Mid-Summer Update

Greetings from Sighisoara, Romania. Since this week marked 2 months since I returned to Romania, it seemed a good time for an update.

Q&A Series
If you’ve been following my blog over the past 2 months, then you've noticed that each week I've been answering questions about Romania on a given topic. These are questions I was asked about Romania while in the US this spring – everything from Romanian food to Dracula to almost everything in between. You can click on any of the links below to read about these different topics.

• Romanian Food 
• Government 
• Agriculture & Industry 
• Romanian Orphanages 
• Dracula 
• Religion in Romania 
• Transportation 

Missionary Profile
In June I was one of the missionaries featured in Engage Magazine’s missionary profiles series. You can check it out by clicking here.

Prayer Requests
This month I've designed my update from Romania to be less about sharing news about what I've been doing in order to leave room to share how you can pray for Romania and for me. I’d like to share the following 4 prayer requests with you and ask you to pray for them over the next several weeks.

1. No Jobs 
For many years, it has been difficult to find jobs in Romania, forcing many Romanians to seek jobs in Western Europe – for weeks, months, or years at a time. This summer it has especially “hit home,” as nearly 100 people – mostly women – from the village of Tigmandru (including about 25 from our church) have left Romania for the summer to find jobs elsewhere. Most are working long hours picking strawberries in the fields of Germany. Their absence obviously affects the life of the village and the church. Most of these women have young children they’ve left at home with other family members to care for. Please pray for these women as they are away, and also for their families, the church, and the community which must continue on during their absence.

2. Developing Political Situation in Romania
I usually do not follow the intricacies of Romanian politics, but this year it has been hard to ignore. I ask you to pray for the growing uncertainty of the condition of the Romanian government and economy. In January, public protests led to the resignation of the prime minister. The new government collapsed following a no-confidence vote in April. At the beginning of this month, the Romanian president has been suspended pending an impeachment vote, while some wonder if this is just political maneuvering for the prime minister (the 3rd one this year) and his party to gain more power. Much of this is rooted in the condition of Romania’s economy, which is at its lowest point in over a decade. If you want to read more, you can I suggest these 2 links to lists of news articles: EuroNews-Romania and EuroNews-Romania Politics. Please pray especially for the national vote next Sunday (July 29) which will decide the fate of the president.

3. Discipleship
This summer I’ve been trying to lead a discipleship group in Tigmandru for new and growing believers. I say “trying to” because, as mentioned above, there are a lot of absent church members right now, and those left behind have added family responsibilities and can’t always balance an extra activity. Those who have been able to attend are now over half-way through this 8-week series. Please pray for these Christians as they mature in their commitment to Christ and His Church. Please pray also for me as I have been working on the development of materials for future discipleship ministries, as well as seeking the best methods for one-on-one mentoring of a few young men.

4. Visa
You may remember that last year the visa laws changed for Romania, meaning that it ended up costing a lot more money, not to mention time and effort, to secure my 1-year visa. It’s now time to begin the process of renewing my visa once again. Please pray with me that this year it won’t be as much of a hassle as it was last year and that I’ll be granted a visa for more than 1 year so I don’t have to pay $500 in fees every year.

Thank you for praying for me and for Romania.