Apologies and Catching You Up

Hi Everyone!

First off I wanted to apologize for not posting anymore posts. The last one I tried didn't want to cooperate and I kinda gave up. But I hope you were able to read my parent's letters and my mom's blog posts. 

This summer has gone by so quickly! To catch you all up, I’ll let you know what we’ve been doing for the past six weeks. Mom, Dad, and myself flew into Istanbul, Turkey and stayed there for a few days, then we went to Patras, Greece, saw the Emmaus work there and moved on to Corinth, Athens, and Thessalonica. From there we went to Burgas, Bulgaria, Bucharest (not to be confused with Budapest), and Timisoara in Romania, Novisad, Serbia, and Budapest, and Gyor in Hungary. From there we went to Austria where a brother so kindly lent us his car and we went to the Czech Republic, Poland (saw Auschwitz) and Slovakia then made our way back to Austria. We stayed there a few days; saw Vienna, then took a train to Venice, Italy. There we met Gil and Carolyn Vargas and, with them, visited Florence then came to Rome where we are currently.

My parents leave tomorrow (Monday) while I stay in Rome for another few days and attend the OM Transform 2012 conference before my Transform Albania team heads out. There we will be working with the Roma people (gypsies) who are an unloved and unwanted people all over the world – especially in Europe. There I will be working with about 12 other women from Europe, the U.S. and the Bahamas. Our group has been teamed up with Emmanuel Mission, an organization that works with the Roma people. In the mornings we will be doing kids’ programs (games, Bible lessons, crafts, etc.) and three of those afternoons will be spent with the women doing Bible studies extending God’s love to them. At the end we have been told that we will do an international night showing a little bit about the culture from which we come to get the whole family involved.

After the mission’s trip is over I stay in Tirana, Albania with the daughter of missionaries there who married a national. From Tirana I fly to Sophia, Bulgaria for the weekend and stay there with a sister from an assembly there. I head home on August 6^th.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. They are greatly appreciated as God has brought us safely this far, and as He continues to do so. This whole summer has been a great cultural experience learning about all the different religions here in Eastern Europe from the ancient Greek and Roman mythology, to Greek and Eastern Orthodoxy, to Roman Catholicism, to Islam, and even different Evangelical denominations. Each country has an interesting history and its fun to learn what aspects of their history affects their culture today.

As my summer comes to an end, I would ask that you continue to pray for:

1. Safety for me and my family as we travel.

2. A willingness to learn on my part.

3. Boldness to teach and witness when it’s needed.

4.Team unity.

5. A pure testimony.

6. That the Power of God’s Word would touch the hearts of the Roma people.

Thank you all so much for everything, and for joining me in prayer.

In Christ,

Christina