Mid-2024 Update (Sabbatical Edition)

Hi friends!

In true Canadian fashion, we want to start by apologizing for the delay in getting this update to you. As you may have heard, there have been some big changes in our life and we're finally at the point where we can sit down and write about them. 

The biggest change is that we are no longer serving with Torchbearers Romania. As you might know, our time at PdF became increasingly difficult over the years, and although we maintained great relationships with our colleagues there, our relationship with the PdF leadership was strained by differences we weren't able to reconcile and differences that had a very negative effect on us as a family.

In the fall of 2023 we requested a 6-month Sabbatical  - we were experiencing burnout and felt God leading us to take some space. There are a lot of details we won't share publicly, but we weren't met with the support and understanding we were hoping for. We started our sabbatical on January 1, 2024 and we won't be returning to PdF after it's over.

We let our prayer support team and financial supporters know about this change many months ago, but we haven't felt ready to "go public" until now. The dust has settled, we are settled, and we want to let you in on what's up with us these days, and what's coming next.

What We've Been Up To in 2024

We moved off the PdF campus on New Years Day into a duplex in the town of Ghimbav, a suburb of Brasov. It was only by the hand of God that this house was available with short notice and we know it is a gift from Him. It's close to a grocery store, a gym and sports centre, and it's much closer to the kids' school and the city of Brasov where we spend a lot of our time, go to church, etc. It's the right size for our family, it's got a great backyard, and although Chrissie isn't in love with the small kitchen, she's making the best of it. We also have amazing neighbours on the other side of the duplex who have been so kind to us. Our kids play together outside almost every day and we've really been enjoying getting to know them. We are so grateful.

Moving day was pretty chaotic, but we're grateful for all our friends and many of our colleagues from PdF who helped us move. They even hoisted our wardrobes up to the second floor via the balcony, which was quite a feat!

After settling in to our new home, we took advantage of the winter season here and did as much skiing as we could at our local mountain Poiana Brasov, which was very therapeutic for all of us.

We've been connecting a lot more with our community and our local church. The girls have joined a kids' baseball team in Brasov, and they've been spending lots of time with friends from school and church.

Jerry has also joined the Brasov baseball team and he played in the Romanian National baseball tournament in May. He'll continue playing through the summer and into the fall for two more national tournaments. It's a great outreach opportunity and a wonderful way to get to know more local families.

Eden turned 10 this spring, so we celebrated her birthday in April with some of her friends from school.

And we also served with our friends Doug and Camelia and their church plant in Rasnov, Izvorul Vietii, at their Easter outreach event and Children's Day outreach event in Rasnov.

We've been leading worship at church on a regular basis, and Chrissie has started teaching the pre-teen/teenager Sunday School class at church which has been a fun challenge for her. 

The kids finished school in June and they have been enjoying the amazing summer weather we've been having. They both did SO well in their studies this year. We're so proud of them, and so grateful for how well they're integrating into their Romanian school, studying all their school subjects in the Romanian language, and getting excellent grades!

Chrissie also joined the Unity Choir this spring, a ministry in Brasov with the purpose of uniting all the evangelical churches in the Brasov area. She sang in the choir for their performance at a local concert hall in Brasov's old city centre on the 5th of July and it was an amazing night to bless the local pastors and church members in Brasov, and to share the gospel message. 

Reflections and What's Next

Having Jerry on sabbatical for the last 6 months has been a very healthy change for us all. He has been able to give his whole attention to our family and participate in our family in a way he couldn't when we were serving at PdF. It's been such a blessing to have the space to work on our physical, mental and spiritual health, and Jerry has also been taking time for his studies toward his Master's of Divinity program. 

Another blessing of this sabbatical season has been the ability to take time and reflect on our experiences here in Romania over the last 8 years. There have been many, many lessons learned both from our own mistakes and by experiencing the mistakes of others. We've gained wisdom and we've accumulated experience, and this time of reflection on all of that has been a great learning opportunity for us.

