SPOTLIGHT ON MISSIONS: Candra Barnett • Romania
What a summer it has been! I’m overjoyed to update you on our jam-packed summer, and all the Lord has been doing — and he’s been doing amazing things!
Beginning our summer was an amazing team of college students from Antioch Baptist Church in Conway who came to help us put on Vacation Bible School at Agape, Santandrei and surrounding villages! They were a huge help to us. We had over 60 kids at VBS at Agape, many of whom were new to our church. This was a fantastic opportunity for people from our neighborhood to meet our church. This team also did a youth night for all of our teenagers and helped us do a graduation ceremony for the Risner kids. We kept them very busy, and they blessed us immensely!
Next, we had a VSM (Volunteer Student Missions) team come to serve with us. They helped us put on an English Camp at Agape, as well as more VBSs in other areas. English camp was brand new for me, and though I was nervous, it went very well. We invited people of all ages and had over 70 in attendance. This was huge for us and, once again, we had the opportunity to meet and build relationships with people in our neighborhood! We invited all the kids to bring their families to church on Sunday, where they would sing some of the songs they learned. They did, and we had several new families in the church that Sunday! This team also led a special youth night, and several of our teenagers came to know Christ!
In the midst of this busy summer, I also had some dear guests! My friend from Ukraine, Luba and her two kids, Adrian and Angelina stayed with me for three weeks in July to rest and recover from a traumatic year. I met these friends in Brasov while we worked at the refugee camp. Since they returned to Ukraine, we have kept in close touch. The Risners and I were excited to offer them a chance to rest and enjoy some peace with us in Romania before the kids had to go back to school. Please pray for this sweet family. They will continue to live in Ukraine for as long as they can so they can all be together as a family.
August, as always, means church camp at Baba Novac! Once again, we brought together teenagers from throughout Romania for a wonderful camp. Bryan taught on evangelism throughout the week, training the teenagers to be able to share Christ with their friends. I taught the worker’s kids, a group of eight wonderful kiddos. We learned about Jesus’ last week on earth and focused heavily on the gospel. Three of these kids came to know Christ throughout the week, as well as many teenagers! God blessed this camp in amazing ways, and we are so thankful for it. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9 NIV).
Prayers
• The Risners returned from furlough Oct. 9 without their three kiddos. Please pray for all our hearts during this transition.
• For many who are on the fence to fully commit to Agape.
• Ceila, a non-believer who has been attending Agape regularly, and her parents. Please pray for her and her parents to be saved!
• For our upcoming Thanksgiving Sunday, that many non-believers will be present and hear the gospel!
• That God will bless Return Church plant (Brasov) and our gypsy ministry (Santandrei).
• That God will help the kids of Agape church to grow in wisdom and grace!
Praises
• We have baptized three this summer at Agape and have three more currently in our baptism class!
• Many of our teenagers and older kids were saved this summer.
• For the teams who came to help us this summer.
• For two amazing interns, Hannah and Lydia, who spent the summer with us. They served in a million ways and blessed us tremendously!
• We graduated Lindsey, Melody and Landon. God has been so good to us as we have taught these three through high school, and we all survived!
• We recently finished our overview of the Bible in our kids classes at Agape!
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