January:
 |
| Fireworks welcoming 2024 |
I spent the first few days of 2024 house-sitting for friends who were away over New Year's Eve. After watching the town's fireworks display from their window, I turned off my phone for the next 2
½ days. Disconnected from the phone and internet, I embraced the silence and solitude that came with the change of location. I read a couple books and enjoyed a mini-retreat which, I realized in retrospect, helped me prepare for my upcoming sabbatical. It was the perfect way to begin the new year.
At the end of January, I joined the faculty and administration of European Nazarene College (EuNC) in Lisbon, Portugal, for the annual Faculty Assembly. At the conclusion of the assembly, I stepped away from the role of Romania Learning Centre coordinator in order to focus on my responsibilities leading the Romania District.
 |
| EuNC Faculty 2024 |
 |
| Faculty Development Session |
February:
Following the Faculty Assembly, I remained in Portugal for the Manual Translation Summit. We worked on updating the translation of the Church of the Nazarene's Manual. Click here to read my reflections from these two events in Portugal.
 |
| Translation groups for 11 languages |
 |
| Romanian Language Manual translation |
The remainder of February was a whirlwind of activity: a trip to Bucharest, a Veritas Board meeting where I resigned as board president, multiple Zoom meetings, and making preparations for my upcoming sabbatical. I tried to wrap up all of my responsibilities by the end of February so I would have an "off ramp" into my sabbatical. Despite my best efforts, additional unforeseen things kept popping up and spilling into March, keeping me busy until the very morning I left for sabbatical.
March:
The week before my sabbatical began, I went to Croatia for a few days of meetings with Nazarene district superintendents and leaders of the pioneer missions areas on the Central Europe Field. This was my first time to meet several of the new missionaries serving on the Central Europe Field. It was also the first meeting led by our new field strategy coordinator.
 |
| Participants in the meetings in Croatia |
March-June: Sabbatical
I spent the next 3 months in the US on sabbatical: spending holidays (Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day) with family in Pennsylvania, reconnecting with friends in 8 different states, exploring several museums in Washington, D.C., attending various retreats, and reading a lot of good books. While staying in the Boston area, I attended a chapel service at Eastern Nazarene College. I even got to attend my 25-year high school class reunion. (Click here to read my reflections on sabbatical.)
 |
| 25-year High school Class Reunion |
June
After returning to Romania, I joined a friend on a quick visit to northeastern Romania, where we toured a few of the painted monasteries in the region of Bucovina, before spending a couple days exploring the city of Iași.
 |
| One of the 16th-centruy painted monasteries of Bucovina |
July-August
I spent the rest of the summer getting back into normal life while trying to create a new normal. By that, I mean that as I was returning to my responsibilities, I was intentionally implementing new healthy rhythms that I learned during my sabbatical.
 |
| One of many summer Zoom meetings |
I also
started to explore nature with a friend of mine. In the summer and early fall, we met about once a month to take a hike in the mountains or through various gorges.
 |
Hiking through Cheile Râmețului (the Ramet Gorge)
|
 |
| Apuseni Mountains |
September:
September 1 marked 15 years of serving in Romania. I used the occasion to reflect on 15 Years of Ministry in Romania. (Click here to read that blog post.)
 |
| Writing my blog post (with Mezi sleeping on my lap) |
I was part of a group of Nazarenes from Romania that participated in the Central Europe Field Leadership Conference in Albania. This was our first field conference since before the pandemic!
 |
| Central Europe Field Leadership Conference Participants |
 |
| Sessions led by new NDI director Sam Barber |
October:
Waking up in Bucovina back in June, I read the e-mail that announced the upcoming closure of Eastern Nazarene College. The annual Homecoming scheduled for early October was turned into a Legacy Celebration of the college's 124-year history. Although I wasn't able to attend in person, I
watched the ENC Legacy Service live via YouTube from my apartment in Romania. The reunion of
Romanian Studies Program students highlighted the lasting legacy of
ENC in Romania. In my report to the Romania District Assembly a few weeks later, I highlighted that Veritas, the Sighisoara Church of the Nazarene, and the Tigmandru Church of the Nazarene all grew out of ministries started by ENC students and ENC professor Dorothy Tarrant.
 |
| Watching the ENC Legacy Celebration |
In mid-October, I attended a weekend retreat in the Carpathian mountains with missionaries and church leaders from a variety of denominations.
 |
| Carpathian Mountains |
 |
| I enjoyed spending time with former Veritas staff & volunteers at the retreat. |
The Romania District Assembly took place at the end of October. One of the personal privileges of serving as district superintendent is hosting the general superintendent, regional director, and field strategy coordinator. (This was our new regional director's first assembly in his new role. Our former regional director was elected Global Missions director in February.)
 |
General Superintendent Carla Sunberg preaching (with translation) at district assembly
|
 |
| Romania District leaders present at the assembly |
Following the assembly, we have expanded our district leadership structure to include new roles and new committees which will take on many of the responsibilities filled by missionaries in the past. Among my priorities in the next year will be to train the new district assistant and new assistant district treasurer, as well as to organize the new District Board of Ministry, District Church Properties Board, and District Auditing Committee.
November
After district assembly, I took a few vacation days to visit a friend in the city of Constanța, located on the Black Sea. This was my first time to visit this corner of Romania.
 |
| The Black Sea |
During the remainder of November, I attended several meetings (in Zoom and in person). I met with two couples interested in filling the missionary roles of
local associate at the Bucharest Blessing Church and
NCM Coordinator for Romania. I also participated in several meetings about
important decisions to be made by the Veritas Board. And I began training the individuals filling the new district roles mentioned above.
December
In December, I took a few days of vacation to travel to Warsaw and Krakow, Poland, with a friend. We enjoyed visiting the Christmas markets, trying Polish foods, and visiting museums to learn about Polish history.
 |
| Christmas market in Krakow, Poland |
As the year drew to a close and I started to reflect on the past 12 months, I am honestly amazed at how much has happened in the past year: new missions leadership at the field, regional, and global levels; reconnecting with friends during sabbatical; the closing of my alma mater; several international trips; establishing new district leadership structures; and positive, healthy changes that came in my own life as a result of my sabbatical in the spring.
Stay tuned as plans develop for 2025.
No comments:
Post a Comment