IFES Conference: Undivided 2012

Once every four years IFES runs a conference for students from all across Europe, focused on evangelism!  April 5-10 in Gyor, Hungary we took 63 Romanians to be a part of this conference.  John Lennox, a mathematics professor from Oxford University spoke with passion about Jesus and encouraged us to do the same!

 

With almost 1700 students from across Europe we  celebrated the resurrection together on Easter morning!

 

Teddy, Mike & Andrei point to Romania on the map

 

One evening all the countries brought together special tastes from home to share with everyone!  Here the Romanian delegation shared their specialties!

 Dragos, our new national leader talks with Trif from Bulgaria

Before heading out to the conference we organized an outreach in Bucharest and had a history professor present well reasoned case for the existence of God! Pray as we follow-up with many who came!

Balkan Staff Conference 2012

In early March Mike traveled to Albania for a meeting with others in IFES from our region.  We had 25 who met in Vlore, Albania for a time of hearing God's word together and sharing ideas among ourselves.

 Each morning we had a Bible exposition from Revelation and then a time in small groups to discuss.  In my small group there were 3 Albanian students.  None from a Christian home all converted during their time at university and all hungry to grow in the Lord and study His word.  One young man was trying to read through the whole Bible in 90 days.  Something I think that would be hard to find among any student in the US or Romania!

 Dragos (on the far left), our national director, participated in a panel discussion on evangelism with other working in Montenegro, Bosnia and Albania.

Igors our supervisor who lives in Latvia with Dragos on our outing up into the mountains!

Ski Camp 2012

 With perfect weather for skiing this year we were able to go to Poiana Brasov a very nice place to ski with modern facilities and slopes.

Students enjoyed having lessons each day given by well trained instructors who were very patient and taught even the beginners how to ski!

 In the evenings after small group discussions we had time to just be together to sing as well as to play different games together.  But it seemed that most people would "hit the hay" pretty early after a day on the slopes!

 One day we had lots of snow and fog on the mountain that made it very hard to see the slope before you.  It was a bit like skiing by faith not by sight!

Please do pray that students who came to the camp would continue to be involved in the OSCEB meetings and God would open their eyes to Him!

Moving into 2012!!

As the New Year started out Mike was invited to a retreat with a church from Ploiesti to speak to their youth on relationships with parents, professors and church leaders.

It was a wonderful weekend full of  hikes in the mountains, fun in the snow and great discussions as students wrestled with applying Biblical principles to their relationships.

I, Mike, was very encouraged by the fact that in the leadership of this group there are 6 people who had been involved with the student ministry in Ploiesti and were now were integrated into a local church and are using their gifts to serve university and high school students.  It gave me a sense of how the student ministry across Romania is truly helping to prepare students to enter the church and serve there.  Please pray that each year students would graduate from the university and seek ways to serve in their local church!

Wishing all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

      Joy to the World the LORD has come!  Immanuel (God with us) is now here!

Love,
The Yorks

Fall: The New University Year begins!

For the past few years at the beginning of the year once a week we open up our small apartment and have students in our home to help new folks get integrated into the student group and give them all a time to interact in a relaxed atmosphere!  We usually have pigs in a blanket, snacks, games and a video relating to our relationship with God

 Razvan in the black tee shirt we have know since he was 14 years old and was a high school student in  Pitesti and involved in the group there.  Now he is in his first year at the university in Bucharest!

Beni, also from Pitesti, introduces himself at the special meeting for Freshman. 

Kris meets with a group of women throughout the year to celebrate birthdays.  Most of the women here we have known since our first year in Romania!!

Formacion (Training Conference)

 From Sept. 11-21 we held our first intensive Discipleship Training Conference for OSCER that we called Formacion.  We brought together 40 students from 7 cities across Romania

Each day we met in our discipleship groups of 3-4 people. Here we would study from Galatians and then have a discipleship lesson.  The lessons focused on helping someone get grounded in their faith.  Then in the afternoons we had seminars or team building games.

Working in a team with some impediments caused the students to feel frustration and rely on new or creative ways to communicate and work through different issues!

On the last day we got to do a high rope course at the camp.  It was an exercise in perseverance as well as the importance of encouraging other as they work through a difficulty.