And we're off!

We are all checked in and on our way! Thank you for your prayers! CHS-IAD-MUC-CLJ!

Celebrate with us!

"My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

God is so good!  We are thrilled, blessed, encouraged, and so thankful to be able to say that He has provided for us in amazing ways over the past several weeks.  We are returning to Romania on Monday confident of His goodness, faithfulness, and care for us, feeling confirmed in His calling on our lives, and excited to begin this new chapter! Thank you to all of our new monthly partners as well as to so many givers of generous 'one-time' gifts!  Both types of partnership help to make our ministry possible!  We are excited to continue sharing with all of you, financial and prayer partners alike, what God is doing among the Roma people in Romania!

- Paul and Katie

Let the countdown begin!

In just ten days, Katie and I will be leaving for Romania! In preparation for this upcoming milestone, I've decided to write a countdown to help you pray for us over the next week (and three days). 

#10 Pray for (at least) ten new children to come to our after-school program this year.  We are so thankful to have seen the average attendance increase from 8-10 children per day in 2012-2013 to 22-25 children this past year.  We are praying that this will continue to increase as we welcome a new group of 5th graders on September 15th.

#9 Pray for the nine months of our school year.  We will continue to focus on: teaching character and life skills (such as patience, perseverance, and caring), reaching out to the parents of the community, and preparing these children for high school.  Pray also for our teachers: Claudiu, Cristina, and Annamaria.

#8 Pray for eight new contacts in our hometown of Reghin as we get to know more people in our community.  We are excited about new opportunities to share God's love with our neighbors and those we come in contact with throughout the week.

#7 Pray for the seven churches of our area. We have work in Reghin, Apalina, Filpisu Mic, Peris, Gornesti, Glodeni, and Petrilaca.  Each of these communities is unique, but it is a blessing to serve in each of them.

#6 Pray for six people to join our support team at $50 a month by December.  This will help us reach our goal of $1600 per month.  Will you be one?  You can join us here!

#5 Pray also for five people to join our support team at $100 a month.  We are currently at 52% of our total goal.

#4 Pray for four new leaders in our local churches.  Two church leaders left our area as God led them to work in other parts of Romania.  We are praying for God to reveal who He has called to take on new leadership roles while we continue to focus on the discipleship of new believers.

#3 Pray for three visits (or less) to the immigration office as we apply for Katie's residence permit.  We are praying about which type of permit to apply for (work or religious activities) as we also pray about what Katie will be involved with on a weekly basis.

#2 Pray for the two of us as we start our life together in another country.  We are excited about the opportunity and are praying about the challenges of living a newly married life in Romania.

#1 Pray for our goal of reaching the Roma people of Romania with the Good News of God's love and salvation through Jesus Christ.  We are so blessed to be a part of God's work in Reghin, Romania.  We invite you to continue with us on this great journey!

-Paul

Update from Teleios Camp

Thank you for your prayers about Teleios camp this week!  The team made it successfully through their first session and have just begun their second.  We wanted to share some photos with you of the Apalina children enjoying camp and learning lots!

Attila and some of the children from Apalina

Here are many of the children gathered in the main room for their morning meeting - anxious to recite the memory verse perhaps!

The big soccer match between the Apalina boys and boys from the local village (final score: 6-4 Apalina!)

Here is Bonnie teaching a Bible lesson in the morning with Adel translating

Each morning the children respond creatively to the Bible story.  They draw or paint a way the story and lesson connect to their lives.  At night, the children can share their creations with the whole camp!

Relay time!

Floyd is doing a great job leading the recreation, as always!

For more pictures and stories from camp, you can visit the Teleios blog here.

Please keep praying for our team in their second session of camp.  Pray for health, strength and safety as well as an extra measure of God's presence among them!

- Katie

Prayer Request for Teleios Camp

Thank you all for joining us here on our 'new' blog!  We had a blast setting it up because it meant getting to share even more about what God's doing in Romania!

This week, a team from Teleios is on the ground in Romania running our annual summer camp!  They will be at camp for two weeks.  This week they're working with children and youth from Apalina.  Today they left Apalina and should be arriving at our campsite outside Sibiu any moment now!  Here are some specific ways you can be praying for them this week:

• Pray for the team's health and strength.  The Americans in Romania are Floyd, Bonnie, Anna and Sarah Grace.  Floyd, Bonnie and Anna have been to camp many times.  This is Sarah Grace's first time out of the U.S.!
• Pray for Attila as he is heading into the third straight week of camp.  
• Pray for the words that will be spoken in teaching, sharing of the gospel, and in one-on-one conversations.
• Pray for the kids' hearts to be open to the message that God has prepared.  Some have been to camp before, but many are there for the first time.

Thank you for partnering with us in prayer!

- Paul and Katie

Our mission support journey

Most of you already know that Katie and I will be serving in Romania with Teleios Ministry, which is based out of Greenville, South Carolina.  You may now know that we are responsible for raising our financial support in order to serve in Romania.  We are confident that God will provide and take care of all of our needs us as we offer our lives in service to Him.  We are looking for partners in our ministry, both to come alongside us in prayer as we serve, and to prayerfully consider how God may be calling you to join our financial support team.  There are many ways that people can be involved in our ministry other than prayer and financial support.  We love to have visitors and there is always plenty of work.  If this is something you are interested in, please let us know.  You may also designate your financial gifts for specific projects, such as our after school program or summer camp scholarships.

