Jonathan and Kristy's Update

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

We are so grateful for this time of year when we specifically remember our Savior’s miraculous birth! Some Christians do not celebrate Christmas for various reasons, but even so, it is a good reminder to appreciate and remember with wonder the love of God in sending His Son to earth to be our Savior! We are excited to be able to spend a few days with Kristy’s family, who is coming in just two weeks!

Cory continues to grow and learn quite quickly. We appreciate your prayers for our health, and praise the Lord that Cory is doing well.

Ana, who recently got saved, came to church once a few weeks ago. She told us that she is reading pretty well, and reads the Bible at home. So, she hasn’t come to the reading classes, but we are thankful she is reading the Bible! She continues to go to the Pentecostals, and we pray that Ana will be grounded in the truths of the Bible and stay close to the Lord.

Ica (Eeka) has been coming pretty regularly, but we haven’t had reading classes with her, as she doesn’t usually come to our Tuesday services (we have reading class after the Tuesday service). The one time she did, the generator that runs our lights in the church building ran out of gas at the end of the service, so we didn’t have light to do a reading class. Please pray that Ica will come faithfully to the church services and reading classes, and that she will learn to read. Mariana, whom we did reading classes with several months ago, said that she wanted some help reading and writing, but she will let us know when she is ready to start.

A few weeks ago, we had a teen activity playing games at the mall, then coming to our house for snacks and a challenge from the Word. Sara and Rebeca, two young saved girls, came to the activity along with our co-workers, and we had a great time of fun and fellowship. We have been having some teens/pre-teens off and on coming to the church services. One week, 4 boys came who are not known to be good. They were great! They listened and answered review questions at the end of the service. Please keep praying for the young people in Mosnita (Moesh-neetsa)!

We have begun after-school English classes at Casa Rafa (Roffa) again. It has been nice to connect with some of the children from last year’s classes, and meet some new ones. The ones that were in our previous class remembered things surprisingly well! We hope that not only will we be a help for the children’s education, but that the Lord will be glorified through these relationships.

Several weeks ago, a friend of a friend stopped by our house with lots of baby boy clothes for Cory! We were very grateful for them, but couldn’t use them all, as there were quite a few. We took what was left to a few Gypsy families in the village who just had babies. It was nice to visit with them, as well as meet some new people who had recently moved to the neighborhood. Please pray that we will have opportunities to share the Gospel with those around us, and that they will be open to the Lord’s working!

Our Thanksgiving was an enjoyable time of food, fun, fellowship, and giving of thanks. We spent the day with my parents and Larisa, our co-workers, and another American missionary friend of ours. We have so much to be grateful for, and must remember daily to give the Lord thanks for the blessings He gives to us!

We thank you for your continued faithful prayers for us and the Gypsies! Thank you for your part in this work!

In His service,
Jonathan, Kristy, and Cory

Jonathan and Kristy's update

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

We praise the Lord for the work He has done these past few weeks and look forward to what He will continue to do! A Gypsy lady, Ana, whose children often come to our services, came to church a few weeks ago and said that the Lord was working in her life. After coming a few times, she received Christ as her Savior! She seems to have been drawn in by the Pentecostals now, so please pray that Ana would be grounded in the truths of the Word and grow spiritually.

We have started reading classes again. Ana came to one of our reading classes along with Ica (Eeka), another lady who recently got saved. We are hoping that Alina, the saved mother of some of the children that come to our church, will also come and learn to read. She has not been to church for a few weeks, so please pray for her to come to church faithfully.

A few weeks ago, I put down a layer of concrete in the children’s room at the church building. The children were very curious, and it was all we could do to keep them off the floor. But they thought it was the greatest thing! :o) There always seem to be plenty of children coming to the children’s classes. Many of them seem to leave before the service is over, but this is very typical with their short attention spans and lack of discipline. We praise the Lord that we have had a few services with little disruption from the children. It is nice to not have to have someone constantly guarding things outside for the entire service!

Cory is growing quite quickly! It seems like he was born last week. We took him to see a dentist about his possible tied lip last week. Thankfully, the dentist said everything was fine. Cory had been having some trouble nursing as well, which was why we thought his lip was tied. He has been doing much better, so we thank the Lord for that. It was exciting to receive his American birth certificate and passport in the mail! We have begun the process of trying to get all the proper paperwork together for his Romanian residence permit.

This past Sunday, there were a few visitors at our service. Some teen girls came, and the man that Ica is living with. After the service, they wanted to stay for a while, as it was warm in the building. The Lord provided wood for the church for the winter, and it is having positive effects already. :o) Speaking of heat, we are grateful that the Lord has provided part of our heating system for the winter for our house, and we are trusting He will soon provide the rest. We would appreciate your prayers for this need.

I was able to preach a few weeks ago, and it was a blessing to see several visitors come to the service. We were able to talk to them afterwards for a while and share the Gospel with them. Most, if not all, of the Gypsies in the church neighborhood have been shown the Gospel. Please pray that many more will be saved!

