needs

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January 25, 2010

A Request from our partner Joyce Howerton

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Our future partner Joyce Howerton recently posted this on her facebook wall. Since we have different contacts and prayer partners I thought it might be helpful to post it here to. If the following interests you, let us know and we’ll get you contact info for Joyce.

Joyce wrote:

“Joyce Howerton is looking for/praying about a homeschool partner in crime…I could really use some assistance. If you are interested in serving in Romania for a year or two or longer let me know and I will give you more details!

I Need somone to help me with the younger kids…I would pretty much give her control of teaching kindergarten to the younger ones (nate will be 4 so he will be included). Also, someone who is musically talented would be helpful but not a requirement. Need someone with initiative, not afraid to put herself out there, I am pretty relaxed and accept …  opinions of others and accept someone taking charege of whatever they are given to do. Someone who would want to try to learn the language a little and help with crafts and ministries we have with Romanian kids. Short term, could stay in our guest house, long term would need to raise some support and live in an apartment…if someone is interested they can contact me and I can try to give even more details…Thanks!”

 

September 2, 2009

overcoming financial limbo

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our dream home

our dream home

We have located a modest, well-maintained, functional, and reasonably priced home for sale near Lugoj. The home has a kitchen, one bathroom, two bedrooms, a small living area, a very small room off the kitchen that could be used as a school room or a laundry room, and an annex room (not attached to the house) that could be used as an office for Joshua. The house also has a barn attached that could be turned into additional bedrooms if the Lord sees fit to grow our family someday. Another advantage of this home is the courtyard area and land out back which could be used for ministry activity during the summer months. And to top it all off, the sellers are including all of their furniture with the sale of the house.

The price for the house is reasonable because the home is located in a village near Lugoj instead of actually being in the city. If we were to look in the city, prices for similar pieces of property could easily run as high as $300,000.

The only problem is that, as reasonable as the price is, we do not have a lump sum of 55,000 € ($78,000) in our pockets.

If we were buying a home in America, we would seek to take out a home loan. However, as Americans seeking to purchase a house in Romania, we are finding ourselves in an awkward situation with regard to financing. American banks are not willing to give home loans to those buying overseas. That roadblock would logically lead one to seek financing in Romania. But the Romanian banks are not willing to give home loans to people who earn their income outside the country. This double denial leaves us in financial limbo.

Our first response to this situation has been and will continue to be prayer. In our human wisdom, this home seems perfect, but it may be that God has a different plan. Above all, we want the Lord’s will for our housing. In my prayers about this matter, I have been very open with God about my desire for this house, but my heart is willing to live elsewhere if that is what God chooses.

We are seeking to find a solution, and if anyone knows of any other responsible financing options, please let us know. In the mean time, please join us in prayer about this matter. God knows if this house is best for us, and He can provide if He chooses. Please pray that however He leads, we will follow willingly and that our faith will grow.

 

August 31, 2009

the house search

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Searching for a house in Romania is a lot of work, and we’ve only just begun! Baron and I spent most of Saturday and all of Monday driving around Lugoj and some of the surrounding villages, checking out the exterior of houses up for sale.

We found plenty of homes that will not work and a few that might. Tomorrow we hope to go inside the few that I’m interested in and to find out how much they cost. Some of the pictures of the many houses we looked at can be seen below.

Please pray for wisdom and that God provides in a faith building way. Laurel and I are getting excited about the possibility of having a home here, but we don’t want to act on our own and regret things later.

house 23house 22house 21house 20house 19house 17house 16house 15house 14house 13house 12house 10house 09house 06house 05

 

August 30, 2009

survey trip (phase 3)

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The other three members of our survey team left flew out on Friday. My final week here in Lugoj will be spent scoping out possible housing options for when Laurel and I move over.

Please pray that God will use this time to show us how to proceed. Please pray also that we will trust Him for all our needs.

This week’s to-do list:

• Find out about lead in paint.
• Compare prices of homes in city and villages.
• Find out pluses and minuses of villages.
• Find out about buying land without homes on them.
• Compare prices of houses verses apartments.
• See if solar power is available.
• Explore financing options for home purchases.
✔ Find out information about language school.
 

August 30, 2009

two days with Livada

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God continues to use our time at different foundations to give me a fuller understanding of the possibilities and challenges ahead of us. Kelly, Livada’s assistant director, spent quite a bit of time with us, showing us around and answering questions. She took our survey team to Livada’s group homes, their mentoring apartments, and to a nearby baby hospital.

this baby really enjoyed feeling my prickly face

this baby really enjoyed feeling my prickly face

The baby hospital is working hard to make the best of a difficult situation. Many things had improved since Laurel’s and my visit in 2007. The walls were more colorful, painted mostly with Disney characters. The babies had more toys to play with. And it seemed like the babies were being picked up more often than before. However, the staff member from Livada who was regularly visiting the hospital, has moved back to England; there were more babies in the hospital this time than there were last time; and when we arrived at the hospital, the babies were all just in their cribs.

