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Online Journal - October 2006 Archive
October 29, 2006 -
Sunday -
We have arrived
home from our wonderful trip to England. I cannot figure out
what time zone I am in…first I was in America for a week…then
back to Romania for a day…then on to England for a week…and then
last night we turned our clocks back an hour. We were so
confused Friday evening that we accidentally set our clocks
wrong by two hours. On Saturday morning we couldn’t understand
why people were calling and ringing the doorbell at 7:30 in the
morning…then we realized it was 9:30am. It is healthy to have a
good laugh at
ourselves
every so often! :-)
This afternoon we
had our first baptism in Romania. Scott helped a young
Englishman (Lee), who is volunteering with
Oaza, make a
commitment to Christ a few months ago. This afternoon Scott,
alongside Pastor Nelu, had the privilege of baptizing him. We
have no
facilities to
do baptisms at our rented worship space on Sunday mornings, so
we gathered at Cipri and Gabi’s house where they had a bathtub
setup on a metal frame with steps leaning on the side. Cipri and
another man, Caesar, filled the tub with cold and then boiling
water
to make it tolerable in the chilly (upper 50s F today) outside
air. It had been raining all day but thankfully
the rain stopped just long enough for all of us to be outside
for this celebration. Cristi and I led in some songs before
Scott and Pastor Nelu led the service. It was a great experience
for all
of
us!
Please celebrate
with us by thanking God for this
young
man’s life and praying for his continued growth in Christ Jesus!
Pace (peace)…Paula
October 23, 2006 - Monday - More England trip details to come...check back soon
October 22, 2006 - Sunday - Today our group was split up to attend both the Helston and Penzance worship services. Nelu, Casius and myself (and our kids because they had met with the Helston youth group on Friday night) attended the “mother” church in Helston. Cip, Gabi and Paula attended the service in Penzance. We were not asked to preach but simply bring a greeting. Pastor Nelu and I spoke briefly at Helston and Paula and Cip did the same in Penzance.
After services our family was invited to lunch and spend the afternoon with Pastor John and family. After a tasty traditional English meal (where we learned that Yorkshire pudding is not pudding at all), we enjoyed a lazy afternoon of chatting with John and Caroline (his wife).
For the Sunday evening services Paula and I attended the satellite worship service in Falmouth while the Romanian leaders attended a slightly larger satellite service in Porthleven. Basically we were asked to share a similar introduction/greeting. Stephen and Lydia met again with the youth of the church and seemed to have a great time; we were very thankful for this blessing for them. The most interesting aspect of the evening for me was seeing how this church is using a Sunday evening service to establish a “beachhead” of ministry and core group for an eventual 4th and 5th congregation in nearby communities. (we didn't get any pictures of our own from these services, but we have some coming from the church and will post as soon as we get them). Scott
October 21, 2006 - Saturday - This morning our Romanian leaders along with Paula and myself were invited to meet with the central leadership board of Light & Life Free Methodist Church. The church here has an interesting structure in that they are really 3-5 congregations that function as one local church. The "mother" church meets in Helston in a rented facility for Sunday morning worship with about 250 in attendance. They began a satellite ministry in Penzance a few years ago that eventually grew to warrant a full Sunday morning worship ministry of its own along with its own pastor. The Helston congregation did the same thing in the town of Truro, and just five weeks ago they launched a Sunday morning worship service there with its own pastor. They have similar ministry points in development via Sunday evening gatherings in Porthleven and Falmouth. All of these congregations are led by a united pastoral staff and "central board" representing each congregation. Finances are also handled centrally through one treasurer and budget. However, each congregation and pastor has its own leadership board for local decision making. Anyway, the breakfast meeting of leaders this morning went very well with much honest discussion and great questions.
After this meeting
we departed for some more touring. We first made our way north
to a surprise location...Gwennap
Pit. For Methodists such as ourselves, this was a treat as
this was John Wesley's
(founder
of Methodism) favorite place to preach whenever he came to
Cornwall.
I'll let the pictures and
this website tell the rest of the story. The acoustics were
incredible; I could stand at one edge speaking in a normal voice
and still be perfectly heard at the bottom and at the other
side. No microphone needed! It was fascinating to stand at a
place where John Wesley Himself stood to share the Gospel. My
favorite picture, though, is that of Pastor Nelu with the mosaic
of John Wesley. After posing for this picture Nelu stood, kissed
his hand, placed it on Wesley's face and said (in perfect
English!), "God bless you John
Wesley."
:-)
Next
we traveled back south and then east along the coast to a place
called Lizard Point. It is the southern-most point in England.
