Friday, May 2, 2014

Working and Waiting



If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him.  He is worth waiting for. - Charles Spurgeon

In this season of transition we are often asked when we are returning to Romania.  The answer is: as soon as possible!  We are keenly aware of people, places, and opportunities we are missing.  Some of our schedule for this year is dictated by training we need to complete before we return to Romania.  The biggest hurdle to our return is the financial support required before we will receive clearance to head back to Bucharest.  This season requires us both to work and to wait, which sounds much simpler than it actually is.  However, in the working and waiting we are seeing God's hand at work in fresh ways.

God is using our empty apartment...
A young unmarried couple started attending our teammates' Bible study when they were convicted through their exploration of God's Word.  When they decided to stop living together one of them needed a new place to live.  Enter our apartment...
We have an apartment in Bucharest where our books, clothes, wedding pictures, books, toys, and more books are stored in a bedroom, awaiting our return.  It is a two minute walk from the workplace of the young woman from Bible study.  This spring she moved in to our place to room with our new ReachGlobal teammate.  We are so thankful to have our apartment become a step of obedience to God for this young couple.
Isobel in front of our apartment building

God is caring for our family...

When we are in Romania the thing that sometimes tugs, sometimes yanks our hearts towards home is family.  Since our return to the US we have witnessed the steady decline in the health of Joshua's father.  He is in the hospital as I write and his situation changes daily. While, many days, we wish we were able to be back in Romania already, we are so thankful to be able to be with Joshua's family for this time.  In this season of waiting on God, it is encouraging to see some of the purpose in His timing


Joshua's father turning 85 last summer

God is working in our absence...
Meanwhile, in Romania, exciting things are taking place.  Our team is fighting human trafficking with a safe house for trafficked women.  Because of the impact of the first house, as well as Romanian laws about housing minors, a second safe house for younger victims of trafficking is being planned.
Bucharest is a bustling metropolis where you can find a mix of languages and cultures.  The most diverse area of the city is a market called Dragonul Rosu {Red Dragon}.  A prayer group has begun meeting weekly to pray for the spread of the Gospel among the community there.  When Muslim friends stop by to join in, the meeting becomes a Bible study.  We look forward to meeting and praying with them at our return.



Grace & Peace,
Joshua & Kara Dunckel
(and Noemi, Isobel & Anders, too!)

Moving Forward



Last year was a year of big changes for our family.  Anders' birth in September was one of the best changes you can get.  However, this year we are also enjoying another great change.  We are now officially missionaries serving with ReachGlobal instead of One Challenge.  We have good friends on the One Challenge team in Bucharest and look forward to seeing them when we return to Bucharest. However, as far as ministry fit is concerned, ReachGlobal is where we see God's place for us.  There are many benefits to this transition, and we'll list the biggest ones for you.

1. Ministry Focus.  With OC our ministry was headed more and more in the direction of MK (missionary kid) education.  While we are so very thankful for the staff at the Christian school and the ministry they have had to our children, we know the reason we came to Romania was not to work in the school, but to mobilize Romanian missionaries.

2. Healthy ministry.  ReachGlobal is committed to "healthy people living in healthy teams equipping healthy leaders in order to multiply healthy churches."  We have seen this playing out in their team culture on the field and already have seen its benefits for us personally.  The enemy does not want missionaries to survive, thrive, or be effective, so we need to be intentional about taking steps to be healthy and keep our ministry healthy.  It does not just happen.

3. Seasoned colleagues.  Our new team leaders are a couple who have been mentoring us over the last couple years.  They have been working in Romania for nearly 20 years and possess a wealth of experience and wisdom which we value highly.

A few facts about ReachGlobal...

  • ReachGlobal is the missions arm of the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America). 

  • They have been sending missionaries for about a hundred years.


  • Their ministry vision is to to impact 100 million people with the gospel over ten years.

  • ReachGlobal's ministry strategy is "Develop. Empower. Release."  This fits in well with missions mobilization as we develop Romanian believers who are interested in missions, empower with the tools needed for ministry, and release them into cross-cultural ministry.  We also want to develop a missions vision within the Romanian church, empower it to greater involvement in the Great Commission, and release it to do these things in a distinctly Romanian way.

With a new organization comes a new budget.  We are required to be at 100% of our monthly support before returning to Romania.  The next few months will be filled with personal and professional development as well as ministry partnership development.  Please pray with us for God to prepare churches and individuals to financially partner with us in this ministry.  We are praying that God would allow us to return to Romania this July. We have already seen Him moving in wonderful ways.

Grace & Peace,
Joshua & Kara Dunckel
(and Noemi, Isobel & Anders, too!)

Aaaaand, we're back! On the blog, that is.

Let's pretend we haven't neglected this space for the past two years, dust it off, and get a fresh start.  I'll start by posting our most recent prayer updates and plan to keep it current from there.