Establish the Work of Our Hands

Hello Friends and Family! We had our first ever Camp Falcon Rock Christmas party! Tamas and Tunde organized a lunch where we had our camp board and their wives, the Wagners, Sanyi (part time construction worker) and us, out at a restaurant to celebrate the camp work. Tamas led us through a devotion on Psalm 90:15-17 calling us to look back at God’s provision of the camp even in our time of waiting as well as to recognize that it is God who establishes the work of our hands. We spent some time in prayer thanking God for his provision and praying into the next year of development. It was a beautiful time to be together as an entire team and encourage one another as well as reflect on God’s faithfulness.

For youth group, we had a couple of fun events planned this month outside of our normal nights. First, we took the teens skating again in Zalau. We had a great night playing the blob game and other tag games on the ice. We finished the evening with a movie night at our house watching the Mighty Ducks in English. They're really enjoying all of our cherished childhood movies here! Then we organized a larger youth event and invited youth/young adults from our surrounding villages to come out to the camp for a day of sledding! Vern and Gloria had the idea of buying some old truck and tractor tires so the teens could try tubing. As I was driving my crew of teens to the camp, I was trying to explain to them what tubing was cause they had never heard of it. They were all certain there was no way they would try it. Yet, very quickly they all ditched their sleds and tubing took over—it turned out to be quite the hit. After we gathered inside the camp to eat some Canadian chili Gloria had made for us. It was the first time they had ever tried chili and everyone seemed to love it. We ended the night with a youth program full of games, worship, a message and response time. We love seeing events and discipleship happening at the camp!

We were blessed by a visit from Pastor Iain McAuliffe and his wife Evelyn from Central Baptist Church, Edmonton. It was great to have them here for a weekend and to show them the ministry taking place. Iain and Evelyn joined us for the youth tubing event at the camp and Iain shared his testimony and challenged the teens to pursue a relationship with Jesus and follow Him with their whole lives, not just to attend church. This was a powerful message for the youth and we know God will use this word to build up these teens. The camp work is gearing up for a busy season ahead. With our major development permit now behind us, Tamas and Vern are working hard to sort out all of the details for the major projects that will be starting in the coming weeks. Right now they are finishing the existing building extension, which includes an enclosed hallway and girls bathroom and shower house. The projects coming up are: renovating an existing farmhouse on the property that will serve as a space for workers to live on property during construction, buying a backhoe, the water and sewage system, and cabins. We all admire Tamas’ patience and endurance as he diligently researches and meets with many companies and institutions to sort out details. God really provided when he called Tamas to be the camp director!

I was deeply moved this past month as I was chatting with one of our teen girls. Her father works in Germany most days of the year. She and her whole family kept telling me how excited they were for him to come home for 2 weeks at Christmas. Once the two weeks were up, she was pretty upset about her dad having to leave as it would be months before she would get to see him again. But then the week he was suppose to leave, she came to English class with a big smile on her face. She said “Tanya, a miracle happened! My dad doesn’t have to go back Germany yet because there is too much snow right now and no work”. All in one moment, my heart was so moved by her love for her father and yet so broken for the situations lots of the families face here. Not only do the churches struggle to provide kids and youth programs because pastors have to shepherd 5-10 churches each, but on top of that many youth miss out on the daily love and guidance from their fathers because there are little job opportunities for the men to earn a good living. It was a reminder to me of the blessing it is for us to get to be youth leaders to these teens and how huge the camp will be for providing a way for the youth to experience all the love and guidance from God our Heavenly Father.

We invite you to pray with us this month: -Please pray with us that Vern and Gloria’s visa paperwork would arrive and be approved asap. By Feb 28th they must be approved as their 3 month limit will expire. -Please pray for the camp development as Tamas is juggling a lot of big projects right now, which includes: buying a backhoe, applying for our water and sewage system permits, sourcing a water & sewage system company -Please pray for the churches and team members of mission teams that have already signed up to come this spring and summer to support us. We have at least one mission team or group coming every month from now until August! Tanya & Paul