AMEC Children's Ministry Conference 2015

Paul and I spent the weekend of March 13-14 with our children's ministry leaders in Sibiu!  This weekend marked our first ever opportunity for the leaders to go away together to learn and grow in our ministry and in our relationships with each other!  We had two disappointing cancellations at the last minute (one due to illness and one due to an un-accommodating boss), but even so, there were 8 of us who were able to attend!  It was a full weekend of quality training and fun time together.

We left Reghin around 1 p.m. on Friday and arrived to Sibiu just after 4 p.m.  Paul drove the minibus through the mountains and got us there safely!  We had some time to explore the historic city center together before the conference began!  The city center of Sibiu is a special place to Paul and me: it was the site of several long and fun getting-to-know-you conversations in the summer of 2012.  We kinda feel like it's where we fell in love!  So, we enjoyed being back there together as a married couple.  

After a quick walk through the square, we finally arrived to a packed house at the AMEC Children's Ministry Conference.  The conference was held in a large church, and it was full almost to the brim!  The theme for the conference was Aim for Excellence, and Friday night's session was about excellence in our relationship with God.  Throughout the conference, we all received tons of free materials, usually when we finished a session, and the free materials started on Friday night!  We are so thankful to have access to quality teaching materials for our kids.  (AMEC is the Romanian branch of the international organization Child Evangelism Fellowship)

On Saturday, we got to hear several great speakers on the topics of excellence in our relationships in the church, excellence in our relationships with kids and parents, and excellence in preparation.  Paul even accepted an award on behalf of Apalina for having the largest regular children's meeting of anyone at the conference!  We enjoyed wonderful worship times and opportunities to visit with other children's workers from all over Romania!  It was a wonderful weekend... but don't take my word for it! :)

"For me, the conference was a really big blessing, especially when we received clay to work with in our hands. We needed to make something from it. I made a heart. While I was working on it, I saw how I left my fingerprints on it and how easy it was to form the clay. At the end, the result of the work gave to me a really big joy! I understood that I have to be like clay in my God's hands (obedient, easy to work with, etc.), to make visible God's fingerprints, His work, and His love in my heart in mission, especially in children's ministry." - Zozo K.

Emy, Anna Maria, Alina, Zozo, Attila, Ildiko, Paul

"It was a blessed weekend for me, and I'm happy that I was there. God bless you all who helped us to go there. At the conference, I heard so much good advice about how I should teach the children. I hope that I will be a better children's teacher."- Emy T.

Some of our crew on the bus

"The meetings were so helpful.  I really learned what it means to serve and how I can serve in my ministry to the children.  Through these days, God taught me how I can do many things better as I serve.  A big thanks to those who gave so willingly so that we could be a part of this." - Attila M.

Worship time at the conference

"I have such joyful memories when I think about the last weekend because it was such a great opportunity to be a part of the children's ministry conference in Sibiu.  I'm thankful to God for the opportunity to be there and to hear from those who spoke about working with children.  I'm excited as I look forward to using the things that I learned in this conference in my ministry with children." - Ildiko N.

Thanks to God, through your generosity, we were able to cover the costs of the conference for all who attended.  This amount included accommodation, food, transportation, and part of the conference registration fee.  We were also able to purchase some additional materials to use in our work with the kids!  Thank you so much!!  We can't wait for next year!!

Love,

Katie

Back to the Basics

We hope you've been enjoying some of our special posts lately!  We wanted to branch out from our traditional updates to give you a bigger picture of our world and life in Romania.  Today, we'll get back to the basics and update you on what God's doing now in our ministry here in Reghin.  So for today's blog, it's Paul here, and I'm sitting down with you and a cup of coffee to share about our week!

Putting some things together

I've often shared how our life here involves more than just the specific ministry responsibilities that we have (After-school, English classes, Children's Ministry, etc.).  I usually take at least one car trip per week to one of Reghin's surrounding villages or cities. These trips range from taking people to visit family members in prison, to buying horses and pigs, to visiting the hospital.  I have also written about how many of our church members leave Romania in the spring and summer months to work in Western European countries.  Today I want to show you how two of these things (car trips and migrant work) came together last week.  On Thursday, I went to Targu-Mures with one of our Apalina church members to fill out contracts for work in Germany.  Because she is only just learning to write (during our weekly reading and writing classes!), I filled out the contracts for her and nine other people from Apalina. This kind of trip provides opportunities for conversation as well as for helping out people in the community as they try to earn a living for their families.

About the children...and spring time!

