Meet Up With Us in Canada this Summer!

 Hi friends,

We'll be boarding a plane en route to Canada in T-minus 2 weeks and 2 days and although we're very excited there's a LOT to do between now and then!! Here's a quick update on everything that's going on this spring here in Romania, as we prepare to come to Canada for the summer.

The last several weeks have been SO busy with ministry events, church, and wrapping up the kids' school year. We're in the throes of preparing to travel and we'll be in Winnipeg for the months of July and August with a quick trip to the West Coast to visit family and supporters there, hopefully toward the end of the summer. 

Before we leave we have a Third Culture Kids day camp at our church next week, a Romania-wide church conference the week after, we're hosting TWO teams from the US to help with these events, we've got street outreach events, the final Ablaze youth event before the summer this Friday, the final WOW Night before the summer next Friday, AND all the kids' end-of-school activities, their ballet performances on June 27 and 28 (they're dancing in Rapunzel with their ballet school), and of course all the packing and preparations we need to do before we fly. Oh, and throwing together a joint birthday party for Miriam and her bestie this weekend so she can celebrate with all her friends before we leave for the summer (her birthday is in July). All that in two weeks. Are we crazy? Probably.

It'll be a CRAZY few weeks, that's for sure, but we're trusting God to get us through it and asking you to pray along with us against any sicknesses or injuries during this time, and for God to move in and through each one of us on the church team, and the visiting American teams as we serve. Don't forget to pray for Chris and Faith Anderson too - they're carrying the bulk of the load with managing the US teams and they'll be holding down the fort at the church all summer while we're in Canada, with two more US teams coming in the summer to serve both at the church and with an English Camp for kids.

On another serious note, we wanted to let you know that because the last year has been a pretty challenging one, especially for Chrissie, we have prayerfully decided not to host an event this summer in Winnipeg like we usually do when we're back in Canada. Instead, we'd love to connect with any of you one-on-one for a coffee, a walk in the park, lunch - whatever. We'll be in Winnipeg for most of the summer with (hopefully) one week in Vancouver in August, and we'll be at Riverwood Church most Sundays starting on July 12.

If you'd like to connect with one or both of us while we're in Winnipeg, please contact us (our contact info is below) so we can set up a time to get together. We would truly love to see you!

Jerry - jerryabaker@hotmail.com or +40746234466 on WhatsApp

Chrissie - chrissiebaker@hotmail.com or +40751365031 on WhatsApp

(Don't send us text messages or iMessages please - we won't be able to receive them since our phone numbers don't work in Canada. It's got to be email or WhatsApp!)

And now for some rapid-fire Ministry and Family Updates...

A BIG THANK YOU to those of you who have donated to the Food Bank at church!! We filled a couple carts to overflowing at METRO (Romania's version of Costco) and were able to provide SO much food for those in need at our church. They all expressed their gratitude to you for donating, and we thank you SO much for your generosity!

As of this week Chrissie has handed off the hospitality duties at the church to a team of three very capable ladies, Bethany, Rosie and Jeny, who will be handling all the church supplies, the coffee and cookies each Sunday, and the food and drinks for special events like potlucks and WOW Nights. This is a huge relief for Chrissie to be able to take a step back from this responsibility!

Chrissie and the girls' visas were approved and we picked them up 2 weeks ago. Now we don't have to worry about any of our visas again for the next 4 years!

Eden had her final cranial MRI and praise God - it was completely clear with no neurological issues! She's now received a diagnosis of POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) by the cardiologist, which sounds scary but it's actually a huge relief. The treatment is simple lifestyle changes, and we're already seeing a big improvement in her symptoms. We're glad to have the summer to adjust her lifestyle around her POTS so she'll be able to go back to school in September with a plan for feeling well at school.

Our whole family helped out at Doug and Camelia Howey's Carnival-Style June 1 Children's Day event in Rasnov town square. It was so well organized but it was absolute chaos, as any children's day event in Romania should be 😂 and we all had a blast. The girls each partnered with a team member from the US because they needed to help with translation (none of the visiting US team members could speak to the Romanian kids!), Jerry led one of the games with a young guy from our church, and Chrissie worked in the prize tent where the kids could come "spend" the tickets they earned playing the various games, on prizes.

Chrissie and Faith Anderson hosted a Women's Event last Saturday at the church. Emilia (one of the other Elders' wives) taught a watercolour painting lesson and the women enjoyed painting bookmarks, doing a short devotional together and eating a light brunch with fruit and pastries. It was a lovely time together before the summer break.

Chrissie also attended the Pure Joy International retreat for women in ministry last month in Cluj, together with Faith Anderson and Camelia Howey. It was the first time Chrissie has attended a conference like this for women on the mission field in the 10 years we've been in full time ministry and it was a great time of refreshing and rest for her and the other ladies. The conference was completely free - funded by donations to the Pure Joy International ministry in the US, and it was held at a 5-star hotel in Cluj. Quite the refreshing environment for almost 100 women in ministry in Romania!

We hosted another WOW night with special musical guests, The Ineloquent, and it was a blessed evening of worship.

Jerry has continued leading the charge with tech at the church (and the thousands of little problems that come with that...if you know, you know!), and he has served on the worship team almost every Sunday for the last several months. 

He's also been very busy preparing for the upcoming Calvary Chapel Romania conference, helping coordinate the work of the team coming from the US, preparing street outreach for the US team, meeting with the other Calvary Chapel Romania pastors, and preparing and planning the worship times for the conference that runs from June 29 to July 2.

Last Sunday was the final Sunday School for the Pre-Teens/Teens until September. We created a mural to remind us of all the important aspects of the book of John from chapter 1 through 13 so we can kick off with chapter 14 in September.

That's all we've got for now. We pray you are all well and that we will be able to see most of you this summer while we're in Winnipeg. Thank you again for your continued prayers, friendship, and support. You mean the world to us!

We are still praying for God to provide the rest of the funds needed for our time in Canada this summer, specifically for flights for our family from Winnipeg to Vancouver to visit Jerry's family (we haven't seen them in 4 years). 

If you feel led to make a donation to help with this, here are the donation links for tax-deductible donations:

Click HERE to Make a Donation in Canadian Dollars

Click HERE to Make a Donation from the United States

See you soon!

Jerry, Chrissie, Miriam and Eden