Before going to the coast, we stopped in the village of Lizard
to enjoy some authentic
Cornish pasties at
Ann's Famous Pasty Shop. A pasty is similar to what we might
call in the USA a "pot pie" that you hold in your hand. The
pasty was a staple food item for the tin miners that
historically worked in the Cornwall area (no tin mines are
operating at
present).
After
lunch we made our way to the coast of Lizard Point. The coastal
scenery was truly stunning and cannot be captured in pictures.
The wind was intense as a weather front was approaching; it was
a cha
llenge
to stand up at times. In addition to the beautiful cliffs and
lighthouse, we also had the privilege of seeing two seals
bobbing around
in
the water. The wind was quite chilly, so before leaving we
stopped at an old
-fashioned
diner perched on the cliffs of Lizard Point where we enjoyed hot
chocolate, hot English tea and English scones with jam and "clotted
creme" (click for a description, recipe, etc.). It was quite
delightful, although not very good for the waistline!
Our next stop was
Mullion Cove.
Again
the
scenery was stunning, but the funniest thing was the huge wave
(the wind and waves grew in intensity all day) that crashed over
the sea wall. Most of us had
climbed
up high on the rocks for a better view and thus we were above
the splash area. Pastor Nelu, however, had stayed down on the
walkway behind the sea wall, and when we rejoined him we
discovered a very wet Pastor Nelu! It was good to see him
laughing as he attempted to dry his glasses :-).
After some downtime
at our host home in Porthleven, Paula and I along with Cip &
Gabi were invited to observe an "Alpha" group meeting that
night. If you've not heard of the Alpha strategy for sharing
Christ with those who are spiritually seeking,
click here. We
met in a couple's home, and is the Alpha custom we began with a
common meal. Tonight's menu was a delicious lamb stew with fresh
mint sauce...yum!! We were then allowed to observe the Alpha
video and follow-up
discussion. It was great to listen to the questions that
spiritual seekers ask about Christian faith. Pastor John told us
later that they never fail to have at least 2 or 3 people commit
their lives to Christ as a result of a 10-week Alpha course.
What a good day! Scott
October 20, 2006 - Friday - Today was our first full day in Helston, Cornwall, England. The church leaders here had planned for most of the day for touring the area. Our family is staying with a couple from the church who live in a nearby fishing village called Porthleven.
The house where we're
staying is just two streets up the hill from the Atlantic Ocean.
What a view
we
have from our
bedroom!
We took a walking tour of the village this morning before
meeting up with the rest of our group. Stephen and I had the
privilege of playing a round of golf (our first in over a year
and a half) with Andy and Jonny, two of the church's
pastors. Our golf skills were so-so, but the ocean views from t
he
course were awesome. :-) While Stephen and I golfed, the rest of
the group went to see
St. Michael's Mount and
Land's End (the most western point in England). Stephen and
I rejoined the group at
St. Ives where we walked through some of the hundreds of
shops and enjoyed a genuine
Cornish
Ice Cream
cone.
After dinner at the
home of another church family (a buffet of traditional English
foods--like sausage rolls, salmon and tuna pizzas, and egg
casseroles), five of us were whisked away to attend a weekly
2-hour "Bible school" that the Light & Life Church puts on for
the entire community. The church runs consecutive modules
through the year teaching basic Bible knowledge. On this evening
they were finishing an overview of the Old Testament looking at
how the various major and minor prophetic books (Isaiah,
Habakkuk, etc.) fit chronologically within the historical books
of the Old Testament. It was great teaching and perhaps will
provide a model for the ministry of our church here in Romania.
Meanwhile Stephen and Lydia joined the church youth group for their Friday night activity; they really had a good time. All of us returned to our host home around 9:30pm where we enjoyed some tasty English tea (I now like milk in my tea) before bedding down to the sound of ocean waves hitting the cliffs just below our bedroom windows. Scott
October 19, 2006 -
Thursday -
Paula
returned from the USA safely on
Tuesday
evening, and then we all boarded a plane to England today. We
are accompanying three of our Romanian leaders (and one spouse)
to visit a Free Methodist church in our UK conference that has
expressed interest in developing a partner relationship with our
church here in Arad. Today was a long day of travel, but we all
arrived safely...and on time! Scott
October 16, 2006 -
Monday -
Yesterday
evening (EST) we received another offer on our house. It is a
good offer (considering the housing market these days), and we
only need to negotiate some timing issues. We are hopeful but
cautious about being too excited since we’ve had two previous
contracts fall through. We would appreciate your prayer
for this offer to advance to an actual sale! :-)
Paula
is still in Columbus this morning (EST) and will be meeting our
realtor to work out the details. She then boards a plane in
Columbus for her return journey to Romania (noon flight from
Columbus). Please pray for her travel safety, good
flight connections, and physical strength for the long journey
(about 24 hours of travel).
