Sandy and I had a chance to meet with the women again this morning. Two ladies from the church, one young lady from the US, and two from the neighborhood outreach program attended. I taught them all the 3 Question Method of Bible study that I teach ladies in Bible Study Fellowship, and that we used to study the book of Philippians in my home church this past summer. Today we studied Philippians 4:4-9. It was good. The translator was very talented and kept the conversation going so we all could understand, and contributed to the conversation from her perspective as well. All the ladies felt the time in the Word was beneficial, and they could see how they could do this in their own study time as well as with groups they are facilitating.
Jayme was with Pastors Mike and Jerry making more home visits. However, today was not ordinary. The men visited a shelter this morning for young girls who had been sold into human traffic rings by their family or “Lover Boys”. They spent some time with the director of the program hearing unbelievable stories of predator’s strategies to attract young girls and boys into sexual trades. The stories are too horrific to put into this update, but we are humbled by the commitment of this organization to rescue girls as young as 13 and 14 from such an industry. Once the girls are saved from the human traffic trade they live in the shelter for a year or more receiving ongoing education, counseling and life skills that can be used as they re-enter into society.
The Marriage and Parenting Seminar was attended by about 30 individuals this evening. We focused first on the importance of growing our relationship with God as a foundation to a healthy marriage. The second session content centered around valuing the differences of your spouse and the importance of love and respect in the husband/wife relationship. Our translator was excellent. All in all we had a lot of fun. We are praying this content will help marriages here that have gotten in the cycle of anger and frustration, as well as help the younger couples to form good communication and relationship patterns. We are so grateful to be sharing things we have learned over the years and pray they are a benefit to our new friends here.
Our days have not been short on laughter as Mike catches the rhythm of Romanian driving (a few angels have lost their lives), as three or four of us have folded ourselves into the backseat of a small cars, as we savored “Big Apple” sundaes at McDonalds that had no apples, or as Jerry and Mike have shared bad missionary jokes. I’ll leave you with Mike’s famous words…“I have already told you more than I know.”
Blessings!
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