July Prayer Update

A newly-arrived American volunteer recently asked me if there was ever a time shortly after arriving in Romanian when things "clicked." The volunteer was referring specifically to language acquisition and understanding, but the same phrase could be used to refer to cultural adaptation and relationship building. 

Over the years, there have been several moments when things relating to language or culture have "clicked." I remember one time, almost 10 years ago now, when all the theory about the Romanian language that I had studied suddenly "clicked" and I could understand much more than what I could just a few weeks earlier.

As I look back at the past few months, I can see how things have "clicked" into place. God has given me a renewed and deeper vision for ministry and has provided opportunities to develop closer relationships with key Romanian church leaders. I want to thank you for your continued prayers as God is opening these new doors for ministry.


Discipleship & Lay Training 
Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot time praying and thinking about how to develop discipleship ministries and lay training here in Romania. It is an area that continues to need much attention to develop and equip disciples and lay church leaders.

Please pray with me as plans come together for the fall. I do hope to offer a lay training workshop in late August or early September for children's workers, a Bible course in the fall, and a district-wide training event in conjunction with district assembly -- each requiring preparation and planning. Please pray that these will be useful in training lay leaders.

By the way, if you haven’t yet read my blog post about attending the Church of the Nazarene’s General SDMI Convention in Razgrad, Bulgaria, in June, I invite you to click here to read it.

Manual Translation 
Work is slowly progressing on the translation, compilation, and editing of the Church of the Nazarene’s Manual in Romanian. Since I last wrote about it here, the Manual translation committee has met a few times to discuss the translation of key terminology. The committee members have started editing the first few sections of what is hopefully the near-finalized version of the translation. There are still a lot to do, specifically translating sections which have not been translated, agreeing on terms we haven't discussed yet, and, of course, inserting the most recent changes to the Manual just made in June at the Church of the Nazarene's General Assembly. Please pray for us as we continue in this process, and for those who will use the Manual in Romanian for years to come.

Power of One 
In addition to the Manual translation, I am also working on overseeing the completion of another translation project. A few years ago, the Eurasia Region began a missional church initiative known as “The Power of One.” There are about 10 books that are being translated into Romanian. Last fall, I was given the responsibility to complete this project. The books still need to be proofread, formatted, and published. Please pray for those involved in this project, at that these resources will be useful for Romanian church leaders. You can learn more about the Power of One at missionaleurasia.com.

Additional Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for the Church of the Nazarene in Romania - the local churches, their pastors & lay leaders; theological education; church planting; holistic child development & other compassionate ministries; district leadership; and for the missionaries with whom I serve.

Please pray also for the Eurasia Region of the Church of the Nazarene, which is in the process of selecting a new regional director. Gustavo Crocker, who has served in that position since 2004, was elected general superintendent at the General Assembly.

Coming to the US in November 
I’ve bought my tickets and plan to be in the US for the month of November. I will be based out of my parents’ home in York, PA. If you are on the Mid-Atlantic District or elsewhere in Pennsylvania and would like me to share with your church or small group about what is happening in Romania, please contact me. Click here to view my schedule, which I will update as it is filled. Please pray that I will be able to raise sufficient funds.

Recent Pictures
I usually like to include pictures of recent activities in my blog posts. However, the work I've been doing lately isn't exactly photo-oriented. In fact, I'm afraid all my activities look the same. Nevertheless, I took a few pictures, just to include here:

Here I am working on editing the Romanian translation of the Church of the Nazarene Manual

Here I am proofreading the Romanian translation of Power of One materials

This is what I look like when updating Child Sponsorship records and planning discipleship/lay training lessons.

And this is what I look like when grading assignments for the class I taught this summer or when writing this blog post.

Thanks for praying! As always, I enjoy hearing from you as well.