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August/September 2009--From Romania!

He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Romans 4:20-22

Dear Praying Friends and Ministry Partners,

The faith of Abraham is recorded here as well as in James 2 and Hebrews 11, so we know this is especially important to us. There were many times when Abraham could have felt forgotten and given up, but he did not. Like Abraham, we can count on the Lord to keep His promises as we depend on Him.

Greetings from Romania! It is hard to believe we are sending our first prayer letter from Romania. We arrived on September 9, and we have started to settle in. We have much to share in a short space, but before we do, we want to thank each one of you who have been following us in prayer and through financial support during our deputation. Some joined with us at the very beginning. Some we have only recently met. And some we may not have personally met, but you all are important to us. May God bless you for your faithfulness.

Final Meetings
In our June/July letter we had asked you to pray for us to reach full support by the end of July so we could leave by September 1. God answered those specific requests. Several individuals and three churches joined with us in July bringing us to full support: Galilean Baptist Church in Pinckney, MI, Bethany Baptist Church in West Chester, OH (our hometown), and Mt. Tabor Baptist Church in Beckley, WV.

Our final ministry presentation took place on July 26 at Grape Creek Baptist Church in Danville, IL. In August we were invited to be the missionary guests for VBS at Lima Baptist Temple. The children gave throughout the week for Celeste and Amber's language study. We are also grateful to the children at Bethany Baptist Church in West Chester that gave a special offering for that purpose.

Ordination and Commissioning
August 2nd was a special day as Amber was baptized in the morning service, and in the evening Dave's ordination and our commissioning took place. Both our families were able to be with us as well as our field administrator, Vernon Rosenau, and his wife, Jan, and Steve and Judy Fulks from Baptist Mid-Missions. Vernon and Steve were instrumental in guiding us toward full-time ministry, so it meant a lot to have them participate in the ordination and commissioning service.


Vernon and Jan Rosenau, Our Family, Steve and Judy Fulks (L to R)

Departure Preparations
During that same time we spent nearly two weeks packing our personal items to ship to Romania. It was exhausting as we had to finally decide item-by-item and room-by-room what to ship, take with us, sell, give away, or store.

God allowed us to sell all of our big furniture and lawn equipment, which was a huge blessing. Each of the buyers accommodated us, so we were able to use most of them until our departure. Our neighbors also planned a garage sale on Labor Day weekend and we decided to participate at the last minute. We are glad we did as we had a great response.

Although we had planned to leave on September 1, we decided to leave a week later because we were not sure whether Dave would need to apply for a student visa to take language classes at the university before leaving the US. Eventually we learned it would not be necessary, but that extra week was a huge help.

The airline tickets we purchased allowed us to have three checked bags for each of us, and we took full advantage of it. Thank you to everyone who donated suitcases! The last few days at home were as stressful as preparing for our shipment with packing, furniture being picked up, and saying last goodbyes to friends. Looking back we wish we had built in a little more time for saying goodbye.

Our Trip to Romania
Our journey to Romania began in Cincinnati. We were sent off by the pastors, staff, and friends from Tri-County Baptist as well as Dave's parents. Dave's parents were also able to go to the gate with us and watch us board our flight for Chicago. In Chicago we had a three hour layover, so we had time to meet Ruth's parents and say goodbye. Our flights were very smooth, and we did not experience any delays or difficulties with our luggage.


Checking the luggage, and a special time of prayer for our trip.
We were greeted at the airport by our teammates, Luke and Kim Warner and Nathan and Amy Freel. They helped transport us and our luggage to our temporary home with the Warners, and we all spent the evening at the Freel's home. Celeste and Amber instantly made friends with Wyatt and Elliott Freel.

TheWarners, The Freels, and us in our new apartment in Romania.

New Addresses
Field Address:     U.S. Address:
Str. Virgil Madgearu     6614 Southampton Ln.
Nr. 6/A Parter, Ap. 1     West Chester, OH 45069
Timisoara, 300192
Romania

Thank you for your continued prayer for us,

Dave, Ruth, Celeste, and Amber

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Praises

  • Sale of our home and move completed
  • Safety traveling to Romania
  • Teammates who helped us find an apartment and get settled
  • Beautiful apartment near the center of Timisoara

Prayer Requests

  • For our language study and the girls' schooling
  • For a new church home while we are in Timisoara
  • For opportunities to make new friends and share the gospel
  • For the sale of our 2000 Impala in the states and the purchase of a vehicle in Romania

Home Sale

We have asked you to pray for several months for the sale of our home. In July and August we had numerous showings, which led to two offers, the second contingent on the sale of their home. There were some stressful times when we thought the first deal might not go through, but God helped us through the process, and we closed August 26 (less than two weeks before our departure). We also negotiated to stay in our home until we left, so we would not have to move twice.

Getting Settled

As you might imagine, setting up a new home in a new country where you do not speak or read the language can be challenging at times to say the least. We have been blessed to have the Warners and Freels available to answer questions and steer us in the right direction. The Warners also graciously opened their home to us during the first three weeks.

We were hoping to rent a house, but we would have had to sacrifice location, size, or furnishings. Since we are only planning to be in Timisoara for language study, we were looking for a place that was at least partially furnished with an area for the girls to play. God provided a roomy apartment with a garden outside and even a garage that will come in handy for storage. It is also within walking distance of most places we need to reach. And the price is within our budget.
Piata Victoriei and the beautiful Metropolitan Cathedral

Beginning Language Study

In our past several letters we had asked for prayer for a home school teacher to accompany us to Romania. The Lord has closed that door for now, but He has also provided a very qualified replacement—Kim Warner. God timed it so that Kim could finish her formal language study and immediately step in and begin assisting Ruth with home schooling while Ruth concentrates on learning Romanian. Kim has already started teaching the girls some basic Romanian.

We are all in the beginning stages of our language study. In our next letter we'll share more about our language training and some of our experiences thus far.

Ministry Downloads

The following information is available to download in Adobe PDF format:

Visit our web site at www.kimmelfamily.com.



 

U.S. Address: 6614 Southampton Ln., West Chester, OH 45069, www.kimmelfamily.com
Sending Church: Tri-County Baptist Church, 8195 Beckett Rd., West Chester OH 45069, 513.860.5100
Mission Agency: Baptist Mid-Missions, PO Box 308011, Cleveland, OH 44130, 440.826.3930

This list includes friends, family, BMM council members and staff who would like to stay up-to-date on the Kimmel's ministry to Romania.

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