A Season to be Thankful
What a month! It seemed life November went by so fast. Actually, life itself seems to be going by fast. One day we were finishing college and the next, we have two children and are living in Romania as missionaries. Now Christmas will be upon us in less than 20 days. Also, on Christmas Day we will reach our 6 month mark of living in Romania. That is crazy!!
November has been a slower month for us ministry wise. We have continued to network with missionaries and nationals here to determine who could be potential ministry partners with us. During one meeting, a potential partner told Drew that they want to plant two new churches within Bucharest as well as two churches in several nearby counties. Outside of networking, we have been focusing on language and family. Language is difficult of course, but it is going well. We have learned so much over the past 5 months.
November was also a difficult month for us. This was the first time we have spent Thanksgiving without our families. We missed being with our families and the good food they cook every year. Now as we are in December, we will miss spending Christmas with our families as well. However, we did host our first Thanksgiving while also cooking our first turkey and fixings. God blessed us this year for Thanksgiving with great people and excellent food. We shared with our guests why we celebrate Thanksgiving in America and we each shared what we are thankful for. An interesting story is that we bought a turkey from a Romanian who raises and sells turkeys to Americans each year for Thanksgiving. The day before our dinner, this Romanian brought us our turkey that ended up being 9KG/ approx 20lbs. The turkey was so big that it was two inches bigger than our pan ,which was the biggest pan we could find. Then, the pan was too big for our oven due to the handles. Fortunately, we were able to wiggle the pan into the oven and get the handles to fit behind the inner railings. Three and half hours later the turkey was finished and tasted perfect.
Cultural experience: We both made appointments to establish a dentist and a family doctor. In America, we would go to the doctor for an exam and have annual lab work in one day. Here, we both went to the doctor for the exam, then came back another day for lab work. Then we each had to come back a 3rd time for an ultrasound. They would not perform the exam nor the procedures in one day. In Romania, the doctors perform ultrasounds on both men and women each year as part of the annual physical. The dentist was very similar. We each had to go in for an exam and x-rays and then come back for any dental work that needed to be performed.
Small group update: We have decided to halt our small group meetings until after the new year. Covid restrictions are tight here in Romania and are making it complicated to host small groups in the evening. We hope to start up again after the new year and possibly with new people.
Prayer Requests:
Potential partnerships here in Bucharest.
Please pray for us through the holidays.
