From July 19-22, 2021 we were able to have a youth camp. With God’s grace, we were able to take 15 youth. Due to previous English lessons through Zoom and in-person, we knew each one of them. For 6 of them, they had never been to any spiritual event with an evangelical church before. In fact, for 4 of these 6, they actually would proclaim themselves as being either agnostic or atheist.

 Originally, when we (Cornel and Rachel) talked about having the camp this year, we thought about having it be an English camp. Rachel was still able to teach English this year, however we really felt like it was necessary to have deep spiritual conversations with these youth. Each day at camp was a direct topic taken from Galatians 5:22-23. We focused on goodness, faithfulness, self-control and love. In each of these days, we were able to take the topic and share the Gospel through it. The typical day in camp had English, Bible Study, worship, some sort of outing and free time to build relationships with one another and Hope Church leaders.

God really opened the eyes of the youth to see that religion is more than a word that defines your cultural identity. (Many Romanian youth say that they are Orthodox, because they are Romanian, but in fact they don’t practice any Orthodox traditions or even go to Orthodox church). We think that each one of them really began to question what their faith looks like and who or what their faith is in.

One of the most encouraging things from camp was that a girl, by the name of Celia, accepted Christ as her Savior! We didn’t know this until after camp, but she has already told us that she feels a deeper peace that she has never had up until now. She is even reading the Bible she received in camp every single day! 

Even though Celia was the only that we know of who made her decision to follow Christ, we fully trust and believe that God was stirring in the hearts of all of these 12-16 year olds. We don’t always know what He is doing, but He promises it that it is good. Thank you everyone who is praying for these youth. God is working through your prayers and even though it may seem slow, the youth are starting to become more sensitive to the things of God. 

May God bless each and every one of you!

March is a month, where things start to come to life. Buds start sprouting, and  spring flowers start to appear, making you feel like their perfume brings you joy. It seems as if everything is reborn and that this brings us much more energy; it wakes us up from the numbness of winter.  This month, we also had a few special events that I desire to tell you about.      

On March 8th (Mother’s Day in Romania), we bought flowers and took them to the mothers of those who come to our English club. We used this opportunity to get to know the youth’s parents better. We rejoice that through this opportunity, we were able to spend time with Laura’s parents, where we stayed 2 hours encouraging her family. Rachel spoke with her grandmother, while I spent time with her father and brother. After Laura, we went to Florin’s, so that we could also give his mother a flower. (Even though his parents are a little more strict, they still received us in their home.) His parents felt free to open to share with us their family problems, as well as their health problems. They shared with us what Florin went through before being adopted and how things are now.  We felt very encouraged, because we were able to create deeper relationships with these families.

One of the youth (Florentin is his name) that comes to English, and one of the boys that Cornel does discipleship with, had his birthday recently. He lives only with his mother, because his parents are divorced. His mother, the only person who works and takes care of him, pays rents for a small apartment and they do not have a good financial situation. For this reason, we decided to organize his birthday party. He was so happy when we told him that we wanted to have a birthday party for him at our house. We told him that we would organize the event and all that he had to do, was to invite some friends. When we told his mother that we would like to have a birthday party for him,  she started to cry and she thanked us. She told us that this is the first time that she wasn’t able to organize his birthday party, due to Florentin’s grandmother being sick and confined to a bed and that needed to take care of her. 

Together with 5 youth that come to English (and church), we started to study the Bible this year. Here we learn about the books of othe Bible and it is an easy way to understand the Bible better. They have said that they want to start reading the Bible, therefore we said that we would help them by creating a Bible reading plan, so that they could read something every day. We created a Bible reading plan for 3 months for each of these 5 youth, having them read 1 chapter a day. It is such an encouragement for us to see how 12-14 year olds want to read the Bible and desire to search for God all the more, let alone in the context that neither youth or adults don’t really read books anymore. 

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for the mothers of our youth who received flowers and the Lord Jesus would bless all the mothers.
• Please pray for the parents of those that we invest in to open their hearts even more, so that they can know Jesus as their personal Savior.
• Please pray for Florentin and his mother that the Lord would protect them.
• Please pray for the youth that have decided to read the Bible and that what they read would have an impact on their lives!

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”   – Matthew 1:21     

First of all, we want to encourage you with this verse that you saw above. Due to the fact that Jesus came into such a sinful world, giving us a chance at eternal life, we desire to tell the world about what He has done while we live on this earth. To us, the word “world” refers to the youth in Craiova and their families.  

