Training Time/End of Summer Update

Hello all! Since our last post we have traveled to Michigan, Tennessee, North Carolina, and unloaded all of our belongings in Jessica's parent's basement in Charleston, West Virginia. Thanks Mom & Dad!  This past Tuesday, we arrived at our 2-month missionary training and have been overwhelmed with new faces, information, and assignments. But God is good and we feel greatly privileged to be around so many wonderful people going out to spread the glorious gospel all over the globe! Here are a few photographic highlights from the last few weeks:

This picture was taken in Muskegon, MI (at Wendy's, actually), near Cameron's grandparent's home. It was really great seeing everyone!

 While in Tennessee, we were able to visit Cameron's parents, sister, brother and sister-in-law, and our little nephew Hank. The first picture was taken at the Dixie Stampede dinner show in Pigeon Forge and the second is on a walking bridge in downtown Chattanooga.

On July 15, our home church in Wake Forest, NC (North Wake) held a commissioning service for us. It was very encouraging!

The next Sunday, Jessica's home church in WV (FBC Nitro) commissioned us, as well. Here we are with the Pastor David and his wife Jeannie. 

Thank you so much for your prayers during our whirlwind summer. We are so excited to be a part of God's mission to redeem the nations, and for the next couple of months we will get to learn more about what it means to be Christ's ambassadors in Bucharest, Romania. For the most part, the next two months will be filled with classes about living on the mission field, staying near to God through cultural transitions, spiritual warfare, etc. We will also be doing worldview studies on the Romanian people and culture and begin thinking about what sort of tools we will need to bring the light of the gospel to the spiritual darkness of Bucharest.

We will be typing out our prayer email update list soon, so if you do not receive an email in the next few weeks or you want to be added to our list, please let us know through facebook or email Cameron at cameron_armstrong@ymail.com.

In Deuteronomy 31, Moses encouraged Joshua by reminding him the Lord would be with him as he went out into a new land with new responsibilities. As we begin these next two months of rigorous study prior to our departure, we are encouraged to remember the same.

Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you;   he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” -Deuteronomy 31:7-8 

A Midsummer Day's Update

Hello faithful readers! Our apologies for not updating for a while. As promised, we have been traveling almost nonstop since our previous post, as evidenced by the pictures below. So here is how our summer has looked so far:

The service at the Romanian Baptist Church of Charlotte went very well! Jessica sang two songs that went along with Cameron's message about churches partnering with missionaries, and everyone seemed encouraged. At the close of the service, the pastor (pictured with his wife) said emphatically, "We accept your challenge." Slava Domnului! ("Praise the Lord!" in Romanian.)

We spent one week in West Virginia with Jessica's family, and while we were there we were able to help out with VBS at FBC Nitro (Jessica's home church) and visit Camp Cowen (the Baptist summer camp Jessica grew up in as a camper and later as a counselor). After our time in WV, we went down to Florida for our cruise!

Our cruise in the Bahamas left out of Port Canaveral, so we were able to visit Cameron's grandma who lives in the Orlando area. Also pictured is all of us who went on the cruise in the Bahamas (Jessica's dad, mom, brother, and sister).

We got back to Florida this past Thursday and have since made our way back to NC with short stops at Charleston and Myrtle Beach, SC. So now we are back in our little apartment for our one-year anniversary until we head up to Michigan on Tuesday for a few days, spend a week with Cameron's family in Tennessee, and then make it back to Wake Forest, NC for a frantic week of packing.

God has been so incredibly kind to us these last several weeks, and we really do appreciate all your prayers as we travel so much! Please let us know how we can pray for you, as well. 

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.    -Ephesians 1:15-23