We've had several days in the last couple of weeks that the weather has been great!  It's warming up and the sun is finally showing its face!  We've even kept our apartment windows open a few times! Since the weather has been so nice, we've had some fun opportunities to be outside with the kids in the Apalina Children's Ministry and the After-school program.  Our first after-school field trip of this year was to the synthetic soccer field in town.  We had a great time playing soccer and talking about team work! Although my team didn't have the best all-around players, we won both games because we didn't argue and we worked together.  It was a great teachable moment... especially for the players on the other team!

Our Friday children's meetings in Apalina have also been going great.  We've spent the last several weeks talking about Moses and what God teaches us about obedience and honoring Him.  When we talked about the Ten Commandments, the kids made tablets with homemade play-dough to remind them that God gave us rules to live by because He knows they will help us to be happy.  After this craft, we also played games outside with the kids. They never think it's too early in the year to introduce water games! :)

Hostess with the mostest

One of the things that we love doing is having guests in our home.  As a part of our English classes, we've invited all of our students to come to our home in small groups for coffee and dessert. Any of you who know Katie well know that she's an excellent cook...especially of baked goods!  We've had a great time getting to know our new friends even better as we've shared time and delicious desserts with them in our home.  We've learned about life in our area during communism, and we also found out that a couple in our class grows asparagus, and they invited us to come and pick some when it starts growing!

This couple grows asparagus and travels around to different outdoor markets selling it

The couple on the far side shared about life during communism when they visited our home

A dinosaur birthday

Kaleb, Attila and Adel's older son, celebrated his 3rd birthday on Saturday, March 7th! Sunday afternoon, we had a party for him.  Katie and Adel worked very hard last week to prepare green dinosaur decorations and even a green dinosaur cake!  We had a great time celebrating with them.  It's so fun to see children when they are just full of pure joy...that was Kaleb as we sang "Happy Birthday" and he blew out his candles!  He wanted to light the candles and do it all over again.. and again!

Yes...this guilty face tells us someone got into the cake before it was served!

Pure joy!

S'mores

Last week, one of our grocery stores advertised "American Week", and one of the items they featured was marshmallows!  We can't usually buy those here, so we happily picked up a bag!  We also can't get graham crackers here, but we just happened to have a few Biscoff cookies in our pantry along with some chocolate.  We also have a gas range... Put it all together, and what do you get?  S'mores!  They were delicious!  This was a fun treat, and I seriously recommend making s'mores with Biscoff cookies!

While the U.S. already "sprang forward" into Daylight Savings Time on March 8, Europe won't follow until the end of the month!  So, we're making the most of the bright light in the mornings and enjoying a slightly smaller "time gap" between us and our family and friends back home.  For a few weeks, we're only six hours ahead of EST!  This weekend, we're heading to Sibiu for the AMEC Children's Workers Conference, and next week we'll be preparing for our very first houseguests from the States!

-Paul

Best of Instagram

Besides our blogs and our Facebook accounts, Instagram is another way we like to share pictures and anecdotes about our time here in Romania.  However, those of you not on Instagram might miss out!  So, I've decided to start a new blog series entitled Best of Instagram!  It will feature periodic installments of some of our favorite photos of our life in Romania.  I've also set up a live Instagram feed in the righthand sidebar of our homepage, so you can stay connected here, too!  Enjoy!!

Are you on Instagram?  Look for us there!  @katiemcrook / @jpcrook78 / #thisisromania

Late afternoon walk on the Mures River in Reghin

Patchwork home in Apalina

Front door (entrance to our bloc)

Stairwell garden inside our bloc

Our table for two

Courtyard playmates

We're finally settled in to our bedroom!

Want to see more of our apartment?  Check out our apartment tour video from September here.  (We've made a few updates in the apartment since then, but you'll get the idea!)

Love,

Katie

What is Worship?

This is a question I have been asking a lot lately.  One definition that I like states that worship is "the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity." The definition is short, but it really gets to the point of what worship is all about...God!  But I still have questions.  How do we do this in the church?  What happens when we don't feel something during "worship" times?  

I was just reading the story of Jesus healing the man who was born blind in John 9.  This is one of my favorite stories for many reasons, especially when the once-blind man takes on the church leaders for a second time in John 9:24-34.  When the man encounters Jesus a second time, we read that Jesus spoke with him and asked him if he believed in the Son of Man.  The man said yes and worshiped Jesus because of who He was.  The man had already received his sight long before the act of worship. This act of worship wasn't about receiving something there in that moment.  The man was giving reverence and adoration to Jesus because of Jesus's identity as the Son of God!

So often our own worship experience is about what we receive or how we feel, not about what we give.  I am guilty of this. Just this morning, as I was running, I was listening to music and found myself so thankful for what I was receiving through the message in the music.  My next thought was thanksgiving to God, but what about worship?  Was my thanksgiving really worship?  What if I hadn't received anything through listening to the song?  Would I still have given thanks to God? Would my run have been worship in any way?  These questions extend to our "worship services" in the church as well.

