Miles, Miles & More Miles

After covering  over 12.000 miles and over 15 states in a little over three months, Bill and I have finally arrived back home in Romania after our long trip in the United States.  While we were there we visited with family, friends and several churches.  The end of August we returned back to Bucharest.

September 8th, the church enjoyed its annual welcome back BBQ.  We had great weather, lots of food and wonderful fellowship.  This year, it's the first time the members of the church organized the event on their own. The day started with everyone meeting for a short service at the church, where Bill presented an overview of who the church is, what we believe in and how someone can get connect it.  Then, we actually tried to connect over lunch in the park. We also had special guests with us from the home office of our mission agency Global Outreach.  Lyle and Rose have been with us to see the ministry but they came with a servant's heart helping us to get ready for the BBQ as we were still trying to get over the jet lag.

September 9th-13th, Bill taught counseling training classes to a core group of pastors and their wives in the south of Moldova.  These are people that have been exposed to counseling before through partnering with the Counseling Ministry of Faith Church, Lafayette.  This partnership is continuing, but it is more focused on leaders that are actually doing counseling now.

September 15th, the church had the Annual Ministry Fair.  This is a time for new comers to find out how they can be involved in the church and how to make a difference in the community.  We had 5 different guests present the ministry opportunity in the community:

  1. Hospices of Hope who ministers to terminally ill adults and children.  The hospice is a new concept in Romania.  It is a Christian organization.

  2. Human Trafficking Shelter lead by Monica, a pastor's wife from Bucharest. The only Christian outreach to the victims that were trafficked.

  3. Touched Romania, a shelter for abused mothers.  They care for the moms and their children as they go through struggles. Also, they teach the mothers various skills to help them be more independent.

  4. Ioana's House a shelter for homeless people. For a limited time people can stay there.  They are helped to get legal status, a job, a place to live and children in school.

  5. Second Chance Romania teaches the unfortunate skills and creates job opportunities helping children go to school, providing a work place for some villages around Bucharest.

On a personal note, Bill and I have just celebrated our 9th anniversary.  God has been so gracious to us.  He has blessed us with a wonderful marriage and has made us great partners in the ministry.  All glory to God!