Thank you for your continued faithful prayers for us and the Gypsies in Mosnita! We are blessed to have you as helpers in the work here!

In His service,
Jonathan, Kristy, and Cory

Jonathan and Kristy's update

Sometimes it is mind-boggling how quickly another month passes. We are so grateful for all the Lord has done this past month, as well as for your faithful prayers.

 

We are happy to report that Kristy is doing much better. At her postpartum doctor’s visit, the doctor said that she is healing well. He was thrilled to see Cory, and said that if we come again, we need to bring Cory too. :o) The Lord has blessed Cory with good health for which we are grateful. We do believe he has a tied lip, and are planning to see a dentist about this in a few weeks. We have attached a recent photo of Cory.

 

There have been lots of children coming to the children’s classes at church. They were very excited to hear about our Bible school program. Our theme was the armor of God. Bible school went quite smoothly and was well-attended. There were children, as well as adults and teens, and I think the adults enjoyed the puppets as much as the children! :o) Everyone was well-behaved, so thank you for praying! It was good to be able to talk to some of the teen boys that came, as they haven’t been coming to the teen classes at church. Many heard the Gospel during the 3 days of Bible school, and we pray that the Lord will use His Word that was planted in their hearts. Many of the children said the memory verse on the last day, and it was encouraging to see they had learned something. We praise the Lord also for the ladies in the church that were willing to help out with Bible school. We have attached a picture of some of the children helping me with the memory verse during Bible school.

 

There have been some teens that have come to the teen classes recently, which has been a blessing. Rebeca continues to come off and on, and there were some boys that came also. They paid attention very well, which was thrilling to me! They are generally not used to sitting in a class and listening to someone trying to teach them something. Many times, they come and either talk to each other, leave after 2 minutes, or are just totally not paying attention. It is exciting to see them listen and learn the truths of God’s Word! Please pray for the teens in Mosnita (Moesh-neetsa).

 

Thank you for praying for our trip to Bucharest to get Cory’s report of birth abroad and passport from the American Embassy. We went to the Embassy, put in our paperwork and signed in front of the consulate, and in a few days we should receive the report of birth and passport in the mail! While we were in Bucharest, we stayed with some dear missionary friends of ours who also have a Gypsy church. We had such a blessed time of fellowship and refreshment with them. Cory did very well traveling also, and slept for most of the flights. Praise the Lord for a smooth trip and a wonderful time of fellowship! Please continue to pray for us as we start the process of getting Cory’s Romanian residence permit.Often government workers are not kind or very helpful, which only makes the process harder. Please pray that it will go quickly and smoothly, and that we will be dealing with friendly, helpful people.

We also ask you to pray for our reading classes, which we are planning to start up again next week. Two ladies who recently got saved showed an interest in learning, so we hope they will come and learn.

 

Thank you for your continued faithful prayers for us and the Gypsies in Mosnita! We are blessed to have you as helpers in the work here!

In His service,

Jonathan, Kristy, and Cory

Jonathan and Kristy's August Prayer Letter

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

 

August brought lots of changes to our lives! Welcoming a new member to our family was a thrill, and we are taking on the challenges of figuring everything out and trying to keep up with all of our responsibilities. We praise the Lord that we were able to talk to some of the nurses at the hospital about Him. Kristy has been having many aches and pains associated with the happy event, and we would ask you to pray for her healing, and for sufficient rest and strength for us. The ladies in our ministry like to “ooh” and “ahh” over Cory (when they’re not giving their parenting opinions and advice), and we are looking forward to ministry opportunities that having a child will bring. It is a custom here to spit on babies. Fortunately, most of the time, it is just a pretend spit, and we do hope it stays that way. :o)

 

Getting Cory’s Romanian birth certificate was quite a trip . . . . well, several trips to the Civil Status office in the city. First of all, the document the hospital gave us to get the birth certificate had listed Cory as a girl. Thankfully, I went back to the hospital and got that resolved on the spot. Then, they didn’t like the look of our marriage certificate. It looked different than other American marriage certificates they have dealt with, and they thought it would not be acceptable. I asked, “So, are we supposed to get married again?” They said to leave a copy of the translated certificate with them, and they would send it to the “higher-ups” to see if it was acceptable. After a few days when I went back in, they hadn’t heard anything. So, I just left all the necessary documents there, and they said that if everything was fine, I could pick up the birth certificate on August 27^th. Praise the Lord, everything was fine and I picked it up!Please pray that the Lord would work out all the details for us to go to Bucharest to get Cory’s American certificate of birth abroad and passport. Also, after that, we will need to get him a Romanian residence permit. Paperwork in Romania is not fun, but it is much better if the people we deal with are friendly. This is a big prayer request!

