Back to Romania
Wait… you might be wondering when we left Romania. In the midst of hosting mission teams, running English intensives, building at the camp and preparing for summer programs, we snuck away for a quick trip to the Americas. The NAB every 3 years hosts a global summit where all of the field directors from the NAB mission fields gather for a week of meetings. And since we’re all over, the NAB can choose any place in the world for us to meet. This year it was in Argentina! We enjoyed our time there meeting with the other field directors, swapping stories, encouraging one another in ministry and digging into missiology and the way of NAB missions into the future.
After our time in Argentina, we flew up to North Dakota to visit with Bismarck Baptist and connect about their upcoming August trip. We were able to give some ministry updates, share about the main lodge project, discuss details for the construction/VBS trip and meet with many members from their congregation. We were greatly blessed and encouraged by our time with those at Bismarck Baptist and continue to be humbled by all those partnering in the ministry in Romania. During our week there we also met with Century Baptist’s youth mission team that will be coming to serve with us in July. As we chatted with these youth and saw their passion for mission and serving it got us excited for what God has in store for us as we serve together running camp programs this summer.
Back in April, Whitecourt Baptist led a team of 22 people from their church as well as from all over Alberta to help with construction at the camp. This team continued work on the cabins, planted over 1700 trees for future fire wood, painted and stained beams for future cabins and on top of all of that, they helped develop 3 dams to catch the water from our springs for our water system. This was a massive project that we weren’t sure would get finished during their time, yet because of their hard work we completed all 3 catchments! In the midst of all of this, the team helped us run some English classes and a youth event at the camp. We had about 40 teens from 5 different villages come out for a night of games, testimonies, worship and a message. It was powerful to see every generation on this team stay up late after a long hard day of construction to connect and encourage the teens that came. I remember looking out into the crowd after the event and being touched seeing our eldest team member (82) chatting late into the night with a group of young Romanian teens about their faith in Christ.
Just before leaving for our trip to the Americas, we led another English intensive at the camp. We had 11 students attend – 5 from the seminary and 6 from surrounding villages. This week is always a great week of ministry because not only are we able to teach a practical skill that helps both the seminary students in their studies and helps the other students develop a skill to open up more job opportunities for them, we also structure these weeks to be a time of spiritual formation where we study the word and discuss issues we’re facing in our own spiritual journeys. This week was also exciting for us because it was the first time we were able to use our cabins! It has been such a journey to see these buildings get developed and we are so grateful for all of your support and prayer in this. We are now rejoicing seeing the faithfulness of God as we can begin to use these buildings to be a meeting space for his ministry to take place!
It’s been a bit of a weird Spring for us at the camp weather-wise. It’s been quite rainy and foggy which has slowed construction down a bit. But the crew continues on with building the cabins and water/sewage system so that they will be ready for summer program use. In the midst of this, the crew is building a container house so that Tamas and Tunde can be up at the camp full time. Would you continue to pray with us for:
Safety on the job site as the crew continues to put in hard and long hours building the cabins and water/sewage system
Openness and response as we send out invitations and open registration for summer camps
Guidance as we work on developing the theme and message for this years camp programs
Thank you for your continued partnership, prayers and encouragement as we seek to build the kingdom in Romania! Tanya and Paul
