SPOTLIGHT ON MISSIONS: Candra Barnett • Romania

Have you ever heard the Starfish Story? It goes something like this:

One day, an old man was walking along the beach in the early morning and noticed the tide had washed thousands of starfish up onto the shore. Ahead, he spotted a boy gathering up the starfish, then tossing them back into the ocean one by one. He approached the boy and asked why he spent so much energy doing what seemed to be a waste of time. The boy replied, “The starfish cannot live if left out in the sun.”

Then the old man gazed out as far as he could see and responded, “But there must be thousands of miles of beaches and countless starfish. You can’t possibly rescue all of them. What difference is throwing back a few going to make anyway?” The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it into the ocean as far as he could. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

Sometimes ministry is overwhelming and hard. It’s been a particularly hard season for us. But what we do matters to the few lives we touch. So here are the stories of this summer’s starfish — it mattered to them!

• Agape’s women’s meeting was a huge success! In March, we celebrated International Women’s Day with a big outreach event at Agape Church. We asked each of our ladies to invite a non-believing friend and had a really good turnout. Over 40 ladies attended, and many approached us to tell us how it impacted them!

On the way to our cabin, we stopped for a picnic and were thrilled with the sheep that came down to meet us!

In April, Bryan, Pam (Risner) and I took a short getaway trip into the mountains to pray, plan and strategize together over the future of Agape and how we would transition out of this ministry. Every missionary’s job is actually to work themselves out of a job, and we want to do it well!

In June, God fulfilled some of our wildest dreams, and we got to take Romanians with us on a mission trip to Zambia, Africa! Our dear friends, Marius and Adina Porumb (Marius was Bryan’s translator in Santandrei), answered God’s call to a short-term trip to Africa. We got to serve with the Quillmans in putting on a VBS program in the village. Adina led the games, and Marius preached and helped install a water container at the school. I could write an entire newsletter just on that trip, but I’ll leave it with this — God moved and used Romanians, Zambians and Americans all for His glory during an amazing week!

In July, we had a team from Grace Baptist Church in Russellville join us for English camp and VBS. We did English camp at Agape and had 70-95 kids each day, a record turnout at Agape Church! Then we did VBS in several villages, both with gypsies and Romanians. This team was a huge encouragement to us, and we were so thankful for their visit!

Please be praying for us as we seek the Lord’s will on the next area of ministry He has for us. We have taken Agape as far as we can and are seeking where God would use us next. We are exploring several options for our next church plant, and are excited to see what the Lord has planned.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin” (Luke 15:8-9 NIV).

Prayers

• For healing and clarity as we enter a new season of ministry;

• For our hearts as the Risner kids have gone back to Arkansas for college;

• My neighbor, Monica, whose husband committed suicide and is a nonbeliever, may I continue to have opportunities to share with her;

• For God to show us what ministry He has next for us to do;

• For our upcoming camping trip with the teens from our discipleship group, may God bless our time;

• That God will bless Return Church plant (Brasov) and our gypsy ministry (Santandrei); and

• For my friend, Kinga, who I am discipling, may the Lord bring her clarity and a stronger faith.

Praises

• The Grace Baptist Church, Russellville team was such an encouragement to us in their trip;

• English camp had a wonderful turnout, may these connections grow the kingdom;

• New friendships being developed this summer — God has sent some really sweet friends in our lives at just the right time;

• Romanians in Africa — It was such a joy to watch Marius and Adina serve in Africa; and

• We have also had the opportunity to help Marius and Adina in Tetchea, a small village near us where Marius has recently become the pastor — it is such a blessing for this BMA church to have a pastor again! And especially that that pastor is our very good friend Marius!

Thank you for reading and praying. If you would like to learn more, you can do so at my blog Candra in Romania. If the Lord leads you to give to this ministry, you can do so by visiting candrainromania.wordpress.com/become-a-partner. God Bless!