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Bibles, Bricks & Blessings

Audrey Simpson served as a missionary to Romania with the Church of the Nazarene in the 1990s. She has recently written a book with many of her memories.

From Amazon:

"Follow Audrey as she takes you on the Romanian phase of her missionary adventures! From the streets of Bucharest to the mountains of Transylvania and beyond, you can expect to encounter intrigue and exploits of faith that will touch your heart and reveal to you the wonder of God's presence."

Click here to order the book from Amazon.

Romania woodshop helps provide jobs for local residents

by Lexi Sunberg for Nazarene News | 01 Jul 2021

Jay Hartzler, a retired teacher who moved with his wife to Romania as a volunteer missionary, has turned his longtime summer hobby of doing custom woodwork projects into employment for people in a Romanian village where work is hard to come by.

Hartzler got involved when Magda Cini, pastor of Tigmandru Church of the Nazarene, mentioned that they had dreamed of starting a woodshop for years. After a year of language study and getting to know the church, Jay and his wife, Sheri, began to plan to open a shop in the village.

The Tigmandru church set up a nonprofit called Ateliere Nazarineanului or Nazarene Workshops so they could hire people and sell items separate from church activities. Through Ateliere Nazarineanului, they were able to help provide job skills and income to men in the village. Tigmandru is a small village that is currently in a job shortage. Practical vocational training is a priority for the church, whether through sewing, farming, or now woodworking. Cini is passionate about engaging the community and meeting their physical needs as well as spiritual.

Jay oversees the leadership of the enterprise by marketing, drawing plans, teaching, and supervising the work. He has seen success in business as well as connecting with people. After striking up a friendship with a tour guide in the nearby town of Sighisoara, Jay invited the tour guide to the homes of clients to make introductions and help with translations when needed. Many times, several trips were needed before the order was made. Meetings often included meals, drinks, conversation — sometimes in two or three different languages — and an opportunity for sharing the gospel. In this way, ministry is done both in making furniture and selling it.

“We are grateful to God not only for orders for furniture but for friendships that have been formed among the workers and between Jay and the clients,” said the Hartzlers. “We are thankful for safety, for the ability to teach and learn new skills, and for the opportunity this shop has been to be a light in the community.”

The workshop began in 2015 with three men from the community and quickly evolved from making basic storage structures to custom furniture — including outfitting a new AirBnb in Sighisoara — and restoring traditional pieces. The beginning of the process was not easy; though they had a location for the shop established behind the church, they had to repair and renovate. Some of the initial building construction was done by hand and with a horse and cart.

Jay and Sheri came to Romania in 2013 for a year of work as Nazarene Compassionate Ministry volunteers. They have been there since. Besides their work in the woodshop, they also lead choirs in the community, help with music in Sighisoara and Tigmandru, and help lead a kids’ club in Tigmandru.

House on the Rock, Carved Wooden Spoons, and a Museum of Romanian Folk Arts and Crafts

Originally published in Veritas View newsletter, Spring 2021

The Veritas Foundation purchased the House on the Rock building in 1998 to serve as a center for education, community development and intercultural exchange. It was built on the site of an earlier building, after the great fire of 1676 destroyed three quarters of the properties in the citadel. It was probably originally occupied by a German master-craftsman and his family and apprentices. 

It is appropriate now, after 20 years of use for Veritas educational activities, that a craftsman will once again use the building. House on the Rock is uniquely designed to provide large rooms on three floors for displays. The top floor of the building will be used for hands-on art activities for tourists. 

The International Café opened in 2002 on the first floor of the building, providing coffee, tea, homemade pastries, and pies and more. It will continue to serve tourists and museum visitors. 

The museum is operated by Mark and Raluca Tudose, Romanian entrepreneurs who have successfully created two gift shops in the citadel. One of these has been in the basement of House on the Rock where they have had a craft shop since 2012. 

Their new enterprise is to create a museum of folk arts and crafts of Romania. One of the major features of the museum will be carved wooden spoons. Mark himself is a spoon carver, having learned from his grandfather. He has collected spoons from around the world, attractively displayed and with stories of the craftsmen who made them. 