Being that the majority of the youth that come to our English and church programs come from Orthodox families, they have never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel until this fall. Some of the youth that come to English even want to attend church, but their parents do not allow them to do so. In general, in this area of Southern Romania, people are very cold to the Church. Many of them say that they were born Orthodox and that they will never leave this “religion,” because of this, they will not allow their children to go to an evangelical church or to hear about a personal relationship with Christ.

This is the story of a boy named Florin. This boy, at the age of 7 months was abandoned in the hospital by his birth parents, because of some health problems with his lungs. For 11 years, he lived in 3 different group homes. At the age of 12 (2 years ago), he was legally adopted by his godmother and her husband. During the time that he was at the group homes, he attended a private Christian school in Craiova and still goes to school there. At school, he learns about the love of God and even tells his parents that having a relationship with Christ, does not mean that you have to be a part of a certain religion or denomination. This boy also told us that one day, he wants to become a missionary, because he wants to talk about the goodness of God with those who do not know Him, also known as those who are lost.      

We are so thankful that the Lord allowed us to buy gifts for every youth that comes to our programs. Together with a brother and a group of Christian youth from Sibiu (Northern Romania), we were able to visit every youth’s family, sing Christian carols and share the Gospel with the families. Florin’s parents were very open and desire to talk more about the love of God and other spiritual things with us. This brother will come back to Craiova in January and wants us to visit each family that responded positively to the evangelism.

We know that 2020 was a year full of many surprises, but we can also see how God was near to us and to those who love Him. We hope and pray that your holidays will be full of happiness near to your loved ones, but all the more close to Jesus!

“So let hope rise, and darkness tremble in Your holy light – that every eye will see, Jesus our God, great and mighty to be praised.” These words are a few lyrics from the song “With Everything” by Hillsong United. God is great and how beautiful is the image that this song reveals to us. It shows us that everything will one day bow down before Him, if it hasn’t yet.

It is an honor to be in God’s ministry. The youth in Craiova are hearing about the love of Christ and we are encouraged that every week, we have at least one new teenager at our activities, programs or church meetings. However, we also know that God cares about the individual and this is what matters to us also. The more we spend time with each adolescent or teenager one-on-one, we can begin to see how God formed them and what gifts He put into each of them. One boy, Liviu, has a huge servant heart and at the end of every meeting, he helps us clean up. A girl, Andreea, helps those at English who are struggling to understand English better. She also has the gift of patience. Another girl, Ana, has the gift of wisdom. For each youth that we are investing in, it is so beautiful to observe how Our Maker created each one.

Cornel has started to invest in a boy named Florentin. Florentin attended the English camp that took place at the Black Sea. Out of all of the youth, he was the most timid. He was afraid of entering into the water, because he didn’t know how to swim. But by the end of the week, the boy didn’t want to leave the water to go home! After we got home, Cornel invited him to English class and continued to maintain a relationship with him. After a month, he started to open up more and said that he wanted to come to church. Now, he is always present at all of our activities. His mother has even commented that he is allowed to go wherever he wants with Cornel, because she knows he is safe.

God is responding to our prayers, as well as yours. While we were still in the US, our hearts were burdened for the youth of Craiova. Many nights, God woke us up at 3 o’clock in the morning to pray for the youth from Craiova that they would come to Christ in repentance. The best way we can explain this is as if we were “synced” to and with them. Even though life in ministry isn’t always one of comfort, it is one that brings us much joy!

Please pray for:

• Us to have wisdom in equipping the youth in their gifts
• The youth that come to our programs that don’t know Christ yet.
• Full personal and ministry support
• Continued health and strength, as we continue to serve God during the pandemic
  

Thank you so much for your partnership with us and your involvement in the Kingdom of God! Many blessings to you and yours!

A friend wrote us this to us the other day, “There is a mountain before you, but God has created a tunnel through the mountain for you, in order to get to the other side.” When she said this to us, we were shocked because it was right on. Leading up to this, we were so overwhelmed with the reality that so few youth in Craiova, a city with 80,000 youth, do not know Christ personally. How were we supposed to reach this generation for Christ?

We are so thankful that God gave us the idea of having an English camp at the Black Sea. We wanted to invite youth that had never been to the Black Sea before. Due to the pandemic, we didn’t know if any youth would come, but God made it happen! We were able to invite 9 youth from a Craiova middle school, all due to a relationship that one of our missionaries has been cultivating over the last couple years. The camp took place the first week of September and together, we were able to teach them basic English grammar 1 hour each day with games and activities. While it was mainly a camp for helping their social needs, some of the youth were able to understand more about who Jesus was. From the 9 youth, 6 of them are still in contact with us.

