‘In Germany there are people that love me!’

by Dorli Geschwandtner, Helping Hands
As posted on www.eurasianazarene.org, January 13, 2012

Gelnhausen, Germany - "I'm so happy! Miss Monica, I didn't know there are people in Germany that love me! Can you tell them 'thank you' for me?"

Albert, 9 years old, doesn't know if it's too good to be true. In his arms he's holding a Christmas parcel; it's so heavy that he can barely hold it.

"He was heavily traumatized when we met him," Monica Boseff, local Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) coordinator in Bucharest, explains. "His parents are divorced; when his mother remarried, she didn't want him anymore. Now he lives with his father, stepmother and grandmother in a small house. His father's salary is barely enough for basic necessities."

Albert is among many people in Bulgaria and Romania who are thrilled to receive boxes of donated clothes, shoes, linens, food and toys from Nazarene churches across Germany each year. Helping Hands Germany organizes an annual Christmas shipment that is divided among Nazarene churches, who distribute the aid goods to church attenders and needy people in their communities.

The Helping Hands Christmas transport that left Gelnhausen at the beginning of December 2011 included 9,000 kg or 61.5 m3 of aid goods (clothes, shoes, linen etc.) and Christmas parcels (food and toiletries) – more than 100 boxes above what was donated the previous year.

About two days later the shipment reached Bucharest where local church volunteers unloaded the boxes. NCM and Church of the Nazarene Romania distributed 200 Christmas boxes and relief supplies to elderly ladies and families with children in Bucharest as well as needy families in six surrounding villages. The other parcels and relief boxes were sent on to Sighisoara, Tigmandru, Viscri [in Romania] and Vidrare in Bulgaria, where they were given to children in a boarding school.

Standing next to Albert are Denisa and Sabrina. The sisters have come alone to pick up the parcels. Their mother has to work late hours to feed her family and also has to protect her children from the abusive father. The constant violence has left deep scars in the children's hearts. What an amazing difference the gifts from the Christmas transport make!

"They were so happy about everything they received," Boseff says, "about the food, the clothes and toys, the school supplies and shoes."

In their gift bags they found two pretty dresses and put them on right away. Now they are simply glowing with happiness. "No one at home is going to give us anything for Christmas," they say. "We want to thank all the good people that made us and our mom happy!"

In Romania and Bulgaria the Christmas boxes, household goods and school supplies cause great joy around Christmastime, but also meet a variety of urgent needs and relieve suffering.

"All these things – the food, the clothes, toys, shoes, toiletries and school supplies – those are things that many people here urgently need, but cannot buy for themselves. They would have not had them had it not been for you to send them!" Boseff writes. "A big ‘thank you’ to everybody involved in this for loving these kids, these elderly ladies and all the people they've helped so much by sending this container!"

Helping Hands Germany is a nonprofit compassionate ministry organization founded and operated by Nazarenes in Gelnhausen. The organization works closely with NCM International in holistic development projects and disaster relief, reaching more than 40 countries since it launched in 1992.

Although Helping Hands participates in various emergency relief efforts, the organization emphasizes long-term development projects, as “the mere distribution of relief items forces people into dependency,” according to its website, www.helpinghandsev.org/eng.

Those who want to get involved with Helping Hands can visit the website, which is in both German and English, send donations – both monetary and requested goods, stay informed about the ministry’s projects, and volunteer.

To learn more, visit www.helpinghandsev.org.

Women In Leadership - Tamara Hudson

By Gina Pottenger, Eurasia Region Communications
Published in Where Worlds Meet, December 2011

Rev. Tamara Hudson, a missionary serving in Romania with her husband, Michael, was appointed as the superintendent of the Romania District on 20 November, 2011. Prior to this new role, Hudson has been offering her experience and gifts to theological education, mentoring the district’s youth council and assisting with literature development.

She previously co-pastored the Nazarene church in Brampton, in Ontario, Canada, with Michael (2007 - 2009); before that, they served as missionaries in Albania for nine years (1996 - 2005) and Romania for two years (2005 - 2007.) They returned to Romania in 2009.

We talked with Rev. Hudson about her experience as a woman in ministry, both in her home culture and in the Eurasia Region.

