More Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights

Dear Jennifer, Ryan, Peggy, Kelly, Jason, Carissa and Kimber:

Randy and I miss all of you so much this Christmas season. It is very difficult having to spend the holiday apart. The beautiful lights decorating the City of Galati help to brighten our spirits. We wanted to share the lights with you. We hope you enjoy the video clips of our drive through the city with some highlights of my favorite spots. I threw the singing in for free.

We wish you a “Craciun fericit si un An Nou cu multe bucurii!”
(Merry Christmas and a New Year with much joy)

Remember the reason for the season, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Love, Mom and Dad

Standing in Lines

On Mission With God In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

As our first year in the field comes to an end , I was reflecting on the past year’s activities and I came to the conclusion that standing in line is an honor. The last several months have been filled with the visa process. This is a confusing and time consuming activity that requires many hours of standing in line. Many times these are the same lines you were in yesterday.
I told our daughter that these lines remind me of the worst day at our local license bureau in Missouri. Every time you get to the front of the line the person at the counter tells you “you need something else”, but they never tell you all of what you will need, so you get to come back and they look very busy.
But now even with those memories very fresh (yesterday as I was writing this) I think of them knowing it is an honor. Teresa and I have been called into His service here in Eastern Europe, where long lines abound. Therefore it is an honor to stand in a line, because we are here on mission with God in CEE.
We are also honored by God’s people who pray for us and finance our being here. Without the support of our SBC churches through the cooperative program (CP) and the Lottie Moon Offerings, we could not be here now.
I want you to read part of a letter we received this week from a member of the International Mission Board (IMB). These are the people that decide where and how the money from the CP and Lottie Moon Offerings are spent. Here is that segment of the letter:

Two lessons stand out.
First, we learned that restricting missionary appointments is not a temporary move with temporary consequences. It takes a long time to regain lost ground — years. The seriousness of the decision to restrict appointments cannot be overstated. Every time a missionary is delayed, a witness among an unreached people group is delayed, new church starts are delayed, baptisms are delayed and salvations are delayed. For the sake of those dying without Christ, we cannot miss that lesson.
Second, we learned Southern Baptists respond to needs when they know about them. As reports of insufficient funding and delayed missionaries began to circulate among our churches, we witnessed an immediate and unprecedented response. Record gifts began to pour in from our churches. In one year’s time, gifts received through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering increased by more than 18 percent!
Why do I share these lessons with you? Because we are on the verge of repeating history. With a record number of missionaries depending on Southern Baptists for financial support and the ongoing worldwide financial crisis, the 2009 IMB budget is now under strain to support growth in our missionary force.
Paul Chitwood is pastor of First Baptist Church, Mt. Washington, Ky., and chairman of trustees for the International Mission Board.

Funding gets us here and takes care of us physically, but this is spiritual warfare and your prayers are our support!
Please pray for us as we are here and not at home this Christmas. Please pray that peace which passeth all understanding will come over us and we will be happy as well as joyful this year.
Please pray with your family, for us and our family, as you gather together this Christmas. We can only stay here as long as you give and pray.
Thank you for all your support, Just two sinners saved by grace, Randy & Teresa Myers

Bernice Holloway

Bernice Holloway
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Bernice Holloway went home for her reward this week.

I have known Bernice over 40 years. My first recollection of her was while she was working for the Neelyville school district as a cook. But I learned that she had known me all my life. Bernice and Frank were friends of my family long before I was born. They became close to me after I returned to Missouri after working in Texas for 3 years in the early 80’s. My daughter Peggy was preschool and “Mrs. Holloway” worked with her in Sunday School, they loved each other. That was over 20 years ago.
When some time would pass between our visits together she would always say “I thought you might have give up on us”, but I never did, nor did she.
In this pass year as Teresa and I prepared for the mission field we made our
last visit to Frank and Bernice. At that time she moved into her most
important role for my life as a Prayer Warrior for us. We depend on the
prayers of others to keep us on our mission. Words cannot express the true
meaning of someone praying for you. Teresa and I as well as the people here
in Galati who have heard the Good News about Jesus this year are eternally
grateful for her prayers. I pray that God will place someone in the gap she
has left in our prayer line. The loss of Bernice is not only personal but also
strategic to this mission. God hears the prayers of people like Bernice.