As a continuation of English at the Black Sea, we decided that it would be best to continue teaching English on a weekly basis. This is what we are doing every Saturday evening. On average, there are 7 youth coming on a regular basis, and they are even inviting their friends to come to the lessons, as well. We are encouraged to see that God is using English as a way of meeting youth and investing socially in them. We have also been having socialization events. This means game and movie nights, handmade workshops, and outings. We have met more youth and we desire to meet as many youth as possible. These socialization events have allowed for us to share about church and up until now, 4 new youth have been coming to church on a regular basis. Actually, one of the girls from English camp, Laura, has been coming to church for almost a month now. In the middle of September, Laura realized that she was living a life without Christ in her life and accepted the Lord as her Savior.

All we can say is that The Lord has such a mighty plan for the youth in Craiova! Yes, we have seen how God has shed light on how to reach the youth in Craiova…and it starts with English and fun nights of socialization!

If you would like to be involved in what God is doing here through Hope Church and us, these are ways that you can partner with us!

1. Prayer – please pray for us, our youth leadership team, as well as the youth by name.
2. Encouragement/Mentorship – we are looking for people to encourage us and mentor us, as we work with non-Christian youth.
3. Advocacy – promoting us and our ministry
4. Short-Term trips – when able, come join us in ministry for a week or two.
5. Financial Support – support us or youth ministry monthly with the sum that God puts on your heart!

God’s blessings to all of you!

Cornel Mich

Hello dear friends and partners in Christ!

We hope this newsletter finds you well and healthy having overflowing joy in the Lord! Who knew that the COVID19 pandemic would last so long and affect so much?! But still….we serve a God who is higher than all of this! Praise be to God that we belong to Him and that HE takes care of us! We are reminded by this in Isaiah 55:9, which states “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” While we are so little in comparison to God, we are so blessed that He has chosen to use us in sharing the Gospel to youth in Craiova.

While you haven’t heard much from us in the recent while, we are still active in full-time ministry. Last November we planned a trip to the US that we were hoping would only be 6 months long. Due to COVID, we ended up staying until the middle of July of this year. While we did not want to stay in the US that long, we now know that God had us arrive in Romania at the time designated by Him. We stayed in isolation for the mandatory 2 weeks, but come day 15, we were out and ready to start ministry once again. It has been really awesome to meet up once again with the ministry team here in Craiova, as well as with the youth that we are discipling or those that we want to disciple.

Cornel has been involved in discipling Ionatan, one of the missionary couple’s sons. He has been investing in him by spending time with him, whether it be simply hanging out or playing basketball with him. At the end of August, Cornel was also involved in a relationship building event put on by Youth with a Mission here in Craiova (TPM in Romanian). Together, male missionaries with Hope Church and YWAM hosted an event, where 60 teenage boys participated. The event was a FIFA gaming tournament. Praise God for this opportunity for the missionaries to meet new boys from Craiova.  

While we were in the US, Rachel taught English to youth through Zoom and we have had the opportunity to meet up with some of them. They are so open to discussion about religion and their family lives. You can tell that they are in search of someone to pour into their lives and we are so thankful that The Lord is using us to be these people to them. Also, God opened up an opportunity for Rachel to invest in a girl who grew up in the Midwest. Her name is Diana. She offered the girl an opportunity to read the Bible together and through this, Diana gave her life to Christ. She has also stated that she feels the need to be baptized. As of right now, her baptism should be taking place in September. Rachel does a weekly Bible study with her.

Together, we have had fun ministering with and to the local youth ministry team. As the coordinators of the youth ministry here in Craiova, we really feel a leading to pour into these leaders, spiritually, emotionally, physically and socially. We are excited for what God has for us as a team and we believe that God has a lot in store for the youth here in Craiova.

Please join us in prayer for the following things:

1. For our disciples to be an example of Christ’s love to those to encounter on a daily basis (their families, peers at school, friends, teachers, etc)
2. For opportunities and the words in sharing the Gospel with youth
3. For us, as a couple, to be the hands and feet of Christ
4. For our youth ministry team to grow and to encounter Jesus in our personal lives, but also sharing Christ with one another.

Thank you so much for your partnership and we will continue praying that God will bless you wherever you find yourselves!

-Cornel and Rachel Mich-