 

During one of the children’s classes, some boys came who are normally badly-behaved. Amazingly, they were very good! They were very cute as they sang the songs and sat through the class. After a bit, several more children came in, and we had 16 all together. They were pretty good too. For another class, the kids were kind of bad, but a few paid attention, even ones that normally don’t. Thank you for your prayers for them! It is fun to watch the children’s looks of wonder as they look at Cory. :o) We pray that soon, many of them will look to Jesus and be saved. We are planning to have a VBS for the children in September. Please be praying that the Lord would guide us as we finish preparing for it, and that He would work in hearts and be glorified through all that’s done.

 

Some teens have been coming off and on. Rebeca came Sunday, and Gugu (whose real name is Nelu [Nellu]) and Ionel (Yone-ell) have come as well. It is a real struggle for these teens in the Gypsy neighborhood to live for the Lord. Please keep them in your prayers.

 

The other day, I asked Casi (Cossy), an unsaved 18-year-old boy, to come and cut down a bunch of weeds behind our house. He does this as a business, and it was good to be able to spend some time with him too. After he finished, we talked for quite a while. The conversation was mostly about everyday things, but it was good to strengthen our relationship, and we pray for Casi’s salvation.

 

I turned 30 years old today (August 31^st), and am very grateful for the blessings the Lord has given me.Sunday, at the beginning of the children’s class, there were just a few boys there, and it warmed my heart to hear them sing “Happy Birthday” to me in Romanian.

 

Thank you for faithfully praying for us, and for your support! You are an encouragement to us!

 

In His service,

Jonathan and Kristy Heisey (and Cory too)

Baby!!

We welcomed Cory Dwight Heisey into our arms on Sunday, August 2 at 7:25 p.m! He was 20 inches long and weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces. We are so grateful that the Lord provided a private room for Kristy at the hospital. Kristy had some extra bleeding, but the doctor got it taken care of quickly. Thank you so much for your prayers! We are working on feedings, and hope to get into a routine soon. We would appreciate your prayers for us as we get all the official paperwork for him, and get things ready to go to the embassy in Bucharest for his American birth certificate and passport. Thank you for rejoicing with us for our little bundle of sweetness!

Jonathan, Kristy, and Cory

Jonathan and Kristy's July Prayer Letter

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

We are very grateful for your prayers for us this month. We truly believe God works through your prayers! July was full of busy times, ministering, completing the finishing touches on our hall and baby’s room, unpacking and washing baby things, and trying to get everything ready for our little boy’s arrival. Although there were several delays and things that slowed us down on the house work, we praise the Lord that we were able to finish the hall and baby’s room before his arrival. :o) Everyone at church, and even our neighbors, are excited about the birth of our child. He is due August 5th, so we are expecting him to come any day! Please pray for an uncomplicated birth, and for Kristy to get a private room and be able to have the baby room-in with her the whole time.

Ion (Yone) is still admitted to the hospital, but should be getting out soon. He is doing some treatments there for a spot on his lungs. The Lord is working in his life and calling him to salvation. We don’t know why Ion keeps waiting. Please pray for him!

Adi (Oddy), came to one of the services the other week. His unsaved wife, Lusi (Lucy) has been coming sometimes too. My dad was able to talk to her specifically about her salvation. She is certainly thinking. Please pray that she will get saved.

For one of our services, a lot of children came, and they were not being well-behaved. They kept disrupting things and messing with the cars. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen every week, but it is frustrating having to have someone stand guarding things outside, instead of being able to participate in the church service. We would appreciate your prayers about this situation. For another service, the children were very good! :o)

A couple that was living next to the church building came to our services a few times. The woman, Ica (Eek-ah), showed particular interest, staying until the end of the services. After talking about salvation with my parents during a visit, she received Christ as her personal Savior! This couple just moved back to her village, but she said there is a church there that she would like to go to. Please pray for Ica’s spiritual growth.

A few teens have been coming to the teen classes, so that’s a blessing. Rebeca comes occasionally, although she sometimes seems to have an attitude. Please pray that she will grow in the Lord. Romica (Roam-eeka), the son of Alina (Ah-leena) who recently got saved, came to one of the teen classes. He paid attention very well, and seemed to want to learn. Alina has been growing spiritually and has also expressed interest in learning to read. We are hoping to start classes with her after the baby comes.

Please continue to pray for Alin (Ah-leen), Mariana’s saved son who is not living for the Lord. His new wife is only 14. :o(

We asked prayer for Radu (Roddu), one of the drunks in the Gypsy neighborhood. The other week, he got bit by a dog, and his leg was bleeding badly. I let him use my phone to call an ambulance. Although the ambulance didn’t want to come to the Gypsy neighborhood, Radu seemed to appreciate my help. It would be a great testimony if he would get saved and live for the Lord! Please pray for Radu.

We can’t thank you enough for your prayers and support for us and our ministries. Thank you for the encouragement you are to us!