We feel compelled to explain that we left PdF on good terms with our colleagues. We enjoyed working alongside them for the last 8 years, and we're grateful that we're living close enough to maintain a good relationship with the families who have been our colleagues, neighbours, and friends for the last 8 years. Our kids have grown up together as we served side by side, and it's so great not having to say goodbye. We've even hosted some of our former PdF colleagues for meals at our new home and it's been so lovely to stay connected with them and for our kids to remain friends. 

One common challenge for cross-cultural missionaries is the concern with how well they're adapting to their host culture, (in our case, the Romanian culture). But one thing that's become super clear to us these last few months is how much we have come to love the Romanian culture. We feel very at home here, and now that we're living off campus and truly living in Romanian society, our love and appreciation for Romania and the Romanian culture and people has only grown. We are meeting new people here in Ghimbav and getting to know them and we are loving it. 

You might be wondering, "So, if you're on sabbatical then why did you stay in Romania instead of coming back to Canada?"

The main answer is that we believe this is where God wants us for now. Being a missionary family with school-age children presents unique challenges, and we believe one of our callings as parents is to prioritize our kids and give them as much stability in their life as possible. Allowing them to finish the school year well and minimizing the number of transitions they needed to make were big priorities and based on how well they've transitioned to our life in Ghimbav it's clear we made the right choice. 

Also, change is hard. The move away from PdF was jarring for us, and we didn't have a lot of time to wrap our minds around the change before it was on top of us. Keeping things as simple as possible has helped us immensely, and we're grateful God gave us the wisdom to see this. 

We're in a season of transition with a some "what ifs" and some unanswered questions. We're just pressing in to God and relying on Him to continue showing us what our next steps are. We are following Him one step at a time. 

You might also be asking, "So, what's next for you guys?"

We believe God is leading us to stay here in Romania for now. There have been so many opportunities presented to us for ministry here in Brasov, and Jerry has been sought out by several ministries who have asked for his help or for him to come on staff, thanks to the contacts we've made over the last 8 years. God has established our family here, allowed us to learn the language and culture, allowed our kids to adapt to and thrive in the Romanian culture and in Romanian school, and we've developed many deep relationships. We feel confident that Romania is where He wants us for now.

After lots of prayer and discussions about what's next, Jerry has accepted a position at our local church, Calvary Chapel Brasov (Casa de pe Stanca). His official title will be "Outreach Pastor" and he'll be working alongside pastor Nicu Hagiu to further the ministry of the church. Jerry's work will include evangelism, some preaching and teaching on Sunday mornings, worship leading, leading outreach events and community events, and working with youth. For the next season Jerry will work a little less than full time so he's able to spend time studying toward his Master's in Divinity, which will help him greatly in this new position.  

Pastor Nicu and Silvana Hagiu - Calvary Chapel Brasov

Chrissie will also continue serving at the church, teaching the pre-teen/teen Sunday School, helping with worship, and assisting Pastor Nicu's wife Silvana with the Women's Ministry. 

With the blessing of our advisory team, Jerry will continue his sabbatical through the summer so we can spend the summer months together as a family while the kids are off school for the summer holidays. We are very grateful to be able to do this, and we know it's a HUGE blessing for us as a family. We've been gifted a scholarship to attend a Christian family camp at Capernwray Hall in the UK (Capernwray Hall gives a limited number of free weeks of camp to families in full time Christian ministry in Europe) and we're really looking forward to having this experience as a family and growing spiritually together. We're actually already in the UK as we're hitting send on this newsletter, about to hop on a train to Capernwray in Carnforth, England. 

Thanks to RyanAir's cheap European flights, we have plans to do a bit more travelling - a few days in France where we'll celebrate Miriam's 12th birthday just after the camp in the UK, and a road trip in August to do some tent camping by the sea in Croatia like we did last summer, and to visit a ministry centre for missionaries on sabbatical that's located in Italy. Even though we've lived in Europe for the last 8 years we still have "pinch me" moments when we think about the fact that our simple summer road trips can include destinations like Tuscany.