One of Mark’s goals in opening this museum is to help Romanian artists find an outlet for their work. His craft stores currently carry only Romanian-made crafts. This museum will also feature artists who are named by UNESCO as "live treasury", a designation for artists who are no longer working, but who were recognized during their lifetimes by the Romanian Ministry of Culture.

The Museum will focus mostly on wooden spoons, arranged in three areas:

• Traditional Romanian spoons made by craftsmen in Romania. Each artist will have a well-established exhibit with information for visitors to contact the artist directly.

• Spoons from the traditions of the world. Already 150 spoon collections have been donated or purchased from eight countries and counting.

• Different kinds of wood from which the spoons are made.There are at least 200 types of wood used worldwide.

The main purpose of this museum is to arouse the visitor's curiosity, to enrich his knowledge with ancestral symbols explained and to help him find common ground among the cultures of the world. 

Besides the spoons, which will occupy the walls, the museum will house exhibits of beautiful pieces of furniture, artwork and traditional objects, depicting the multiculturalism found in the Transylvanian region. Purchase of tickets for the museum and coffee and food items from the International Café will provide support for the social work programs of the Veritas Foundation.

We congratulate Mark and Raluca and their work to make this dream become a reality. We are grateful to partner with them so that the House on the Rock will continue to be a place of education where traditional arts are featured.

Loading boxes for the move from House
on the Rock to the Family Center.

EuNC On Mission

The story of European Nazarene College (EuNC) is like ripples on the water when a change transforms the still waters to waves that move ever outward. The changes that have occurred in EuNC have created a significant ripple-effect, circles of holy influence, carrying the best of EuNC to the furthest points of its educational region. As you will discover, what began as one school for many nations has become one school in many nations.

EuNC on Mission by Klaus Arnold is one of this year's Nazarene Missions International reading books. It includes stories of students in the Romania Learning Centre.  

Click here to download the free e-book. 

2020 EuNC Romania Learning Centre Graduation

All participants in the graduation ceremony

Three graduates of European Nazarene College’s Romania Learning Centre were awarded the Qualification in Spiritual Formation on Saturday, November 28, 2020. 

Since this year's Romania District Assembly had to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions, a special ceremony -- held on Zoom and streamed live on Facebook -- was planned to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduates. 

The online format of the ceremony allowed participation and viewing from many different places around the world. Participants joined from 5 locations in Romania and from 2 countries in other parts of Central Europe. Viewers from at least 3 continents watched the live Facebook stream, which is available for viewing on the Learning Centre's Facebook page. 

EuNC Rector Mária Gusztinné Tulipán delivered the commencement address and conferred the degrees from Hungary. 

The 3 graduates with the rector and LC coordinator

This year's graduates of the Spiritual Formation programme are Roxana Cini, who serves as the leader of the children’s program in the Țigmandru Church of the Nazarene; Relu Cristurean, who serves as the pastor of the Sighișoara Church of the Nazarene; and Oana Cristurean, who serves as the administrator for the Romania Learning Centre. The former two are nearing completion of the Diploma in Christian Ministry to fulfill ordination requirements in the Church of the Nazarene. 

The Spiritual Formation programme corresponds to the first year of studies in a Vocational Bachelor's degree, whereas the Christian Ministry programme corresponds to the first two years of studies in a Vocational Bachelor's degree.

--Jonathan Phillips, Romania LC Coordinator

Boxed In: Herndons persevere during Romania lockdown

Reposted from eurasiaregion.org 

In early March, Josh and Shannon Herndon were picking up a few things at their local grocery store in Brasov, Romania, when Shannon received a call from a friend: the country would go into strict lockdown at midnight to curb the spread of coronavirus.

“It was a sense of panic I felt in that moment,” Shannon said. “We didn’t know how long we’re going to be locked down or what the requirements were going to look like. I immediately changed my shopping to what we would need for the foreseeable future rather than the next few days. Within 24 hours, we were in a tight lockdown.”

While about 50 Nazarene missionaries were displaced outside their assignments by the sudden shutdowns, hundreds more, including the Herndons, were locked down at their assignment.