Part of the worship team in Apalina

Each week I work with the worship teams in a few of our churches.  We practice new songs in preparation for upcoming services and we pray together.  We also talk about what it means to lead people in worshiping God.  This kind of discussion is something that I want to do more of.  I want us to check ourselves and make sure that our worship time is about God and not just about us or what we receive or how we feel.  

I also want to remember that different people worship God in different ways.  Some people worship through prayer.  Others express worship through reading scripture, while still others find it easiest to worship through the songs that we sing.  Whatever the method, it is important that the church works to offer everyone a chance to express reverence and adoration toward God.  Please pray for me and for our worship teams as we work on making the worship time in our churches a time of giving back to God!

-Paul

A big gift from Eastern European Mission

As promised, I'd like to tell you a little story about a mom, her daughter, and one amazing organization called Eastern European Mission (EEM).

The year was 1977.  Becky Sweeney (Harding '77) was traveling on a six-week summer trip through Europe with a group from Harding University, visiting several European missionaries along the way.  As a part of their stop in Vienna, they visited the church of Christ there.  In those days, an office inside the church building housed a secretive printing press used by Eastern European Mission for printing Bibles in the languages of the Communist Bloc countries.  Since transporting religious materials was strictly forbidden in those countries, the Bibles were smuggled across the borders.  Vienna was the perfect gateway city between Western and Eastern Europe. Here are a few photos from those days:

Church of Christ building in Vienna, 1977

Information outside the church building

Missionaries with the printing press!

Group of Harding students (Becky is second from left on the front row)

Fast forward to 2004.  Becky Sweeney has married Craig and has become Becky Sweeney McClung. She's now the wonderful mother of two teenage kids, Paul and Katie.  The family is traveling through Austria, Italy and Switzerland as a part of Craig's business travel.  They stop over in Vienna for several days, including a full weekend.  On Sunday, they worship with the church of Christ in Vienna, which has since moved to a larger building.  That building still houses the EEM European headquarters and that very same printing press from 1977!  The McClungs worship with the church and enjoy meeting some of the folks who work with EEM.  By this time, the Iron Curtain has been down for about 15 years, but EEM still prints and provides Bibles in 20 languages to countries in the former Communist Bloc.

Vienna Church of Christ building, 2004

Fast forward once again to 2015.  Katie McClung has married Paul and has become Katie McClung Crook.  (Don't get the Pauls confused... one's a brother and one's a husband!)  Paul and Katie now live and work as missionaries in a former Communist Bloc country - Romania!  As a part of their passion to bring hope and joy through Christ to the people in their area, they seek Bibles and materials from, yep, you guessed it! - Eastern European Mission!  They contact Anne Boyd, CEO of God's Children, who coordinates Bible distribution through EEM in Romania.  And one cold, windy February day, they make the 4-hour drive south to Sfante Gheorghe and meet up with Zak and Aleece Kelley, recent graduates of Harding University (what a world!). Zak and Aleece have traveled to Romania to meet with Anne to discuss their future plans for moving to Romania to work with God's Children.  Aleece's home church in Florida has supported EEM for years!  Together, they drive to the EEM warehouse and pick up 250 Bibles and Biblical guides for Paul and Katie to take back with them to Reghin.  What an incredible gift - to receive Bibles printed in the languages of the people we work with, free of charge!  And to think, for our family it all started way back in 1977.... 

Church of Christ building in Sfante Gheorghe, Romania, 2015

EEM materials

Husband Paul and me with Bibles and Guides!

EEM materials in our car and ready to go!

Hungarian publications of the Newcomer's Guide to the Bible being distributed at a church leadership training - Gornesti, Romania, 2015

The leaders loved the books, especially the maps and charts.  We're hoping to receive even more of these guides in Fall 2015!

A valuable tool

We can't wait for the chance to distribute the Hungarian and Romanian children's Bibles we received, too!  A big, big "Thank you!" to Eastern European Mission, Anne Boyd, and Zak and Aleece Kelley!  We are blessed by all of you!  You can read the Kelleys' account of these events at their blog here, and you can visit EEM's fantastic website here!

Love,

Katie

Our first Valentine's Day...and other news!

Happy weekend everyone!  Can you believe it's already the last week of February?  We can't!  And yet, the snow is melting, the temperature's rising, and we are daring to imagine that Spring is coming!