In His service,
Jonathan and Kristy Heisey
P.S. Enjoy the before and after pictures of the hall and baby's room. :o)

Jonathan and Kristy's June Prayer Letter

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

 

We are so thankful to you for your prayers for us as we serve the Lord here in Romania. June was an eventful month, and we praise the Lord for the way He is working!

 

The last few English classes at Casa Rafa were full of anxious children, seemingly restless for school to be finished and summer vacation to start. They were glad to have us back though, and we enjoyed our times with them.

 

Reading classes have been put on hold for a few weeks, as Ion (Yone), our main student, has been admitted to the hospital. He has been feeling OK, but they want to do some testing and get some papers together for him so he can get disability. He is not sure how long this will take, but he does still get to some of the church services. Several days ago, he said that a Christian man came to talk to him about the Lord at the hospital. This man had spoken at the funeral of one of the ladies in our church. Ion has been hearing the Gospel much, and we ask you to please pray that he will receive Christ as his Savior.

 

Adi (Oddy), the young man who recently got saved, was in Germany for a few weeks. He is now back, but has not been to church. Please pray for his spiritual growth, and that he will come to church faithfully.

 

Sometimes the children in the children’s classes at church can be so different from one week to the next! The one week, they were excellent, they paid attention, they knew answers to the review questions, and said memory verses at the end. :o) Other weeks, someone has to stay outside the church building and try to keep children from disrupting the services and messing with the cars. Often the children who come to the classes seem to be in their own world, and leave within five minutes of coming. Please pray for us to have wisdom, patience, and love as we try to reach them with the truths of God’s Word.

 

It was a wonderful blessing to have two men from our sending church come and help us with some house projects, as well as some church building repairs! With the baby due in just one month, we are trying to get the house ready for his arrival. We are so grateful for these men and the sacrifices they made, for their hard work, and for all that was accomplished. Their fellowship was a breath of fresh air. There are still a few things to be done, such as painting and putting flooring in the baby’s room, but the bulk of the work is done.

 

Speaking of the baby, he is doing fine. Kristy is uncomfortable at times, but is doing well also. At our last doctor’s appointment, the ultrasound showed that the cord is wrapped around his neck twice. This could be a problem, but many babies are born this way just fine. He will be monitored during the labor, so steps can be taken if there happen to be any problems. Please do pray that the rest of the pregnancy and the birth will go well, and that mother and baby will be healthy!

 

We had lots of ladies and girls come to the ladies meeting at the church a couple weeks ago. There were games, crafts, and a lesson from God’s Word. Alina (Ah-leena), one of the ladies that came, also came to church the next service. God was working in her heart, and she put her trust in Jesus as her Savior! Please be praying for her spiritual growth.

 

Mariana’s saved son, Alin (Ah-leen), who has not been living for the Lord, ran off with one of the young teen girls in the village. They have since gotten married (not legally, but according to Gypsy custom), and are living with Mariana. Sin always seems to complicate things and cause problems. Please be in prayer for them.

 

It has been difficult to get the teens to come to church, but a few have been coming. Gugu, the young man who had the brain tumor, came to one of the services recently. I have had several opportunities to talk to him as well. Please pray that the teens will come to the services, especially those that are saved, and that more will receive God’s gift of salvation.

 

We can’t thank you enough for your prayers for us and our ministries. Thank you for the encouragement you are to us!

 

In His service,

Jonathan and Kristy Heisey

Jonathan and Kristy's May Prayer Letter

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

May was a full month with lots of events and happenings. We are rejoicing in all that the Lord is doing!

The beginning of May saw our last few days in the States. We spent our last Sunday at Ambassador Baptist Church, where Kristy’s father is the pastor. Marissa, Kristy’s sister, had her graduation that day also, and it was nice that we could be a part of that. It was not so fun to say all of our goodbyes to friends and family, but we are blessed to have spent the time with them.

We praise the Lord for giving us a good trip home to Romania with uneventful flights. We even got our gluten-free meals this time! :o)

Everyone was very happy to have us back home, and that is a blessing. :o) The services are going well, and we enjoy our times with our Gypsies, answering their questions, having fellowship, and discipling them. We also had the opportunity to take care of the services while my parents were away for a few days.

Mariana informed us of a recent incident where one of the young men in the village was drunk and smashed another family’s window with a bottle. Alina, the mother that lives there, was inside the house, and the glass hit her head. She was bleeding badly. Several people called for an ambulance, and after a bit, the police came. The ambulance took about 1 1/2 hours to come. The hospital gets prank calls a lot from that area, so they were reluctant to come. In the meantime, Alina almost bled to death. The young man was taken to the police station, and they basically told him to be good, and that was that. The police in Mosnita (Moesh-neetsa) are very corrupt. Thankfully, Alina seems to be doing well now. Mariana also told us that Gicu (Jee-cu), the “man/boyfriend” her daughter Lili (Lilly) lives with, got drunk and beat up Lili and broke the windows in their house. These are the types of things that are happening in this Gypsy neighborhood, and it breaks our hearts. Please pray with us that God would work in their hearts, and that they will turn to Him and be saved.

