Nate and Noah to Romania

In the past, we had promised that these updates would be coming out every other week, so I pray that we could be forgiven for leaving two weeks between posts. To be quite honest, we easily could have published last week, but we were well aware that the juiciest and most exciting bits would be coming in the first portion of this new month of November, and thus, we waited. But here we are now, following what was perhaps the wildest and most entire week we’ve had since arriving, one which was packed with events and stories that we are so very eager to tell!

I’ll get the boring part out of the way first by simply noting that we were hustling hither, pither, yonder, and fither to collect the appropriate documents that were required for us to apply for our long-stay visa. As anyone with experience with an immigration office anywhere in the world would know, these processes can be tedious, arduous, and, at times, just plain annoying. While I could go into great detail about our riveting adventures in document collecting, I will spare you the trouble and simply say that God has been faithful to provide us with the resources we need and the people to guide us throughout this process. As of Sunday evening, we have officially submitted all the required documents and are now awaiting approval of our long-stay visas. We ask that you pray with us that our visas will be approved in a quick and orderly fashion so that we can continue our work here in Oradea (relatively) without incident over the next ten months.

In conjunction with our efforts to obtain our visas, Noah and I were working throughout the past weeks with the youth team to hone in on a strategy to most effectively disciple our students. For the past month and a half, we have employed a service-style meeting each week, consisting of an opening game/ice breaker, worship, and a teaching message. This is the youth format that Noah and I have known throughout our years of attending and serving in youth ministry, but we came to the realization that this may not be the most effective way to reach the students that we currently serve in this season. On a Thursday night, we can expect to have around eight students, and we have seen that we have a core group of about six who come every week, with a handful of others who will come here and there. With the size of our group, the Lord began to show us that we had an excellent window for direct discipleship that would not come with a larger group. While holding a service can be very effective for larger groups, we realized that for the size of our group, a more informal, interactive setting would open a door for greater engagement and spiritual growth for these students. With the wisdom and direction of Pastor Ted, we began to discuss with our team what this could look like. We settled on the goal of creating a more intimate, discussional setting where students could ask questions and could more actively engage in the concepts and content that we present from scripture. We ran with this idea this past Thursday, and it was a great success! We transitioned from holding services in the designated youth room to being in a smaller meeting room with couches where small groups often meet, and we invited students to bring a food item to share and enjoy. We opened the evening by eating together and playing games before reading a couple passages from Acts. We discussed the reason that we meet together as we journeyed through Acts 2 and read the account of the Holy Spirit filling believers who would go on to turn the known world upside down with the message of the Gospel. We concluded with a wonderful moment of sharing in the Lord’s Supper together, dividing a loaf of bread and some grape juice between us, and thanking Jesus for the life that His body and His blood bought for us. It was a beautiful time to share together, and it seemed that there was a newfound understanding of just how significant it was that we are able to join together as a part of Christ’s body and carry out His work in our world. We are incredibly excited to see what the Lord would have for this group of students as we seek a deeper level of intimacy with each other, but all the more so with Him!

As amazing as Thursday night’s youth meeting was, Noah and I had to make a rapid turnaround into our next task: leaving for Ukraine the following morning. Within the last couple of weeks, we came across the opportunity to travel to Ukraine and visit an orphanage in Mukachevo, which is part of the Zakarpattia province in Ukraine’s western region. Most of the pieces were in place for us to go, as we had anticipated making the trip the week previous, but our Ukrainian contact, Vitaliy, could not meet us at that time, and we had thus pushed the trip out an additional week. We had been working with Jaco the whole day to try and find a rental car that we could take into the country, but there were numerous restrictions and obstacles when it came to finding a vehicle that we could take into an active war zone (as one may rightly expect). Just when we thought that we would be forced to postpone the trip once again, one of Jaco’s friends put us in contact with a fellow believer who was willing to drive us into Ukraine that weekend on a whim. His name was Levieu, and we were incredibly thankful for his willingness to undertake this adventure with us, and he seemed quite grateful for the opportunity to provide support in Ukraine as the fourth member of our small team. It truly is incredible how God puts just the right things together at just the right times! The journey to Mukachevo was quite the experience for us. Our efforts to acquaint ourselves with our new friend were somewhat comical, as we speak very little Romanian, and Levieu spoke very little English. Where our communications fell short in these two languages, Levieu and Jaco would utilize their shared understanding of Dutch, and I would do my best to put together some scattered phrases in French, as Levieu had a hearty understanding of it as well. Our conversations were a grand (and sometimes comical) smorgasbord of English, Romanian, Dutch, and French, along with a smattering of guttural noises and gestures when words seemed to fail us. Levieu, for his part, was an excellent sport about the whole thing, and we all managed to enjoy ourselves on the drive over.

