Dear Family and Friends,
It is hard to believe that we are only 6 months away from taking the trip across the Atlantic with no return tickets in our pockets. Our journey over the past 2.5 years has been filled with God’s grace, open doors, wise council and excitement concerning the way ahead. As God began to speak to us about this ministry in Romania, in the summer of 2011, we would have never imagined that we would actually be moving there full-time in the fall of 2014. But God has a way of doing that, of preparing the way long before one is available or ready to step into such calling. When you think of Abraham, Moses, Jonah, the disciples or the Apostle Paul. God began to work in their lives, opened unexpected doors and called them into ministries that He had been setting up long before they were aware. And that is the story of this ministry in Romania.
In the year 2000 a few people who had a heart and a connection to Romania, purchased a piece of property in the northern region of Romania for the purpose of starting a summer camp. They envisioned effective evangelism, discipleship and leadership development for the underprivileged, rural youth of Romania. However, since that time very little has been done to develop the camp both programmatically and structurally. 14 years later the camp property sits empty yearning with great potential for hearts and lives to be changed by the saving work of Jesus Christ.
Tanya and I had the privilege of traveling to Romania for the first time together in the summer of 2011, when we led a team of young people from Edmonton, Albert, to run VBS programs. That trip was my 5th time in Romania, but the first time with Tanya. I was excited to share that journey with my wife and I was also eager to see Tanya’s reaction to this ministry that was so close to my heart. I was expecting Tanya to fall in love with Romania, but I was not prepared for Tanya’s response. One night as we were debriefing the day, Tanya shared the call that she felt on our lives to move to Romania. Move to Romania!! I was prepared to have a great relationship with Romania, I was prepared to bring short-term teams to Romania, but I was not ready to MOVE to Romania. And yet, this conversation set in motion our transition to Romania. God began to work in my heart over the next year and today I look ahead with such anticipation and excitement for the ministry ahead.
Romania is a country that has had a difficult time recovering from the effects of communism and the dictatorship rule of Nicolae Ceausescu. The reality is that most people in the villages in Romania would make in a month what many in North America make in a day, Pastor’s in Romania over see 5-10 churches each and young people would seldom have the opportunities that most in North America are given. Children, youth and young adults in Romania rarely would experience youth pastors, Christian camping or leadership development. As we have witnessed this, our heart’s have been burdened by the fact that there is such a great need for youth development. For young people to hear about Jesus Christ and to grow as leaders in their churches, school, villages and communities. We have had the privilege of running Vacation Bible School’s in many of these villages. It has been so interesting to see the excitement, potential and response from the youth and young people in these villages. With no advertising, our team can show up into a village of 200 people and have 60 children (55 of which that would not attend church) arrive to hear about Jesus. And than have 80 arrive the next day! With this in mind, we think about the camp property and the fruit that can/will come from week long camps. Young people hearing about Jesus Christ and having a dramatic effect upon a country that has been defined by poverty and hardship.
And so the count is on … 6 months away from the big move. In the meantime, Tanya and I will be taking a team of 15-20 members from April 21-May 1st to Romania to take a look at the camp property. Many of these team members are skilled laborers and building developers and in partnership with that Camp board in Romania, we will develop building plans for the camp. We have hired a Camp Director in Romania that will work alongside Tanya and I in overseeing both the program and building development of the camp. We look forward to the summer of 2015 when we will have the exciting opportunity to open up the camp for the first time and invite hundreds of youth and young people out to hear about the gospel and we will get the great privilege of seeing lives dramatically changed by Jesus Christ! We realize that there is a lot of work to be accomplished prior to the summer of 2015. And so in the meantime Tanya and I have been busy fundraising, both personally and for the camp, and have created a Website www.rootsinromania.com with more information of how people can partner with the ministry. More and more we realize that this is not our ministry and that we are not alone in this. It is the Church together that partners to see lives changed, the kingdom advanced and Jesus proclaimed to the nations! We would love you to connect with us if you are interested in the work that is being done in the northern region of Romania!
God bless,
Paul & Tanya Gericke