Our Visa Situation

As Jerry's sabbatical progressed we became increasingly hesitant about our visa situation. Now that we're not serving with PdF anymore we needed to find a way to secure a visa to stay in Romania beyond September, when our current visas expire. We'll spare you the long story, but it was quite a difficult journey to get all the approvals and papers we needed to be able to file a visa application.

We're so grateful that God's hand was on our situation, and we should be able to go to the immigration police at the end of July to file our official application to extend our visas for another two years. 

One challenging thing is the financial cost of the visas - for our family of 4 the cost is almost 10,000 Romanian lei, which is about $2700 Canadian dollars. If you feel led to help us with this cost, we would be so grateful. 

Financial Update

Jerry's position at the church is unpaid - like many churches here, Calvary Chapel Brasov is not self-supporting and relies on donations from other churches and ministries in North America to cover the cost of the ministry. We're grateful to be able to contribute to the ministry and we're thankful to God and to all our financial supporters and our home church in Canada, Riverwood Church Community, for providing the financial support for Jerry's salary. 

With a change in ministry situation has also come some big changes behind the scenes with the Great Commission Foundation and how we raise support. We have not increased the amount of support we've raised in the last 8 years, and in fact the level of support currently raised for Jerry's salary is less than where we started 8 years ago. Our situation has changed - our housing costs have gone up from $0 (we lived in staff housing at PdF) to about $1200 CAD per month plus utilities, and the cost of living here in Romania has increased significantly in 8 years, as it has everywhere. 

In addition to the one-time cost of $2700 Canadian dollars for our visa, we're praying for an additional $1000 per month to cover ministry costs like office supplies, curriculum, and other ministry supplies, to go toward our housing, to go toward Jerry's education and training, and to allow Jerry to take a salary that's reasonable for his working hours and the cost of living here. This amount would also go toward the cost of travel back to Canada every 2-3 years to visit our home church Riverwood Church Community in Winnipeg, and reunite with family, friends, and supporters. By the way, we're hoping to travel back to Winnipeg in December for a furlough visit if we have the funds.

If you or anyone you know would like to partner with us in what God is doing here in Brasov, Romania, please feel free to reach out to Jerry (jerryabaker@hotmail.com) or Chrissie (chrissiebaker@hotmail.com), or make an online donation here (The Great Commission Foundation will be updating this page soon with our new ministry information). 

We appreciate you all so much, and although this last season has been a challenging one we know we aren't alone. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your financial support, your prayer support, and your friendship!

Prayer Requests:

Thank you for partnering with us in prayer! Please pray...

1. And praise God for His provision for our family through the sabbatical, and for giving us clarity and wisdom for our nest steps.

2. And praise God for our health - physically, mentally, and spiritually. He is sustaining us and meeting our needs and we are giving Him the glory!

3. For financial provision for our visa costs.

4. For our kids to continue thriving and for God's will to be done in their lives; that they'd continue growing in their faith in Him.

5. For our visas to be approved quickly and for wisdom with how to proceed in this area in the future.

6. For the rest of our sabbatical to be restful and restorative, and for us to continue implementing new and healthy routines and practices in our family.

7. For safety and health during our summer travels, and that we would grow in our relationships with one another.

8. For Jerry's educational path to be effective and thorough so that he is fully equipped for the next ministry season ahead.

9. For our upcoming partnership with Calvary Chapel Brasov, for God to continue blessing our relationship with Nicu and Silvana and for God to bless the work of our hands as we serve there.

10. For Nicu and Silvana Hagiu as they lead Calvary Chapel Brasov, for wisdom and guidance, health and safety, and for God to further the ministry of Calvary Chapel in Brasov to reach those who don't know Jesus.