Summer is Almost Here!

Happy Summer Everyone!

As I write this it is a balmy 36 degrees (97 Farenheit) in Romania and I am sitting in front of a fan while Paul runs to town to see if he can grab a portable AC unit. This heat does not look like it’s going away any time soon… But that’s okay for us because summer camps are just around the corner and this is perfect weather for camp water games!

First, thank you to everyone who has been praying for the Bergman family as they transitioned to Romania. They arrived in country May 17th with no issues and all bags in hand. They have now settled into their new home in the city of Zalau. It has been encouraging to see how quickly they are adapting to their new life here—just yesterday they joined their neighbours in picking elderflowers to turn it into syrup and their kids seem to have daily games of mini-hockey or basketball with the neighbour kids. A community is already forming!

With the Bergman family moving to field, a big question for us has been their kids education. The hope is that we will be able to get their kids into the local schools for community and cultural integration. At the same time, the Bergman’s will supplement their kids local education with Canadian curriculum so that they can get their Canadian diploma. This is a huge task with a lot of variables and unknowns. While I (Tanya), was in a meeting with the other NAB field directors, I mentioned this challenge. It was during this meeting that Calvin Hohn, the field director of the NAB Cameroon mission, suggested we talk with Elsie Lewandowski as her time in Cameroon was coming to an end (June 2021). Elsie has spent 25 years in Cameroon assisting missionary families in educating their children. On top of this, unbeknownst to us, she has always had a heart for Eastern European mission. After some prayer and discussions, Elsie agreed to a term in Romania to assist with the Bergman kids' education. We are beyond excited to have her join the team and see God’s hand clearly in orchestrating this connection. Please pray for Elsie as she finishes her time in Cameroon, spends the summer in Canada and then transitions to Romania in September.

This past month we continued with youth group and began a series on the Beatitudes. We’ve had a lot of fruitful conversations on what is the Kingdom and what our call is in response as disciples of Jesus. We have seen first hand how these discipleship times are impacting the youth in our village. On June 1st, it is Children’s Day in Romania which is a holiday for all kids. The youth in our village took it upon themselves to run a fun program to celebrate the children in our village. What was encouraging to see was not only the fun games, crafts and sports they played but also their growth in how they are evangelizing and sharing the word of God. It was also great to see the Bergman kids join in the celebration and test out their Hungarian skills - they did pretty well and will be our translators in no time!

Part of the work we do is serving the Hungarian Baptist Churches (HBC) as an extension of the camp ministry. This past month we had an HBC church book the camp for a weekend retreat with their young adult group. We had never connected with this church before, but somehow they had heard about a “missionary couple” that works with the HBC and Camp Falcon Rock. When they called Tunde (the camp administrator) to book the camp, they asked her if she would be willing to reach out to Paul and I to see if we would like to be their speakers for the weekend. We of course said ‘yes’, and what followed was a weekend of rich fellowship! We truly felt the Spirit working that weekend as connections and relationships formed quickly and we were able to get into some deep conversations about our faith journey with Christ through our messages as well as in individual conversations over the weekend. We were so blessed by these young adults and were humbled to be invited back to speak at their school year kick off event in October!

As was said earlier, summer camps are coming up quick! During the first week of July we will be training our local volunteers to prepare them for summer camps. At the same time, the camp will be hosting a church group to kick off the season. The second through fourth week of July will be our Camp Falcon Rock run camps. During July 12-17th and July 19-24th we will run 2 middle school aged camps, followed by a youth/young adult camp July 26-31. After these Camp Falcon Rock run camps finish, the camp is fully booked with churches, foundations and organizations who will be coming up to run their own programs. It is so encouraging to see the camp fully booked and we are waiting with eager anticipation of seeing kids and youth back on the property this summer, hanging out and growing in their relationship with Christ!

The camp construction crew continues to be busy and is pushing through the incredible heat! This past month, the forms were set up and secured to prepare the main lodge basement for the main floor concrete. This building is so massive that Tamas had to buy 900 floor jacks to stabilize the forms for the concrete pour!! On top of this the crew has been renovating a shipping container into a laundry facility to prepare us for summer camps (Gloria is beyond thrilled!). They have also been re-landscaping the sports field the flatten it out and make it into a massive soccer field. They just finished seeding it and roping it off — we can’t wait to use this space next year!

Praise & Prayer:

Praise God that the Bergmans made it to Romania with no issues and all bags! Also praise God that the container full of their stuff as well as treats for the camp made it with no extra fees or taxes.
Praise God that Elsie decided to join the Romania field team to assist with the Bergman kids’ education. Pray for Elsie as she finishes up her time in Cameroon and transitions to Romania in September.
Pray for the up coming summer camp programs! Pray for good connections and relationship building and that the love of Christ would be shared and experienced.
Pray for the volunteers who will be kitchen staff, counsellors, activity leaders, and speakers at Camp Falcon Rock this summer.
Pray for the construction crew as they continue to put in long hours to take advantage of the summer weather.