Romanian church installs new aquaponics system

Written by Gina Pottenger, Eurasia Communications

The Church of the Nazarene in Tigmandru, Romania, this month is installing a new aquaponics fish and fruit and vegetable growing system beside the church building.

Kyle Petrie, who also helped develop the aquaponics system on the rooftop of a Nazarene church in Jerusalem, Israel, helped the Tigmandru church plan and install the system.

The system, which includes three tanks to raise fish, as well as sections that will grow strawberries, peppers and lettuce, is intended to provide produce to families in the church, and a little income for the congregation, said missionary Roberta Bustin.

“We want to minister to the whole person, so we try to have a holistic ministry,” Bustin said. “Very few (in the village) have permanent jobs. Almost nobody in the church has a job. As part of our ministry to them, we try to provide some part-time jobs for some people.”

Besides the aquaponics system, the church has a green house, a sewing workshop and is hoping to start a woodworking shop this fall, all to equip people with vocational skills and opportunities for an income.
The aquaponics system is self-sustaining, endlessly circulating water between the live fish and the plants. The fish will grow in the tanks, their waste creating ammonia and other byproducts. The waste-filled water will then pass through another tank that holds pieces of fired clay tile and brick that will filter out solvent waste and create an environment for bacteria to grow. The bacteria will convert the ammonia to nitrates, which the plants need to survive and grow.

The plants will absorb the nitrates, with their roots directly in the water – no soil is involved. In this way, the plants can grow three to five times faster than plants in soil normally do, which means the church can triple its harvest over the usual growing season. The water then flows back into the fish tank.

Strawberries in Romania have a very short growing season, meaning that prices for strawberries are comparatively high compared to other fruits and vegetables. The church will capitalize on that market, expecting to sell more strawberries with the multiple harvests than other farmers could do, according to Bustin.

“We give away a lot of the food from the green houses and also people that come and work in the green houses sometimes get paid with money and sometimes with produce. This is another opportunity to provide food to people,” she said.

They will start out with catfish, which can withstand a very wide range of temperatures; in the fall, when it is cooler, they plan to obtain trout.

The Tigmandru church has been raising money for two years to start the project. A church in New York made the initial contribution.  The Church of the Nazarene in Gelnhausen, Germany, held a bazaar from which their raised funds also went to support the aquaponics project, which they sent through Helping Hands Germany.

Meet the Hartzlers

Jay and Sheri Hartzler are Nazarene missionaries who will be heading to Romania to begin a one-year assignment in August 2013. Jay will be working with the children of Tigmandru teaching music and helping develop a woodshop and teaching woodworking skills. He will also be directing choirs and helping train choir directors in Sighisoara. Sheri will be working with Veritas in a variety of ways in promotion and marketing as well as accompanying the choirs and teaching piano lessons for some of the children. We will begin our assignment in early September by leading a one-week music camp for children in Sighisoara.

Jay is on leave from teaching at a Mennonite high school.  We spent a year in Mennonite Voluntary Service working for Habitat for Humanity in Evansville, IN.  Sheri worked for 20 plus years in outreach media for the Mennonite Church.

They have two grown boys who will remain in the United States.

Engage: How did you first recognize God’s call to be involved in missions?

Hartzlers: We feel our life has been one of mission.  Whether teaching (Jay) or working in media on behalf of the Mennonite Church (Sheri), or serving jointly with Habitat for Humanity and now with the Nazarenes, we have been conscious of God’s call on our lives. The specific call for Romania came after Jay’s choir sang and worked there on two different trips.

Engage: What is your favorite aspect of what you will do in your present assignment?

Hartzlers: For Jay, working with the children in a variety of activities is what draws him. They seem to have a life where they cannot escape their poverty and social status. Their parents work very hard to make a living and are often not present in their lives. Just being a part of their lives and helping them experience joy is what he hopes to accomplish.

We will be able to answer this better once we’ve been in Romania for a while. Currently we are anticipating what we’ll be doing but recognize that things could change once we actually get there.

Engage: What are some of the challenges that you face in carrying out your work? Share any relevant stories to illustrate this.