We have had a packed week!  It was so packed that I can't even fit it all into one post!  You'll have to stay tuned for more details... :)

Last weekend, on Valentine's Day, we began a bi-weekly meeting for women in Apalina.  We have many ideas like this one, but our issue is always finding a time to make them happen.  Since there are leadership trainings every other weekend in Apalina, we decided to use the alternate Saturdays for a meeting with the women.  Our first meeting brought somewhere between 40-50 women!  We began the afternoon in prayer, and then Adel shared a message about the love of God and what it gives us power to do.  We served snacks, and then we split into two discussion groups.  One discussion group was in Romanian, and the other group was in Hungarian.  The women are so open and ask incredibly honest questions, and I'm inspired by their vulnerability.  We're looking forward to next weekend's installment!

Hungarian group led by Adél T.

Romanian group led by Adél N.

Paul and I finally celebrated our very first Valentine's Day together!  We spent it quietly at home.  Paul grilled steaks in the dark on our balcony in 20-degree temperatures (true love!), we pulled the couch out into a giant bed, and we caught up on Scandal and Project Runway All-Stars.  Our parents sent us Valentine's Day cards that arrived before Valentine's Day (Thank you, Romanian postal service!), and Paul's parents even bought us a Carrabba's gift card that will be waiting for us in South Carolina in December for a never-too-late Valentine's Day date :)

Sorry for the shadows, but here's my grilled steak with gorgonzola steak butter, grilled squash, and Greek macaroni and cheese!  I praise God daily that my husband can cook (and he's not allergic to a sink full of dirty dishes, either!  Hallelujah.)

On Thursday, we had a wonderful opportunity to meet with a young couple from the States who are planning to move to Romania sometime in the next year and a half.  Zac and Aleece live in Searcy, Arkansas, and they feel called to relocate to Sfântu Gheorghe, a larger town than Reghin about 3.5 hours away.  Not only was their company a total breath of fresh air, Paul and I were encouraged and excited about their enthusiasm and vision for the future.  We're thrilled at the idea that in the future we might have each other to support and encourage, just a few hours apart.  As we talked, Paul and I shared some of what we've learned about living overseas, raising support, budgeting, and generally surviving Romania.  This was great for us, and we hope it was helpful for them, too!  Even though Paul and I have already been in some difficult circumstances and have learned some hard lessons, we have the chance to pass on our new knowledge, and that's a big blessing for us.  We can see how those difficulties had a purpose, thanks to our constant, ever-vigilant, doesn't-waste-anything Redeemer God.  Zac and Aleece also helped us receive free Bibles and materials from Eastern European Missions (EEM), but that's a story for another post!

This next part is big.  Really big!!

Last week, I posted our need for 10 scholarships for the AMEC Children's Ministry Conference.  I am so happy and overwhelmed with gratitude for your response!  We are now fully funded to be able to take all 10 children's workers to the conference!  THANK YOU!!!!!!  I can't wait to share about our trip to Sibiu on March 13-14.  You have encouraged me and increased my faith.  Thank you for your love for us, for your faithfulness to the One who calls us, and for your generosity to His children.  May you be blessed, big time!!!

And now, for something completely different:

As this new week begins, we're praying for an extra dose of strength and energy.  The past week was packed to the brim, and this weekend it's been one event after another.  We've been reading and researching a lot about overseas living, especially serving overseas in ministry, and we're doing better at understanding why we feel so tired sometimes.  Paul calls it "cultural stress."  It's not stress like we normally think of it: the adrenaline rush that comes from an overbooked schedule or an impossible-but-nonnegotiable deadline at work.  It's more like an underlying current, a silent leak, a constant flow of sometimes barely-noticeable extra pressure; extra expectations; extra explanations, misunderstandings, and re-explanations; extra demands and disappointments.  We're learning to be extra nice to ourselves and to give ourselves time and space to rest and receive.  But when the schedule just doesn't allow that for the foreseeable next (x)-number-of-days, we need extra grace and extra prayers.  (And extra chocolate?  Does it work that way?)  Thank You, Lord, for caring for us and for carrying us.  Amen.

- Katie

Reading and Writing in Apalina

We are excited to report that we have started reading and writing classes for adults in Apalina! These classes have been a need for a long time. Since so many young people drop out of school very early, a high percentage of adults in Apalina are illiterate.  However, as the church grows and the new members desire to mature in their faith, they feel a particularly strong need to be able to read the Bible for themselves.  Reading and writing are also necessary skills for these people to be able to live and thrive independently of outside help.  For these reasons and many others, we have hoped for a long time to be able to find the time and resources to be able to offer reading and writing classes.

Our friend Lucian from Reghin, a Romanian pastor and elementary school teacher, is now coming to Apalina on Mondays and Thursdays to work with about 20 adult students.  They bring great enthusiasm to the task, and we're hopeful that soon these students will see the fruit of their labor.  I admire them for being so determined to learn to read, no matter how late in life they may be.  Please pray that the students will stay encouraged about their work, that Lucian will have wisdom in using the best methods for learning, and that our community and church will be blessed by all of their efforts!

Love,

Katie