Here's how our financial support works through Teleios Ministry.  First, all gifts are tax-deductible.  Second, Teleios doesn't require us to include any 'overhead costs' in our support-raising goal.  Any money that is designated for us will come directly to us.  For every one dollar given, we receive one dollar.  This is very unusual in most ministries today!  We are so thankful for our partners at Teleios!

Below is a link to a letter that we have recently written to share more about work. Please read this letter to find out more about what we are doing as we serve in Romania and to find out how you might be more involved in what God is doing there.  Please feel free to pass this along to others who may be interested in what we are doing.

You can click here to find a copy of the letter.  Thank you for praying with us throughout this journey.

- Paul

Endings, beginnings, a wedding, and a reception (or two)

Dear friends, it has been a while since I wrote and there are so many things that I want to write about to keep you informed about how God is working in my life and in the lives of the people of Romania.  It has been a very busy, exciting, and unusual two months!

Our school year ended in late June.  We ended the year strong and with some good direction for next year's program.  The teachers all did a great job of working with their kids.  The kids really learned a lot, not only about how to read and do math, but also about living life in a different, responsible way.  I already have many goals for next year, but I am praying for God's wisdom about which of these are most important to our overall goals of reaching this community for Christ. 

As many of you remember, we had many young people from Apalina make decisions for Christ at last year's youth camp.  One of my favorite parts of this year has been the new youth meeting that we started in Apalina to help these young people stay connected to other believers and continue to learn about God's love and His word.  This year's youth camp just finished, and although I wasn't there (more to come on that later), I have heard that there were many new decisions or new commitments to follow Christ.  Please pray for us as we continue with this work of teaching, encouraging, and discipling the youth of Apalina.  There are many, many hardships and temptations for these young men and women, but I truly believe that God's has spoken to many of them and that He wants to use them in the future of His work here. 

I was not at camp this year because I came back to the States to get married!  Yay!  July 12th will from now on be remembered as the happiest day of my life...the day that I married Katie Elizabeth McClung!  I actually arrived back in the States on June 14th.  I'm so thankful to my friend (and boss), Attila, for letting me come back almost a month before the wedding.  It was great to be with Katie for about a week in New York.  This was the first time we had seen each other in person since we got engaged on New Year's Eve.  We are both so thankful that God sustained us during the long five and a half months of being separated.  After a quick week at my parent's home in South Carolina, my father and I drove back to Brooklyn to move Katie and her belongings to Charleston.  Although there was much to do, we were so blessed to spend some time with dear friends in Leesburg, Virginia on the way back south.  I was so humbled and excited to see so many people who love us and the ministry in Romania waiting to spend some time with us.  They really waited, too.  We were about an hour late!  After a very restful night's sleep at the Andersons', we were on our way again.  Thanks to all our friends in Leesburg for making our brief stay so fun and special!

After arriving back in Charleston, things happened so quickly!  I flew to San Antonio for the wedding on July 5th.  Katie and I were able to enjoy a few dates (something very rare for us over our entire "courtship") even as we continued to prepare for the wedding.  My family arrived on July 8th and we enjoyed our first combined family meal on July 9th at the McClungs' house.  The whole week before the wedding was full of preparations and time with family and friends.  On Saturday, July 12th, shortly after 11 am central time, Katie walked down the aisle looking stunning!  There were more than a few tears shed (many by me as I felt so lucky to be standing there).  The whole ceremony was a beautiful celebration of how God brought us together, while also giving the honor and glory back to God for His goodness to us.  We even had a surprise telephone call from Attila (who was watching via internet in Romania).  He and Floyd (the minister who married us) had worked out this plan so that Attila could give us a blessing and pray for our marriage at the end of the ceremony.  More tears!  It was a beautiful day!

We were able to have a "mini-moon" of a honeymoon in Savannah, Georgia, before returning to Charleston for another wedding reception on Sunday, July 20th.  It was great to see family and friends there, too.  On Monday, we left for Knoxville, along with Katie's parents and her grandfather.  We spent a few days there before taking the bus to Atlanta to spend some time with Katie's brother.  That's where I find myself now as I write this update.  In a couple of hours we will be leaving for Greenville, South Carolina, where we will pick up a car and spend some time with friends.  On Tuesday we will head back to Charleston, where we will be based for the next few weeks before heading back to Romania on August 25th!  WHEW!  It has been a whirlwind of a month, but God is and has been so faithful to sustain us and give us joy!  Thank you to all of you who have also been so faithful to pray for us and send us kind words along the way.  Thank you for journeying with us.  We love you!

You can check out some pictures of our wedding day from our amazing photographer here.

Those who made decisions at youth camp

The kiss! :)

SOOOO Happy!

Newington Elementary Friends at our Charleston Reception

Still happy a week later in Charleston

First airport goodbye to last airport arrival.  We're traveling together now!

- Paul