During one of the children’s classes, there were around 15 children. Ion (Yone) felt the need to come in and help keep the kids in line. They were very well-behaved, and Ion seemed to enjoy the lesson too. :o) Please continue to pray for Ion’s salvation.

After we got back home, Kristy had a doctor’s appointment and everything is going well with the baby. We hope to tour the hospital soon and go over our birth plan with the doctor. Please pray with us that we will get a private room at the hospital. This would allow the baby to sleep in the room with Kristy at night, and I could probably stay with Kristy as well. We don’t feel right about leaving the baby in a nursery for the night, so we are trusting the Lord to provide.

We are looking forward to the coming of a missionary from our sending church. The Davis family has a ministry helping pastors and missionaries with construction projects. Terry Davis will be coming in two weeks, Lord-willing, to help us with a project in the teens’ room at church, and to finish our hall and baby’s room. Please pray that the Lord will continue to provide for all the materials, help, and strength to accomplish this work.

Radu (Roddu), a man from the Gypsy neighborhood who is drunk most of the time, came to church the other night after the service was over. He wanted us to sing a song, and asked my dad to pray for him that he won’t be so sinful. It would be a great testimony to the village if he got saved and would live for the Lord! Please pray for Radu to get saved.

A couple weeks ago, there was a special youth night at the Tylers’ church. Alin (Ah-leen), Mariana’s saved son who hasn’t been coming to church for years, came with us along with a few other teens. The speaker had an excellent message about Hophni, Phinehas, and Samuel, and the importance of serving the Lord. Our teens really enjoyed it. They came with us to that Sunday service at the Tylers’ church to hear the special speaker again. I wish they would come faithfully to our services! Please pray that the Lord would work in the hearts of the young people in Mosnita, that those who are saved would live for Him, and that many more would be saved.

This past Sunday, Gina told us that her mother, who lives a bit of a distance away, received Christ as her Savior! We had been praying for this for some time, and are rejoicing for this answer to prayer! Gina’s son Adi (Oddy), who recently got saved, has not been to church much. He had gone to a Pentecostal church, and told Gina that he doesn’t like how things are done there, and doesn’t want to go there anymore. We pray that he will come faithfully to the services and grow in Christ.

Thank you for allowing us to share our burdens, blessings, and ministry with you, and for taking the time to pray for us and our Gypsies. You may never know until heaven how great of an impact your part in this ministry is!

Serving the Lord,
Jonathan and Kristy Heisey

Jonathan and Kristy's April Prayer Letter

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

 

What a busy month April has been! With meetings, a wedding, traveling, spending time with family and friends, and different activities, it kind of felt like a whirlwind.

 

First of all, we are very grateful that the Lord provided a vehicle for us to use while we are here in the US. We were able to use one of Kristy’s parents’ cars, and I’m afraid we’ve put quite a few miles on it. :o)

 

The beginning of April, we began our journey to Rhode Island to be with one of our supporting churches for Easter Sunday. We took two days to get there, as the traveling really wears on us both. It was good to finally meet Pastor Stricklin and the people at Narragansett Bay Baptist Church in Rhode Island. They supported Kristy for several years, and continued to support us after we got married; but this was my first opportunity to meet them. We had a blessed time with them. Easter Sunday evening found us at Lakes Pond Baptist Church in Connecticut. The pastor, Douglas Meader, was in Romania for a couple weeks with some men from his church in 2012, and it was good to see them again. We presented our ministry there, and Pastor Meader and I enjoyed sharing what it’s like in Romania with the Gypsies. The Lord blessed us with some wonderful fellowship.

On April 10^th, we again left Pittsburgh to go to a supporting church in Iowa. My cousin, who lives in Michigan with her husband, invited us to stay with them overnight on our way to Iowa. What a fun time we had re-connecting with family!

Liberty Baptist Church in Iowa had us join them on April 12^th for their services. This is another church that supported Kristy before we got married, and I had never met them. It is a breath of fresh air to meet pastors and churches who are faithfully serving the Lord and standing firm on His Word. It was a wonderful blessing to be with them and to be able to share the ministry God has called us to do.

From Iowa, we traveled to Wisconsin to help get things ready for Kristy’s sister, Rhonda’s, wedding. This meant several days of morning to evening busyness! But the wedding on April 18^th was beautiful. It was a wild week, but it was worth it.

Although these busy times have been a bit tiring, we are thankful that Kristy and the baby are doing well. Praise the Lord for His strength when ours isn’t enough! Thank you for your prayers for our health.

Last Sunday, we presented our ministry at Ambassador Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, where Kristy’s father is the pastor. Ambassador has a prophet’s chamber that we have been staying in for most of our time in the US, and it has been a huge blessing. We have greatly enjoyed the hours spent with Kristy’s family and the church family here.

