Howard Dews, one of the leaders of MBC’s Romania Support Group has just received this wonderful message from Florin Fodor who works for Campus Crusade and is a deacon at Manastur church in Cluj.
Dear Howard, 2020 brought a lot of uncertainty and stress in our lives and ministries, requiring many adaptations along the way. In a changing culture, we are grateful that God is the same Sovereign Lord, and He is never taken by surprise.
In the beginning of September, while we were planning our ministry projects for the Teachers’ ministry, we asked ourselves: How can we reach out to teachers and students during the Covid-19 pandemic?
That was when a thought crossed our minds: How about donating masks and sanitizers for the schools in Cluj county, Romania? It was just a small idea. But we immediately embraced it, as we realized it will meet the felt needs of the people we were considering reaching out to.
This small idea gave birth to a project through which:
– $7,000 have been raised
– 1,650 “Coronavirus survival kits” have been distributed to teachers and students
– 7 schools benefited from this project
– 3.000 people were exposed to our ministry project
– 10 Christian teachers stepped up in faith, reaching out to their nonbelieving colleagues and students.
On masks, we printed our name and logo, along with an encouragement (For teachers: Your work matters. For students: Keep Smiling).
The “coronavirus survival kits” contained: masks, sanitizer, and chocolate (for students); sanitizer, masks, pens, encouraging bookmarks, and chocolate (for teachers).
Reactions we got:
– Crina, teacher: The packages were very very appreciated. Now, a lot of people are asking me if I have more masks, because they really loved them.
– Maria, mother of a non-believing student: Your project is great. Can I have your bank account? I want to make a donation for this project.
– Teofil, Area Baptist Union president: I saw your post on FB. Can you add schools in our city to your project?
– Manuela, teacher: All my fellow teachers were very impressed with our project! One of them, who is not a Christian, even asked me if she can join our organization. I told her: Of course you can!
We are so glad we were able to make a small contribution to protect the health of students and teachers!
Please continue to pray for us. We are not able to do a face to face follow up after the project, as the schools are now closed in Romania, due to the pandemic. In the next period, much of our ministry will be moved online. We created a Facebook page and we are working on a website for the teachers’ ministry. Going online and offering professional and spiritual webinars to teachers and parents, are ways in which we adapt to the new context. They will also allow us to multiply and reach out to people living in other cities.
Need. Considering the financial needs we have at the end of this year, we want to finish well financially. As we will spend even more time online in the coming year, we see the need for a new laptop, that will serve us better in the new context. Also, despite the restrictions, we are planning to continue The Christmas Shoebox Project. Through this project, last year we gave 300 gifts to children from poor families. We trust the Lord to help us raise $4,500 for these needs. If this pandemic did not affect you financially and you are in a position to give, would you consider a one time gift, to cover part of the above amount? Thank you.
(You can donate online, using Cru secure site http://give.cru.org/2430189)
May God bless you! Merry Christmas! Florin and Dana Fodor