rothwellsmission: 2013

Sunday 1 December 2013

IMMEASURABLY MORE - PART 2

ROTHWELL'S MISSION ....... AND BEYOND

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

Ephesians 3 : 20

And now to explain the 'AND BEYOND'

Before we went to FAST we had thought that maybe God had finished with us,we prayed for direction from Him but heard nothing. Then the call to Romania came. And since then God has offered us, as it says in Ephesians, immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

We are delighted to say that He has given us the opportunity to work with the charity ServeDirect for 12 months as volunteers.

We will be based in Lukomera, about 35 miles north of Kampala, Uganda and will be working with three projects:

Wobulenzi Town Academy

WTA is a secondary school with 600 students, set up to provide education in a safe environment for disadvantaged children, many of whom have lost family in the civil war in the north.

The Rock Health Centre

Recently opened with ServeDirect support to provide high quality basic healthcare to the local community.

The Bridge Primary Resource Centre

Working with local primary schools, providing resources and teaching support to help boost academic standards.

What will we be doing?

Providing day to day administration and managerial support, organizing extracurricular activities such as computer skills, drama, sport (Stan is keen to establish a branch of Leeds United Supporters Club!), and developing the pastoral and Christian values of the children.

We will also be hosting volunteers and will be living in the newly built 'volunteers house' next to the school.

We truly believe God has been guiding our mission journey and has led us to this place and we are confident in his blessings, but inevitably there is a financial aspect involved. We need to raise sufficient funds to cover initial essentials such as air fares, healthcare insurance,visas, vaccinations, anti-malarial medication and accommodation.

Whilst we are able to cover some of the cost ourselves there will be a shortfall, so we are asking for your support.

To kick start our fund raising we will be holding 'Africa Night' on Saturday January 11th at St Andrew's church centre which will consist of a three course African meal, a quiz, a licensed bar and the opportunity for us to tell you more about the project. Tickets can be obtained from us or from the church office.

If you are unable to come on the evening but would still like to help us with financial support, then bless you. Donations can be made on line at
http://www.justgiving.com/StanandSueRothwellAdventure or we are happy to receive cheques, payable to ServeDirect.

Lastly, but most important of all, we ask for your prayer support. Whilst we are excited to have this opportunity, and confident of God's protection, our work will not be without challenges.

Knowing that our friends and family are praying for us will be such a comfort, and we know from past experiences that having prayer support is what will help us through challenging times.

We will probably be leaving for Uganda at the end of January so your prayers during the planning and preparation time will very welcome.

We’ll be updating our blog www.rothwellsmission.blogspot.com as often as we are able to let you all know what we are doing, and if you would like to know more about the work of ServeDirect do visit their website at www.servedirect.org

Here's to the next big adventure

Sue and Stan

FAST - FINAL WEEK - PHOTOS

English courses completed - certificates and prizes ........

TGI Thursday teens discussion group........

Making 'I am unique to God' poster with fingerprints

Awards night..............

Tarlungeni's Got Talent...........................................

First prize - Lucien

Second prize - Maria

Third prize - Alin

Shoe boxes delivered to FAST............................................

And....final destination...delivered to a family.........

And whilst delivering the shoe boxes Stan meets Stan the horse.......

Castel Peles, Sinaia, Carpathian Mountains

Photos finished..........now read last blog.....'And Beyond'.........

FAST - FINAL WEEK - IMMEASURABLY MORE - PART 1

ROTHWELL'S MISSION - ROMANIA – AND BEYOND

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

Ephesians 3 : 20

From last week's prayer requests

Codrutz' leg is healing well, and Raoul's toothache is better after a visit to the dentist
The TGI Thursday sessions with the teenagers are to continue
The English classes are to continue
The visit by the government ministers was encouraging and has led to more questions and interest

Highlights of this week

Monday

Certificates and chocolate handed out for those who completed the English classes plus special prizes (books and goodie bags) for the four 'most improved', Sebi, Loredana, Beni and Anna.

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tarlungeni's Got Talent with prize giving on Wednesday. We had 25 enthusiastic young people taking part with an audience of over 50. Prizes went to Lucian (first - read a poem in English), Maria (second - singing) and Alin (third - singing) with a certificate for everyone who took part.

Tuesday evening

Voluntari Gala Evening in Brasov, the Mission House had been nominated in the category 'Best Project' - and won! Liz and Alina accepted the award which was well deserved, they work so hard to ensure as many children as possible (plus some more!) are fed, educated, play and learn about the Lord.

Wednesday

The snow and low temperatures came!

Thursday
Daniel and Stan visited a family in Apatsa to deliver shoe boxes - and Stan was introduced to the horse - Stan!

Friday

Decided on our favourite names by far - the twins Rom and Rem - Romulus and Remus :)

Saturday

A day at Sinaia, Castel Peres in the Carpathian Mountains with Liz and Masih, followed by a farewell meal at Alina and Avram's - will miss these guys so much.

Reflections on our time here

As we near the end of our time here in Romania we first of all want to thank you for thinking of us while we have been here, it has been such a great comfort to receive all the messages and to know that so many of you have been praying for us.

