Dear Friends, family, and sponsors,
The year 2019 passed by quickly especially with the fact that our children are growing so quickly. Emily is 3 1/2 and Ruben is 1 yr 3 months. Here is a list of 2019 activities that we coordinated together with the city church (Sfanta Treime Baptist Piatra Neamt, where Luci helps lead youth group), the village church (Vestea Buna Garcina) and the surrounding Piatra Neamt area.
May 12, 2019– Tenth Anniversary of the inauguration of the Baptist church in the village of Garcina. The church hosted a meal afterwards with between 40-50 villagers attending. We saw 12 children from our children’s program & saw a few older ones from years past. In the Sunday morning program, we had as special guests the MBK gypsy choir, with Eduard Teodorescu directing. They sang also at our home church in the city on Sunday evening. Pray for the village church to continue to spread the gospel in the village. (Photo 1,2)
June 1 2019– Children’s Day event at our church, organised together with the Children’s ministry worker Gary, with city, orphanage, and village kids from Garcina and other villages. We had four hours of games, worship, a skit by the leaders, pizza, cake & confetti. The skit & theme of the day was based on Max Lucado’s book “You Are Special.” (Photo 3,4)
July 2019 ‘VBS for a day’- together with a medical team from SC, USA we had kids activities & crafts in 5 villages (Garcina, Bodesti, Bargauani, Borca, Bicaz Ardelean) & kids in the orphanage & our city each place one day for a week’s time.
August 26-31, 2019 At Youth Camp we had 62 teens from our county & neighboring counties. We took 18 leaders from our church. Twenty youth were from our church, some were from other churches in the area, and some participants were unchurched. The week’s theme was “180 degrees: A Radical Change” about the life & ministry of Paul. This year’s camp has been scheduled for Aug 2-8, 2020. (Photo 5,6,7)
Nov. 30, 2019 Church Families Banquet. A chance for the married couples in our church (Piatra-Neamt) to get together for dinner and fellowship. The youth served meal. We initiated this event last year & had a good response so we continued again. (Photo 8)
Dec. 13, 2019– Christmas Dinner for Widows. Following in the same spirit as the meal for families, this year we had a special time for widows/ elderly members of our church. We had asked the families attending the other banquet to serve the meal/ donate some items. It was a good turnout (about 30), a family sang Christmas carols, and other church members served the meal.
Dec. 14, 19, & 20– Christmas programs at three places this year. In the village of Garcina, the Together Again Center in Piatra-Neamt for homeless families, and at the Ion Creanga Orphanage in Piatra Neamt. We had carols and handed out shoebox gifts. Wonderful to share God’s love. At the orphanage, again we invited our friends the Quo Vadis choir to come and sing some carols & help hand out boxes. (Photo 9,10,11)
Dec. 19, 2019- The Quo Vadis choir gave a concert at our church in the city (Sfanta Treime Baptist in Piatra Neamt.) spent the night, and the next day served at the I.C. Orphanage handing out Christmas boxes, and continued on to Suceava where they had another concert. Praise the Lord for their enthusiastic service!
Regular meetings of Garcina kids program Fridays, 3-6 kids. In village of Garcina.
Regular meetings of Ion Creanga Orphanage kids Saturdays, 15-20 kids. In city of Piatra Neamt.
Regular meetings of adolescents (12-14 years) Saturdays 10-15 kids. Baptist Church in Piatra Neamt.
Regular meetings of youth group(15-19 years) Saturdays 15-20 teens. Baptist Church in Piatra Neamt.
Regular visits to Casa Ray Orphanage for english lessons (ages 7-15) Tuesdays. (Rebecca & the kids going)
Regular work (once monthly) in Preschool Sunday school (Rebecca) at the city Baptist church.
Prayer requests: There were three baptisms in our church this year in August of the teens who have been coming to camp & church programs: Petru G, Cristina B, and Denisa B. All three continue to come to church & functions. Pray for them to remain firm in their faith. Pray for Cristina C, who has been devoted to helping us especially in our orphan ministry for two years, that she can deepen her spiritual walk. Our next furlough we are planning for the spring of 2021. If you and your family would like to meet with us then, shoot us a message!
Praises: We were able to move into our house. This gets us out of renting, which we have been doing for 5 1/2 years. The kids are already enjoying more play space it offers. The year 2020 promises more interaction in our city, as we have Youth camp planned for Aug 2-8 and are planning to do a VBS in July with children, besides ongoing orphanage, village group, and youth group meetings.
Thank you for praying for our family and sending your financial gifts through My Brother’s Keeper as we seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus, together with the local church in Piatra Neamt, Romania! Blessings to you in this new year,
-Lucian & Rebecca Avadanei
Emily & Ruben
My Brother’s Keeper missionaries
Children & Youth Outreach
Piatra Neamt, Romania
My Brother’s Keeper International
Any donations please write “Avadanei family” on the memo line and it will get to us. There are 7 other families working through the mission agency, so please don’t forget to specify. Thanks 🙂
If you’d like to get in on our camp fundraiser, we are accepting sponsorships of $130 to the same address write “Avadanei camp” on the memo line.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14
http://www.adventuresinromania.wordpress.com -Our Personal blog
adventuresinromania 