Welcome to the chronicles of our Romanian Mission Trip! Allow me to fill in a little of the backstory prior to launching into the details of our trip.
My wife, Ellen and I are passionate followers of Jesus Christ. Both of us have chosen to accept the free gift of salvation that God has given us through His son Jesus earlier in our lives. We met at Texas A&M University. We dated for two years, and during that time, were not honoring the Lord in most aspects of our lives. While we were still dating, Ellen & I became pregnant with Lauren. When we found this out, Ellen's parents and brother were getting ready to go on a short-term mission trip to Romania with Global Missions Fellowship (now e3 Partners - www.e3partners.org), led by GMF staff member & church planter, Sam Ingrassia. We decided not to tell her parents then, because we knew that they would scrap the trip. When they returned, we told them that we were going to have a baby and wanted to get married. Within 3 weeks, Ellen and her mother planned a beautiful wedding and saw God do some amazing things in the process...lots of things that were "too coincidental" to be coincidence...it was God all the way. We were married 12 years ago today (as of the date of this writing), on August 11th, 1995. Through it all we experienced God's grace very tangibly - not the least of which was through the birth of our precious daughter, Lauren, who was even born ON her due date (February 8th, 1996). Looking back, God was absolutely the Hero of our story and was recapturing our hearts...He revealed Himself to us little by little along the way. We give all the glory to Him and feel truly blessed!
Shortly after Ellen & I were married, her parents gave us a Christmas gift of a short-term mission trip - we could go wherever we'd like with Global Missions Fellowship (e3 Partners) and they would foot the bill, although they preferred that we try and go on a trip with Sam Ingrassia.
I thought it was absolutely the worst gift I had ever gotten.
I mean, we were newlyweds and broke, with a brand new baby. The cost for us to go was thousands of dollars that we could have used for SOOO many things! But...this is where we were. I went - begrudingly - with Ellen (and Sam!) to Londrina, Brazil. In short, God used that week to change my life and captivate me for good. I saw what a huge God we have and how much He loves me - and how important/necessary it is for me to depend on Him. He gave me a glimpse of His power and might and His relentless, loving pursuit of the human heart. Our lives have never been the same since! We have been on numerous short-term trips since, and all have been special and revealing in their own ways. Ellen and I looked forward to the time when we could take our children on trips like these and be a part of what God is doing, together as a family. By the grace of God, Lauren trusted Jesus as her Lord & Savior a few weeks prior to turning 4 years old. Our son, Dylan, has also made the choice to accept Jesus as Savior (He is now 6 years old).
FAST FORWARD - Lauren turned 11 this February. Ellen & I had been praying about the right time for Lauren to go on a short-term mission trip, and had decided that we would like for her to go prior to entering middle school...for a number of reasons. Most of all, we wanted Lauren to have the experience of serving Christ by fullfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) and also, to see what God might do with her/reveal to her as a result. We decided that we would again go with e3 Partners and we would go with our good friend Sam Ingrassia. I asked Ellen for permission to take Lauren by myself, so that we could have some highly concentrated and very meaningful, father/daughter time. She agreed, as long as I didn't let Lauren out of my sight, ever.
As Lauren and I prepared to go, Jack (Ellen's dad) got an email from Sam. It said,
So excited about Jason and Lauren (3rd generation!) going on the Romania
Amazing to think back Jack, that after you returned from Romania
Now Lauren is going to Romania
Blessings, Sam
When Jack shared this with me, I wept, and marvelled at all that God has done with Lauren, Dylan, Ellen and me since 1995. WOW. Really put this trip in perspective for me!!!
Lauren and I raised our support to go to Romania. We want to thank each and every one of you who contributed financially for us to be able to go to Romania in the name of Jesus. A great many more of you committed to pray for us and the various aspects of our trip. THANK YOU ALL!!! We feel truly blessed to have been a part of what God is doing in Romania.
As a result of your sacrificial giving, Jesus used Lauren and me personally to share the gospel with 41 people. TWENTY-ONE of whom chose to trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior!! Glory be to God!! Please join us in praying for the Lord to grow these new believers and to continue to pursue all of those who we talked to.
The purpose of our mission trip was to partner with existing Romanian churches to extend their reach into new "mission points" by going door to door in these new areas and telling people about the Good News of Jesus Christ, and how He desires to have a personal relationship . We did this a lot through the use of a neat little tool called the Evangecube (Check it out on the right hand side under "The Cube". Click on it!) which helps to tell the gospel story in an easy to understand, visual way.
The following is a daily journal of our journey. We have also uploaded pictures that help to put faces with names & dates that we discuss. We hope that you will enjoy reading about what God has done, in us and through us!
May our Lord Jesus Christ reveal Himself to you in brand new and exciting ways this year! Please let us know how we can pray for you now!
In His Strength,
Jason & Lauren
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