SPOTLIGHT ON MISSIONS: Bryan & Pam Risner • Romania

Family Update — The craziness has just continued for our family! We have traveled back and forth to Oradea and to Bucharest, the capital, several times. Our family continues to serve our ministry and community here.

Toodles, our family’s dog, has been severely sick for the last couple of weeks. First, she was bitten by a tick that gave her a parasite that attacked her red blood cells and killed most of them. Then she was diagnosed with Evan’s Autoimmune Disease and is currently being treated for kidney failure.

The kids have recently enjoyed doing some of the traditional things American seniors do, like a senior photoshoot. They loved (or at least the girls did) getting all dressed up and taking photos.

The new Oradea church plant met for the first time. Several families committed to joining our church plant; some have committed to praying about it. They also discussed names for the church and jobs to be filled. They will continue to plan at next month’s meeting.

Return Church and students from our local college met to talk and discuss plans with working with a local school. We are so thankful that our church here has the opportunity to work with a local literacy college to help tutor students in reading and writing. Our goal is to reach these college students with the gospel as we serve.

We are all enjoying the fullness of our homes as our ministry team continues to meet each Sunday. Our love for worshiping together as brothers and sisters in Christ grows weekly as we continue to get to know each of these families.

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal with our friends here in our home. Each year we host a Thanksgiving dinner with friends who are both believers and non-believers. There is always lots of laughter and storytelling. This year there were several young Romanian ladies and one young Ukrainian lady.

Santandrei (Roma/Gypsy) — The ministry in Santandrei is led by Lavi and Marius, but unfortunately, this ministry is “two steps forward and five steps back.” Marius goes from house to house visiting adults in each home, reading Scripture, praying over them and understanding their needs. Adults are the hardest to reach. Lavi works with the children weekly, performing Bible stories, skits and songs, which are the most popular with kids! She is, slowly but surely, influencing the children. Pray for the Roma children who are starting to feel more comfortable asking real questions. We pray this will build more of a relationship with Lavi and reach them on a deeper level. Pray that they will not lose their passion and continue to see progress in their ministry.

Brasov (Return Church) — This ministry is outgrowing our homes, which is exciting for us and our ministry. We love helping surrounding ministries with the church plant. We meet for Sunday services and biweekly for the ladies and men’s growth groups as we get to know these families on a deeper level.

Oradea (New Church Plant) — We continue to return monthly to Oradea for meetings with our new church plant. We enjoy inviting friends to join us and continue discussing possible names for the church and roles for the people committed. Our next vision meeting is on Dec. 22.

We praise the Lord for a new home in the Oradea area, “Return” church plant in Ghimbav is outgrowing in-home meetings, fellowship time with Return Church family, Carina (Roma ministry) is meeting weekly with Lavi, our language comprehension is growing, our prayer and financial partners, the opportunity to serve in Romania, the kids have been accepted into CBC and a wonderful meeting with the new church plant in Oradea.

We ask that you join us in prayer for the Santandrei Roma Ministry (1:1 Bible studies, vandalism issues, fence for property, children’s behavior and Carina’s walk with Christ), Brasov Ministry (college ministry with Roma community, weekly discipleship meetings, Sunday meeting location and evangelism opportunities), our transition (in January) to Oradea, our new ministry opportunity in Oradea, next meeting in Oradea on Dec. 22, kids’ scholarships for college and our language skills to increase. (risnersinromania@gmail.com / risnersinromania.com)