May-June 2012

The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.
Psalm 126:3

During the last 2 weeks of April, we continued with our weekly youth program at the church in Nochrich, where the youth prepared movie maker presentations for review by the church. The 4 teams worked diligently and shared beautiful presentations about the activities of the youth, the church body and it's involvement in the community. Our weekly meetings with these youth will continue throughout the summer. We have chosen to meet on Sunday evenings in the homes of some of the church members with the youth, to better aquaint the youth with the older adults in the church. This week, they will be meeting at Ilie's here in Ighisu Vechi.

Besides being the youth leader, I also speak occasionally and assist with the technical equipment at the church, and Jody helps with the music program. Jody is also continuing to assist and train the ladies working in the children's church program by providing games and crafts weekly. William has been a big help and encouragement in this also.

Our little group of neighbors that have been attending church with us from Ighisu Vechi is slowly growing. Last week, we had a van full, with Ilie, Laurentiu, Lenuta, and 2 new neighbors that joined us, one invited by Ilie! One said he will continue to come. His name is Victor. He was in our original kid's group here in Ighisu Vechi over 5 years ago, and now at 18 is married with a 2 year old.

We also have continued our weekly meetings with the children of Ghijasa de Jos throughout May. The children prepared pinatas for an end of the school year celebration, as well as, a miniature creation play with costumes, to be performed in front of the parents.

Unfortunately, before our play could be performed, the mayor required the room at the school, for elections that were held in June. We had to move all of our things out and give up the key until after the elections. We met this week with the city councilman, and he has agreed to give us the key weekly to meet with the kids. This is the last week of school for the kids and many of them leave for the summer. We know our class will shrink for the next two weeks, but we hope to perform our Creation play soon. The children are working on memorizing verses that go with the play.

May

May brought some very special guests to us, Phill and Rita Frye, my brother and sister-in-law, the first of my side of the family to visit us in Romania!

They were able to visit with us for 2 weeks. The time flew by. It was wonderful to share the ministry with them here in Romania. We are so thankful for their sacrifice in coming and pray they will return again! We picked them up at the airport and shuffled them on the way home, to Ghijasa de Jos, their very first night! Phill's imitation of Donald Duck amused the children. Amazing how some things can cross that culture/language barrier the world around! Some of the kids sang and signed the song, "Jesus Loves the Little children" for them. Phill preached at both the Nochrich church and one of the evening meetings at Stanca. Rita is an interpreter for the deaf, and was able to share signing a song at both churches also. They were an encouragement to our neighbors here in Ighisu Vechi, visiting and getting to know Ilie and Lenuta.

While they were here, we were able to take a a few days off with them of vacation and travel to Cyrpus. It was a refreshing time for us all. We got a great deal on accommodations and had a great time being able to relax with them.

Not only did May bring my brother and sister-in-law, but also our son, William, was able to come home for 2 months to assist me with construction projects, before beginning his fall semester in Maryland! As seen here, he also helps me with the youth meetings at Nochrich.

We are so thankful for his help here at the camp and his sacrifice of taking time off work to come and help. Please pray for Juanita, the 80 year old lady that he has been staying with. She is currently in the hospital and having complications.

June

June has been very busy with construction projects. The septic system project was completed in May and now we are working on a mess hall, digging and forming up to pour the floor in concrete. The weather has been over 95 for the last week. The hot part of the day is too hot to work, so we work in the early mornings and late at night, and take care of inside work during the hottest part of the day.

Yesterday, we hosted our area pastors for their monthly meetings, here at Windsor's Fair Haven. It is a great time of fellowship and encouragement to get together and plan activities with the churches, as well as discuss ways to help and encourage each other.

We also hosted a youth camp at the beginning of this month with a church group from Sibiu. They usually schedule to use the camp every year at this time. Many of them were even involved in our Christmas program in the villages last year. They are in the process of planning a Windsor's Fair Haven work day later this summer.

And this month, Randy, turned 19 years old. Of course, that involved a trip to Sibiu to McDonalds for double cheeseburgers!

What's Ahead

We have set aside the rest of this month for construction projects. The month of July, we already have 1 weekend retreat and 2 week long camps scheduled. We have had to wait until after July 10 to hold our Ghijasa camp, because our leaders are having exams until then.

We appreciate your prayers as we continue to seek to be the light and salt that God desires others to see.
Our prayers are with you all. God bless and we look forward to hearing from you.