Eurasia Communications:  Talk with us about God’s call on your life.

Hudson: When I was young, I grew up in a Christian family in a Nazarene family. My grandfather was my pastor growing up. We had missionaries coming to our house to stay with us and our whole life really was the church when I was young.

And then when I was 8, I realized that I wasn’t a Christian just because my family was a Christian, but I recognized that I needed to ask Jesus to be my personal Savior. When I was about 9, I felt like God was speaking to me, saying, “When you grow up you’re going to be a missionary.”

As I continued to grow older, the Lord continued to strengthen that call. And when I was a teenager, I had an experience of entire sanctification and just gave my life to the Lord; I felt like he was calling me to preach when I was 16. And so, just step by step, the Lord has been faithful to lead and to guide.

EC: As a 16-year old and being a woman called to preach, did you ever question that?

Hudson: Yes, definitely. As a teenager in the 1980s, feeling this call to preach … one leader I talked to said, “You know, that’s great. But maybe you should find a nice pastor to marry. You’ll make a good pastor’s wife.” That was devastating. I was kind of a shy teenager and not really outgoing and didn’t think that I could really do it. And then to have a leader say, “Well, maybe you should just become a pastor’s wife,” was pretty discouraging. So through the years I feel like the Lord has really had to make it clear to me that it was His call to preach and to become ordained. But I praise the Lord for the people in my life who have been encouraging influences.

When I went to university, I knew I was called to be a missionary. So I continued to follow the call to missions. I’m a registered nurse. I felt that it was important to have a skill, especially not being accepted [as a preacher]. I felt … if I did have a skill [beyond ministry] that I could go to some country [and] it would help to open doors.

EC: So as a missionary, what have your roles and responsibilities been?

Hudson: As missionaries we don’t pastor churches. We understand our call to be more like the equipping of Ephesians chapter 4. We do preach, but more than that we want to be training preachers and evangelists and missionaries.

EC: Do you anticipate any challenges in being a D.S.?

Hudson: No more so than if I were a man. There will be challenges for sure! I’ve just received nothing but positive affirmation from the other pastors and the people in the churches. I feel like the people in the Romanian Nazarene churches respect me as their servant. I would like my time in ministry here to be one of servanthood and just leading in love and humility.

EC: As a woman in leadership, how do you fit in with the surrounding societies you’ve been ministering in?

Hudson: When we lived in Albania it was a lot different. It’s interesting because during the Communist years, men and women were treated equally. They all did military service; they could have university education; they were government officials.

But then after Communism, going back to some of their traditional religions having a big influence in Albanian society, women weren’t so encouraged to take places of leadership, especially in the religious sphere of things. We just really feel that that’s one reason why the Church of the Nazarene maybe was in Albania -- to be that voice. There are several young women in Albania, and I really feel like the Lord was able to use me to encourage them in their call to ministry. Praise the Lord for that!

EC: Are those women now in ministry?

Hudson: Actually two of them; we were at Albania’s district assembly just two weekends ago, and two of them received their district licenses. One just finished the Spiritual Formation Certificate at EuNC and is continuing on with her studies. So they’re continuing to follow the call that God has put on their life. Really exciting that we got to go back after a few years and see that they’re continuing and they’re faithful.

EC: What are some important milestones on the Romania District?

Hudson: In 2006, we had one of the young women ordained as a deacon on our district, Magdalena Balaban. She is right now the only ordained Romanian on our district, and she’s also the district secretary.

[Relu Cristurean also answered a call to preach and is currently leading in the Sighişoara church.] That was such an answer to prayer, and I think that’s one of the milestones of our district that God is continuing to call a new generation of ministers for Him. And the restart of the theological education program here in Romania, again that’s just amazing. We need that. We need to put all our efforts and energies into it.

EC: What is your vision for the future of the Romania District?

Hudson: Well, this year I feel like we need to really focus on the basics of what it means to be a healthy church – our mission is to make Christlike disciples. Our role here in Romania is to tell others about Jesus and to help them grow in their relationship with Him. And so that carries over into everything that we do in our local churches, any of the district things that we do – it’s all with this focus of telling others about the Lord and then helping people to grow as disciples in Him.

This article was republished in NCN News.