Finland
(May 6th - 14th) Helsinki, Finland
What an inspiring and encouraging time! Our first stop in Europe was the SM Europe Regional Conference in Helsinki. The city and climate were all too new for us and we had a blast exploring the cold start of the summer :)
The team did a great job organizing the venue and schedule. About 70 participants from 17 countries gathered at a Lutheran camp to reflect on the challenges and opportunities in building a movement and mobilizing new generations.
We had the privilege to share on the main plenaries on Youth Mobilization. As a result of we received good feedback on the content we have worked on for the YM Workshop and it also opened many doors to visit other countries and help teams develop their YM movement.
An article with highlights was published on the SMI website.
Spain
(May 14th - June 12th)
After Finland, we headed to Spain where we spent 2 days in Madrid with Colin and Jill Bakon from Australia, now based in Spain. It was great to catch up even though it was a short stop. They have done an amazing job translating TUSFY into Spanish and it’s now one of the first translations to be ready!
After Madrid, we met with Geof and Marion and went to Pamplona where Caleb’s cousins (Elias and Denise) hosted us for a few weeks. What a blessing it was for us to have this house to stay in, we were able to rest a little, work on finalizing some projects and enjoy fellowship and family time.
Elias and Denise are expecting their first daughter this September and we encourage you to pray for them. Hosting missionaries is part of their calling and desire to serve God and we are so thankful for their lives.
Sweden
(June 12th - 25th)
In June we went to Boras to meet with Mika (the European Coordinator) and his family. Mika organized for the first TUSFY in Swedish to be conduced in one of the largest conferences of the Pentecostal movement in Sweden. More than 10k people are involved in the Nyhem camp between June 14th and 23rd, and we had over 60 young people come to our elective sessions.
This event has been taking place for over 100 years and represents the greatest evangelical force in the country. We met several people, gave two interviews (for the local radio and newspaper) and participated in much of the official program. We were impressed with the infrastructure and organization as well as how its family centered.
On Sunday Caleb had the privilege of sharing in Mika’s church and we had a great time with a few Kairos facilitators.
Romania
(July 5th - 20th)
In July we flew to Romania for an intensive road trip and TUSFY courses in Romanian (for the first time!). We started in Oradea, then Cluj-Napoca and finally Sibiu. Adi Bratosin and his family welcomed us in a lovely way and we also enjoyed getting to know them better.
We had the opportunity of having 90% of the participants from Generation Alpha which really reinforces the need to mobilize their generation as the young people of today!
Romania is going through a different season as they welcome more and more immigrants and refugees to the country, and we were blessed to be able to start meaningful conversations with these teenagers about how we can live a more intentional and fruitful life on Mission with God.
We are looking forward for the next time! At the end of our time, Adi drove with us for almost 10 hours (with stops) as we headed to Bulgaria.
Bulgaria
(July 20th - 28th)
And then, ending our time in the Schengen Area on a high note, or as we say in Portuguese “with a golden key”, we spent our last week with Simeon Krastev and his family as we launched TUSFY in Bulgarian on the New Wave camp (Assemblies of God movement).
Matey Krastev, Simeon’s son, did a fantastic job translating the materials and we were so happy to train him to be a facilitator as he continues to lead the youth on his church.
Caleb was also invited to preach at their church twice, and we are so thankful for this opportunity.
Prayer Focus
For Vivian's health and growth. For her adaptation to all the traveling and itinerant ministry lifestyle.
For financial resources and our partners, that God will continue to bless them in their generosity.
For the 200 USD we need to dub TUSFY videos in Portuguese. This is an urgent need as the project needs to finish by the end of August.
Pray for our next trip to Mozambique (August 29th - September 30th). This will be an important and strategic month as we visit Claire, introduce the course in Portuguese for the young people and also help the NCT with training. We still need 1.000 USD to cover the traveling.
