Many of you know that we travelled to Romania in July 2013 to visit Purtatorii de Faclie, the Torchbearers International Centre near Brasov, Romania. The purpose of this visit was to serve God, experience the ministry there and explore the possibility of moving our family to Romania to work with PDF.
So, we tabled the discussion for more than a year but continued to have open hearts and pray about it regularly. We had all but given up on the idea when suddenly Romania was on our hearts again. We began our discussions again, continued to pray, and and consulted with some family members and close friends who confirmed our decision to move forward.
We've been in contact with Ebbe Beck, the director of PDF and we have many 'first steps' to take as we begin this journey. It's overwhelming, and we ask for your support and your prayers as we begin to make plans to leave Canada and wrap up our life here. If you have questions, please contact us! We'd love to hear from you and we'd love to talk with you more about our decision and our plans.
One of our first steps is beginning to sell all our furniture and belongings, so if you or anyone you know is in need of anything we might have, please contact us! This is also a way you can support us - we are responsible for furnishing the home where we'll be living and we're obviously unable to bring any of our own furniture with us.
We are also in the beginning stages of our fundraising as we will need to raise our own support to cover monthly expenses as well as travel expenses. If you are interested in supporting us financially, please contact us and we'll provide you with more information about our financial support needs.
Another big thing you can do is give us your email address and subscribe to this blog, using the form at the end of this blog post. It's where we'll be sharing all kinds of fundraising information, prayer requests, and updates about our preparation and travel plans. We'll also be posting on this blog once we're in Romania, so you'll be able to read all about our work and family life there. Many missionaries send out a newsletter, and this blog will be that for us. We would appreciate it so much if you'd subscribe so we can keep you in the loop.
When we were in Romania 13 years ago on a short term mission trip we met a missionary named Sara. She was working in Beius, Romania with a mission organization that hosted our team. She was American, and the only North American person living in the area at the time and it was incredibly isolating for her. Living there was such a struggle and the work she was doing with the poor and the orphans in remote areas of Romania was brutal, but the bright spot in her years there were when the teams like ours came through the area to assist with the mission. She shared some of her struggles with us while we were there and she also shared some of the things that encouraged her to persevere and reminded her of her calling when she felt lost or discouraged. She shared a song with us and it's been one that we've never forgotten. We've found it particularly encouraging when we think about what the next several months hold for us: selling all our physical possessions, leaving behind all our family and friends and moving to the other side of the world, all because we believe this is something God has been preparing in advance for us to do.
The song is Crazy by Mercy Me. Unfortunately it's not one of Mercy Me's most popular songs, so this is the best version we could find.