Hartzlers: Language will be a big issue for us but an almost a greater issue will be understanding the social and political influences on their lives … both in the lives of the children and in the lives of the adults.

Engage: Please share a story of a significant event or moment that has happened in your current assignment.

Hartzlers: God leads in wondrous ways. This past year our lives have been in transition in our current jobs and the opportunity arose to go to Romania. Along the way doors opened and each time we felt God was guiding us to serve. Our financial support was secured in less than a month and that was a humbling acknowledgement of the support of our church community.

Engage: How do you maintain a close relationship with God (and your family, if applicable) in the midst of the demands of missionary service?

Hartzlers: As Mennonites we believe strongly in the importance of living and working within a faith community. While this community will be with Nazarenes instead of Mennonites in this coming year, we expect that our relationship with God will be enhanced and enriched by our interactions with the faith communities in Sighisaora and Tigmandru. In the age of communication we will not have difficulty communicating with our family here in the States. Indeed, there will be demands but we see those demands as part of our calling and do not see them as something to worry about.

Engage: What are the rewards of what you do?

Hartzlers: In Jay’s regular work as a teacher the rewards are seeing the joy in the lives of the students when they accomplish something and are pleased with the results.  The desire they have to move forward and their ability to share what they have learned is an incredible sense of satisfaction.

Engage: What advice would you have for others exploring a possible call to missions, or embarking on their first missionary assignment?

Hartzlers: International experiences have always proved stretching and enriching for us and we would encourage people to be open to God’s call to mission whether in the U.S. or in another part of the world.

Reprinted from Engage magazine 

Third DS School held in Jordan

Madaba, Jordan

About 50 people from across the Eurasia Region gathered in Madaba, Jordan, in April for the third District Superintendent Training School.

Objectives included encouraging the district superintendents and providing opportunities for them to learn from other experienced DS. In the past five years, the number of districts led by missionaries has dramatically decreased as indigenous leaders take over.

"So you've got a lot of DSs where the district is new and it's the first time they're being a DS," said Brad Firestone, a missionary who helped to facilitate the event. "There are a lot of people who are new to the job and need to understand how to do it well."

U.S. MidAtlantic DS Ken Mills, U.S. South Carolina DS Eddie Estep, and Netherlands DS Arthur Snijders were the featured presenters, along with Eurasia Regional Director Gustavo Crocker.

The participants divided into smaller groups based on district characteristics, such as whether the district is missionary- or indigenous-led, new or mature. In these smaller groups, participants talked about their particular challenges and steps to grow and mature as a district.

"At the DS School, I learned more about how to form and cast vision for our district," said Tamara Hudson, a missionary and DS for the Romania District. "As we grow and implement healthy structures and systems, we need to be clear about our missional purpose. Forming a missional strategy that will guide our efforts is essential so that we do not lose sight of our purpose of making Christlike disciples in Romania.

"These kind of events give us time to reflect on our ministry and to encourage one another. It was wonderful to be together with other brothers and sisters from across the region who face similar challenges and carry similar responsibilities."

Missionary Nancy Firestone, who helped to facilitate the event, said the participants seemed to learn a lot from one another.

One evening, the group invited the Jordan pastors for a time of special prayer.

"That was really special because many of them don't get a lot of support or see a lot of outsiders on a regular basis," Nancy said. "They really seemed to appreciate the support and prayers."

Reprinted from NCN News

Shelter in the Storm

By Gina Grate Pottenger
Eurasia Region Communications

A Christian nonprofit organization, directed by Monica Boseff, a member of Blessings Church of the Nazarene in Bucharest, Romania, is planning to open the first emergency shelter in Romania for survivors of human trafficking.

The ministry, Open Door Foundation, purchased a house in December which it is outfitting with rooms for survivors to stay in while they receive medical care, counseling, spiritual guidance and other help to transition back into society.

The organization is already working with seven women and girls from abroad at a temporary shelter provided by another nongovernment organization, and is in the process of hiring three full-time staff members from the Blessings church. When all the staff are in place, the ministry will have the director, four guards, a psychologist, a social worker and a house manager.

