We finished a very busy summer late in August. All in all, we had 7 weeks of camp this
year. Among these camps, there were
camps for children and youth, along with several women's meetings. We also had many opportunities to do
evangelism and outreach in the evenings during these camp weeks. Many young people here in the Reghin area
heard the good news of the Gospel. They
also got to see how the Gospel changes lives and how people were willing to
come from far away to share that good news with them. We had around 1000 kids and young people
involved in these camps this summer.
This doesn't count the many adults and helpers that were a part of these
weeks. We are very thankful to God for
all that He provided for us during the summer!
God is truly good!
This year, one of our big ministry focuses is on
discipleship and growing leaders. One of
the ways that I have been involved in this is through discipling and spending
time with some of the youth in Apalina.
We started a new youth group on Friday afternoons for these youth. Another way we are trying to help develop
leadership among the church members is by asking them to take on more and more
responsibility in the church. Because
our ministry continues to grow, the opportunities are endless, so it is a good
time for these church members to step into leadership roles. Last weekend (November 22-23) we had our
first leadership weekend. On Friday
night, we had the youth from all of our villages in one location for an evening
dedicated to issues of leadership and also sexual purity. On Saturday, we had church leaders from all
of our churches gathered together for training in leadership. It is our goal to have one of these weekends
every couple of months. In addition to
the work that Attila and I are doing in this area, Adel is doing a fantastic
job of her work with the women of our communities. She currently leads three different women's
meetings. Many women are coming to these
meetings that do not come to the regular church meetings. Last week in Apalina, she had 50 women! Again, God is good!
The work in the after-school program also continues to grow. After almost a year of mostly watching and
making observations about how the program was working, we were able to start
this year with several changes that have increased attendance and have made a
difference in the lives of the kids. My
three personal goals for this year's program are to: increase attendance in the
local school and in our school program (and not just numbers, also faithfulness
of the same students coming), improving the parent/school relationship and
communication between the two, and teaching important "life-skills"
that will help prepare these children for life outside of school and
childhood. So far our average attendance
has doubled from last year to this year.
We have had some days with more than 30 kids (last year we were averaging
10-12 kids per day). We are having
parent meetings once a month where parents can ask questions, teachers can
share concerns and growth, and the kids can teach their parents what they've
been learning. We also started a ticket
system to encourage faithful attendance and to enforce the life-skills that we
are teaching. Every Friday, we have a
school "store" where the kids can spend their tickets to buy things
like shoes, winter clothes, school supplies, snacks, and toys. This has been a big success. The last Friday of the month, those kids who
have two or less absences are invited to some sort of special attendance
celebration. In October, we went to the
library in town and then to the park.
For November, the special celebration was a movie with popcorn and other
snacks. For teaching the life-skills, we
have been using a list that I brought from my school in the States. Each week we focus on one new skill (such as
responsibility, patience, caring). On
Monday, we spend time talking about that skill.
During the week we give the kids scenarios and ask them how they would
demonstrate that skill in a given situation.
During our most recent parent meeting, we also talked with the parents
about using these life-skills at home.
So far, we have seen a big improvement in the attendance and the kids'
attitudes toward school and learning.
In a week, I will be heading to the States to spend some
time with my family and loved ones. I'm
excited to have this time back in the States, but the work here continues. Please pray for our ministry during the
Christmas season. We will have programs
for children where we will deliver shoeboxes for Christmas. Some of these kids will receive only this
shoebox as their Christmas gift this year.
Pray for Attila and others here who will help deliver the boxes and the
message of God's love. Pray also for the
many meetings that will take place during the Christmas Season. While many of us are enjoying our families
and friends, there will be many here who will have even more work during this
time. There are also many families that
I work with who do not even have a reason to celebrate. They see Christmas as just another day of the
year...a day when they will likely be cold and hungry. Pray that we will be able to show them that
there really is a reason to celebrate that has nothing to do with the things
that we have.
In this time of thanksgiving and celebration, I am so
thankful for all of the many people who have helped make it possible for me to
serve here in Romania. May God truly and
richly bless your sacrifices and prayers.
With much love,
Paul Crook