We really enjoyed holding the babies. But there is so much more that can be done. Please pray that God opens doors for us to minister in the hospitals in Lugoj. Currently, they do not allow any foreigners in with the babies.

 

January 7, 2009

Romanian opportunity

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If you’ve heard our pre-field presentation or seen our ministry video you may remember us mentioning Roberto, the nine year old gypsy boy who asked Joshua if he would be his friend and then if he would be his father. Roberto is in a decent orphanage run by loving Christians who are right now in need of some extra help. If you are looking for a short or long term ministry with an orphange, check out this link.

 

January 6, 2009

The End

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We found out this morning that good ol’ Betsy joined Marley’s ranks. She’s as dead as a door nail. Evidently, her engine seized up and rebuilding the engine would cost more than our twenty year old car is worth.

We are rejoicing in how God prepared our hearts for her demise. During the second service on Sunday our pastor preached from Matthew 6: 19-33 about the sin of worrying. The Lord used the sermon to remind us of several truths.

1. Worrying is sin. We must not indulge in it.

2. Our Buick was His car. He can do what He wants with it.

3. We are His servants, and we are in need of transportation to obey Him, but this is not something to worry about.

3. He’s the best employer in the universe. He will provide. There is nothing to worry about.

We are excited to see how the Lord will provide for this need, and are completely confident that although not having a vehicle seems to put quite the damper on pre-field ministry, that the situation isn’t even the slightest bit challenging to our almighty God.

 

January 2, 2009

Is this the end? Not for us but for our car.

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CarSpecial Prayer Request from the Louks

At 11:15 last night, our ’89 Buick failed us for the first time. It had to be towed to the shop, and a mechanic will look at it on Monday. We knew this day would come, but with our loukling due in February our car couldn’t have chosen a more inconvenient time to get sick. We’re really hoping its prognosis isn’t terminal. No matter how much time dear old Betsy has left, we’re trusting that this is all a part of the Lord’s plan.

  • Please pray for wisdom to make the right decisions with our vehicle.
  • Please pray that we would obey Philippians 2:14 and cheerfully embrace God’s plan without question.
 

December 5, 2008

New Gypsy ministy in Maghuri

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gypsy boysRomania is brimming over with opportunities to share God’s truth and love with those who do not know him. And yet the labors to cultivate this fertile field are so few.

Recently the Lord has opened up doors for the Howerton’s to teach English to 60 gypsy kids in the nearby village of Maghuri. The social worker, who directs a secular day center in Maghuri- dedicated to keeping at risk kids in school, did a home study of the Howertons as part of the adoption process that they are going through.  And the Lord worked so that the director invited the Howertons to come and teach English each Friday at the center. They handle the large number of children by splitting them into groups of 20 and providing a 20 minute lesson to each group. How much better it would be if there were several Christian adults doing this.

Not only, would the English lessons be better, but with more workers perhaps more than English could be taught during this time. The nurse in Joyce would love to include some lessons on basic hygeine, and so far there isn’t opportunity to turn this into a regular gospel witness. Please pray with us that the Lord will allow that to happen in time. In the mean time, please pray for the Howertons as they learn much from the director about how a day center is run legally in Romania.

As referred to in earlier posts, our long tern goals include establishing something similar in Lugoj, but with a blatant gospel testimony.  The Lord seems to be working to provide a building for this many years before we thought that this would be possible, but even with the building we need more manpower. Please pray (and consider joining us fulltime yourself) that the Lord would raise up Christians, (Romanian would be best, but we’re more than willing to work with Americans or other nationalities as well,) to come and join in cultivating this fertile field.

 

November 29, 2008

Romanians to pray for

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Isabela

Isabela

Our ministry team is praising the Lord for the spiritual growth the Howerton’s have seen in two young ladies who attend Beerea Baptista: Isabela and Cristina.

Isabela is a high school sophomore striving to be a light for the gospel in her public school. Please pray for her faithfulness and for the Lord to send her a Christian friend her age. Also please pray for her testimony at home and that the Lord would save her parents.

Cristina is a 22 year-old nurse. She is also trying to be a good witness to her family, but sometimes this is difficult because they often criticize and question her faith. Please pray that the Lord will give her a special measure of grace to represent Him and strength and joy to do right in the midst of mild persecution. And of course please pray that the Lord will use her witness to draw her family to Himself.

A couple posts ago, I mentioned that Pastor Howerton has been doing a Sunday School series about how to hold one-on-one Bible studies. He’s also conducting several of these with some young men. Please pray that the Lord uses these studies to save these young men.

One of the new children coming to Sunday School is an 11 year old named Catalin. His home situation isn’t the best and as a result he acts out quite a bit. This makes him challenging to have in Sunday School, but also presents many opportunities to show him the love of Christ. The Howerton’s prayer for Catalin is “that the love of Christ will be evident to him through us and that we can be patient and loving with him at all times.” Please pray that the Lord will save Catalin and that he will know true consistent love for the first time in his life.”

 

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