“My greatest desire is that … I want this to be a haven of God’s grace and mercy for every single victim,” said Boseff.

How it began
The organization was originally called Open Door Medical Foundation, and was started by two American Christian doctors in Bucharest who opened a social work ministry with a medical clinic in 2002 for those who couldn’t afford the expensive governmentrun hospitals and doctors. For many years the clinic helped anyone from poor to wealthy. However, over time, many private doctors and hospitals opened and medical care in Romania improved nation-wide. It became clear that the medical side of the ministry wasn’t needed as much as it had been.

Those who ran the foundation put aside the medical work and began seeking God’s direction on where they could be of most help next.

Then, in June 2011, an Americanbased nonprofit organization called MATTO, (Men Against The Trafficking of Others), contacted Open Door and suggested they work together to host an awareness campaign in Bucharest about men’s role in trafficking.

“We prayed about this and God just gave us tremendous peace, so I said ‘Yes, we’ll help you.’ That was  starting point,” Boseff said.

The only problem was that the two groups had just a week to organize the city-wide event and there were a number of obstacles. For one thing, they had to get permission from the mayor’s office to find a space to rent in the city. One possibility was the main park downtown by the People’s Palace, but until then it had been closed to all public gatherings after a riotous concert left behind trash and damage to the park.

The committee met right away to review Boseff’s request, and their response was shockingly positive.

“It was our unanimous decision to give you the main park for this event downtown,” they told her. “You should have had this event years ago, we need more like this. You can use [the main park] anytime you want for any amount of hours you need.”

They also said they would “rent” the park to the trafficking awareness event at no cost. Boseff viewed this positive response as God’s clear confirmation to Open Door that getting involved against human trafficking was where God was leading the organization.

Boseff talked to other nonChristian NGOs (non-government organizations) as well as the National Agency Against Human Trafficking to find out what the needs were in Romania. Every group said the same thing: they needed an emergency shelter where survivors could stay for up to six months, because there wasn’t a single shelter for this purpose in all of Romania.

So Open Door decided to open a shelter. The house they bought in December has three large bedrooms, and they’ve put three beds in each room, meaning they will be able to accommodate nine women and girls. When the attic is renovated, it will add four more rooms with space for more
women.

‘If it’s not now, when?’
Staff members are already working with seven survivors at a temporary shelter, and they’re learning how to do this kind of ministry.

For instance, they discovered that it’s best not to share about Jesus Christ right away, but to let the women and girls develop curiosity about spiritual things on their own and then come to the volunteers with their questions and prayer requests.

“By spending time with them, cooking with them, going out shopping, laughing with them, crying with them, they turn around … and ask us ‘Why do you do all this stuff for me?’”

Two of the women asked for reading material, and the volunteers offered to give them some small devotional booklets with short stories, Bible verses and written prayers. The women eagerly accepted the booklets, quickly read them and asked for more.

 One young woman asked a staff member, “How is it to be in Christ? What is it like to have a relationship with God? Can I have a Bible?”

Through her research and spending time with the survivors of trafficking, Boseff has developed an unquenchable passion for the ministry. She quoted figures, such as that there are 27 million people currently in slavery around the world, and that it is the highest slavery rate in the history of mankind.

“Why should I wait until someone that I know that is close to me [is trafficked] before I take action?” she asked. “If it’s not now, when? If it is not us Christians, who is going to tell them that a life can only be restored in Christ alone?”

Please pray the staff, director and women of the trafficking shelter that recently opened in Bucharest, Romania. Pray for God to bless the ministry in its material needs, as well as to bring spiritual and physical healing to the victims of trafficking.


“Reprinted with permission from Where Worlds Meet; June 2013 issue

Third Romanian woman ordained

Pictured: Magda Cini, Paula Creely, Roberta Bustin

It’s not every day that a Romanian is ordained, so when a Romanian was ordained at the Philadelphia District Assembly on April 22, it was a time of celebration.

Paula (Cini) Creely grew up in Sighisoara, Romania, where she started attending the Church of the Nazarene as a teenager and became very active in the life of the church. After graduating high school, she attended European Nazarene College in Büsingen, Germany. She then moved to the United States and continued her studies for ordination.