Eventually, we made it to the Ukrainian border, which in and of itself provided a sense of wonder and gravity as we presented our passports and removed ourselves from the vehicle for it to be inspected. All in all, our border crossing experiences were outstanding, both on the way to Mukachevo and on the return trip to Oradea. Where Jaco had spent a combined total of about seven hours waiting at border crossings on his last trip to the orphanage with our mutual friend Dan, we waited just under three hours altogether. We were incredibly grateful for the quickness and efficiency of these crossings. Soon enough, we found ourselves on Ukrainian soil and on our way to meet up with Vitaliy and our team of translators, Oxana and Andrei.

An hour and a half after crossing the border, we rendezvoused with the team with which we would be going to the Trust Family Orphanage. We had some candy that we had purchased, as well as some apples we had picked from the church orchard back in Oradea, but we weren’t entirely sure what our time with the children would consist of. We knew that we wanted to do our very best to connect with the kids and let them know that we cared for them, but much more so that God cared for them. We knew that this group would be very diverse in terms of their reason for being at the orphanage in the first place. Some were there before the war had even begun, others found themselves there because their parents had been killed in the war, and others had been sent there for safekeeping by their parents, who were unable to ensure their safety themselves. No matter the situation, we prayed as we drove that God would give us the right words to say at the right times and that our time there would have eternal impact. When we arrived, we learned that most of our time would come with the older kids, as the younger ones were still in the middle of their afternoon quiet time. We and the older kids, ranging anywhere from middle school to high school age, assembled in the dining area. We worked our way around, introducing ourselves as well as possible, given the language barrier. While we had two translators available, it was hard to have someone on hand for every conversation, so we engaged in some outside-the-box communication with most of the kids. We had been well practiced that afternoon in the car, and the Lord must have known that we would need that skill for our time with the kids. We spent some time getting familiar with the group and utilizing the help of our translators to ask them questions about themselves and their interests. We had an especially spirited debate about who was the better footballer: Christiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. We found that the kids were surprisingly open and eager to engage, which made it much easier to relate and connect with them quickly. Eventually, we transitioned from joking and debating over sports stars to speaking about who God is and how deeply He cares for us. Jaco stood up and presented the testimony of his life, telling a story of deep pain and loss from which he was delivered by Jesus alone. Many of the kids seemed to be able to identify with Jaco’s story. When Jaco finished, I began to give examples from scripture about things God had done for His people, and I asked the students to guess whether the given example was true or false. Finally, I asked if it was true that God would actually send His own Spirit to join itself with a human spirit to be a help, a guide, and a comfort. Many answered that this was true, and we recounted the story of how, following Jesus’ death and resurrection, He sent His Spirit to live within us so that we might never be separated from God. I then asked if there were any in the room who would like to ask for God’s Spirit to be with them, and a few raised their hands, joined soon by the rest of the room. There, we prayed that God’s Spirit would be among them and in each one, giving them the strength, peace, and hope they needed each day, along with the knowledge that God was with them and desired to be close to them. We are not sure how many believers were among that group, and we cannot necessarily be sure what the extent or nature of their response to the message and the prayer would be, but we so treasured the opportunity to pray with these kids and felt confident that the Holy Spirit had opened the door for seeds to be planted. We spent a few more minutes with the kids before they were called to dinner, and we left with many hugs, handshakes, and smiles. We were so thankful for the time that we had gotten with each of them, and we left that evening with high hopes that we would be able to return to our new friends in the coming months.

The remainder of the evening was full as well, as we drove from the orphanage to a storehouse where we loaded Vitaliy’s van with boxes of food that he would transport to Kyiv and distribute to families in need later in the week. Once we finished, we went with Vitaliy, Oxana, and Andrei to dinner to discuss plans for the next day. Initially, we had planned to volunteer at one of the local hospitals, but Oxana and Andrei informed us that they were part of a team that was going to be visiting another orphanage the next day about an hour north of Mukachevo, where we were currently located. We were excited to have the opportunity to visit another group of kids and eager to learn from their team, so we agreed to go with them the following day. At around 9:30 the next morning, we met with the team and prayed for our upcoming time with the kids. We were astonished to learn that this particular team was made up mostly of individuals who had themselves been cared for by this same orphanage, and now that they were grown up, they would often return to visit and hold programs for the children. We felt a true sense of awe and respect for them as they told us their stories, and it was humbling for all of us to see the care and love they had in their hearts for those in the same situation they had been in. After making our final checks and saying a quick prayer, we were on the road to the countryside.

