We're back with an update for you from Romania! Spring is in full swing here in Brasov and summer is just around the corner! We're excited to share with you all we've been up to so far this year!
Ministry Update
The ministry of Calvary Chapel has continued to grow this year and we thought we'd give you a breakdown of the main parts of our ministry there:
Ablaze
The newest ministry initiative that we’ve felt led to start is a monthly youth ministry that we are calling "Ablaze". We call it “Ablaze” simply because we want the youth of our church and surrounding communities to hear the word of God and become ablaze with love and passion for Him. We were not sure how many youth would come out to this event as it was something completely new but we were amazed that around 14 youth came out on the first night!
The teaching topic we chose is on “Hearing God’s voice” which brought up a lot of interesting questions and conversations from the youth when we broke off into smaller discussion groups. We are also thankful for the three leaders who have joined the team. They have so much love for the youth and are willing to serve which helps us greatly with this ministry. So far we have done 4 Ablaze nights including a movie and pizza night and we look forward to how God will develop the ministry in the future.
Our last Ablaze event was an ice cream sundae making contest and game night. The kids had a blast competing for prizes for the most Instagram-worthy Sundae, the tastiest, the most colourful, etc.
This week we're hosting the Ablaze students at our house for a barbecue and bonfire night. We're so grateful to have a yard that's big enough for hosting, and the youth are excited to grill burgers and make S'mores, since S'mores aren't really a thing here in Romania.
We're looking for a church youth group that wants to partner with Ablaze and help cover the cost of the youth events so we're able to buy some snacks or do a few activities throughout the year that would have a cost. We can't ask the youth to bring money to the events (we don't want this to deter any from coming), so if you know a church youth group who might be interested in partnering with us for $200 per month to cover these costs, please contact Jerry (jerryabaker@hotmail.com).
WOW Nights
The WOW Nights are continuing to happen monthly and to bear fruit. WOW Night is a worship evening where we invite people to come and express their “WOW” to God through song, prayer, testimony and fellowship. Many have expressed that they really appreciate having this evening to connect with God and other believers in this way, and there are several people who come from other churches just to participate in WOW Night. The testimony time has especially been impactful. We set up an open mic for people to come and share a “WOW moment” that they’ve had with the LORD, and each testimony has been glorifying to God and an encouragement to those listening.
At our most recent WOW Night we had a super special guest - our friend Sarah Wolfe from Canada! Sarah visited us for several days at the end of May and it was such a nice visit. She was able to participate in the prayer walk that week with Jerry and some of the church members, and she played drums with the worship band for the Friday night WOW Night.
Preaching
Jerry has been asked to preach a number of times through the last few months. We give praise to how the LORD has prepared him for this over the last 8 years here in Romania. In the past preaching was often something very difficult and stressful for him to carry out but now we are thankful that God has enabled him to preach (by His grace) and we give Him praise for this new aspect of ministry.
Worship leading
Worship leading continues to be a large part of ministry for us at the church. Recently we have have offered new members of the church to join the worship ministry and we are thankful for those 4 people who have stepped forward and become involved with the church ministry. Two of these people are from Africa, another is Romanian, and one is American. We see the worship ministry of the church as an important factor in engaging the members of the church and growing it and we look forward to how this will happen in the coming months.
This week I (Jerry) together with Pablo (one of the other worship leaders) lead a worship team gathering to fellowship together with all the other volunteers in the worship ministry. It was a nice time to connect, eat together, worship together, and get to know each other better.
Sunday School
Chrissie has continued to teach the pre-teen/teen Sunday school class and lead the Sunday School ministry together with Silvana and Ana. She finished a year-long study on Salvation with the kids, and now they've moved on to studying the book of Romans together. Please pray for these pre-teens and teens, that they would grow in their faith, become more passionate for Jesus, and experience His love in their lives.
Jerry also started the year off by attending the annual Pastors Conference for all the Calvary Chapel pastors in Europe. It was held in Austria this year, so Jerry drove together to Austria with Pastor Nicu and another guy from church, Levi, to attend the conference. The conference happened to fall on Jerry's birthday, so they made sure to have a day of skiing and snowboarding in the alps before they returned home to Romania.