October 13, 2006 - Friday - Just a quick note to say thank you for praying for me and my family during this time of saying goodbye to my grandmother. First of all, I felt your prayers supporting me as I traveled alone for over 24 hours on Monday. God blessed me with a kind seat-mate on my flight from Budapest to JFK in New York. This young Hungarian man is a translator for Jehovah's Witness in Budapest. We spent a good part of the flight "comparing notes" on our understanding of God and His plan for our lives. It made the 9 1/2 hour flight go by quickly. I also met a family on my flight that lives in Arad. Everything about the flight was more than coincidence. I've also determined that I don't care for the JFK airport, but what can you do when that is the cheapest flight...
My grandmother's funeral was Tuesday evening in Springfield, Ohio, where she lived with my parents (except for the last year in a nearby nursing home). Then on Wednesday we all traveled to New Martinsville, West Virginia, where we laid her to rest. I am so thankful that I was able to return home and celebrate my grandmother's life with my family. My cousin, sister and I sang for the services which was a first for us but one we know Grandma would have really enjoyed. God has blessed my time with my family and seeing a few friends. (I was offered a job today at my old school but I said, "No thanks...I'm returning to Romania.)
I travel back home to Romania on Monday and will again travel for at least 22 hours before I arrive. I would greatly appreciate your prayers again...another great seat-mate would be nice to make the long plane ride faster!
Scott and the kids are at home carrying on life, school and ministry as well as making arrangements for our trip on Thursday to England with our Romanian leaders. Please also pray in advance for this trip...planning, safety, good communication and fellowship with English church. We are hoping to see a wonderful partnership develop between the Free Methodist churches in England and Romania.
Thanks again for being so willing to lift us up in prayer! You are appreciated more than words can express. Blessings...Paula
October 8, 2006 - Sunday - We received word during the night that Paula's 103-year-old grandmother passed away last night. She had been in a nursing home for the last several months. Grandma was a beautiful testimony to God's faithfulness all through her long life, and we rejoice that she is now with her Lord as she has wanted for such a long time.
Please be in prayer for Paula and her family during this time. We are making arrangements now for Paula to fly home on Monday. Please pray for quick and easy arrangements. Pray for her travel safety. And pray for God's grace to abound to the whole family as they remember and celebrate the long life of such a wonderful woman. Scott
October 7, 2006 - Saturday - Today we have our friend, Gabor, visiting from the Budapest Free Methodist Church. Gabor enjoys visiting every so often the children who live with Oaza and worshiping with our church. He and Scott spent a little while out in the sunshine this afternoon working together. It is interesting to us how we automatically switch to Romanian with Gabor although he cannot understand a word…he speaks Hungarian!
We have had our ladies Bible study group for two weeks now. The first night we had six ladies and this past week we had eight. I am so thankful for the Lord’s help. I wish I could tell you I speak in Romanian the entire night…but that’s just not possible for me yet. I have been working on writing the study questions in Romanian, though.
Scott
and I had a wonderful day of travel to
Sighisoara
(in the center of Romania) to meet with a team from the
Pearce
Memorial Free Methodist Church. They were helping with
construction on a church/community center being organized by a
sister-denomination in a small village. Scott and I enjoyed
joining in on the work. I hung my first
sheet
of drywall ever! The following day, four members of the t
eam
traveled back to Arad with us. They spent one-and-a-half days
hanging plasterboard at the new
Oaza house
(under construction), toured the city, visited the four Oaza
homes and blessed them with fleece blankets and ever-needed
medicines, and had dinner with the leaders from Emmanuel Church.
On Sunday their team leader, Todd, spoke during the morning
service.
Three
people from this team are considering moving to Romania next
summer to serve for one year helping with the village community
center near Sighisoara. It was great to get to know them better
and to be able to share with them our growing understanding and
love for Romania. We look forward to our FM team growing here in
Romania!
We
had another festival in town while the team from Pearce was
here. It was a great opportunity to give them a “taste” of
culture. The celebration highlighted the different ethnic groups
living in Romania: Hungarians, Serbs, Bu
lgarians,
Germans. The dancers and singers
wor
e
several
different styles of traditional clothing from Romania, Hungary
and Bulgaria.
A couple of people from the team decided to try a favorite Romanian food, mici (pronounced meech). The taste has grown on us, but they were not quite convinced yet. :-) (They really aren't as bad as these faces look!)
Please know that we value your thoughts and prayers…we rely on your ministry to us everyday! In His peace ~ Paula