It has been an epic month here in Europe. I’ll try to be as concise as possible. I’ll leave out the lost luggage debacle. We found extremely cheap flights to Budapest, rented a van and drove into Romania where we worked with our ministry partners in some Gypsy villages. This is where MANNA’s work started in Romania and we got to have Austin, MANNA’s marketing manager join us for this trip. He and I visited Romania together exactly 10 years ago. While in western Romania, we were able to visit our new medical clinic and observe the progress on the renovations. It will have a huge resource and serve the Gypsy communities. We met with some key doctors at a local hospital in the main city. Be in prayer as we work with the government on approvals. 

From here, we drove to Bucharest and picked up a team from Texas. It was a great team. We spent most of our time in Severin visiting churches and working in our nutrition centers. One day we had a construction project where we finished out several rooms at the church in Severin for women’s ministry and for youth. It was a dream of Cathy Gonciulea to have a room like this and we were able to pray over it and dedicate it in her honor. The team put on a carnival at two of our nutrition centers in Rogova and Lupsa. The kids loved it! T-Rex even made an appearance. Ha! The team taught Bible lessons and did crafts with kids at 3 different churches and really invested in the community. We also were able to visit Father’s House in Campulung, Romania. MANNA has been able to house Ukrainian refugees here.

After we said farewell to the team we headed to Greece with Austin. We have a ministry partner in Athens who is doing an unbelievable job with their church and reaching refugees from Iran, Syria, etc. We had a Father’s Day service in Greek at the first service. Then, after lunch, we got to attend a Persian service that was in Farsi, reaching Iranian refugees. It was amazing. To make it even better, we got to meet with some refugees one day, 4 decided to follow Christ, and on another day, we took part in the baptism of an Iranian man. Truly incredible. 

The trip has been great, and the Lord continues to go before us. Sometimes, He likes to something special. We were able to connect with some of our best friends from Pennsylvania while in Athens. We have not seen each other in 15 years. We have tried, but it hasn’t worked out. I guess we just had to wait and connect in Greece of all places. Our last day happened to be their first day and we got to meet for lunch. I am grateful for the small things that are bigger than you know. 

Thank you for your prayers and support as we head to Bangkok to connect with another team. Here are some pictures for you in the meantime.