Our last meeting was at Sewickly Lighthouse Baptist Church, about half an hour from where we’re staying. Pastor Gelfand and his people were a blessing to us as I preached and told them about our ministry in Romania.

With less than a week left before we head back home, we would appreciate your prayers for us as we pack up our things and say our goodbyes. Those are never fun. But we are looking forward to going home on May 6^th and being with our Gypsies. Please pray for safety and good travels.

We can’t thank you enough for your prayers for us during our time in the States, as well as for our ministries while we are away. Thank you for the encouragement you are to us!

In His service,

Jonathan and Kristy Heisey

Jonathan and Kristy's March Prayer Letter

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 Corinthians1:27

 

We had a wonderful blessing at the beginning of March. Adi (Oddy), Gina’s son, came to church with some good news: he received Christ as his Savior! Please pray for Adi to come to church faithfully and to grow in his walk with the Lord.

 

At the end of February, my parents went to Germany for a couple weeks to help take care of the grandchildren while Bruce worked and Joanna helped with a literacy conference. Our co-worker, Nathan Freel, and I took turns preaching, and we all took turns teaching the children’s classes. For one of the children’s classes, the kids were not very well-behaved at the beginning, but they answered review questions well. It is encouraging to see them learn, even if they are not always on their best behavior. :o) Even some of the ones that don’t usually answer actually answered questions. There have been new people coming to the services also, and we rejoice that they can listen to God’s Word, and we pray that they will be saved.

 

Sometimes others will come in and listen to Ion’s reading class. I hope it will grow a desire in them to learn to read, so they can read the Bible. Ion is improving in his reading. Please continue to pray for his salvation.

 

Kristy’s most recent test results indicated that the infection was at least a few months old. The doctor was not 100% sure that it is from before the pregnancy, but we are fairly certain it is. Because there are serious risks associated with more testing to see if the baby has been infected, as well as risks of the treatment used if further tests are positive, we believe the Lord would have us not do anything further. Everything seems to be fine, and the doctor will keep an eye on the baby. Thank you for your prayers for Kristy and the baby.

 

March 19^th, we left for the States. The day before we left, we found out that there was a pilot strike, and one of our flights was cancelled. This meant we had to get an early morning flight, getting up at 3:30 a.m. It was a long trip (almost 30 hours total), but praise the Lord, everything went well. Thankfully, although Kristy does get tired easily, we didn’t really have problems with jetlag.

 

Our first Sunday in the US, we presented our ministry to a group of people from Metowers, a senior citizens apartment building. We had a nice time of fellowship, and they seemed to enjoy learning about our ministry. We went to visit an elderly lady there that Kristy knew who had done mission work in a few different countries years ago, and she was beside herself with joy that we came to visit her. :o)

 

The next Sunday, we had a meeting with our home church, Mount Zion Baptist Church inDenver, PA. We had good services, and it was such a blessing to spend some time with the people there. We had a wonderful time of fellowship.

 

Your prayers are much appreciated as we minister here in the States for a little while. Please pray that the Lord would meet our needs while we are here, and that we will be a blessing. We are encouraged and blessed to have you behind us and to know you are praying for us!

 

In His service,

Jonathan and Kristy Heisey

Jonathan and Kristy's February Prayer Letter

It has been a blessing to have slightly warmer weather these past couple of weeks. The temperatures have been staying above freezing for the most part, and all the snow is gone.

There have been some teens coming to the teen classes at church. The one evening after class, they wanted to sing some more. We ended up singing quite a number of songs. They do love to sing! Hopefully the messages of these songs will go to their hearts. During another of the teen classes, 6 boys came and they were all amazingly well-behaved. They asked relevant questions, and answered review questions well at the end.

It is exciting seeing the children at Casa Rafa learning English. They are picking things up and remembering words. They had fun trying to act out animals and guess the names in English. It was cute to hear them say, "Keeken" (chicken) and "Duke" (duck).

Several years ago, my family started a church with some Gypsies in Jebel (Jeb-ell), a town about 40 minutes away. They basically all went to France, so we hadn't seen them for quite a while. Recently, they contacted us, as they had returned from France for a bit, and wanted to have a church service with us. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with them, and it was a blessing to find out that almost the whole main family had gotten saved!

After one of our services here in the village, we were discussing some of the beliefs of the Pentecostals, and what the Bible has to say on some of those issues. It was encouraging to see the adults’ and teens’ interest in what God has to say.

Although the children's classes have been going relatively well, often several children will hang around outside, and try to unplug the cord to the generator. Normally someone has to stand outside and guard things. Please pray for them to stop disrupting the services.

Ion (Yone) has been doing an excellent job reading. This last class, he did the best he has ever done, and picked up on things he has never picked up on before. Please continue to pray for his salvation. Mariana, whom we are also doing reading classes with, came to church the other evening. Thank you for praying for her also.

