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“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever,.. He changes times and seasons. He deposes kings and raises others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning” Dan 2:20-21
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Laying a strong biblical and theological foundation
for Christian leaders in Romania.
With the backdrop of war in neighboring Ukraine, the work of equipping our Eastern European coworkers continues. David got invited to teach an integrative course surveying Christian Doctrine to our Romanian full time missionary colleagues in order to strengthen their biblical foundation for godly life and ministry. Faithful to our desire to see more nationals teach David invited a Romanian to teach with him. The course integrated two audiences, one present (live) with me in Bucharest, the another which joined in by video conferencing (ZOOM).
Here’s a little taste for you… One section of the course involved teaching on the attributes of God. One of God’s attributes is the eternity of God and his relationship to time. He exists outside of time seeing the beginning from the end. He also acts in time. I shared with the class that I’m old enough to have witnessed the end of some things that I thought would go on and on. Concerning how temporal things are compared to the eternity of God, I shared with my students how In December of 1989, I and most people thought Communism would last a very long time. This world economic and political system that was atheistic to the core held sway over 1/3 of the world’s population. Then, in a matter of weeks the iron curtain in eastern Europe came crashing down.
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In Romania, Laszlo Tokas a pastor from the city of Timisoara, Romania stood up to the communist police, and so he was arrested. His congregants rose up against this injustice, and hundreds of others joined in. Before the orthodox church there in Timisoara, 36 of protestors were shot dead. Undeterred the larger crowd gathered to protest. The police raised there guns, and the crowd fell to their knees. At the time (Dec. 1989) I was serving as a missionary in the former “Communist/Socialist” Yugoslavia. There was an audio recording of what was happening in Timisoara at that time. And so in Dec.1989, I was listening to the world change right before my ears. As I listened there came a moment the crowd fell to its knees. They began to pray in unison, “Our father, who art in heaven, hallow be thy name…” Upon hearing the prayer of this crowd of protestors, the police laid their weapons down. They joined the protest! What seemed to be a permanent part of the world of 1989, began to crumble down… yes, coming to an end. God sees the beginning, duration, and end of all things, even time itself. These are implications of the eternity of God. The eternity of our sovereign God nurtures hope especially vital now amidst the consequences of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
One student, named Ramona, gave this evaluation of the training, “When I realized how you valued every single question, I was emboldened to also ask my questions. You are great explaining complicated concepts in simple, understandable, impactful ways. Thank you for serving us!” Another student, Flavia, asks “This is so good, could you do all our biblical and theological training?” I guess I’m going back to Romania soon!
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“Forgiveness is the Christlike suffering which it is the Christian’s duty to bear” D. Bonhoeffer
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Walking alongside our Ukrainian coworkers in the season when their homes and ministry have been shaken by the ongoing war forced us to think deeper about God’s purpose for suffering and matter of peacemaking. Later we had a fruitful time of reflection on the matter of forgiveness with an international group of missionaries in cross-cultural training which we helped lead this summer.
Mia, serving in a Muslim country in Europe wrote, “Great to think not only of being a peacemaker between God and others (ambassador for Christ) but foremost understanding more and grasping peace between God and myself.
Leo from Spain, “During our reflection I felt a strong spiritual environment because many people had many things to forgive. To deal with a complex example such as the issue of war and the position of our Ukrainian colleagues was incredible".
Luci from Belfast Ireland, “Reflecting on the subject of forgiveness stirred hard emotions for me, showing that I may need to have another pass at reconciling with someone. the reminder to not be easily offended is so key”
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David & I continue to help spiritually and physically wounded among our Ukrainian friends. The winter will be brutal for many Ukrainians. David just filled a van with food and supplies that travel with our friend Andrei back to Ukraine tomorrow.
Yulia is beginning an online study on the book of Daniel. 29 women signed up to join us in October. Pray for God to mend their hearts as we consider the stories of old and hope giving visions of Daniel.
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We are very thankful for the sacrifice of your time,
prayers and finances.
It secures the needed provisions for our family, encourages and strengthens hope and enables us to be generous quickly!
We post more frequent prayer requests and updates on a private Facebook group which we invite you to join by sending an email or a FB message using the information below.
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David, Yulia, Tosha and Evan Beatty
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