Romania NYI Leaders Meet

By Teanna Sunberg

Romania NYI leaders met this past weekend in Sinaia, Romania to make plans for the future. There is a concerted effort all across the field to focus on reaching young people with the awesome message that Christ loves them and wants them to be a transformational part of what is happening in the world.

Pastor Relu Cristurean came home from Field Conference in September and said, "Well, we have to do something to reach youth in our community." He created a team and they have seen the youth group grow to 15 young people consistently showing up for weekly games and Bible study. Suddenly, the church is filling with young people.

The retreat at Sinaia was organized by Alexandra, who is the Romania district NYI leader. Eurasia Regional NYI director, Diego Lopez, was a part of the weekend. Carol Skinner, volunteer at the field office and part of the NYI Field Focus team was able to be at the weekend as well.

Go Romania NYI!!

Missionary Prayer Focus: March 20

Join in prayer for:

Joshua “Josh” and Shannon Herndon, serving in Romania

• REQUEST: Please pray for Josh and Shannon as they disciple and teach those who desire to serve.
• REQUEST: Please pray for compassionate ministries within the Church of the Nazarene in Romania, serving many people in various walks of life.

Jonathan Phillips, serving in Romania

• PRAISE: In the past two years, the Central Europe Field has emphasized new ways to prepare and support ministers. These efforts are producing tangible results.
• REQUEST: Pray for Romanians who are answering God's call to ministry, and for those working towards the completion of ordination requirements.

Missionary Prayer Focus: March 13

Joshua and Shannon Herndon, serving in Romania

• PRAISE: The Herndons give thanks to God for seeing some youth grow deeper in their relationships with Christ, and others making the decision to be baptized in the faith.
• REQUEST: Please pray that the young people of Romania will maintain a passion for Christ and service, and will consistently live out their faith.
• REQUEST: Please pray for Romanian leaders to be called, or to follow their calling, into ministry.

Jonathan Phillips, serving in Romania

• PRAISE: In the past year, the Church of the Nazarene has developed the Romania Learning Centre of European Nazarene College (EuNC). There is now a stronger system to deliver theological education courses for Romanian students.
• REQUEST: Pray for EuNC students who balance studies with ministry and secular work. Pray for the teachers and administration of EuNC as they support students and train them for ministry.
• REQUEST: Please pray for Jonathan, as he is on home assignment in the U.S. this spring. He asks for prayer for safe travels, for people to commit to support him through prayer and other ways, and that he would effectively communicate what God is doing in Romania.

Video: Veritas Special Needs Program

Emese Kiss, coordinator for Veritas Social Services, shares about the Veritas Special Needs Program. This program for adults with disabilities was the first of its kind in Sighisoara. The program currently serves 35 adults and provides support for their parents.

Video: Romanian Studies Program

This video was created by Joseph Walls, a film production major from Huntington University (Indiana) who spent his January term 2018 with the Romanian Studies Program. The video focuses on the experiences of his classmate Rebekah Rose, a social work major who spent her time working with children at the Veritas kindergarten and at the Tigmandru Church of the Nazarene's after-school program.

For more information about the Romanian Studies Program, visit RomanianStudiesProgram.org.



RSP - Bekah's Story from Casey Bloom on Vimeo.

A Time to Celebrate!

By Petra Popa, Executive Director of Veritas Sighisoara

On Friday, September 14, sixty friends of Veritas (including past and present staff) gathered in a private garden in the citadel in Sighisoara, to surprise Dorothy Tarrant with a 25-year anniversary celebration. Dorothy came to Romania in 1993 to establish the Romanian Studies Program (RSP). The program began in Bucharest and in 1995 moved to Sighisoara.

The RSP (initially a program of Eastern Nazarene College) has provided more than 500 American students with the opportunity to spend a semester, summer or January term in Romania. They live with a Romanian family, study the language and culture, and serve disadvantaged people in the community. Professor Tarrant's strategy was to find local Romanian Christians willing to work alongside her students, caring for abandoned infants in the town hospital, providing a safe place to learn and play for children found begging on the streets, and visiting isolated elderly.

Groups of students came and went. Some of their Romanian translators went to university and earned degrees in social work, psychology, education, etc. Programs continued to develop and grow for children, teens and elderly and were soon being run by Romanians, with student assistance. Dorothy began to sense the need of a non-profit organization in order to be able to pay salaries and taxes, buy property, write grants and solicit funds.

In 2001 Veritas was legally registered as a Romanian NGO, with Dorothy as the Executive Director and President of a local Board of Directors. The name Veritas, a Latin word meaning truth, was chosen to identify the NGO as a group of people seeking to live as disciples of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Dorothy wearing the
traditional Romanian
 blouse given to her
by Veritas staff

Dorothy says of the past 25 years: "When I agreed to accompany the first group of students to Romania in 1993, I had no idea that God's plan would be for me to live such a significant part of my life in Romania. It has been a privilege to see Veritas mature into the organization it is today, bringing help and hope to so many."

I, Petra, have been the Executive Director for the past eight years, and we now have 18 staff employed at Veritas. Two hundred forty clients attend our programs each week and 120 meals are served at noon Monday through Thursday and 50 on Friday.

What will the next 25 years look like? Times are changing, and the needs within the Sighisoara community are changing, too. Veritas staff are tackling these questions as they look to the future of Veritas.

Adapted from the Veritas e-Newsletter, October 2, 2018

Video: Central Europe Field Conference

Video highlighting the Central Europe Field Conference, held in Albania in September 2018