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Online Journal - May 2007 Archive
May 31, 2007 - Thursday - I'm spending many of my hours managing the construction of Oaza's new Shalom House. We need to have it ready for kids by the end of June! Please pray for everything to come together by then! You can click on the following picture to view some updated photos of our progress. Scott
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| New Shalom May 31, 2007 |
May 28, 2007 -
Monday -
I
(Scott) spent
this weekend traveling to spend time with our two
fellowships in Hungary.
My
first stop was in Budapest to visit with the church leaders
there. Their fellowship was hosting a Bogrács buli (Cauldron
party) at one member's home. Such a gathering is as
traditional in Hungary as grilling
hamburgers
is in the USA, and the primary food is Hungarian gulyás
(goulash) cooked over an open fire in a large metal
cauldron. May I remind you that real gulyás is a thin stew
with meat, potatoes, onions, carrots, other good things, and
lots of paprika! Good food! Courtesy of Larry Winckles,
Click
here for a recipe for gulyás that you can make at home
(no cauldron needed).
From Budapest I drove north towards the Austrian border and the city of Győr. The Free Methodist Fellowship there is undergoing some transition as their pastor, Gerry McNamara, is taking some time off to further his education. I met with the leaders to encourage the work and to discuss their plans for the future. They will not be having Sunday worship services for the near future but instead will be focusing their efforts on developing home groups and small Bible studies. Please keep this fellowship in your prayers as they make this transition to a different way of doing church and being a Christ-light in their community.
Sunday afternoon, on my way back to Arad, I stopped at the Budapest airport to pick up Maurice and Karen Hopkins. They and their two boys will be joining our mission team here in Romania in July, working alongside a Church of the Nazarene ministry in Sighisoara and a nearby village to develop micro-enterprises and employment opportunities for the poor and unemployed. After spending Sunday night with us, they traveled on by train to Sighisoara. They are spending this week investigating housing options and other prep-work for their impending move. Keep them in prayer as well! Scott
May 25, 2007 -
Friday -
The team from
Roberts
Wesleyan College
are a lot of fun and hard working too. On Tuesday and
Wednesday of this week we continued to work on the courtyard
at the new house under construction for
Oaza. We
moved more scrap lumber to Pastor Nelu’s home and cleaned up
the general trash inside and outside the gate. This group of
ladies never complained once about the difficult task. We
are so very thankful for every ounce of service.
We did have one slight injury…after the work was completed. One of the ladies sprained her ankle. After a quick visit to the hospital for an x-ray she is resting with her ankle wrapped and on ice. Please pray for a quick recovery so she may enjoy the rest of the trip here and be comfortable on her return home next week.
Thursday
I joined the group as they
traveled to Mocrea (a small village in our county) to visit
a mental hospital there. A great friend of ours, missionary
Jackie Ramsey, has a great relationship with this hospital
and ministers there regularly. We had a great time visiting
with some of the patients. The team made fancy flip-flops
with them, sang, danced,
played
with balloons and bubbles, and painted finger nails. It was
a beautiful day for the patients to be outside and we
thoroughly enjoyed being with them. Some of us were given a
tour of the facility which is currently undergoing a much
needed renovation. I praise the Lord for the way He is
providing for these dear people who are hurting so deeply.
Thursday
evening our family joined the
Oaza
“family” as we said goodbye to a dear, dear friend and
coworker. Lee joined the Oaza team one year ago and has
served faithfully as a house parent for several different
ages (Lee was the young man who gave his life to Christ last
summer and
baptized in the fall). We are thankful for our friend
and will miss him greatly. (I told you, Lee, I would write
something about you!) :-)
A Free Methodist friend from England, Noel, continues to work very hard at the construction site…painting, painting and more painting (we'll post some pictures next week). We are very thankful for his great spirit and abilities.
Pray for Scott as he travels this weekend to Budapest and Gyor, Hungary to visit the churches and leaders there. Pray for safe travels, great relationship building, and wisdom to assist where needed. On his return from Budapest Sunday evening, Scott will pick-up some soon-to-be colleagues from the Budapest airport. They will be moving to Romania in July for a one-year term. Maurice and Karen Hopkins, their two children, and Melanie Roorda will be moving to Sighisoara, Romania, to work with a Nazarene Church mainly to help develop a micro-enterprising system for a small village. We are so looking forward to having them come to Romania and are glad for this brief visit.
I will again join the Roberts team tomorrow as we visit the village of Vinga for a children’s program and clothing distribution. Jackie Ramsey has been ministering in this village for quite some time. Pray for our time there.
Later in the day, I will be with our worship team preparing for Sunday worship. Please pray that the Lord will use me as He sees fit.
It is so good to know that even as I write this I feel a confidence in your prayers on our behalf. Our Lord is so good and faithful and He is working through your prayers! Thank you!
Paula
May 20, 2007 - Monday - Yesterday we enjoyed a great day of worship and fellowship with our Emmanuel Church. I had the privilege of leading worship for the first time in Romania. I was quite nervous but I had a wonderful time and the entire team worked very well together. One of the Roberts’ team members sang (beautifully, I add) and we also enjoyed music shared by Gabi Iluţ (click here for a YouTube video of her--ignore the 2 people who talk at the beginning), a rather well-known Romanian gospel singer.
In the afternoon, Lydia and I joined the Roberts team in taking the Oaza children to one of the city parks for play and a picnic including ice cream.
