Nate and Noah to Romania

As these updates continue to come out, expect there to be a specific formula for how these sorts of reports begin. It’ll start with some witticism or snappy first sentence (a “hook,” as we called it in middle school English), followed by a declaration that Noah and I “can’t believe we’re already *insert amount of time passed* into our 12 months in Romania!” Of course, now that the secret is out, I don’t suppose we can open these updates in the same way anymore. Still, you can undoubtedly count on us being generally gobsmacked and wonderstruck at the passage of time here and the swiftness of the days, weeks, and events as they unfold. Things are certainly moving right along, and as we begin to settle in and watch as our new world begins to sort itself into recognizable rhythms and routines, we find ourselves so full of thankfulness to God for how He’s ordered our steps. Not only has He led in the arrival to Romania, but He has so gently and wonderfully guided us slowly but surely into a new movement in our new context.

Our days and weeks have started to move with more predictability and a greater sense of routine. Noah and I often work in the early to middle parts of the day on various projects around the church. Lately, these have ranged from building furniture for dorm rooms to organizing the library to clearing debris from the damaged roof of the church’s storage unit. Noah and I are pleased to have opportunities to work with our hands and be up and moving around during our days. In the late afternoons, we will often find some open time for rest, errands, or other such activities before the evening time block opens up (unless, of course, it is Monday, in which case we will find ourselves at our weekly Romanian class from 2pm to 4pm). We find that we will often have evenings somewhat full, as I coach soccer practices for the church’s elementary and middle school-aged boys on Tuesdays and Fridays, and our youth team meetings take place Monday nights ahead of our youth services on Thursday evenings.

The primary focus around which our week’s activities are mainly based is the youth ministry. With our youth services taking place on Thursday nights, the early parts of the week are spent preparing for our services. As previously mentioned, our youth team meetings take place on Monday nights, consisting of myself, Noah, Katy, and Iulia. These meetings were initially somewhat “business-like” as we would pragmatically sort through how best to facilitate the week’s youth service, but the weeks of getting familiar with one another have helped this weekly conference double as a get-together among friends. When it comes to the preparation of the messages, Noah and I have taken to speaking on alternating weeks, and the one speaking that week will take some time aside throughout the early part of the week to prepare the message. We are now coming into the final installments of our “Understanding the Gospel” message series in which Noah and I have worked to lay the groundwork for what the Gospel message truly is and how it pertains to us and our students today. We have felt God’s blessing on these messages, as they have sparked deeper pastoral conversations with several of our students. At this time, we have around seven students who will regularly attend our youth gatherings, with a few other students who will be in and out sporadically. In our youth meetings, we have emphasized worship and prayer significantly as we seek to dive into deeper friendship and interaction with the Lord. We have integrated meaningful prayer times into the services to teach students how to approach God for themselves. When it comes to worship, we do not yet have the means to do our own live worship but have facilitated moments of praise by playing Romanian worship with lyrics projected on the screen. Worship is so valuable, and we have encouraged students to offer up their praise to God with whatever they have at their disposal. Admittedly, this has been an aspect that has taken some getting used to, but each week, it has seemed that students have become more and more comfortable and used to the idea that worship doesn’t always have to look a specific way. Thursdays are such special days for us, and we have so enjoyed being able to provide a place for students to come closer to God and closer to each other. We have established three goals, which we have communicated as the basis for our meetings: to grow in friendship with God, to help bring others into friendship with God, and to build community. As we continue to hold youth gatherings, we pray (and hope that you will pray with us) that these three aspects continue to see God’s blessing and that fruit begins to present itself in student’s lives.

