September/October Highlights :)

Here are a few highlights from September and October!

In September, we were blessed to take a relaxing vacation at a hotel along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.

 

Entering Bulgaria!

 

This was our view for most of our five days in Bulgaria - relaxing by the pool.  :)

 

Our hotel was right on the beach!

 



After our time in Bulgaria, we traveled to Constanta, Romania, where our church held its first baptism!

 

We arrived Friday night and saw the sunset from this skylift.  :)

 

 

Jessica with our friend, Laura.

 

From left to right: our pastor Beni, Liliana, Andrei, Octavian, and our assistant pastor Alex

The three in the middle were all baptized in the Black Sea!

 

 

Here we are with our friend, Andrei, after he was baptized!

 



September 26 was Cameron's 28th birthday!  We celebrated by walking through a beautiful park and eating dinner at Hard Rock Café.

 

Our wonderful friends and small group leaders from North Carolina, Matt & Lindsey, came to visit us in October!

 

Eating breakfast together in our living room.

 

We took the Bucharest City Bus Tour for the first time after living here for a year.  It was really fun!  Here we are with the People's Palace (the main government building) behind us near the city center.

 

At Bran/Dracula's Castle.

 

Peles Palace

 

Matt, who is getting his Masters in Biblical Counseling, was asked to speak at the Baptist Seminary in Bucharest.

 

We celebrated Lindsey's birthday at Hard Rock Café.  :)

Also while Matt & Lindsey were visiting, we had our first official small group meeting in our home.

Jessica has been helping our friend, Adela, teach songs in English to the children's choir at "Grace Church."

Last Saturday, we were privileged to help our colleagues in a village they are working in.  The village is about an hour north of Bucharest. 
 

 

While on our way to the village, we found ourselves surrounded by a herd of cows in the road!

 

Cameron went with Dwayne to invite people to the free medical clinic we were having.

 

This lady is a member of the Baptist church in the village.  Even though she lives in tough circumstances, she is full of joy and always smiling.

 

Jessica helped with the eyeglasses/spiritual counseling station.  We gave free (donated) eyeglasses to those who needed them and asked how we could pray for each person who came to the clinic.

The evening after we came back from the village, we had the incredible opportunity to share with the young adults of our church about our story, our ministry, and some practical evangelistic tools they can use to reach out to the city of Bucharest for Christ.
 

 

Yesterday, we traveled back to Alexandria to visit the children's ministry that was started after the Wild West VBS (from our last post).  Jessica painted faces, and Cameron played a lot of basketball.  It was great to see them again!

 

 

 

 

 

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

 - Galatians 6:9

 

VBS in the Wild West

This past week, we were honored to be a part of an American-style Vacation Bible School in Alexandria, Romania (2 hours southwest of Bucharest).  Jessica led the music and Cameron led the games.  Here are some pictures!  (P.S. Many of these were taken by other people on our team.)

 

The whole VBS team!

 

Registration

 

Pastor Mihai and his wife, Ema

 

Ready to sing?

 

Cameron & Adi (a seminary student who is interning with us for the month of August)

 

 

Jessica couldn't believe what they chose for the morning song...Country Roads!

 Games!

 

 

Friday evening program for the parents.

 

We had about 75 people come for the Friday evening program!  :)

 

 

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me
and do not hinder them, for to such belongs
the kingdom of heaven.”

 

                                       - Mathew 19:14

When Sinners Turn to Jesus

In the past 2 weeks, we've seen a LOT of sinners come to Jesus.  What a joy it is! 

This month has been one of the busiest months since we arrived last October.  Last week, we were privileged to serve with an American team and Romanian/Roma believers in a youth camp about 2 hours from Bucharest.  The camp theme was "Stii?" which means "Do you know?"  Cameron served as the camp pastor and Jessica led a small group Bible study.  It was a very stretching time both for language and ministry, but God greatly blessed us to be able to communicate well in Romanian.  Approximately 20 students accepted Christ!  It was such a blessing to see their hearts turn from sin to repentance. 

This week we helped with another American team here in Bucharest.  We all distributed flyers around the city for the National Bible Reading Campaign (http://www.wemakedisciples.com/introduction-john-111.html).  The flyers/tracts ask the question: "Which way will you choose?" with one side being the "Way of Man" that emphasizes good works and the other side being the "Way of the Lord" that emphasizes forgiveness and grace in Jesus.  Most people who received the flyer walked away reading it intensely.  Many asked us questions about what it meant, and sometimes this even led to good contacts and Bible studies!  At least 3 people accepted Christ on the spot through the efforts of this team. 

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

 

We were privileged to go on a retreat with our church, Biserica Agapia, in the mountains of Romania on July 4 - 6.

 

Cameron preaching with Mihai translating.  Cameron has known Mihai since 2006!

 

Jessica's small group/Emily's cabin - can you pick out the Americans by our bigger smiles?

 

Thursday afternoon, Cameron went down the HUGE water slide!

 

 If you would like to see a video of Jessica singing in Romanian with our friend Nicole singing in English, please click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NjYDpEYncU 

 

Friday afternoon, the youth led a program for about 40 children from nearby villages.  It was really cool to see them take the lead. 

 

One of the youth teaching his partner about what each color of the Jesus bracelet represents to share the gospel.  Black = sin, Red = blood of Jesus, White = when we repent, we are made white as snow, Blue = baptism, Green = growing as a Christian, and Yellow = streets of gold in heaven.

 

The group of students who came forward on Friday night to say that they had professed their faith in Jesus while at camp.  :)

 

 

Eating dinner at the mall with some of the American team this week.

 

The lady in the middle, Ms. Julia, is 76 years old, and this is her 6th overseas mission trip.  She and Deborah (on the right) led 2 women to Christ last Saturday.  They have had 4 Bible studies with these Romanian women, and Jessica was privileged to go with them on Thursday and Friday.  Jessica, Deborah (who was one of the Romanian translators), and our supervisor, Wanda,  will continue the Bible study with these ladies in their home.

 

 

 

"For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
    you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
 Since ancient times no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him."

 - Isaiah 64:3-4