Back to School

Paul and I have returned from our beautiful honeymoon/one-year-anniversary vacation in Greece!  It was an incredible trip to a truly amazing place.  We have almost 800 pictures to prove it!  One of my side projects this year is going to be attempting to recreate some of the delicious and very, very fresh Greek food dishes we tried and loved!  First step: start growing some oregano on our balcony!

At the Parthenon (Athens, Greece)

Today marks the first day of the 2015-2016 school year here in Romania!  The after-school program in Apalina is starting up again, along with most of our other year-round ministries like English classes, children's ministry, and worship team training and practice.  Tomorrow night, we'll have an introduction meeting for English classes in a new village!  We're excited to start classes in Gornesti as an outreach ministry for the congregation there.  On Wednesday, we'll start back English classes in Reghin.  At After-school, we've hired a friend from the Gornesti church to cook lunch every day for the kids, so Paul will be free to do what he does best: teach!

Last week, we spent several days preparing for the new year.  We held meetings with the leaders of the children's ministries in our area as well as with the teachers in the after-school program.  We prayed, planned and dreamed with them about the opportunities God will give us during this year to reach out to the children and youth in our four main towns and villages.  We shopped, cleaned, organized and brainstormed, and now we are ready to go!

Here are some prayer requests you can keep in mind for us as the fall progresses.  Please pray for:

• Hearts and lives that were touched this summer through the many camps that were held
• New church members in Apalina and Gornesti as they grow in their faith
• The new school year and the start of After-School, English classes, and children's meetings
• New workers to come alongside us in this very busy ministry
• The current workers here to be strengthened and encouraged

We'd love to hear from you if you enjoy reading these updates and keeping up with us in your prayers.  Any word from our supporters and encouragers is a big blessing to us!  We treasure notes and emails in our hearts for days and weeks after we receive them.  They really do make a difference!  Thank you for caring for us!

Love,

Katie