Paula is married to Gary Creely.  Together they pastor the Macungie, Pennsylvania, Church of the Nazarene.  When they arrived in Macungie, there were no children in the church. Paula has been active in developing a thriving children’s ministry and in helping the church to double in size in three years. Paula and Gary have a five year old son named Everett.

Two people influential in Paula’s life were able to travel from Romania to attend the ordination service. Paula’s mother, Magda Cini, who pastors the Tigmandru, Romania, Church of the Nazarene, and Roberta Bustin, Mission Corps missionary who served as pastor of the Sighisoara Church of the Nazarene while Paula was growing up there.

Roberta has known Paula for almost 16 years and when asked to describe her feelings about the ordination she said, “I was very excited … I was also thinking about how proud I was of her that she persevered to finish her course of study even when it was not easy (studying in a language which was not her first language, studying after she had a family and church responsibilities, etc.)”

There are 3 ordained Romanians in the Church of the Nazarene – notably all women: Magdalena Balaban in Romania, Simona Berdowski in Poland, and Paula Creely.

“Paula’s passion is to be doing ministry,” Bustin said, “She is a natural leader [and] I see her continuing in ministry, thinking of new ways to do things, developing new ministries and being faithful to God’s call.”

Reprinted in Eurasia Snapshots

Mentoring Course in Romania

Michael Hudson, Romania Learning Centre Coordinator, reports some of the latest developments. In March, EuNC students in Romania began Part 2 of the Mentoring component of the Nazarene course of study for ministry. Sixteen students from three different locations participated in the course, three from Țigmandru, seven from Sighișoara, and six from Bucharest. The course is being taught and facilitated by Tamara Hudson, Superintendent of the Romania District and Local Faculty Member of the Romania Learning Centre.

At the beginning of each segment of the six-part course, which is integrated throughout the students’ years of study, students gather for a seminar that introduces the emphasis of that particular part of the course. Part 2, for example, focuses on the students gaining practice and experience in exercising the tools of theological reflection in ministry. Then throughout the semester, students complete other growth exercises such as journaling and written reflection, and they also meet in both small groups and individually with their local mentor (Tamara or Michael Hudson in Bucharest, Roberta Bustin or Jonathan Phillips in Țigmandru and Sighișoara).


Each segment of the course only requires that students invest about 13 hours of time, but the benefits derived from these few hours spent in community with fellow students, in conversation with their mentor, and in communion with the Lord through prayer and reflection are essential to the development and formation of this great group of Romanian ministerial students.

The “gathering” of the students for the seminars happens in a creative format. The teacher travels to one of the sites to personally meet with the students there (alternating sites for each segment of the course), while the other students participate in the class through live video conference. The advantages of this approach are that more students are able to participate in the course and that the teacher’s efforts are maximised. However, there is still some work to do to get the technological components updated so that students in the video conference location feel more “present” with the teacher and the other students.


European Nazarene College, "In Touch" Newsletter, April 2013

April Missionary Prayer Focus

From NMI's Prayer Mobilization Line, April 10, 2013:

Pray for Michael and Tamara Hudson, serving in Romania.

• Every Thursday at 9 p.m. Central European Time (CET), we are united in prayer with our Nazarene brothers and sisters around Romania. We are praying during the Lenten season for revival and renewal. We long for God to do something new in us and through us and we are waiting on Him in prayer and fasting.  Please pray for spiritual growth and new opportunities for ministry. 
• Please pray for the Romania District as we continue to sharpen our vision for making Christlike disciples in Romania. 
• Please pray for the Theological Education (TE) program and the students who are currently studying. We have two classes taking place now: "Mentoring" and "Nazarene History and Polity." Please pray for Michael as he leads TE in Romania and as he is preparing for the doctrine class he will be teaching in the fall.
• Please pray for the development of the district land near the mountains. We hope to have youth camp there again this summer and are praying that we can have water and electricity in place to make the camping a little less challenging!

Click here to read the Hudson’s profile on Engage magazine.