Just Bee Cause (A Message from Pastor Ovidiu)

I asked our dear friend and brother Ovidiu Patrick if he would be so kind to guest blog this week to give his thoughts on the recent Pioneer Drive Baptist Church trip to his village. Here are his thougths.

Last year I sold my bees. A pastor friend of mine came to me and asked me to help him and I said I cannot because I am busy with the bees. He said “People are more important than bugs”. Those words followed me until I put people first. Last week something small but miraculous happened to me. In the last four years I was the one sharing the honey from my bees with people from America. This year the team that came from Abilene had no clue that I used to raise bees. Guess what happened? Two separate people in the group offered me a bear full of honey. It was unbelievable.

When you put God first and people as a high priority, God honors you. He honored me in little things, through that small gift of honey and He also honored me in big things through people like those in Abilene, Texas, that impacted the Romanian local community in several places. Lots of children from the orphanage in Gavojdia village were blessed because of their work, more children in the VBS from the Susani surrounding villages were touched with the Gospel and those that served on the House of Joy construction site shocked everybody by how fast Americans build. As a result, on Saturday we had around 250 people that came to touch the walls (people were actually sitting on bricks, little walls on the House of Joy building).

What a great testimony for all the people that saw and heard about what happened to Susani, Romania last week because some people from Abilene were ready to put God first and His priorities for their lives. All they did was indeed a real success spiritually, relationally, materially. The leaders of the group from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church are courageous, hard working people. It was a blessing to be around them, to see how they encourage each other, how they motivate their team. I believe with all of my heart this is the beginning of a huge partnership that we will build one bit at a time.

The vision that God has for this partnership is bright and powerful, it is a saving vision, a joyful vision. The House of Joy wants to bring the joy of salvation to as many people as possible in our generation. Last week, together with our brothers and sisters from Abilene we were able to make a huge step in reaching this goal. The abundant joy will flow.

What a joy it is to hear first hand the impact our mission trip had. Thank you Ovidiu for sharing from your heart. (By the way, I still miss that wonderful honey you and your bees made!) Also, another thank you to our wonderful team for the impact you had and the seeds you planted. Have a blessed week. Aspire to new heights.

Reflection

I do my best thinking when I’m rested. In college I much preferred getting a good night’s rest and then studying in the morning. Therefore I ask that you forgive me in advance if this trip reflection doesn’t make perfect sense. I’m writing during my last leg of the trip home on very little sleep. However, so many wonderful memories and thoughts are flooding my mind.

I could best sum this 10 day trip up in two words: INSPIRATIONAL and GRATITUDE. God did amazing things on this trip; things my simple mind was not even capable of dreaming before our departure. We do so much planning and preparing for our trips but it is hard to plan for a miracle. God took 41 Americans from all walks for life and combined them with 19 Romanians to make one of the best, if not the best, teams I’ve ever worked with. He used each person in a mighty, mighty way.

Upon our arrival the House of Joy community center was nothing more than a dream, a partial foundation, and a pile of rocks. By Saturday night we were able to host a community wide celebration “Texas style” with 250 guests on a solid concrete foundation with the first floor being 70% complete. Just three weeks ago Ovidiu feared we would not be able to do anything because of three weeks of continuous rain. Yet perfect weather and hard work eased all our fears. Only those in attendance will truly believe the efficiency our construction team worked. You would have had to see the progress to truly believe the miracle. I want to take a second to say thank you to Nathan, Stan, Jay, Danny, Dale, Mike, Darrell, Tim, Don, Greg, Kevin, and John for their long, hard hours this past week. You started an hour before the rest of our team and you worked several hours after everyone else in the blazing heat. For those of you that completed your jobs and joined the construction team in the afternoon to lend a helping hand thank you for your sacrifice as well. Your work has laid the foundation, both literally and spiritually, for thousands of lives to be changed. Before the first brick was laid, I snuck over to a corner of the foundation and wrote “Pioneer Drive.” I think this is a warranted tribute for the work you have started.

For the orphanage team, I truly cannot express how grateful I am for your hard work. Thank you to Meredith, Brooke, Chad, Heather, Paula, Judy, Alexa, Tim, Alex, D’Leesa, Barbara, Jackie, Kylie, Angela, and Elya. Many of you reading have worked in orphanages before; therefore you know the changes that take place over five days. I appreciate the flexibility with which this team worked. Many plans were changed; however, I saw so many smiling faces our last day. As I delivered the humanitarian aid to the director he confirmed what I saw by extending an open invitation to return. Lives were changed. Seeds were planted. I know of two that were impacted for eternity. A special thank you to Delia for opening the door to allow us to work with these children. Thank you for the foundation you have laid and the follow-up you will continue.

