friends.
Today as I write this I am at a small hotel
in the southern mountains of Romania (near
Herculane...location
of some still-famous and popular Roman-era hot mineral
bathes). There is no internet service here (not even cell
phone signal!), so I'll be posting this when I return home
on Wednesday night. I'm here attending a couple days of a
week-long leadership training conference sponsored by a
UK-based organization called History Makers (www.history-makers.moonfruit.com).
A young couple from my own monthly leadership training group
in Arad is attending the full week. A Romanian friend of
ours' and church planter is the organizer of the event as
well as the History Makers coordinator for all of Romania.
It is good to be able to partner with other excellent
leadership training that God is already doing here. Scott
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June 12, 2008 - Thursday -
Yesterday
we attended the university graduation ceremony for three
adults from our church. It was held in the beautiful old
performing arts theater downtown. Please join us in
congratulating Laura Andres, Casius and Daniela Andres on
completing their university degrees!
Tomorrow morning I (Scott) leave for a
weekend trip in Hungary and Slovakia. I will be meeting with
our church and/or missionary leaders in Budapest, Gyor
(Hungary) and Bratislava (Slovakia). As always, prayer for
safe travel and fruitful meetings is appreciated!
Scott
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June 9, 2008 - Monday (2) -
We
are requesting your prayer support for Paula and her family
in the USA. We received word yesterday (Sunday) that Larry,
her brother-in-law (husband of her sister who died February
2007), died Saturday afternoon. Larry’s health has been poor
since Becky’s death, but he developed a bleed in his
brainstem several weeks ago with no known cause. This had
left him with terrible headaches, lack of use of his hands,
and speech issues. He was getting worse all the time, but
the doctors thought he would just stay this way for 6 months
to a year. But, our Father knew better and today Larry is in
heaven with Him.
We are relieved for Larry. He has suffered
with his health and other issues for so many years…literally
from birth…and now he has peace beyond measure! However our
hearts are sad. Paula feels the loss of another link to her
sister. After the losses of 2007, we had all hoped 2008
would be a year without more close deaths. But our God is
faithful.
Paula has wrestled with whether or not to
travel back to Ohio for the funeral. She feels especially
burdened for her parents. But this morning she has decided
to stay in Romania…even though she still really desires to
be there.
Please pray for Paula’s parents, Elton and
Kathleen, as they go through the funeral (an all-too-soon
reminder of Becky’s death) and care for the details of
everything over the next couple of months. Also pray for
Becky and Larry’s children, Denise and Woody. Both are young
adults now, but they still face the reality of both parents
being gone. Denise is newly married, and Woody is not well
physically or emotionally. And please pray that Paula can
come to peace with her decision to stay here…part of
accepting the sacrifices the Father has asked us to make.
Thanks so much for your prayers at this time.
If you would like to respond to Paula directly, please email
her at
frankee85@gmail.com.
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June 9, 2008 - Monday - It was
a busy weekend for both Paula and I. Paula left Friday with
a group of Romanian friends to a Christian music festival in
Bratislava, Slovakia. Despite some car troubles along the
way (not our car), they had a great time, and Paula really
enjoyed seeing
Delirious in concert. She returned to Arad Sunday
evening.
I
had an extra busy weekend, preaching three times in two
days. The first event was Saturday evening at a recently
started monthly, interdenominational gathering for Romanian
young people (teens and young adults). The event is held
just a few kilometers north of Arad at what used to be a
communist-era collective farm. The new owner, who is a
believer, is currently redeveloping the land and buildings
to serve several purposes, including hosting events for the
larger Christian community. I was invited to be the speaker
for this month's youth gathering. They had a great worship
band, and the young people were responsive to my message
about living everyday with God's unique purpose for them in
mind (based on the story of Noah). My other two preaching
points included our own church, Emmanuel Christian Centre,
on Sunday morning and a small church in the village of
Vinga in the afternoon where a missionary colleague
serves as pastor. Scott
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June 1, 2008 - Sunday -
Yesterday was a day of big celebration for Oaza, the
organization we work with here dedicated to ministering to
abandoned children. It was a long-awaited day of Grand
Opening for their new Casa Shalom (House of Peace). I
(Scott) was particularly pleased to see this day finally
come after 18 months as construction manager! It was a day
filled with joy and thanksgiving for the amazing story of
provision for the 12 children who call this house "home."
Guests and supporters attended from several different
countries as well as the director and assistant director
from the county government office of Children's Services.
You can click on the following photo to view a slide show of
the day's festivities. And for another "reporter's"
viewpoint, you can go to our colleague, Larry Winckle's,
webblog at
www.winckles.typepad.com. Rejoice with us! Scott
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