Hi Friends and Family,
We hope you are doing well! I usually use this space to update you on my parents and their work in Romania and Ukraine, but today I'm taking the opportunity to let you know what is coming up for our family - the 6 of us will be heading over to Romania this Christmas!
From mid-December until mid-January, our family will be taking time off of work and school to fly to Romania and help Mom and Dad in their ministry. We are very excited to be with them on that side of the ocean, as it has beeen exactly eight years since we went there together! The children were 7yrs, 5yrs, 3yrs, and 4mths old the last time we went, so now that they are older we are looking forward to making new memories. We are also continuing to pray that God will do a new thing in each of our children's hearts, and show them just how much God loves people all over the world.
While we are in Romania, we will be helping at one of the busiest times of the year for Dad and Mom. Every December, they do a few big shopping trips for items to put inside Christmas gift bags for children. Then we will help assemble the bags, firewood, and food.
Gathering with men, women, and children in many different villages is a highlight! It's amazing to gather with house churches there, as well as going out to share the gospel with those who haven't experienced Jesus' grace yet. What a privilege!
It's an amazing experience to pack up the vans and head out to deliver the Christmas gift bags, Romanian children's Bibles, food, and firewood to people who not only need to hear about Jesus, but to have their practical needs met. We are really looking forward to being part of this again!
Can we please ask for your prayers? We would appreciate prayers for our health and safety as we travel (a few of us have been quite sick lately), and peace and insight as we prepare songs and testimonies. We are asking our children to step way out of their comfort zones, not only in traveling far from home, but also in meeting lots of new people, not speaking the same language, and sharing Jesus love in new and different ways. If you could pray for courage for them (and us as parents too!) that would be a blessing!
The Lord has blessed us through a number of people who have made donations to help us get to Romania. We have faith that as the Lord asked us to go, He will provide all that we need! We are still praying in about $800 for our flights (Edited to add: We now have all that we need! Praise the Lord!), but we also want to be praying in donations for the Christmas gift bags and food hampers to give away. If you would like to make a donation to either of those things, you can get in touch through email (jenni.kroeker@gmail.com) or click the link below and designate "Christmas Bags, Food, Firewood" https://www.gatewaytohope.ca/support.html
We look forward to giving you an update on all that God does - may His kingdom come and will be done!
Love Jenni and Dawson, Emma, Isaac, Jeremiah, & Silas Kroeker