Wednesday, November 18, 2009

OSCEB Chapter Retreat!

Forming deep community in a student group takes time and effort. It comes by spending quality time together. In Bucharest, where getting from one end of the city to the other for a meeting or even a class can take up to 1 hour or more makes getting together informally difficult. So, to have 2 1/2 days together for worship, Bibles teaching, and discussions on evangelism and discipleship doesn't happen too often!! The students took full advantage of a weekend away by staying up late, getting up early, playing volleyball and talking till all hours of the night.

Times of Worship

Kris talks with Ruxi, OSCEB staffworker

Cristi OSCEB leader working on his Doctorate in Engineering

Emma & Hannah enjoying nature

Andrew waiting for his team to play in the next volleyball game!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Fall Fun!!

Here are a few highlights of the last month.

Andrew & Mike got to go fishing with 2 friends (George and Adi). We didn't catch anything worth keeping, but we had a good time!!

You should have seen the one that got away!!!

BCA Secondary Retreat!!

The staff and students enjoyed some beautiful days at Casa Elim as they deepened their relationships and received some good teaching in Revelation.


BCA Secondary


Enjoying some Soccer!!


Enjoying the view

Waiting on the train!!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

OSCER Leadership Retreat

In the beginning of Sept. we spent time with the leaders from across Romania talking about our individual journey with God and the vision and mission of OSCER. It was a good time to re-clarify this with a set of new leaders as well as encouraging them to consider God's calling on them to serve at a national level in OSCER!!



It was nice to have some time to play volleyball and enjoy the warm water of the Black Sea!
The university year in Romania will be starting on the 1st of Oct. Please pray for us as we plan some activities and try to contact students in the first weeks of school. The student group in Iasi, as well as the other organizations and churches which were involved in the outreach last spring, are planning an outreach this fall in another dorm area in Iasi. Please pray for them as they organize this, and that the Lord would bring about fruit from this outreach.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Summer 2009 USA











For 9 weeks this summer we spent time in the U.S. visiting friends, family and churches. We kept a very full schedule meeting people and making contacts with new churches. There were many high points visiting old friends, meeting our new nephew (Lukas), going swimming and teaching the children how to canoe and use a kayak. A ministry highlight was visiting an international student Cafe held by a church in DE. for international students working in Rehoboth Beach, DE for the summer. Each summer thousands of students, many from Central & Eastern Europe get a special visa to come and work in the US. Most of them get jobs in tourist areas and work 2 jobs, usually about 70 hours a week. Some of the churches in Rehoboth Beach have been working on ways to reach out to these students. We were invited to come and visit one event that a Presbyterian Church has been holding for a few years. Each Thursday night from 11:00 pm-1:00 am they hold an International Cafe. They invite students to come and enjoy some desserts and as they eat they engage the students in discussions about the Bible and religion.

On the Thursday night we were there we met 4 Romanian students. Two of the Romanians where from a city in the north and we found out they are believers and that we have a mutual friend. The second two we met were students in Bucharest and we found out that they live right around the corner from us during the school year! Please pray that we can make contact with them this fall and talk some more to them!!

On Monday, 31 August Kris and the children will start up the school year at BCA. Rebekah will be in 10th grade and Hannah & Andrew in 7th grade. Kris will be teaching 3rd grade this year. Pray for them as they "get into the swing" of school again, and for Kris as she adjusts to teaching 3rd grade after teaching 2nd grade last year.

Also, from 31 August - 5 September Mike will be at an OSCER leadership conference. Pray for us as we focus on defining more clearly the vision of OSCER and how to reach out to the students of today.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Spring Ministry Update

Here are a few highlights of our Spring ministry activities!

National Leaders Meeting

Each year we meet twice with one or two leaders from each local student group. This spring our meeting took place in Paltinis, near Sibiu. We had times of worship and devotional thoughts from Luke 15, some teaching on how to lead and organize a project and a time for each group to share and be prayed for.
Partners in Ministry

In May over 30 mission organizations met outside Brasov to talk about ways to motivate and support Romanians in cross-cultural mission work. There were representatives from over 30 organizations and we determined to partner together to help Romanians send out missionaries to countries that may be harder for western missionaries to enter. It was especially exciting to learn about how OM, Wycliffe and the three major denominations are focusing their efforts at sending out Romanians.