Aside from the ministry events and serving on Sundays that keep us pretty busy, this spring has brought a few more challenging situations at church. We can't share too much publicly yet, but please know it's not affecting us negatively, it doesn't involve us directly, and it's just normal church "stuff".
If you've ever worked at a church, been a long-time volunteer at a church, or been in any kind of church leadership you'll know how messy church can be, since the church is made up of imperfect people!! We're trusting God with these situations, knowing He's in control, knowing that He isn't surprised by any of it, and that He's got us right where He wants us.
Having said that, we would SO appreciate your prayers for Calvary Chapel Brasov, for pastor Nicu and Silvana, and for us as we serve.
Jerry has applied for residency in Romania, which would allow us to get visas for up to 5 years at a time. He passed the interview in Romanian, submitted all the necessary paperwork, and now we're waiting for the immigration police to deliver their decision, which we expect will come sometime between the end of July and middle of August.
One last ministry note - the videos from last year's Unity Choir concert were just published (finally!). Feel free to check it out. Chrissie is in the back right hand side (the alto section).
Family Update
2025 has so far been great but pretty busy! Jerry's schedule has been more full with church events, and he's been focusing on his Master's studies.
We've watched for years (actual, literal years) as the town where we now live was building a new sports and recreation complex. The old football complex was ripped down and in its place is now an AMAZING sports facility complete with a handball court, a semi-olympic saltwater pool with wet and dry saunas, and a full gym and fitness centre.
Needless to say, having a place like this about one kilometre from our house has been life-changing and since we live in the town we get a pretty nice discount.
We've both been using the gym most weekday mornings and the pool a few times a week, and we've been taking the kids about once a week too. It's really helped Chrissie get her strength back and recover after her surgery in the fall, and it's been great for both our physical and mental health.
Ski season was a bit of a bust this year. The snow was pretty bad, and we had a warm winter which meant it rarely snowed, even up on the mountain. Chrissie didn't ski this year because of her recovery, but Jerry and the girls went up a few times to do some riding.
We celebrated Chrissie's birthday in March with friends, and then celebrated Eden's 11th birthday in April with a sleepover party with her friends from school. Not much sleep was had, but the girls certainly had fun spending time together and learning how to make their own sushi, which is a super trendy food right now in Romania.
The girls have loved the modern ballet class they're a part of this year, and they dance twice a week after school. They'll be performing in the dance studio's production of The Princess and The Frog at the end of June, in two performances, so they're spending lots of time practicing and preparing for this! Their teacher Didi (middle in the photo below) has been so kind and is such a great ballet teacher! Both girls want to continue with modern ballet next year too.
Spring came early, which was lovely, and Chrissie's parents came to Romania and stayed with us for over a month (well, Chrissie's dad went to Spain for 2 weeks to walk part of the Camino de Santiago while Chrissie's mom stayed here with us). It was a lovely time together, and it was so nice just to live normal life with them around, have them spend so much quality time with the kids, help with homework, come to church with us, and of course take us out on the town like we're tourists (they were, but we aren't anymore!).
We went on a day trip to Viscri (where King Charles has a house here) and Sighisoara, two of our favourite places to explore in Transylvania, and went on lots of walks around our town.
It was so fun having Sarah Wolfe visit after Chrissie's parents left. Sarah was one of Chrissie's bridesmaids at our wedding 20 years ago, and we've all been through a lot of ministry challenges in the last few years, so connecting was good for the soul for all of us. We had a rainy week together, but we still explored the Brasov old city, went to the Dracula castle in Bran, and ate Sarmale, Ciorba, Papanasi and Kurtos (some of the kids' favourite Romanian foods!).