Today
we were all up
bright
and early to work at the construction site of the new Oaza
house. The
Roberts team (9 ladies) and myself moved 9
pick-up truck loads of timber from the construction site to
Pastor Nelu’s home (for firewood next winter). We also moved
roof tile in order to clear the courtyard area for burying
the septic tank. In the afternoon, the team spent time with
the Oaza children as they came home from school. I
accomplished a new feat today…
I
learned to drive Oaza’s old Dacia work truck…this is no easy
task! :-) Scott continues to work hard on this project;
physically (today carrying box after box of wall and floor
tile) and coordinating all the aspects necessary. Keep
praying…we have six weeks left until moving is imperative.
Tomorrow we will continue work in the morning on the courtyard and “hang” with the kids in the afternoon. Paula
May 20, 2007 - Sunday - President Basescu's parliamentary suspension was overwhelmingly overturned by the popular referendum vote on Saturday (83%). After the voting is ratified by Parliament later this week, Basescu will return to the presidency with significantly more power due to this vote. But most feel like this is just the beginning of some ugly (depending on whose side you were on) political maneuvers. Continue to pray with us that God would place in leadership the people that He wants to take the country of Romania where He wants it to go. Scott
May 19, 2007 - Saturday - A team of ladies from Roberts Wesleyan College arrived this week. They will be working with Oaza for several days and then with some other ministries in the Arad community. We’ve had a nice time getting to know them and reacquainted as some of them were here last year. Team leaders, Barbara Rose and Anita Ford, have been bringing teams of Roberts’ students to Romania for several years.
Today we (my kids and I) accompanied the team and took the Oaza children on an excursion to Timisoara. We visited a Village Museum which depicts different styles of village homes from around the country but especially from the Transylvania/Banat regions. The children were also treated to a special lunch at McDonalds. Except for the rain, we had a wonderful time. The team will spend the next several days visiting with the children and enjoying crafts and games.
I just received a phone call from our home conference, Ohio Annual Conference, where during their annual meeting being held today they presented me with a special award, the Christian Education Hall of Fame award. I feel very honored to be chosen. Thank you!
Scott spent the day working with Noel Reader, a gentleman from the Light and Life FMC in England, painting in the new Shalom house. We have only six weeks until we MUST be moved in the house but we have several months of work yet to be accomplished. If we can have the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen facilities completed, the children can move in while we complete the rest. Please be in constant prayer for this important project. We need everyone’s work to be quality, timely, and productive.
Blessings and thank you for your prayers and support! We cannot accomplish God’s plan here without your help! Paula
May 17, 2007 - Thursday
-
Please
be in prayer for Romania over the next couple of days. This
coming Saturday, May 19, the country will be voting in a
referendum about whether or not to keep their current president.
We received the pictured flyer in our mailbox today. It is a
pro-President flyer that says (in the tan area), "If you want me
as the President say NO!" In the referendum vote, a Yes vote
means you agree with the parliament's decision to suspend the
president.
In April (see our April 19 entry) the Romanian Parliament voted to "suspend" President Traian Basescu over several charges of unethical behavior while in office. No one really knows the whole truth behind the charges--the Prime Minister has political reasons for trying to sack the President and the President was previously found not guilty by a court of law--but generally people we talk to think the current President is the best, though not perfect, since the fall of communism 17 years ago. He is generally very popular among main-stream Romanians and very unpopular with political and business power-holders.
If the population votes to keep Basescu as president, he will obviously return to office with significantly more power. He will undoubtedly dismiss the current prime minister and nominate a new one. The Parliament must confirm any prime minister nomination. If they fail to confirm by the second nomination, then the whole parliament is automatically dissolved and new elections for a whole new federal government would need to be scheduled. Some think this is a real possibility.
While our daily life has not felt any different as a result of these happenings, none of it is good for Romania at the macro level. Millions in "free" European Union aid money (available for a limited time since we just entered the EU in January) is going unclaimed because the government is too busy with political in-fighting, and this is all money designed to improve the quality of life for every citizen. So pray with us that God would place in leadership the people that He wants to take the country of Romania where He wants it to go. Scott
May 17, 2007 - Thursday
-
This
is the season when our lives get busier with the arrival of
teams of short-term missionary "learners" coming to assist with
ministries here. For the past week we have had two men from
Retford, England here to do interior painting on the new Oaza
home for children. Yesterday another man from Penzance,
Cornwall, England arrived to help with painting and other projects as
we move towards making the house inhabitable by June 30. And
today, we received our annual team of university students from
Roberts
Wesleyan College (pics of them to come later in the week).
It is encouraging to have these visitors come help and
experience a bit of our lives here, but it also adds busyness to
our days. Pray for all to have a great experience in serving
Jesus! Scott
May 14, 2007 - Monday - Our most recent newsletter has been posted. Click on the Newsletters tab above to download a copy. Thanks for blessing us with your support! Scott
May 2, 2007 - Tuesday - It has been wonderful to have my family visiting us here in Romania! We have enjoyed showing them some sites here in Arad, working together on some projects, and just hanging out.
On
Sunday, my father, Elton, shared the Word in our worship service
at Emmanuel. This was his first time preaching
with
a translator.
Monday and part of
Tuesday were spent doing some spring cleaning at our home and
working outside as well. Then we joined our church at the local
“forest” for a picnic. Tuesday was
May Day, a national holiday here in Romania
and
most
countries
of central and eastern Europe. It seemed as though everyone in
Arad was at the forest. We enjoyed
mici (say meech), pork and sliced
zucchini
on the grill. My family made some “American” cookies to share.
Today,
my parents and aunts spent the afternoon helping plant a garden
at one of the children’s homes (Oaza).
A couple of the kids hung around to “help”. …everyone will sleep
well tonight! :-) Paula