Summer has begun!
As summer begins, we have so many things that we are thanking the Lord for, and there are also a great deal things on the horizon that we are incredibly excited about! This period of two and a half months is going to prove to be a pivotal time for us personally and for the youth as we prepare to depart in September, and we are confident in the direction the Lord is leading and we can’t wait to see what He has in store!
Starting the Summer: June Thus Far
June has already been full of wonderful little moments for both Noah and I. Whether it be celebrating International Children’s Day with the Salem Kid’s Church, hanging out with students, goofing around between light-hanging sessions in the sanctuary, or watching the Romanian national team win their first Euro Tournament match in 24 years, we’ve greatly enjoyed the moments of joy and fun that pepper themselves in among the work and planning. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth… exponentially more than that, I suppose (I apologize, I am less than superb at math). That being said, here are just a couple of those moments that were captured along the way!
One of the incredibly fun aspects of the early summer was the fact that we were able to celebrate several amazing people as they graduated! This month alone, we had the pleasure of celebrating five graduations! We are so proud of each of each of these fantastic individuals and the work they put in to reach these milestones, and we feel so honored to have gotten to celebrate with them!
When we’re not attending graduations or committing acts of buffoonery and tomfoolery (I promise such acts are only engaged in occasionally), we are still involved in weekly maintenance tasks as well as youth planning and activities. Our weekly meetings have continued, and we’ve even seen a long-continuing prayer be answered. Recently, Iulia has begun leading worship regularly on youth nights, and this has such a blessing!. Her willingness to lead and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit has ministered greatly to Noah and I personally, but much more than that, it has created a space for students to press deeper into the presence of God. We are so incredibly grateful for how the Lord has been leading and taking all of us deeper together!
In addition to taking a step deeper on Thursday nights in worship, we have looked to go to the next level in community as the summer begins. On Friday nights, we have begun what we’ve taken to calling “Refresh Nights”, which provide a place for students to come and enjoy an evening together, whether it be playing volleyball and having a bonfire, viewing a film, taking a hike, playing soccer, or going to the local waterpark. Each week we enjoy a different activity, and we have loved getting to have additional time together as a group as well as chance to grow closer!
Looking Ahead to the Rest of the Summer
Beyond the weekly schedule of events, there is a lot to plan for as the summer gets into full swing. Mere days after writing this post, we will be running head-first into two consecutive weeks of kid’s camps, and that’s only the beginning! When it comes to youth specifically, we will have two great opportunities for camps. The first will come at the tail end of July when we prepare to take students to Prague, Czech Republic, where Jesus Revolution (you may remember that they were with us at the beginning of this year, and you can read about that amazing experience here) is conducting an evangelistic outreach camp for youth. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity, and we are hoping to to take a handful of students with us! The second camp experience that we are looking forward to is our very own Oxygen Youth Camp, which will be happening toward the end of August! We have been planning this camp for over a month now, and we are so excited to be able to put on Salem’s first youth camp in multiple years!
On top of planning for camps, we have also spent a great deal of time planning for the continuation of Oxygen Youth in our absence. This process has involved much prayer and many conversations with Pastor Ted and our team regarding how we plan to take care of our students in a season of transition as Noah and I return to the United States and make plans to return toward the beginning of 2025. The product of these prayers and conversations is a plan we have labeled “Breakout Season.” Beginning in July, Oxygen Youth’s gatherings will go from being service-oriented to group-oriented, with boys and girls groups meeting separately on Thursday nights, but once again coming together on Sunday mornings at Salem and for Refresh Nights and other community events. As Oxygen Youth takes this new direction, Noah and I are working on appointing and developing new “team captains” from among our students to take on a greater role in facilitating these groups. Beginning this process in the upcoming month will allow us to work with our team captains to integrate them into the team and explore the new layout together so that by the time we depart, things can be clicking on all cylinders. While this has all been a great task to undertake, we are so grateful for the guidance and leadership of Pastors Ted and Mona, our incredible youth team, and the team back at Mannahouse that has been instrumental in helping us succeed in this season. We can’t wait to see how God moves in the coming months!
Things to be praying for and ways you can help:
Scholarships for camp: This update actually comes with a chance to get involved! As we mentioned, we have students preparing to go to camp this summer. The first camp we have coming up is the Jesus Revolution camp in Prague, Czech Republic. This is a ten-day camp which gives students the incredible opportunity to grow in their understanding of evangelism and how to present both the Gospel and their own personal testimony, and what better target than one of the most atheistic cities in Europe! This is an especially impactful opportunity for those of our students who made significant decisions to take next steps in their relationship with the Lord when Jesus Revolution came to us in March of this year. The camp’s enrollment price of 550 Euro (588 US Dollars) is a great bargain for ten days worth of food and lodging in another country, but it is still a challenging amount for some of our students. This is where you come in! You can assist in sending our students to Jesus Revolution Camp by helping contribute to our scholarship fund. Any amount helps as we take the steps to see students take the next step in living out their faith boldly! If you are interested in investing in these students, you can make your contribution by clicking the link here or at the end of this paragraph. This link will take you to our linktree, where you can choose the “Jesus Revolution Camp Scholarship Fund”. Upon selecting that option, you will be taken to the Mannahouse Giving page where you can enter your donation amount. All contributions for this month, whether through the camp scholarship link or the general donation link will go toward camp scholarships. Thank you for believing and investing in our students!!
Jesus Revolution Camp Donation (linktree)
Preparing the youth team: As was mentioned previously, these next two months will involve us adding some new faces to our team to help facilitate Breakout Groups through the start of next year. On top of that, those on our current team will also be learning to embrace a new flow within the team dynamic, as they are now the “veterans” of the team and will be working with Pastors Ted and Mona directly. Noah and I are confident and excited for both the newcomers and the already established members of the team, and we are enjoying the opportunity to place a greater level of ownership and responsibility into their hands. Pray with us that the Lord would give our team confidence and peace as they prepare to take on the next season, and pray that the Holy Spirit would be giving Ted, Noah and I wisdom and grace as we prepare them for it!
Setting the summer schedule: Summer is an enormously exciting time… and it is also enormously full! Some days, it can honestly feel like there is more to be done than there are hours left in the day (or days left in the summer, for that matter)! Between camps, weekly events, meetings, and church projects, it can certainly feel daunting at times. As we dive headfirst into these responsibilities, prayers for strength, energy, and the wisdom to prioritize the most important things would be greatly appreciated!
Preparing to return home: Noah and I are nearly two months away from our return to the United States. As you might imagine, this comes with a lot of different thoughts and emotions for us. Being so close to the end of our first year, we often feel the conflict between our excitement to be home and the somber thought of leaving students, friends, and church family behind. Additionally, we feel the conflict between needing to fulfill our necessary tasks and trying to make the most of our time left with the people here. Pray that the Lord would settle our hearts and provide His peace, direct us again to the most important things, and help us embrace these tensions well.
Words can’t describe how incredibly grateful we are to walk into each day and be able to do what we do. To look back on nine months of time here and to see the Lord’s faithfulness to us and to those we have had the pleasure to serve is nothing short of astounding. We are so thankful for the time we’ve had here, and we are beyond thrilled to look towards the future and dream of all that the Lord would have next! As always, we think of these things knowing that they wouldn’t be possible without the amazing people around us, both here in Romania and back in the United States. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for going on this journey with us!
Love from Romania,
Nate and Noah
Nate and Noah to Romania 
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