Very few of you have travelled to Susani. This is one of those places you have to be going! You don’t just stumble upon it! However, this village has become a place of hope for 2,800 kids that live within a 25 mile radius. Thank you to our VBS team for building upon this foundation that Ovidiu and his team have paved. Thank you to Chelsea, Brian, Annelle, Jimmy, Morgan, Payson, Tracy, Krisi, Erin, Lacy, Patsy, and Nelson for all your hard work. A special thank you to Adina for opening her home to our team and allowing us to serve out of it. The children obviously had a blast the entire week, otherwise they would not have returned for our party Saturday night and brought friends and parents with them. One would have to observe the children eagerly waiting for the van to pick them up each day to understand how much these children get out of these events. I think the record this week was 39 kids in one van!

I didn’t intend on this being a blog of thanks, but how can you reflect on a successful trip without saying thank you? With that said I want to say a special thank you to Pastor Stan Alcorn for joining our team. What a testimony to have the senior pastor on your trip. Personally, I want to say thank you to Stan and Pioneer Drive for taking a chance on a young guy (somewhat young I guess) with absolutely no infrastructure in place but a heart for a country. You could have travelled with hundreds of others but you took a chance on me. I will never be able to repay you for this trust. Thank you to our numerous translators. Many of them took time away from school and other special events to join our team. You are a testimony to the work Ovidiu and Adina have done over the past five years. Thank you to Alex Hyde for spending the past five months in Romania assisting me in making all the preparations for this trip. Thank you to Nathan Adams for working with me on this side of the ocean. Thank you to Gigel for helping us in so many ways, especially for opening your center to our team so we would have a comfortable place to stay. Thank you to my best friend Todd Long for accompanying me on this trip. I could not have done it without you. Thank you to my father (Nelson) for going as well. Your support means so much. I never would have even heard of Romania if it were not for you. Most of all thank you to Ovidiu, Adina, Alex, and Ruben for what you did before our arrival, what you did during our time in Romania, and the follow-up you will do after our departure. Ovidiu you've inspired so many people, me included. I'm honored to work with you. I'm honored to call you my friend. I'm honored to call you my ministry partner. May God bless the future of this ministry.

Now we move on to the next chapter. I just wish I knew what it was. God obviously has many great plans for the future. We will be sorting through many of these plans the next few months. I hope each of you will join us as we follow His lead. If you want to know more shoot me an email at jonahogg@gmail.com. Blessings. Aspire to new heights!

Not the end, just the beginning

Many wonderful things have happened the past few days. As I briefly mentioned in my previous blog, we had a wonderful celebration on Saturday night at the House of Joy construction sight. Over 250 adults and children from 10 plus villages joined our team to celebrate the work that had been done and to commemorate this marvelous project. It was so great to dream with our Romanian brothers and sisters about the day we can actually dedicate a completed House of Joy. This “community center” will serve as a beacon of hope to over 2,800 children and their families from 20 plus villages around Susani. Ovidiu and I have dreamed of the day we will complete this facility so that we can host VBS and Medical teams to serve these communities. We will also have a place for the children to play soccer and basketball and to receive educational support from our computer room and classrooms. We will be able to provide family support via a social worker that can teach life skills to the parents and assist them with vocational skills that will assist them in meeting the needs of their children. The sky is the limit as to what we can do with this marvelous facility.

On Sunday we were able to stop at Timisoara with the team on our way to Budapest. We spent several hours touring the city center and seeing where the revolution began. We shared a meal together and then we continued on to Budapest. Today marks our last official day of this trip. The team will tour Budapest and spend some time fellowshipping together. Tonight we will celebrate with a traditional Hungarian meal and one last time of sharing as a group. I’m sad to see this trip end but so excited and optimistic about what the future holds.

I left America not knowing exactly what God would do with this trip and what His plans were for this ministry. It was wonderful to pray, dream, and plan with a number of my friends and fellow servants the past few days. I have no doubt God has great things in plan for this ministry. I trust He will continue to do great things upon our return. I have no doubt tomorrow will not be the end of something great but rather just the beginning of something even bigger. I ask that you join me in praying about this future. I welcome you to send me a personal email at jonahogg@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like more information.

Thank you again for following this trip through my blog. What an honor it has been to provide feedback. I’ll continue to provide updates via this blog in regards to Ovidiu and Adina and the wonderful work that will continue in Susani. Thanks again. Until we meet, aspire to new heights.

A full House of Joy

Tonight will be a short night so I'll make my update quick. We had a wonderful celebration tonight at the House of Joy. Over 250 adults and children, not counting our team of 50, joined together for a Texas style party. I wish time allowed me to fill you in and share pictures. I promise I'll post in the next few days. We will be getting up very early tomorrow to travel to Budapest. On the way to Budapest we will stop for a few hours in Timisoara. It will be nice to see our old home town. If you have not had a chance to watch this video interview of Pastor Stan Alcorn from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church I encourage you to give it a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eEkkQvI6so

Thank you again for your prayers and support. I look forward to visiting with you more in person. I promise to post more pics, blogs, and stories tomorrow and the next few day. Until then, aspire to new heights.