Even as life has begun to fall into a greater sense of routine and consistency, there are still delightful surprises and special occasions that pepper our schedules and provide added moments of excitement and joy to our week-to-week activities. Last weekend we had the pleasure of celebrating the 18th birthdays of Adrian and Annabelle Hurrelbrink, two friends of ours who live an hour and a half away in Sebis. The Hurrelbrink family has quickly become very dear to us, as they have welcomed us warmly to Romania and have helped us find our footing. Dan, who is the father of our friends Adrian and Annabelle, has helped Noah and I begin to understand Romania and what it means to be a missionary here, as he has been doing missions in Romania for the past 30 years and shares our American heritage. We have now made it out to Sebis on two different occasions, and Noah and I have deeply appreciated and cherished the time we’ve gotten to spend getting to know the family and seeing the impact their ministry has had on the city of Sebis and the surrounding areas. This past weekend, we had the pleasure of enjoying another birthday with another good missionary friend of ours. Noah and I spent time this weekend celebrating with Jaco (who was also mentioned our earlier posts), but it was not an individual’s birthday we were celebrating, but a city’s! On October 12, the city of Oradea turned 1,010 years old, and a grand festival took place throughout the weekend in downtown. We had the privilege of enjoying scores of food trucks, a series of concerts covering multiple genres of music, an orchestra, a plethora of street performers and professional performances, and much more! Let it be known: the people of Oradea sure know how to throw a party.

Whether it is the day-to-day operations, Thursday or Sunday services, or special events and occasions, Noah and I have felt so thankful to find ourselves in the position to be able to experience it all and take it all in. It hasn’t always felt easy, and Noah and I have often taken time to reminisce and think fondly of the people and places we love so dearly back in the United States. Even in times of missing what is behind, we find that it is all wrapped up in gratefulness for what we are seeing unfold right in front of us. One thing we are truly convinced of is that God most assuredly has us in the palm of His hand, and no matter what may arise, He is continually providing and He is profoundly faithful. This fact has been and will continue to be our comfort. We have seen some wonderful things in this first month and a half, and we have no doubt that as life becomes gradually more “normal” here, God will continue to show Himself, and we will continue to stand in awe of those many great wonders that the Lord continues to pull off time and time again.

As always, we are so thankful for all those back home who have supported us, prayed for us, and have provided us with encouragement. We think ever so fondly of you all and we hope you know that you are greatly missed! We know that the distance and time apart is not in vain, and we hope these updates continue to encourage you as we report of all that God is doing in this season! We would also like to ask for you to pray with us for some specific matters going forward:

1. Obtaining Visas: Please pray that things would go smoothly as we prepare the necessary resources to procure our visas. We must have the documentation submitted within our first 90 days of being here, and we are preparing to present said documentation. The process is a little complicated and a bit tedious, as these things always are, so please pray that this process would go smoothly and that we would be accepted right away!
2. Discipling students and building up leaders in the youth ministry: Our focus over the last several weeks has been primarily based around building relationship and setting a foundation going forward as the youth ministry resumes after a year a half hiatus. However, as we begin to settle into a rhythm and become established in our week-to-week proceedings, we will soon begin developing and implementing strategies to disciple students in a long-term and in-depth way while also training and teaching our leaders to do the same. Pray that as we transition into the “next phase” of the youth ministry that God would be leading us by way of His Holy Spirit into the places where our students and leaders need the most guidance. Pray also that God would be raising up additional leaders to help complete this work!
3. Homesickness and cultural adjustment: Plenty of thoughts and emotions come with integrating into a new nation and culture. While the day-to-day practicalities have started to take shape more and more, there are still plenty of mental and emotional hurdles. Noah and I have been experiencing these in different capacities and speeds, and we ask you to pray for the grace and endurance to deal with these things well. Some days are easier than others, but we need Jesus the same amount every single day! Pray that His nearness would be apparent to us and that we would surrender ourselves to Him as our rock and anchor throughout this process.

We love and miss you all! Noah and I greatly enjoy hearing from people back home, so please feel free to leave a comment on this post, message us on WhatsApp or social media, or send us an email at nateandnoahtoromania@gmail.com ! We’d love to hear from you!

Blessings from Oradea, Romania,

– Nate and Noah