The experience at the second orphanage differed from the first, and we were thankful to have the chance to see and compare the two circumstances. The first orphanage we visited was a private one, and while it enjoyed many visitors, resources were scarce, and there was not money readily available to keep things in excellent condition. The second orphanage was state-run, and thus it had more consistent funding and was better able to provide for a larger group of children. However, given that this particular home was located out in the country and away from the larger cities, not many visitors would come by. The team we had the privilege of joining was one of the few groups that would consistently make it out to visit and engage with the kids. Because they came with some frequency, they had a well-established program for the afternoon, including games, songs, Bible classes for each age group, and a meal for the kids. Jaco, Levieu, Noah, and I stepped in to help where we could and where we were asked, but we primarily spent time asking students about the games they were playing and engaging with students in the activities. Unfortunately, we were only there for about an hour and a half before we were informed that air raid sirens were going off in the town down the road. By law, the students had to make their way to a pre-arranged shelter underneath the orphanage. Evidently, this exercise had happened so often that it was just “par for the course,” as far as everyone was concerned. The air-raid alerts were so commonplace that upon the first alert, the staff allowed the children to break for lunch before eventually making their way to the bomb shelter in the cellar. Here was one of the moments in which the reality of being in a war-torn country became very real to us. The night before, Vitaliy had brought up accounts and showed videos of clinics, evacuations, and memorials that he had personally witnessed as a volunteer. Now, the following morning, we were seeing firsthand the effects of war, even if not on the front lines. Only one rocket had made its way into the province we were in over the course of the whole war thus far, but the effects of the conflict were much greater and further reaching than explosions. For two hours, we sat with the kids in the makeshift cellar shelter. We learned that sirens could go off multiple times a day or even late at night, forcing the 150 children and the additional staff into the shelter, often for unknown lengths of time. Finally, after about 120 minutes, the sirens ceased, and the children were released from the shelter. By this time, it was mid-afternoon, and it was time for us to begin our journey home. We ended our time by praying for both the team of volunteers and the children. We prayed that God’s hand of protection would preserve and bless them. It was a great blessing for us to be among them, and we found ourselves significantly impacted by the joy and kindness of the Ukrainian people we had encountered, even amid great suffering and hardship.

It was 12:30 a.m. before we arrived in Oradea, but Jaco, Leveiu, Noah, and I could not help but be overcome by a deep sense of gratitude. Gratitude for the people we had met, gratitude for God’s direction and provision along the way, and gratitude for even the smallest things that we tend to take for granted and experience every day. All of us greatly appreciated the door God had opened for us to volunteer in Ukraine, and we all hope that God will allow us to go back again and continue to show us how to be effective and faithful to the opportunity that sits only a few hours away.

As we go forward, we ask you to join us as we pray into a few specific areas:

Visa Applications and Appointments: At this time, Noah and I have performed a preliminary submission of the necessary documents online and are scheduled to have a complete application appointment with the immigration office here on the 23rd (Thanksgiving Day for those of you back in the States). Please pray that we would have success in submitting all of our documentation and that our visas would come in swiftly and efficiently!

Continued Effectiveness at Salem and in Youth: We feel that God has really been moving and is preparing to do some awesome things among the youth here in Oradea. We are so thankful for the ways He has already began to put the pieces together, but there are still plenty of things Noah and I are learning from and are looking to improve upon, both in our day-to-day work with Salem as a whole and our approach to youth specifically. Pray that we would continue to see the Lord’s hand at work, that we would be continuing to learn and adjust to situations well. We are incredibly excited for what is to come!

Peace and Continued Opportunities in Ukraine: We feel so thankful to have been able to “scout out the land” this past weekend in Ukraine. Given our proximity to the country and the connections that we had before this weekend and the additional ones we made in the past few days, we hope and believe that the Lord will continue to open doors and opportunities for us to minister to the Ukrainian people in the future. Please pray that we would receive wisdom and direction from the Lord. Additionally, we feel burdened to pray for those who have been afflicted by war and violence in Ukraine, especially over the past two years. Please pray with us that God would uphold justice and bring an end to the bloodshed in this region.

Thank you for your persistent prayers and messages of encouragement. As we hit our two-month mark, we can’t help but feel so thankful for all the Lord has done, and we cannot wait to see what He has in store.

Our love and our prayers,

Nate and Noah