Thursday, July 5, 2007

We decided to swim

This week we were thrust into yet another new situation where we were forced to sink or swim. Monday evening we arrived at Gyanta, Romania where we are spending the next 2 weeks running 2 week-long English Bible camps. Monday evening we also found out what we were doing tuesday morning to start off the camps. Fortunately we have recieved lots of support from the local pastor, Jozsef, and his wife Orsi. We are also working with a seminary student who speaks both Hungarian and English. Even though we felt unprepared for the week, we have been able to rely on God and he has carried us through.

We work with 3 different English groups: Those who speak English well, those who speak some English, and those who speak Hungarian. This week Jordan has been working with the first group, Charlene with the second and Matt and Karlynn with the last group. The last group is predominantly village children. Altogether we have 16 teenage campers and about 20 village children who just come to the programs during the day.

Gyanta is a very nice village with a local river where we often go to swim in the afternoons. We are staying in a camp with 4 bedrooms: 2 for boys and 2 for girls. The dorms have running water but drinking water needs to be carried uphill from the well 15 minutes from the dorms. This has been delegated as an exclusively male duty.

Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers. We love reading your comments and feel blessed to have so much support.

Charlene and Karlynn

Sunday, July 1, 2007

SMP goes to "the lake"


Above, you will see a lovely shot of SMP doing what they do best, posing for pictures.
During last week's excursion to a wonderfully scenic mountain lake in central Ukraine. From left to right: Matthew, Jordan, Karlynn, Charlene.

Romania bound... and we were just getting the hang of Russian

Greetings from smp Eastern Europe. We bring you tidings of great exhaustion as we prepare to leave our relatively familiar surroundings for a new country and language.
This past week was spent in a town roughly 45 minutes from Mukachevo, Svylava. During our time in Svylava we took part in a Ukranian reformed youth festival which included (but was not limited to) lectures/teachings on the body of Christ, cross cultural communication, pillow fights, camp fires, testimonies, group devotions and discussions and the song Father Abraham.
So as you can see, we have been keeping ourselves occupied. I must mention that we are all feeling the cold shower of reality as we move into the next month of our ministry here in Eastern Europe. We were "cut off" from outside communication this week, and it seems that this will be the case from here on out. We estimate that we will have email access once a week or so. So please pardon our lack of "updatedness" from time to time.
Although things are become gradually more unfamiliar I cannot say that we are unhappy. I think that we would all say that our time in Ukraine has been a wonderful one, and I know that we are all very sad to be leaving in the morning. If it were possible it would have been nice to stay here for a while longer, Jordan's Russian has become exponentially better and the rest of us can at least recongnize words now. From here on out we will be learning Hungarian, which will be spoken in both Romania and Hungary (ask us why when we come home, its an interesting history lesson).
Tonight has been a sad evening, as we said goodbye to our Mukachevo friends. The young people from the Mukachevo church came with us to Svylava this past week, meaning that we have been developing relationships with them for almost 3 weeks now. Standing in circular fashion on the side of the road we all regretfully said our goodbyes to one another. For us this is the second time that we have had to do this; and we understand that we will have to do it 5 more times in the coming weeks. Its a difficult thing for us all, those who are staying behind and for those who are leaving; building relationships of genuine care that must then be severed so soon after they have begun to take root.
Please pray for those who we leave behind, and for those that we have yet to meet.
I think that I can safely say that this coming week will be our hardest yet, we take on a much more significant leadership role in Romania. Mainly the entire thing, living with and being responsible for these young people from morning until night.
We humbly ask prayer for this as well; that we could keep the "bond of peace" that Paul talks about in Ephesians. For wisdom to lead these young people, for sleep (a rare comodity these days) and for the agility of mind to learn a new language and culture.

Thank you all for your continued prayer and support, being far from home we are comforted to know that we are not alone but belong to the greater body which prays for us.

Blessings,

matt