Monday, March 7, 2016

Jonathan and Kristy's update 3/6/2015

NEXT GENERATION PREPARATION
„But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” I Corinthians 1:27
3/6/2016

The last few weeks have been busy with ministry, getting paperwork for Cory’s Romanian residence permit, and preparing for my parents’ absence. My parents leave for a 7-week reporting trip to the US this week.

The Lord worked miraculously in our dealings with the immigration office for getting Cory’s residence permit. It did take several weeks for us to get all the paperwork ready. In fact, we had an issue trying to get a statement from our doctor saying that Cory was in good health. The program used in our doctor’s computer system wouldn’t let her print a statement for the patient without a Romanian ID number. Cory will receive an ID number with his permit, but we can’t get the permit without the doctor’s statement. And we couldn’t get the statement without an ID number! Thankfully, the doctor had one old form left that could be written by hand, so she filled that out for us. The other miraculous part was that the paperwork and documents were accepted by the immigration office . . . the first day we submitted them! It usually takes several tries of putting in paperwork, being told this or that is not acceptable, or that we need something else. We are praising the Lord it was accepted, and expect to pick up the permit in a couple weeks. Thank you so much for your prayers!

It is exciting to see the children coming to the classes at church and learning! It is obvious people are praying for them, and the Lord is working. Children who normally don’t even seem to pay attention, or even if they try, don’t seem to learn, have been knowing answers to review questions at the end of the lessons! Gina’s 4-year-old grandson who lives with them has been memorizing Bible verses, and knows some of the children’s songs by heart. Although the children are often quite rowdy and wild, it is so encouraging to see them learning! Please keep praying that the Lord will work in the children’s hearts! Sara, the saved granddaughter of Mariana, comes very faithfully and is such a joy. She listens and learns very well, and she loves to sing. :o) We are praying Sara will want to get baptized soon.

We were able to attend a course for several days on teaching children, taught by Jeff Welch. It made for some long days, but it was a blessing, and we gained much knowledge through it. We pray that we will be better able to minister to the children because of it.

Some days with our English class, the children are great, and other days, not so much. :o) Last week was not so good. It is difficult to know what to do with them sometimes, but despite the challenge, we are grateful for the opportunity to spend time with some of the children in our village. We will take a break from English classes for a few weeks while my parents are in the States, since we will be taking over some of their responsibilities.

I had the opportunity to preach to the adults the other week. Radu (Roddu), one of the drunks in the Gypsy neighborhood, was there, and thankfully, didn’t cause any problems. He loves to sing the church songs. Hopefully one of these days, the words will sink into his heart! Ion (Yone), Mariana’s unsaved husband, was also there. Please pray that the Lord would work in his life, and that he would be saved.

Alin (Ah-leen), Mariana’s saved son who is away from the Lord, and his 15-year-old wife, Lacri (Luck-ree) just had a baby boy. Please pray that Alin would turn back to the Lord, and that Lacri would be saved.

Regarding our house and land, Lord-willing, this week we will contact the previous owner and get the contract and deed taken care of. Basically, as foreign citizens, we cannot own land in Romania. Currently, the land is in our name, so it is not legal. The previous owner will have to give us the land rights, so we are praying that the Lord will resolve the land/house issue quickly and smoothly.

Time fails me to tell of the many broken Gypsy families in our church neighborhood, the poverty they choose to live in, and the ways the Lord has worked in some of their lives. They need your prayers. We need your prayers as we minister to them, and are so grateful to have you behind us as the Lord uses us here!

In His service,
Jonathan, Kristy, and Cory