Our latest doctor's visit went well. Kristy had some blood work done, and there was a positive result of a type of parasitic infection which can be problematic for the baby. There is a possibility that the infection is from a while ago though (before the pregnancy), in which case there would be no problem. We are scheduled to do some more blood tests a week from Monday to see if it is an old infection. Please pray with us that the tests will indicate that the infection is clearly from before the pregnancy.

I never thought I would say this, but we had several blessings getting our Romanian health insurance for the year. I was able to put Kristy on my policy, so we didn't have to pay extra for her. We weren't able to get one of the notarized documents that we needed, but thankfully it was not a problem at the insurance office. Things went unusually quickly and smoothly, and we didn't even have to go back in to get the official paper stating we are insured. They just put it right into the system!

My parents are in Germany for two weeks, helping take care of the grandchildren, as Joanna is going to a reading primer conference, and Bruce will be working. Please pray for us as we take care of the ministry and things here for them, and as we prepare for our trip to the States on March 19th.

We are encouraged and blessed to have you behind us and to know you are praying for us!

In His service,
Jonathan and Kristy Heisey

In case you haven't heard...

Jonathan, Kristy, and ?'s January Prayer Letter

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

It is hard to believe January is gone already! We praise the Lord for all that He did this past month, and thank you for your continued prayers and support.

On January 1st, we took a quick trip with my parents and Larisa to Germany to visit Joanna and Bruce and their family. It was a blessing to spend time with them and have a few days of relaxation and fellowship with them and some of the people in their ministries. We weren’t sure that we would be able to go, as there is a rather important detail that has been playing a part of all of our plans and activities: we are expecting Heisey #3! The due date is August 5th. Thankfully, it worked out that we were able to go to Germany.

We had our first prenatal doctor’s visit last week, and everything is good. We believe we have found a good obstetrician, and are hoping to tour a private hospital in the city to see if it would be a possibility to have our baby born there. We would appreciate your prayers for Kristy and the baby (and me!), and for all the details to be worked out for the baby’s arrival.

This winter has been the coldest Romania has had in 53 years! There were several weeks with below zero weather. We are very grateful that one of our supporting churches sent us a gift for wood, as ours was running out more quickly than we had anticipated.

Lots of children have been coming to the children’s classes. Often, they sit close to the wood stoves at church, and are grateful for the heat. They have not been very good generally, but it is still exciting to see them learning. On Sunday, one of the little girls was trying to teach another little girl John 14:6 (her own version of it :o)). During the one children’s class, the children were extremely well-behaved and attentive, asking questions and answering review questions at the end. What a blessing!

We are thankful for the teens that have been coming to church. The teenage years seem to be the hardest for them to stay close to the Lord. Please pray for these teenagers that are saved to come faithfully to church and to desire to obey the Lord.

The children in our English classes at Casa Rafa are learning and progressing. There are two pictures of the class attached. We had a nice time at the counseling class also. Unfortunately, the lady that runs Casa Rafa is not very clear with the Gospel, so we try to get it to the young people there as often as we can. It was a blessing to be able to share our testimonies with them.

Adi (Oddy) and Lusi continue to come to the church services now and then. Please continue praying for their salvation.

Mariana, the lady whom we are doing reading classes with, was in the hospital. I believe she had an operation to have a kidney stone removed. She was not feeling well, but we went and had a short reading class with her last Thursday. The Lord is working in her life. We are not sure if she is saved and appreciate your prayers that the Lord would get ahold of her heart.

Kristy’s sister, Rhonda, is getting married in April, and Lord-willing, we will be attending the wedding. We will be arriving in the US March 19th and leaving May 6th, and will be reporting to our supporting churches during our time there. Please pray that the Lord would work out all of the details of our time in the US (a vehicle, meetings, etc.). If you would like to schedule us for a meeting, please let us know.

Thank you for your prayers and for taking part in the Lord’s work among the Gypsies in Romania! May the Lord bless you as you serve Him!

In His service,
Jonathan and Kristy Heisey

winter goings on

It's been a while since I posted anything.  Life has been incredibly busy with holidays, travels, ministry, and furlough preparation (just to name a few).  But enough babbling.  On to some pictures!

Back in the beginning of December, we had some beautiful, clear days.  The mountains off in the distance could easily be seen with their snow-capped peaks.  How beautiful!

Next was preparing for Christmas.  One night we went downtown to see the lights, browse the shops and stands that were set up for the holidays, and get some traditional Romanian food.

One of the things we had been praying about was being able to buy a Christmas tree.  It may seem like a small thing, but we didn't know that we would be able to, and we very much wanted to decorate for that special time of the year.  However, the Lord provided for us to get one.  And my siblings gave us money for decorations as a Christmas gift.  Praise the Lord for His provision even in the small things!

