Nate and Noah to Romania

Happy 2024 from us here in Oradea!! I do believe that as we are now in a new year, some New Year’s Resolutions are in order. I won’t bore you with the laundry list of things I promise to do this year, but I’ll pepper in a few. My resolutions include, but are not limited to: returning dishes to all those who have generously made us food, mastering the Romanian language, and above all, GET UPDATES OUT SOONER THAN A MONTH APART. Truly, Christ is working out the perfection of us all, and this newsletter is my personal vessel for sanctification. With that being said, we have filmed yet another update video detailing the month’s developments in youth, general ministry activities, and personal life notes. In addition to the video (and the accompanying recap points and prayer requests), we have included a photo gallery at the tail end of this post which captures the best moments from the past month. We are so excited to fill you in on what was a packed and exciting December!

When it comes to youth, December was a very active month! Standard youth meetings took place each Thursday with breaks for the holidays, but there were also many events included in the monthly schedule. We had multiple celebratory events, including a Christmas party and an all-night New Year’s Eve party with our students. These events served as great bonding time for all of us, and we so enjoyed spending the holidays celebrating together! As cool as those events were, perhaps the most amazing time with our students came as we served alongside a local homeless feeding ministry a couple of days before Christmas. It was so amazing to watch these young people step up and serve their community with cheerful and joyful hearts! Even after the ministry time ended, our students volunteered multiple additional hours of their day to visit families in need and sing Christmas carols. It was an amazing day to spend together, and we marvel continually at the servant’s hearts that the Lord has placed in our students.

In terms of other ministry activities, Noah and I found ourselves continually engaged in different seasonal events. We were involved in multiple Christmas programs and served in multiple different capacities, each of which brought another fun and festive experience! The first program was for the kids who go to school in the classrooms within Salem’s campus. Over three hundred kids crowded the sanctuary where we played games and received the Gospel through multiple creative (and frankly, Oscar-worthy) skits and performances by members of Salem’s Kid’s Church. It was a boisterous morning, but one full of excitement and joy! The second program was a Christmas concert put on by Salem’s worship band. As usual, Noah put together a masterclass with the lights display, while I fumbled through operating a spotlight for the first time in my life (only about the fourth-scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life). We so enjoyed getting to take part in all of the festivities, and it was a delight to get to enjoy the Christmas spirit, even away from home. A final service project that we were involved in was a visitation to a poorer village in which we were able to distribute Christmas gifts. We felt so honored to be able to serve the community and the church in so many different capacities during the Christmas season!

Finally, there were plenty of highlights for us personally throughout the month of December and into the first days of January. Perhaps the biggest was getting to spend Christmas with our good friends. The Hurrelbrink family was kind enough to give us a place to spend Christmas, and Noah and I so enjoyed getting to have a “second family” to spend the holiday with. In such a time where homesickness could easily have put a damper in our enjoyment of Christmas, we were instead embraced by a warmth that made us feel as though we were at home, and this was an incredible blessing for us. To add to our joy, we returned to Oradea to find that our visas had in fact come through! We were quite excited to finally be recognized as legal year-long visitors to Romania, and this surprise served as an excellent Christmas gift (thank you Romanian government, we’ll be sure to send a thank-you note)! Finally, we were able to welcome the New Year not just with our youth students, but with many families from the church as a whole as we embarked on a retreat into the mountains for Salem’s annual winter retreat. From the 3rd to the 6th, we enjoyed a great deal of hiking, board games, fellowship, and great food with a significant portion of our Salem family. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to transition into 2024!

When it comes to prayer requests, we have a few things that we hope you’ll join us in prayer for as we enter the new year and the next eight months of our apprenticeship:

1. Pray that the Lord would speak to us regarding the rest of this year. Noah and I are taking the first days and weeks of this month to press in and ask for vision and direction as we enter the next two-thirds of our apprenticeship. In addition to vision for the ministry, we are also beginning to ask the Lord to illuminate next steps beyond our apprenticeship’s conclusion in September. Pray with us that He would be making the next steps clear in this upcoming year!
2. Pray with us that leaders would be arising in and for our youth ministry. As we continue to see growth in our meetings, we are looking to deepen our approaches to worship, discipleship, and outreach, and all of these facets require additional leaders to come alongside our current team! Pray that the Lord would continue to grow and strengthen our current leaders and raise up new, fresh, passionate leaders, both male and female.
3. Pray for our youth as they enter a new year and a new season of their lives. We are unpacking the Book of Acts this month and exploring how the Holy Spirit changes and equips us to be engaged in the will of God. Pray that our students would catch this vision and believe for new depth and growth, both in their personal lives as well as in our youth community!

We look back at 2023 with such gratitude and aw at everything the Lord has done. He has been so merciful and faithful to us, and we are excited to see how He moves in the coming year! Thank you for the role that you’ve played in Noah and I’s journey so far. We feel incredibly blessed for all those who have been involved in our lives and we are so thankful for you! The best is yet to come!

– Nate and Noah