Online Journal - June 2006 Archive

 

June 21, 2006 – Wednesday – Just a quick note today and then I’ll write more later. We have an answer to YOUR prayers that we must acknowledge and give credit to our Father in heaven and our thanks to you. Yesterday afternoon at around 4pm, the car dealer (where we purchased our car) drove up to our door with our license plates (registration) in his hands. YEA! You can imagine how quickly Scott got those license plates on the car. :-) I think he was the happiest man on earth at that moment!

Not only is it incredible to experience answers to prayer but to see God’s timing makes it even more incredible. Within the next hour or so, we went to help pick-up the ministry team from the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church who are here in Arad until the end of June. God provided our vehicle to help in transporting people and luggage. God’s timing is impeccable, isn’t it!

 

Please accept our sincere THANK YOU for praying for us and the process of obtaining our vehicle registration. Please remember to stop right now and thank the Lord for His strength, His provisions, and His timing!

I just told a friend that we are reminded daily of the importance of your prayers to our family and to our ministry here in Romania. Please continue to pray…and let us all look at what God has done with the hope that more answers are on the way!
With a thankful heart,  Paula

 

June 14, 2006 - Wednesday - On Monday of this week I found myself standing in the midst of a vivid illustration about our Lord. We have a large cherry tree in our backyard, and it was loaded and ready for harvest. As I stood in the tree plucking the beautiful deep red cherries from the branches, I was struck with how much I had NOT done to deserve such a beautiful and tasty harvest. I had NOT planted this tree (it appears quite old so maybe I wasn't even born yet). I had NOT given it one ounce of fertilizer. I had NOT pruned it in any way. I had NOTHING to do with the blooming or pollination process. I had NOT watered it or made the sun shine on it. All I did for these beautiful cherries is climb into it's branches to do a little picking.

And then it occurred to me: this is how my relationship with God is. I had done NOTHING for Him when He brought the good news of Jesus into my life. In fact, Jesus died for me looong before I was born, let alone before I realized that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. I've done NOTHING to deserve my salvation and my relationship with Jesus. I've done NOTHING to deserve the wonderful wife and kids that God has given me. I've done NOTHING to deserve Jesus' call to serve Him in ministry (and I did NOTHING to deserve the Mom who fully dedicated me to God when I was a baby). And most recently, I've done NOTHING to deserve the privilege of serving my Lord in a place like Romania.

 

What is this called? The Bible calls it GRACE (HAR in Romanian). GRACE happens when God gives us what we don't deserve and have not earned. The only thing we have to do with GRACE is RECEIVE it. Have you received God's GRACE (His most familiar name is JESUS)?

 

 

So what did we do with all of God's cherry-tree grace? Our first picking netted well over a bushel of cherries (there's another bushel still ripening on the tree). We had plenty to give away to people like our dear elderly neighbors who watch out for us even though we don't speak their language very well (yet) and to our pastor and his wife. And after giving these away we still had enough left to make 2 liters of juice, which should make some DELICIOUS jelly in a few days. I love GRACE!

We hope you enjoy these pictures of grace. Scott

 

June 6, 2006 – Tuesday – According to MSNBC.com, today is a spooky day in many peoples minds. You know…6/6/06. New movies and CDs have been released today and even a new addition to a Christian book series all somehow tied to the 666 idea. For us, this is so far from our thinking, I didn’t even know the date! :-) What will we remember today for? WE RECEIVED OUR ROMANIAN VISAS! God’s answer to your prayers! Thank you, Father! Scott immediately went to the dealer where we purchased our vehicle to get the ball rolling to finish the registration process. It’s another waiting game. But doesn’t seeing answers to prayer give us hope as we wait for the next answer?!

 

We began our new language class last week at Areopagus. We had to rent a car to get there but God worked that out smoothly. It is an hour drive south to Timişoara, a two-hour class and then about a 1 ¾ hour drive home. Why the extra 45 minutes? It is called traffic! And to describe the drive between Arad and Timişoara would be impossible. Let’s just say…we’ve never been so close to head-on traffic as we are here. :-) We are enjoying our language class but our teacher (Emma) is certainly challenging us. This is good but we are very tired when we come.

 

On our way home from language class on Thursday, we needed a bit of relaxation and home comfort. So, for the first time in 4 ½ months, we stopped at McDonald’s (in Timişoara) and enjoyed an “American” meal. The shakes and sundae at the end were probably the best part!

 

We said goodbye to the team from Roberts Wesleyan College on Friday. We know they were impacted by their time here in Romania. Some said they were not yet ready to return home. We certainly enjoyed our interactions with them.

 

A couple of weekends ago in Arad, some of the area artists had a fun time in cow decorating. (We have seen this in the states before…New York City is where we became acquainted with the idea.) Last evening, we went downtown with one of our friends, Cristi, and took some pictures. Which cow is your favorite?

 

We sat on the steps of a war memorial in honor of the Romanians who fought in WWII and enjoyed a nice clear evening. It has been raining almost daily for over a week now. It was great to be outdoors. Cristi is recently returned from recording a CD in Nashville. We listened to his experiences and impressions of America and he helped us practice some of our Romanian language skills.

 

 

Scott has begun a teaching time twice a month on Sunday evenings here in our home. The topics right now are being chosen by Pastor Nelu and are specifically targeted to leaders and potential leaders within the church. Out of this time a new relationship door has already been opened. We are thankful for the opportunity. The

 next teaching time is this coming Sunday evening. Pray for us at 6pm (our time).

One of our greatest desires right now is to continue doing well in our language learning. It is so key to personal communication. To be transparent with you, some days we have to ask the Holy Spirit for the mental and emotional energy to study and practice. It is very humbling to speak like a toddler and to understand even less. Most people are patient, but patience with ourselves runs low at times. Please continue to pray for us in this area.

We're always thankful knowing you are praying for us! –Pace (peace), Paula