On Christmas day, Jonathan and I first celebrated together, then with his family, then with our coworkers, and finally with some other missionary friends.  What a busy but wonderful way to celebrate Christ's birth.

the lovely earrings my husband gave me for Christmas

After Christmas, the weather turned cold.  Really cold.  The first snows started one afternoon and continued falling through the night.  It was beautiful that first night, as the snows rested gently on the ground.  But the next day we awoke to howling, frigid winds, bare grass, and snow drifts.

the trees were sure beautiful...

... but the bare grass was not

the winds even blew the sidewalk dry

you can see some of the marks the wind left in the snow

even the windowsills were full

It was pretty at times, but oh, so cold.  The winds just raged and howled.  We rolled towels up and put them around several of our windows because so much air was blowing in.  Strong drafts were even coming in our key hole!  The cold hung around for a couple of weeks, often dipping below zero (Fahrenheit).  Reports stated that it was the coldest spell this area of Romanian has had in 53 years.

Unfortunately, the frigid temperatures meant that we needed to use more firewood than we thought we would.  Last year we had fires going every two or three days, and the house stayed fairly comfortable.  This year, however, we were often making them every day.  We could see that our supply was not going to make it through the winter.  But the Lord always supplies when we need it.  A supporting church somehow heard of our plight and gave us a large love gift with which we were able to purchase some more wood.  We now only have a small amount of the old wood left.  We are saving it in case we get another super cold spell, as it burns better and hotter than the newer, greener wood.  The new wood, though, is perfect for the not-so-cold days, as it warms our house, but doesn't make it stifling.

January 1st we flew to Germany to spend a few days with Jonathan's sister's family.  We had a lovely time.

Well, that's been our winter in a nutshell!  Hopefully I'll be a little bit better about blogging in the future...

Jonathan and Kristy's December Prayer Letter

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 Corinthians1:27

 

December was a busy month again, and we rejoice in the blessings God has given to us. Please rejoice with us as you read how the Lord is working, and continue praying for us.

 

The children’s classes continue to be well-attended for the most part. The one evening, there were about 17 children, and they were a bit wild, but seemed to learn pretty well. Most of the time, several leave before we’re finished, so it was surprising to see them stay for the lesson. During one of the other children’s classes, the children were pretty bad. Romica, one of the teen boys who often comes to the children’s classes, tried to help keep some order with the kids. I asked him some questions from the lesson, and he knew some of the answers. A lot of the children (and even some of the teens) don’t seem to know how to learn very well, so we appreciate your prayers for them, and for us, as we try to teach them God’s Word.

 

A few teens have been coming off and on. Rebeca came with a friend of hers, Ioana (Ye-wonna), and after the teen class, they wanted to sing. So, we ended up singing several songs, and they enjoyed it. Ioana also comes to Casa Rafa, so we have spent some time with her there. She is not saved. The other week, a bunch of the teens were hanging around outside before the service. I went over to them (thankfully, they didn’t disperse, which is what usually happens when I go over to them), and invited them to come to the teen class. They didn’t want to come. Please pray that the Lord would work in these young people’s hearts. At least two in the group claim to have gotten saved, but have not been to church for a long time.

 

Although Ion (Yone) is going very slowly with his reading, some things do seem to click for him every now and then, which is encouraging. Gicu (Jee-cu) actually came for part of the reading class the other week, and it was surprising to see how much he remembered. Last Tuesday, no adults came to the service except for Ion. He heard the Gospel again. Please pray for him to get saved.

 

Mariana, the mother of a couple of the boys that come to church, asked us a few weeks ago if we could help her to read. She is wanting to take a course for being a care-taker/nurse, so she needs to improve her limited reading abilities. She has done very well for these first few lessons. Sometimes, we are able to talk about spiritual things with her. She told us that a while ago, she “surrendered.” Normally, this means that she got saved, but I am not totally sure what all she understands about the Gospel, or exactly what she did. In any case, she is not living for the Lord, but does know what she should be doing. Please pray for her, and for us as we minister to her.

 

It is a great blessing to have our co-workers back! Their help is much-appreciated, as they help to bear some of the burdens of the work here.

 

Adi (Oddy) and Lusi, Gina’s unsaved son and daughter-in-law, have been coming to church now and then. It is encouraging to see this sharp young couple listen to the Word. They seem interested in spiritual things, but are not yet ready to make a personal decision to receive Christ. Please pray for their salvation.

 

It was a blessing for Kristy and me to spend our Christmas together. :o) We also spent the day with my parents and sister, with the Freels (our co-workers), and with the Tylers (missionary friends of ours). It was a wonderful day filled with good fellowship, games, and thankfulness for the Savior’s miraculous birth!

 

As firecrackers pop all around us, ushering in the New Year, we are amazed and grateful to think of all the Lord has done this year. Thank you for the part you have had in our work among the Gypsies in Romania! We are blessed to have you behind us!

 

Serving Him,

Jonathan and Kristy Heisey