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Romania Leads List of Mission Activities Update

BEDFORD, NH (March 25, 2005) - Bethany Covenant Church's Belinda Castor recently finished five years of service in Romania, where she ministered in the areas of rural health and evangelism.

Castor had originally learned about Romania while serving as part of short-term medical mission team through the church in 1995. She noted in a newsletter article that she became most passionate about child welfare/advocacy after working at an orphanage in Beius. She said that the orphanage increased its employees' hours to better care for children and added training elements and more stringent disciplinary programs. The orphanage also added service to toddlers and infants – before, it was primarily working with elementary children through those of college age.

"God used my gift of being a physician to bring me to Romania, but little did I know that He would strip me of that initial burden and open the doors for a new ministry in an area where I had absolutely no expertise," Castor stated in a recent newsletter article. "I started volunteering at Casa Iosif, a private children's home in Beius – initially I was mentoring and befriending the children. But as I started to see life through their eyes, seeing where they had been and what they were going through, God challenged me further to minister to their children, to serve them and to try and correct the wrongs that had happened to them."

Castor eventually began work for an evangelistic medical mission and she said the latter work taught her much spiritually, as did her involvement with the Vineyard Romania Church in Oradea. She taught Bible studies, mentored locals, helped develop a children's Sunday school program and preach on occasion.

"God used this church significantly in my life during the last four years in Romania as I learned to allow the Holy Spirit to have full control of my life," she said of her efforts in the church. Finally, Castor became part of a small foundation that included several social ministries to serve abandoned and handicapped children, the elderly, the ill, and the widowed.

Along with her other work, Castor became legal guardian for two children. Florin and Cristi arrived at the children's home she worked at in July 2000 and December 2001 respectively. By December 2002, both were under her care and she was able to adopt the children on January 29, 2004. Although she noted that there have been tough moments in transitioning her two children back to the United States, she says of her life-changing experience in Europe, "I know that God took me to Romania to mature me spiritually and now He has brought us back home for something special."

Castor is one of many Covenanters who have done or are doing mission work through their congregations. The following updates are gleaned from the more than 250 local church newsletters received each month by Covenant Communications, organized by conference and region.

EAST COAST

• Manchester, Connecticut: Trinity Covenant Church's Karen Tullson helped a mission team adjust and equip wheelchairs for needy people in Peru. She reported that more than 500 wheelchairs were distributed.

GREAT LAKES

• Traverse City, Michigan: West Bay Covenant Church longtime parishioners Gary and Sue Gilmore are currently serving in Chile via Latin American Missions. They were presented with school supplies by their home church during a recent worship service.

MIDWEST

• Mason City, Iowa: A total of 12 men from First Covenant Church recently returned from Ecuador where they helped construct a building for a Covenant church in Congahua over a 10-day period. Led by parishioner Paul Nelson, the team aided an indigenous congregation that has faced persecution for their faith. They helped make usable a school, kitchen and day care facility in the mountainous rural village of 3,000 located near the equator. First Covenant became involved when Nelson encountered the unfinished structure on a visit last year while vacationing with his family. The team benefited from contacts made with Covenant short-term missionaries Herb and Elaine Clauson.

NORTHWEST

• Minneapolis, Minnesota: First Covenant Church pastor Dan Thompson and parishioners Steve Mathers and Tom Albinson were sent from their church to see what possibilities might exist in spreading the Good News to refugees in Italy. "Italy is full of refugees, people who have traveled long distances, who are seeking a better life, yet stuck in the muck of government uncertainty." Albinson traveled to Egypt earlier to visit three church-based ministries there. There are currently about 40,000 Sudanese refugees in Cairo.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST

• Redwood City, California: Peninsula Covenant Church's Kyle Ray and his wife, Hilmari, and their two children are in South Africa to serve in a collaborative effort with International Sports Leadership School and Church Sports International near Cape Town. Ray, director of physical fitness for Peninsula Covenant's community center, had become involved with Church Sports International two years earlier at a South Africa basketball camp. He will provide leadership with sports evangelism training early in his ministry there, he stated in a recent newsletter. He also hopes to assist local churches with starting their own sports ministries. Previously, the Rays lived in Malawi before spending time in Northern California. To learn more about their ministry, email them at khray2000@yahoo.com.

To keep abreast of mission activities throughout the Evangelical Covenant Church, regularly visit this online Covenant news report at Covenant Church. To submit information for consideration in these online reports, email the material to newsdesk@covchurch.org or call Stan Friedman at 773-907-3324. To add your local church newsletter to the list reviewed by Covenant Communications, email the newsletter to newsdesk@covchurch.org or mail it to Covenant Communications, Evangelical Covenant Church, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625.

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