Although we had both been to FAST before this time was a very different experience. Not only were we were to be here for much longer we were to be preparing and delivering the courses ourselves. These courses had not been tried before, so these were very much pilot studies.

We had a few concerns before we started. Although we had taught 'English as a foreign language' before it had been with people who had already received a reasonable level of education and already had a little English. The children and mums we have been working with in the Roma village had neither of these, most of them didn't read or write even in Romanian.

As well as the English classes we were to spend time with some of the Roma teenagers, trying to boost their self-esteem and confidence and show them how much God loves them and values them. We did have some concerns about the language barrier, every conversation and discussion group we felt could only work if we were able to have a relationship based on trust first so they would be comfortable in talking to us – difficult when every conversation had to be through an interpreter.

However, we have been reminded daily that God equips those He calls, and now our involvement with the English courses is over there are children and mums who are delighted to be able to use their basic English with anyone who will listen.

In addition there are a group of teenagers who are happy to talk, even through an interpreter, who are starting to question what they do and realise that God has a plan for them and forgives them when they make mistakes. God is so good.

We are so delighted that the work with all of these groups is to continue.

As always, what we have received from the people here has been so much more than we have been able to give, and we will leave Romania and FAST feeling humbled by a people who are despised by many of those around them and yet continue to be generally hospitable, warm hearted and a joy to be around. Also we have been amazed anew by the work of FAST and the love of God they show to the Roma in such practical ways.

Photos next, then Part 2 explains the 'and beyond'of the heading

.....to be continued

Wednesday 20 November 2013

WEEK 5 - DO NOT JUDGE YOUR BROTHER

You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgement seat.
Romans 14 : 10

Hi all

It's been an interesting and very busy week. The conference delegates arrived on Wednesday evening and the conference ran through Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, with meals together at lunchtime and in the evenings, so pretty intense and very long days. Saturday night's meal coincided with Daniel's birthday so he had a cake and a large bouquet of roses from the ERSTE foundation which he duly handed to all of the ladies - as you will see from the photos.
The delegates came from Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany, and whilst the conference was in English there were translators working in little soundproof booths at the back of the room translating into Romanian, Hungarian and Slovak. So talented and interesting to watch, particularly as we spent most of the days standing at the back next to them. (Had to be poised to dash out to man the coffee machine!).
On that subject, will never complain about doing coffee for church again - we had to ensure coffee and snacks were pretty much continuous every day from 8am to about 10pm, such pressure!
We learnt such a lot from the conference, and from talking to the delegates during the evenings, about the plight of the Roma around Europe. Their treatment is pretty much the same as here in Romanian but it was encouraging to hear about not only the support they are receiving from non-Roma but also what they are doing themselves. There were a number of Roma speakers at the conference who have launched businesses in Roma artefacts, fashion design and jewellery which have become successful despite opposition.
FAST did themselves proud in the organization and planning of this conference, led by Daniel and Ruxy, with the result that this Friday we are being visited by the Romanian Minister for the Interior with the German Consular General , to look at the work FAST are doing - all positive stuff so change is happening, slowly, but change nevertheless.

Oh, and we were asked (with very little notice) to give a short presentation about volunteering, and talk about the English course. As our slot was the last of the morning and the coffee break was already 20 minutes late we could tell from the yawns how much the delegates welcomed this, so after a very brief (2 minutes) on volunteering we woke them up a bit by asking them to take part in one of the exercises we use with the children to help them remember the months of the year - it's called 'annual aerobics' and involves a lot of jumping about! They all took part and a number of them said afterwards it was the best presentation of the day, (we suspect because it was the shortest!).

It was good to have some time off on Saturday afternoon so Liz took us to Poisana Brasov, the ski resort above Brasov. No snow there yet but a beautiful place even without it. It was good to just chill out and eat lunch together.

Good to get back to normal at the mission house on Monday. This is the last week of our English classes (next week will be prize giving and certificates), the last session with the teenagers and the launch of Tarlungeni's Got Talent! Many of the children are now busily rehearsing songs, dances and poems in both Romanian and English and will be performing next week to a panel of judges consisting of the two of us plus Rachel - more pressure!
In this afternoon's feeding session we were pleased to welcome back Codrutz, who has been absent following a dog attack. There are lots of packs of dogs around the mission house and we urge the children to stay in groups as they will surround and attack a person on their own. Poor Codrutz has had stitches almost completely around his leg, and he proudly unwrapped the bandage (a bit of rag) to show us, urging Stan to take a photo of it, which he duly did. Thank the Lord that his leg seems to be healing well.

Prayers this week please -

That Codrutz' leg continues to heal
That our last session with the teenagers is the first step in them making changes in their lives
That all of our English students enjoy the prize giving and are encouraged to continue
That Tarlungeni's Got Talent is a great success
That Rachel may continue with the English lessons after we leave - we are working on her
For positive results from the ministers visit on Friday
For healing for Alina and Avram's son Raoul - suffering from toothache

Photos below.

Sue and Stan