Seminary teaching, English clubs, and Protests

Happy November!

October was a whirlwind month for us. Besides continuing to attend language classes twice per week and remaining highly involved with our Romanian church, we hosted some American friends and also began three new ministries that we will briefly tell you about:

Visiting Rasnov citadel with Dusty

In Cismigiu Park with Rob & Jacob

Visiting Peles Castle with Rob, Jacob, Chris, & Cullen

1. Cameron began teaching Introduction to Evangelism at the Bucharest Baptist Seminary in early October. The class meets every Friday for two hours. He is really having a great time teaching! Already the 12 students  have been out sharing their faith in the city, and the conversations in class have gone well so far. Cameron was a bit nervous about having to speak in all Romanian, but the students are very encouraging and seem to be responding very well to his teaching style.

Cameron giving the first reading quiz

2. On Thursday evenings, we are a part of leadership training meetings in partnership with another Christian organization. Our team's two semester interns, Chris and Cullen, lead segments of these meetings in English and we help out where needed and are there to build connections that will perhaps lead to further ministry contacts. Roughly 25 people attend this group.

Chris & Cullen leading an English game (photo from Liderii de Maine)

3. On Sunday evenings, we are leading an English spiritual discussion group in our home. We have a meal together and then Cameron leads a discussion through a biblical story. Our prayer is that this will become a full-fledged Bible study and church plant in the future. There are only a handful of us at this point, but we are praying that the Lord will grow our number.

Our first spiritual English discussion group

In addition, we also wanted to mention the nightclub tragedy and the subsequent anti-corruption protests that have occurred this week. Last Friday evening (Oct. 30), a Bucharest nightclub caught on fire due to some unauthorized pyrotechnics. The ensuing stampede of young Romanians toward the single exit left many dead and/or critically burned, and each day since the death toll tragically climbs higher (as of now it stands at 49 dead and at least 50 in critical condition). Beginning Monday evening, tens of thousands of Romanians have taken to the streets of Bucharest and other major cities each evening in peaceful protest of widespread governmental corruption. The last time this many people were united in protest was 26 years ago when Communism fell. Yet to reiterate, these protests are peaceful and we feel very safe. Not only do our friends and neighbors assure us that there is no suspicion of violence, but the president is also committed to communicating with non-elected representatives of the people. We will let you know if this changes, but please do not worry about our safety for now.

Thousands of Romanians protesting against corruption this week