Soccer Night and The School in Teist

Two new things have happened this week, apart from our regular ministry, that I'm really excited to tell you guys about! First, though, I want to say that we've been continuing all of our Micro Kids sights, ministry in the girls home, ministry in the hospitals, ministry in the old folks home, ministry to young people, tour prep, etc. God has been moving powerfully in the lives of the MCR students, and they have been faithfully ministering to the world around them! With all that said, let me tell you about the two things I'm very excited about.

The first one is Soccer Night! For those who didn't read my blogs last year, soccer night is an event outside of MCR, that all of the students and staff participate in. Last year, Bianca and I got a group of people together to play soccer in Targoviste's most popular park. Over time we started attracting a lot of young people and began creating spontaneous soccer tournaments. From here is where we met, for the first time, one of our current first year students, Ionut. It was at this event that another one of our current first years, Bogdan, had led Ionut in the sinner's prayer for the first time. It was from this event that Ionut became connected to the church, then to the MCR summer camp, and then to Master's Commission! From these nights we were able to invite many young people to church! With the weather beginning to warm up, we took advantage of the night and played soccer.

After we had finished the night, one of the guys we had played with came up to us and said, "You guys are so much fun! I want to play with you all whenever you guys play. Just give me a call!" When two or more are gathered in God's name, there he is in the midst of them. There is something very attractive and powerful about Christians coming together for fun. That spirit of joy is there and it's infectious. What I continue to learn is that people won't cry with you, till they've laughed with you. People aren't attracted to systems of doing things, they are attracted to joy, love, and passion. I have found that every person is searching for community, and that God uses community to call those who are searching. I'll continue to keep you guys updated on how this is all going. I'm so excited that we have resumed this!

The other thing I'm excited to tell you guys about is the school MCR has started in our Teist Micro Kids sight. Teist is the poorest of all the sights we visit and the children there, like their parents, are unable to read and lack the most basic knowledge of arithmetic. Many of the kids are unable to count to ten. The dream of starting a school in Teist, started last year, and we launched the program for the first time last week! Oana, one of MCR's second years, and I will be spearheading the project for the rest of this year. Because no one in the village has had quality education, there is very little understanding of what education is. So we have to take it very slow with these kids. Especially since we only have one day a week with them for right now. We only have about ten weeks left of Master's when we are in town, so our goal for the year is simple: For the kids to know, read, and write with three letters, and to count to 100. Next year we would like to teach them the whole alphabet and cover basic arithmetic.

Continue to keep these two new ministries in your prayers. We're so excited about all of the great things that God is doing and want to give him all the glory! Thanks for you time, and God bless!