Nate and Noah to Romania

What a couple of months it has been to start out the year! Life has certainly been exciting in the past weeks, and we are incredibly excited to report on the many things that have been going on! Since the previous report came at the start of January, this post will detail the primary scenes and events of each month (or portion of the months) to match the video update above. Let’s get caught up!

January: The month of January saw a generally slower pace for Noah and myself, which was very much welcomed after the busyness of the holiday season. As mentioned in the previous update, the year opened with a lovely time with friends and peers at Salem’s annual church retreat in the mountains. This time of refreshment set the stage for a span of weeks that would serve to help Noah and I once again “settle in” as we returned to the familiar rhythm of a weekly routine working on projects, meeting with and hanging out with students, holding weekly youth meetings, and serving the church on Sundays. As it was the first month of the new year, Noah and I also relished in having some additional time to reflect on our time here so far and the direction the Lord would be moving in for the remainder of the year. We greatly appreciated this special time, and we believe the Lord has some exciting plans in store for the coming months!

February: As we came upon the second month of the year, life’s cadence once again quickened, and in multiple respects. Early in the month, one of the couples within the church experienced a tragedy in which their house caught fire while they were away in Timisoara. Because they were away, no one was harmed, but the garage and its contents were almost entirely destroyed, including the electrical and plumbing systems for the rest of the house. We were all quite thankful that nothing more was lost, but there was lots of work to be done to restore what was lost in the fire, along with other parts of the house that sustained water damage in the efforts to fight the fire. This became a primary project for Noah and I in the early weeks of the month, and we were grateful for the opportunity to assist in the required efforts to make the home habitable again. At the same time, Noah and I began the process of moving to a more permanent living space within the church. We had been occupying the guest suite until a standard apartment space became available. We have since moved in and are quite enjoying our new accommodations.

At the end of the month, we had two amazing opportunities with the Hurrelbrinks and the rest of our friends at Barnabas Ministries in Sebis. The first was a one-weekend youth retreat at the Barnabas Youth Camp in Laz, which is about 25 minutes beyond Sebis. Noah, myself, our friend Iulian, and Andrei, who is a student of ours, made the drive up for the weekend to attend the retreat. The theme of the retreat was “SEEK” and was based out of Jeremiah 29:13-14. It was an amazing weekend of encountering the Lord and enjoying deep fellowship with the students and young adults there, and all four of us were deeply refreshed and each received words and guidance from the Lord. A couple of weeks later, Noah, myself, our friend Jaco, and a team of seven others from Sebis made the trip to Ukraine to visit the Trust Family orphanage in Mukachevo, where we had visited previously. It was wonderful to see many faces that we had previously met, and it was a joy to come this time bearing shoes, clothes, and medicine that Barnabas Ministries had spent months collecting specifically for this group. We enjoyed a full afternoon with the kids, putting on a program that consisted of games, gospel presentations, music, and other activities. We were in Ukraine for only a day, but we still found ourselves deeply impacted by our time there and were thankful to the Lord that He made a way for us to come safely and connect with these wonderful souls. We have high hopes to make it back again in the coming months!

March – The opening of March began with the celebration of Noah’s birthday. Noah and I both were pleased to enjoy our birthdays only weeks apart (mine on February 13th and his coming on the 1st of March) surrounded by amazing friends and our favorite American activities that we, of course, had the pleasure of introducing our friends to. As the celebrations came to a close, we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of an incredible opportunity, but an incredible challenge as well. On the day of Noah’s birthday, we received word that a team from Jesus Revolution (a ministry to youth that tours across Europe preaching the Gospel and equipping young believers to do the same) would be hosted in Salem for three days to do an outreach in Oradea. We have multiple connections to this ministry, as our friend Ashley from Sebis currently attends their ministry school and is on tour with one of their outreach teams in another region of Europe. Additionally, Salem hosted one of their outreach teams in 2023, and many of our youth and young adults are connected to members of that team as well as to the team that hosted a summer evangelism camp this past year. That being said, we were incredibly excited to host this team! At the same time, Noah and I received this news to some alarm, as it was only four days before the team was set to arrive! Needless to say, the next few days were something of a blur as we prepared to receive this group of nine individuals who were going to be primarily our responsibility to host. Stress was mixed with excitement as we were stretched by our first experience of hosting a ministry team, but little did we know that we were about to experience one of the highlights of our year. The team was absolutely amazing and incredibly gracious, and it was not long before we had made nine great new friends! Their impact on our youth over the next three days could not be overstated. The team held an event on each of the three evenings, starting with youth workshops on Wednesday, a full concert and evangelistic service on Thursday, and an evangelistic street outreach on Friday. Several of our youth attended and greatly enjoyed the workshops and outreach, but the highlight came Thursday night, as the Jesus Revolution team shared the gospel to a full auditorium of youth through worship, dance, testimonies, and preaching. When the time came for response, 20 students either received salvation for the first time or rededicated their lives to Christ, and several received the baptism of the Holy Spirit as well as physical healing. It was an incredible three days, and we were so incredibly grateful to have hosted a team that so deeply cared for our students, desired to partner with and build up the local church, and was on fire to reach the youth of Oradea with the gospel!

There certainly has been a great deal going on, but as we pass the halfway point of our time here (March 7th marks six months), Noah and I could not be more grateful and amazed at all the Lord has done. We are seeing our students rising up to start taking next steps in their faith, and we are seeing lots of practical work around the church coming along as well! As we continue into “Phase II” of this year, here are some things we would love for you to partner with us in prayer for!

The next phase for Oxygen Youth – Noah and I have spent the last six months in “gathering mode” as we have sought the Lord to establish a community of students who are committed to deepening their faith and to bringing the Gospel and the love of Jesus to the city of Oradea. As this community has formed and solidified over the last six months, we are now shifting our focus more heavily to “discipleship mode” and initiating personal growth with our students. The Lord has been faithful to stretch the boundaries wider, and we ask that you would join with us in praying that He would now extend them deeper! Let’s pray for hearts that would seek Him fully and reproduce greatly!

Greater responsibility – As Noah and I are becoming more familiar with the church and its operation, we are being entrusted and tasked with a greater volume of projects and a greater level of responsibility. This covers both the “hands-on” work around the church (landscaping projects, demolition projects, etc.) as well as ministry work (organizing the hosting of the Jesus Revolution team, planning this summer’s youth camp, etc.). Pray that as more is entrusted to us, we would continue to be stretched and have the necessary grace, wisdom, vision, and capacity to take on these responsibilities well!

Balancing personal tension between our “two homes” – Noah and I are incredibly thankful for the church family, friendships, and connections that we have made in our time in Romania. Never did we think that we would come to be so deeply connected to the people here as well as the nation itself, and we are so thankful to God for how He has so beautifully orchestrated these relationships. At the same time, we both miss our friends and family back home, and there is a new element of longing to reconnect now that we are in the second half of our year-long journey. Pray that we would be present in the current season and that the Lord would guide our hearts through this tension.

As always, we thank you so much for your prayers, your support, and your love. It has been an amazing journey thus far, and we know that the best is still yet to come!

Love always,

Nate and Noah