2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

A Great Idea

I found this on Pastor Jay's Blog.It is a great idea!
Copy and paste or type this address and then play the You Tube.It lasts about 3 minutes.
http://www.adventconspiracy.org/
I will try to get set up where you can have it right on this blog.

We work with a young man from the states named Justin. He wrote of an encounter he had in zone 9 last week. Please that time to read it and be Thankful that you know "The way,the truth and the life" John 14:6

Monday, November 17, 2008
Surprising Night....
Hello Everyone,

I would like to share with you an experience I had with an older Romanian woman tonight. Our groups were sharing Christ with people in Zone 9 of the city for a couple of hours. As people were passing by us we were handing out separate books of the Scriptures as studies for them to read. I encountered a lady who was orthodox and talked with her concerning her salvation. She was suspicious about what Bible we were preaching from. (This is because many of the orthodox priests have told the people that Baptists are a cult and do not read the same Scriptures as the Orthodox Christians.) So, I told her the main difference between Baptists and Orthodox was that we believe in Salvation by faith not by works. This distinguishes us (The Church) from many religions, not just Orthodoxy. I quoted Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." She was a bit surprised by this so I asked her immediately what she must do to receive salvation. She went on to tell me that she prays everyday for people and serves in her church. Once she had finished telling me all that she "did" for God she realized what she was saying . I went on to encourage her to read the Scriptures and to put her hope in the promise of God for all men through faith, not by her works. Then, something amazing happened...She reached in her purse and pulled out 10 Leu. (4 dollars) She told me she wanted to support me in this mission and wanted to know my name so her church could pray for me while I serve in the city. This woman makes about a tenth of what the normal salary is in the states, and she gave to God's work here. I wish that I would have asked what her name was, but things went by pretty quickly because of how cold it was. Please pray for this woman that lives in the southern part of the city. Please pray for her salvation and her family. This act of love encouraged me greatly and confirms in my spirit again what we are here to be doing.

As I search the Scriptures daily I find more and more how the Gospel "...is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes," (Romans 1:16) This power is not through my words or any man's but it is through the work of God Himself. I am reminded of Paul's words to the Corinthians, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." 1 Corinthians 2:2-5. I am afraid that some of us rely on the eloquence of men to bring about Salvation in someone's life and not in the power and sovereignty of God. I pray that the Church will continue to put it's trust in God's divine work in salvation and not in our resources and wisdom. Remember, the Gospel was meant to be foolishness to those who are perishing. (1 Corinthians 1:18) Thank you all again for your continued support as we work in the Harvest for our God, waiting for His return...

Love you all,

Justin

We are Back!

We are finally done going back and forth to Bucuresti! I hope we can get back to our mission now. I have copied parts of the news letter from the IMB for you who do not receive it to look over. We are in for some changes next year as well as changes for our teams. I hope to get focused on the prayer letters soon, but for now pray for our country, that God’s will be done.
P.S. it’s a Girl!! Bogdan & Paula’s new baby:



WorldView: Culture – No ‘flat’ superhighway to world evangelization
Location still matters. Despite the so-called “shrinking world,” fewer than 3 percent live in a country where they were not born. An even smaller minority have access to all the advantages of modern technology and travel. The rest are still tied to the cultures that spawned them. So why is the IMB moving away from dividing its missionaries by location or region and toward “global affinity groups” that focus on peoples sharing the same language, culture or ethnicity? Because “place” is a state of mind and heart as much as a physical location. The most powerful “place” is culture. And those who live somewhere else often hold the key to reaching those they left at home. The new global affinity groups will be designed so missionaries can more effectively engage unreached peoples regardless of their location.

IMB asks church mission teams to provide child protection measures
With sexual abuse among children a growing problem even in churches and ministry organizations, the IMB is requesting that short-term mission trip participants have training in child protection and go through a background screening process. For the screening, local churches can use a company they already have a relationship with or a company the IMB has contracted with to provide the services at discounted rates. Free training resources will be available from the IMB in January 2009.

Language School

Just a quick update. Teresa and I are in language school at this time. We travel back and forth to Bucuresti each week for class. We may be done by the end of the month but I do not have any of that information as of now. We would like you to pray for us as we go though this, as it is a very trying time. We will get back to our blog and prayer letters as soon as we can. Thank you for checking in on our blog. Randy