Graduation

The end of the school year always brings a time of good bye's to those that are graduating and moving on. This year there were 12 graduates and it is always encouraging to look back and remember these students from their first year and see how much they have grown and changed over the past 3 years in Bucharest.

Cristi has been serving as a part-time staff in Bucharest for the past year. He will be staying in town and continuing to help with the student group and hopefully working on a Masters in engineering.
Alin has grown so much in his 3 years at university. He has been invovled in the student group as well as a study in the dorm where he lives. He has reached out to friends in the dorm and has been a strong witness for Christ. He will be staying as well in Bucharest next school year!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Spring Girls' Club and Cub Scout Camp Out

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend with the Cub Scouts and Girls' Club at the Spring Camp Out! We had 25 parents and children together for a fun time together of cooking, hiking and relaxing!!




Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Spring Family Update!!

After a few busy months we are now gearing up for the last month of school and planning for a 2 month trip to the US. During June and July we will be in the US meeting with family, friends and churches. We will be sending out our schedule in the next few weeks and look forward to catching up with many of you when we are back in the US!!

Spring Break (Late March) In Brasov!!




We enjoyed snow, sun and good food with friends for a few days in Brasov for Spring break. We also celebrated Hannah and Andrew's birthday there!



In English class Rebekah worked hard on writing an essay "This I believe...". One evening all the students presented their essays. Rebekah wrote about the gift of childhood, using her experiences helping in a home for unwed mothers with babies.


Easter Vacation!!
During our Easter vacation Kris' father and his wife, Vicky, came to visit us. We took time to travel up to the Bran area north of Brasov. We visited the old fortress of Rasnov, Brasov and Poiana Brasov.
Visting a cave (called the bat cave!!!)

May 1st weekend (a holiday here)
We attended a family conference with our church at Baile Olanesti! We had great teaching and we were able to take a hike and enjoy the beautiful surroundings!


BCA Talent show
Andrew played the guitar with a senior, Matews who has been giving him lessons. Marco, a first grade student, sang Jehovah Jireh.



Hannah and Lexi, her friend, sing at the Talent show!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Iasi Outreach


Thank you for your prayers for the outreach in Iasi. It was a very encouraging week for everyone involved in the outreach. We saw God work in many wonderful ways!! There were over 100 Christian students involved, and after a week of knocking on doors we talked to a total of about 5,000 students in the Tudor dorm complex. We gave out many New Testaments and had great discussions with them. Often when we shared with students about grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, they told us that they had not heard this before. During the week I only talked to two really post-modern students. The rest were fairly open and interested in discussing their ideas related to faith and God.

There were many stories of how God worked during the week. One night around 1 am. a student involved in the outreach that lives in the dorm complex heard two students discussing outside the dorm the fact that one of them had heard that salvation came through faith by grace not by works. This is what we had prayed for, that the dorm complex would be filled with the scent of grace and forgiveness.
Saturday we were able to present a seminar to the students on how to use Scripture with their friends and lead investigative studies. Becca, from the UCCF team, led the seminar and the students felt it was helpful. Pray for them now as the students go back to those they met during the outreach and try and set up some Bible discussion groups!
Mike, Ionel (OSCER Staff) and Luke (UCCF Staff) leave a meeting


It was great to see how open the students where to talking to us in Iasi and how many came at night to the apologetic presentations and then stayed for over an hour asking questions. One young lady came from an invitation she received from a Christian student that lived across the hall from her. She had lots of questions and even went out for pizza with a group of us after the meeting. It was amazing to see how open she was. Then she came to a church service on Sunday morning where I spoke on grace.

Please pray as the follow-up continues in Iasi. We have already heard of a few students that have accepted Christ due to the outreach. Pray for the Spirit to continue to work in students' hearts!