One year in Canada

Dear friends and family!

Greetings and blessings from Vancouver, Canada! Few weeks ago we have celebrated one year since we arrived in Vancouver. We are looking back with mixed feelings. It was difficult yet challenging, however the year passed and we all feel a little older.

We are all fine for the moment, we praise the Lord the besides some seasonal illnesses we are adjusting well and we feel like the most difficult part has already passed. We are still foreigners in a foreign place. This feeling is even more accentuated as we are still looking for a home church. In the pas period we have preferred to involve ourselves in the Romanian churches in Vancouver Mainland area but we gave up after few serious but painful experiences. We have witnessed difficult bitter situations and church divisions that have somehow convinced us to invest ourselves in a growing ministry. For the moment, I (George) am involved mainly in planting a new church in Maple Ridge, BC and only secondarily in Romanian congregations.

As regarding Lumjie and her family, the Albanians that we were writing about six months ago, they are living now very close to our place, in the same building complex. It is a joy to meet them time to time and speak Albanian. It helps them as they are now frequently going to church and also helps us, as we plan not to forget speaking Albanian.

Nicoleta is working now in a part-time job. From her small income, she is practically supporting the entire family’s living costs. All the children are fine, Timeea is now in the third grade and Joshua in the sixth grade. This summer we spend a lot of time trying to get them read and write in Romanian—we are trying to provide an Romanian parallel education as they are tempted to forget Romanian very easily. George jr. is also speaking a mixed Romanian, is quite funny to hear him...

My studies are going further as well. I am now in the second year at Regent and due to the fact that I have done a lot of classes in the spring semester I hope to be able to finish the Master degree a year earlier that we have planned. I am looking forward to start the new semester— it definitely won’t be easy as I will have a lot of speciality classes and the final comprehensive paper coming up.

What will happen next? The short answer is just that we do not know… yet. There is a comfort in the feeling that the future is God’s. I would probably love to continue studying, however, we pray that the Lord will open us a vision so that we will be able to understand what he wants us to do. I still have on my heart ministry toward Romanians and the call to the mission field. As time passes and we are tempted to worry as there are no final answers yet, but we remember that we need to daily lay our burden to Christ. We know that in God’s time he will provide a vision for us in such a manner that we will be able to invest ourselves in something worthy and valuable for His Kingdom.

Please pray with us:
1. That the Lord will continue to work in Romanian churches in Vancouver mainland besides the obvious difficulties and splits.
2. That the Lord will provide in His time a vision for our family for ministry.
3. That the Lord will continue to provide financial resources so that we will be able to support our living costs.
4. That the Lord will bless us all with strength and courage as we continue to work and study. We need His power and His grace.


With love in Christ,
George, Nicoleta, Joshua, Timeea and George-Philip
DUMITRASCU