Titus 2 Men And Women to……Romania!!!
On November 4th Fred and Teddi Neevel will head up a missionary team
from Titus 2 Men And Women and leave the United States destined for Romania.
We have been formally invited to come and teach about abuse to state employees
(orphanage personnel, social workers, teachers, etc.) and to Christians.
Both groups are asking for information and teaching to help them know
how to help quell this national problem of abused and abandoned children.
As He promises in His Word God certainly has gone before us in this endeavor:
God has taken our initial willingness to go -if it was His perfect will--and
has made that willingness a reality. In unmistakable ways, God has perfectly
directed us every step of the way through the planning process. From acquiring
translators for our materials through a Russian Baptist Church in Chicago,
to finding a missions organization (who regularly plans missions trips
to Romania for large organizations) to help us acquire inexpensive airline
tickets…to receiving our first donation for the trip with a $1,000
check…"Jesus led us all the way!"
Please pray for us as we continue to pray and plan…and begin to
raise funds for this trip. The missionaries have asked us to bring books
written for abused children and other materials. The orphans and the missionaries
have many needs and we are praying for God to burden many hearts to help
us meet those needs. ALL money received will be used for this trip….none
will be used for salaries or any other expenses of Titus 2 Men and Women.
Because our Not For Profit status is pending we have provided a way that
all gifts can be tax-deductible: We will be working in cooperation with
International Friends -a registered not-for-profit organization:
All checks can be sent to:
Buckhorn Area Lions Club
20 Walton Mountain Lane
Hazard, Kentucky 41710
On the memo line please write: Titus 2-Romania
Below I have written the play by play story of how this missions trip
was born. I hope it may be a blessing to you.
On Thursday April 26th Felix, our Board President and web master, and
I had a discussion about the future of Titus 2 Men And Women. Our hearts
were burdened about this web ministry reaching outside of itself to others.
Out of a lengthy conversation came a joint burden for missions and abused
children.
About two hours later Teddi Neevel, Executive Board member, unaware of
the conversation between Felix and myself, sent me a note telling me about
meeting Sharon Gay Sanders, a medical missionary to Romania. She told
me in the note that Sharon works in the State orphanages and with street
orphans…and with another missionary couple, Brian and Tamyra Crossley.
The Crossley's have a foster home for orphans and desire to start orphan
homes in Romania. After I read the note and talked with Teddi and Felix,
we all knew that God had given us a burden and provided the recipients
for our burden--all in about five hours time (counting hours from the
time of the luncheon meeting of Sharon Sanders).
Many notes and letters traveled between us for a few a couple of weeks.
And then one day this question was written in the body of a note from
Sharon Gay Sanders:
"I will be happy to talk with you about the situation in Romania.
If anyone on with your organization could go to Romania and do some
work shops with the orphanages it would be great. Also the Child Protection
social workers could use some help with this also."
The rest of the letter explained that the workers had asked the missionaries
to teach them about abuse and how they could help the children. After
having talked to Teddi Neevel, Mrs. Sanders knew that we address the
issue on a daily basis. So they asked us to come and teach the state
workers--and in the churches too. Needless to say, we were all stunned.
After a season of prayer Titus 2 Men And Women typed our missionaries
and told them that we were willing to come IF God so chose to use our
willingness. Brian and Sharon Crossley, the missionaries wanting to start
orphan homes, and who are now operating one, answered our letter (the
Sanders are on furlough in the States):
"Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We would LOVE you to
come to Romania. I have talked to some people here and tried to find
out how we could arrange some classes, etc. for the orphanage workers,
etc. They need to know what you have in mind and how long the classes
would be, topics discussed etc. We could definitely use anything you
have but I would also love to share the information with people who
could make a difference in some children's lives. The general approach
here is to deny that any abuse goes on. Everyone knows it does but the
refuse to admit it and as a result nothing is done to change the situation
or help the children. We have seen with our own children (orphans) the
results of different types of abuse, acting out, etc. and they have
opened up and shared some things with us. In several cases the orphanage
was aware of the situation and when I asked denied that anything ever
happened. So much of what happens here is still from the dark ages."
I immediately went to work on gathering information and saw God lead
me in a very specific path as I did so. It has been an exciting marriage
of vision and recipient of that vision…an almost unbelievable adventure!
--Sharon
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