We've been enjoying having some time for relationship building this year, and we've been developing a good friendship with our friends from church, Bethany and Pablo Calderon. Pablo leads worship with Jerry and he is also the coach of TUF (Transylvania Ultimate Frisbee), a sports ministry Pablo started. The girls play ultimate frisbee on Pablo's kids team on Sunday evenings, and their kids and our kids have become besties. It's been so nice to see the girls make new friends and enjoy spending time with another family so much.
Spring has also brought on a few health-related challenges for us. Jerry is having tests done with a cardiologist for some medical issues that have arisen in his family history. He has no symptoms and so far everything looks clear, but he has to go for more tests in a few weeks to rule out any issues.
Chrissie's positional vertigo has returned, thankfully not too badly, so she's also in the process of having a series of tests done with her ENT doctor to determine next steps.
And Eden has still been experiencing headaches fairly regularly (she got glasses for school in December because of this), so after taking her to the paediatrician it's been recommended that we do a series of tests with her as well. She's seen a neurologist already, and has a series of other appointments that we'll do in the summertime after school is done.
We are so very grateful for good medical care here, that we don't have to wait months for specialist appointments, and that every doctor we've seen has been so caring, helpful, and given us good treatment. What a blessing this has been for our family!
This July we'll head to Sibiu (about 2 hours away from where we live) for the Calvary Chapel Romania conference, which includes all the Calvary Chapel churches in Romania. We're looking forward to connecting with other Calvary Chapel church pastors and their families who serve here in Romania, and our kids are looking forward to a week with their friends at the conference. The cost of the conference is about $550 for all of us to attend, and we're trusting God to provide the funds for us to go.
After the conference we'll hop in the car and head to Croatia, as has become our summer tradition, for our annual camping trip. We are all SO excited for the 10 days we'll camp there by the sea on the island of Krk - it's a time we look forward to all year long, and we're already planning and discussing all the fun things we'll do while we're there. Lots of paddle boarding, lots of snorkelling, and lots of swimming is already on the agenda.
We'll spend most of the summer at home this year, and Jerry plans to do as much studying as possible since many of the church members will be on vacation in August and most of the weekly programs aren't running, aside from the Sunday services. Although last summer was one for the books with SO much travelling, we're really looking forward a quieter summer this year and doing more hiking and maybe even a few day trips closer to home, since we live in such a beautiful area of Romania.
The girls will switch schools in the fall, so these next weeks are their last weeks at the school they've been attending for about 5 years. It's a needed change, and we're all feeling peaceful and optimistic about it. Mostly, we're just so grateful for how well our kids have adapted to the Romanian school system, learned the Romanian language, and have integrated themselves pretty seamlessly. It has been by God's grace that they have done SO well in school with minimal struggles, and we're so thankful for how God has provided for us in this way, and we're so proud of their perseverance and patience.
Prayer Requests
If you or anyone you know would like to partner with us in what God is doing here in Brasov, Romania, please feel free to reach out to Jerry (jerryabaker@hotmail.com) or Chrissie (chrissiebaker@hotmail.com), or make an online donation here (The Great Commission Foundation will be updating this page soon with our new ministry information).
Thank you for partnering with us in prayer. Please pray...
and thank God for his provision for our family, and for continuing to lead us as we're in a new season of ministry.
and praise God for our health! We are so grateful for good medical care here and the ways our physical health has been improving with access to the new sports facility. Please pray for the health issues we mentioned for Jerry, Chrissie and Eden.
for our children to continue thriving in school and for God's will to be done in their lives as they learn how to seek Him daily.
for Jerry's visa process - that God's will would be done as the immigration police will likely deliver their decision regarding our residency this summer.
for safety and health during our summer vacation and the entire summer.
for Jerry's studies, that God would use his educational program to equip him for his new role and that he would be able to increase the time he has to study.
for financial provision for the Ablaze ministry.
for Calvary Chapel Brasov, for wisdom and guidance for the Elders, and for God to continue growing the ministry of the church to reach those who don't know Jesus in the local community.
If you would like to join our regular prayer team, send Jerry an email at jerryabaker@hotmail.com. He sends out periodic short updates with specific prayer requests.
Comments
Post a Comment