In Romania, police strictly enforced the lockdown. The government allowed just five reasons for people to leave their homes, including buying food, seeking medical care and walking pets. Violations could bring large fines and even detainment in jail.

Karis and Kaeden initially walked down the street to the park each day, which was allowed. But they soon tired of being stopped and questioned by the police during every outing. After a few, weeks they stopped going out at all.

Stress and coping techniques

The country’s airports closed for months. The Herndons experienced tension in knowing that, if there were a family emergency outside of Romania, they could not travel to help, or even attend a funeral.

“That is the first time I had felt that,” said Shannon, whose family has also served as missionaries for many years in Spain and Greece. “Mission work in the modern day means you’re very mobile. You can get where you need to go. So we had never been cut off like that before. That felt strange.”

Shannon said that Josh, as a profound extrovert, especially struggled with the lockdown.

“He didn’t have that outlet of other humans to be around.”

Josh and Karis devised a creative project to keep themselves occupied: A “photo of the day” to share on their social media pages. Called “The Extrovert Survival Guide,” the 52-day series involves hilarious scenes of Josh and Karis acting out their feelings about the not-so-funny experience of isolation. In one photograph, they load a toilet paper cannon. In another, the two crouch in large cardboard boxes, illustrating the feeling of being “boxed in.” In yet another, Josh looks like he is trying to fly away with a kite, while Karis holds the string.

“They just tried to make light of the situation. It was a good way to engage people and have something fun to do,” Shannon said. “It sparked lots of conversation with people globally. We’ve had a lot of people say, ‘We wish you would lock down again to do those photos,’ and Josh was like, ‘I might lose my mind.’”

Redirecting ministry

In Brasov, there is not yet a Nazarene work; the closest church is 90 minutes away. Shannon administers compassionate ministries and Work & Witness (https://nazarene.org/workandwitness) in the country; she managed the logistics of canceling the six Work & Witness teams scheduled for spring and summer. The child sponsorship programs (https://www.ncm.org/holistic-child-development) were suspended, and the funds were diverted to food packages for the children’s families.

Josh is the district superintendent for Romania, but he could not leave the city to visit the churches or members.

“We were isolated from the people we minister with,” Shannon said. “Being cut off from people we work with and know was a really strange feeling.”

The three Nazarene churches shifted quickly to online services and gatherings, which the family joined. The Bucharest church delivered care packages to struggling families. The women residents of a Nazarene-founded shelter for trafficking survivors donated their small monthly stipends to the Bucharest church’s coronavirus relief fund.

“Here they are, coming out of these horrible circumstances, and they saw the needs of other people, and they sacrificially gave everything they had to make sure other people had their needs met,” Shannon said.

Connections

Near the end of the three-month quarantine, the family had routinely drifted into different rooms of the house for alone time, or to video conference with friends or in meetings.

“We had had enough of just us four,” Shannon said, laughing. “Thank God for the Internet. That was what kept us all connected and sane.”

The family used video conferencing to communicate with the rest of their family, who were experiencing similar isolation worldwide. Josh’s brother and sister-in-law are missionaries in Africa. Shannon’s parents are missionaries in Bulgaria, and her sister’s family lives in Hawaii.

Local churches increased their communication with the family.

“The churches in the States tried to be more proactive in reaching out, whether it be through an email or a note on Facebook, through Zoom, or inviting us into small group meetings,” Shannon said. “We had some churches give us Amazon gift cards so we could rent movies because we were stuck at home and there was nothing to do. It was a blessing to see, throughout the entire course of the lockdown, how the church came together for encouragement and support. We are in more regular contact with churches than ever before; it’s more continuous, and I see that as a positive thing.”

Back to normal

Romania began to lift the strict lockdown in June. Karis and Kaeden, who had already begun attending an online school the year before, returned to school as “normal.”

The first thing the family did, when they were allowed, was to get take-away coffees from Starbucks.

“It felt normal to have a coffee in our hand and walk around outside the mall – because the stores were still closed.”

This article was written by Gina Grate Pottenger and previously published in the October 2020 edition of Where Worlds Meet.