Peace Be Still

Mar 4:36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
Mar 4:37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
Mar 4:38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
Mar 4:39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Peace, be still...

We arrived on the mission field April 7, 2008 with many hopes, dreams and great expectations. God has been good, He has blessed and He has provided everything we have needed. I wish I could say we have accomplished all the goals we had set. There isn't enough of us or time to achieve the amount of work needed in this city to reach the lost and plant churches.

Much like the disciples, more than once we found ourselves in the proverbial small boat taking in water on the rough sea. Randy and I were definitely plunged into some rough sailing early on. Looking back I believe those were testing waters, like the refining fires the Bible talks about. In despair we called out "Lord Jesus, help us..do something...we're in trouble here!" He arose, said "Peace, be still" and there was a GREAT calm.

Peace, be still...

Randy and I came on the mission field with no set time frame of returning to the states. Our terms would last 3 years, we would be home a few months, turn around and come back to Romania. The world wide economic crisis has left no one untouched. Unfortunately it has greatly impacted the missionaries serving in foreign countries.
The major support for us to remain on the field comes from the Lottie Moon Christmas offering collected in Southern Baptist Churches, the offering has dropped to a devastating low. Thousands of missionaries are being forced to leave the field with no option to return, there's no money. We are in that number. February, 2011 when our term ends, we will not be returning to the mission field. This news was a hard blow for us. We gave up everything we owned to "go". We are glad we did, we have no regrets. There is a blessing in being obeident when God calls you. It will be very difficult to leave Romania. We have formed friendships with the Nationals here that will last a lifetime. Romania will have been our home for 3 years when our term ends. The Romania people are precious to Jesus, he died on the cross for them, so few of them understand that concept. So, we've been back in that little boat again...and He said "Peace, be still."

God has given us a new Mission field. We will return to Kansas City, Missouri where 2 of our children and a precious grand baby live. There's much work to do there also.
We will serve the Lord with joy in Kansas City and cherish always the memories of Romania.