Youth Center Update!

We would appreciate your prayers from today until Dec. 12th as a work team from the States goes and helps with some of the interior work at the Youth Center in Romania.

Pray for traveling mercies, strength and that God will help so that lots of work can be done.

The Lord willing, you should be able to see some photos of the work team and some of the work accomplished.

Thanksgiving number 6 through infinite. As you can see, once you start thanking God for things, it goes on and on and gives you more appreciation for Him. I've purposely waited to put the most important things I'm thankful for at the end(of this month) and that is God Himself. I am thankful that we serve a God who is loving, just, forgiving, merciful, a comforter, the judge, treats us as individuals works with us on a personal level. I'm thankful for His word! It's true, applicable to my daily life and is The Authority on everything. I'm thankful for salvation, heart purity, God the father, Son, & Holy Spirit. I'm thankful that He is faithful, dependable, infinite, all-wise, and all-knowing. He knows our weaknesses and knows we are mere humans. I'm thankful that we can have a personal relationship with Him and that the veil that limited access into the Holy of Holies has been torn and we can have access to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I'm thankful that God the Son died on the cross for my sins and has saved me and cleansed me through His blood. I'm thankful that His death on the cross is un-limited and can help us to overcome all temptations and willful sin. Praise God, Jesus arose on the third day and we serve a living God, not a dead one. I'm thankful for His Grace which is sufficient for all of my needs. Here's a thought that will blow our brain cells - God gives Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness, etc. to me and millions and millions, each and every day and His storehouse of these attributes is NEVER REDUCED! He never gets low on Grace or Mercy or anything else! Hallelujah!

As you can see, we could go on and on and may God help me to continue to praise and thank Him for what He has done, what He's going to do, and who He is!

Number 7 through ...... What a wonderful wife God has given me. These pictures were taken in Southern Germany and Asutria. (thanks again Mom and Dad, we had a great time)

I am so thankful for the wife God has given me. She's a great cook who is just tops, second to none. She makes great pies and her best pies are apple, strawberry, pumpkin, peanut butter, pineapple cream, chocolate cream, etc., etc., etc. She's a wonderful mother and wife and we've enjoyed the 17 plus years. I am most thankful for her desire to live the Christian life and her desire to please Christ above all else. Although I don't think I'm a great man, (that word is used way to much these days) I do have a great wife and yes, I do admit, I'm biased. Laura has made me a better person as an individual and in the ministries God has called us to.

The past 4 years has been quite exciting and my appreciation for my wife has only grown as she has switched cultures, languages, space, and the comforts of home for new comforts that have become very special to us. She's done a good job of improvising with whatever was available and truly is a Whoa-man!

Thank you Laura for the wonderful 17 plus years and the Lord willing, many more. Thank you God for the wonderful wife that you have given to me.

Picture on the left is taken in a beautiful Austrian field last May. (notice the beautiful snow capped peaks in the background) Picture on the right is taken in Salzburg, Austria.

I am having quite a problem because the days of the month are dwindling but I still have many, many things to be thankful for. Like I said in the very beginning, this list is not conclusive but just a start and what happens is that the more you things you thank God for, the more things you see that you have to be thankful for. So this is number 11 down through 8 if you even care.

God has given me 4 wonderful children, truly a blessing from God. Each child is unique and has been given wonderful talents and spiritual gifts that we trust they will always let God have and use. I am proud at how God is helping them and especially happy to see how God is helping our older 2 and their desire to live for God. Their consistency in their devotions continues to speak to me and keeps me careful to do the same. The greatest joy is in knowing that my children are walking with God.

My children are looking to me, to be the Spiritual leader that our home needs and my wife and I take our responsibilities very seriously. Besides my own spiritual well-being and my wifes, they are our top Mission Field. No Mission Field is more important than these 4 souls and why would I spend all of my efforts trying to win the world and neglect these that God has given me and with whom I have the most contact, time and influence over. What we have found out is that as God has blessed us with 4 wonderful children, our children, who are part of our ministry, have been a big blessing to thousands of people as our family has simply just tried to do what God has called us to do.

Thank you God for the 4 wonderful children that you have entrusted to us. Our prayer was from day one and continues to be that they will always live for God and be a shining light to the world around us.

12 Parents! I'm very thankful for the wonderful parents I have. I know the first set, the biological ones, I didn't have any choice over the matter, however, I am truly blessed! The second set, I actually had a choice over, well, they came with the "prize". God has given me 2 sets of wonderful parents. My biological parents are just what they are supposed to be, a father and mother. Unfortunately, many kids don't have a father and/or mother. They might have a male / female figure in the home but are lacking what a father and mother bring. Thanks Mom and Dad for your wonderful examples. Thanks especially for always supporting me in whatever I felt God was asking of me. It's so nice to have parents who don't stand in the way of what God is trying to do in our lives. "Just do what God wants you to do, and we will support you," are words I've heard often and it has given me the wonderful comfort to know, mom and dad are behind us.

The second set of parents, the ones that came with the prize, are just as wonderful and I'm thankful for their wonderful example as well. I'm blessed for they trained their daughter well in the arts of motherhood and home making. In fact, they trained her so well, she's simply the best cook, mother, etc. It's so nice to have Godly "in-laws" and people who have accepted me into the family.

The longer I live and the more I get around and involved with other people, I continually see how blessed I am to have 2 sets of wonderful parents. May God's blessing continue to rest on each of you. I love y'all!

13 The Bryan Family! Here's the clan in our last meeting 1 1/2 years ago. It's so nice to have a wonderful "in-law" family that is serving Christ and also with whom we get along excellent. Maybe that's because we have been spread out all over the world and thousands of miles away from each other. (that's some twisted Missionary Humor)

We do get along very well and it's such a joy to get together and have good wholesome Christian fellowship. So many families today are being torn apart and can hardly get together without fighting. Most of the time we've been able to get together about every other year, that is until some of us messed it up by going to countries a long ways away. I'm glad we have a wonderful family where each one of us is doing our best to serve Christ and live for Him. It sure does make things easier when we keep our relationship with Christ as it should. May God bless each one and may we always live for Christ! We love and appreciate each of you!

Thanksgiving number 14 is - Rita! That's the Rottweiler! She was a GREAT dog and excellent with the kids. I have no doubt that if someone would have tried to "rough up " the kids, she would have been there to DEFEND her brother and sisters for she became part of the family. Whenever they would get hurt, she would run to see what was wrong and would want to shower them with lots of love and "kisses". One of the great things was she already came trained, thanks to the previous missionaries. Our kids have missed her greatly, so you can pray for their hearts.

15 Trust in God! I'm so thankful that I serve a God who I can completely trust! Some fathers have played bad tricks on their kids and when the kid was going to jump off of some "high" place, they acted like they wouldn't catch them. Bad idea when you are dealing with a little child who needs to trust his father, especially when many years later for some reason they struggle with trusting their dad. Fathers are a "visible example" of what our heavenly father is like and when we mess that up, it gives our children a wrong view of our Heavenly father. Thank God I have had a very good father here on earth.

I am so thankful that God never leads us astray or misleads us. He doesn't play tricks on His kids and He is 100% trustworthy. God has spoken to me quite a bit over the last 5 years as we've had to make some tough decisions in our life. (tough only because of wanting to make sure we knew what His will was) Many of these things look like they don't make sense in the human. But God says, lovingly and softly, "Son, can you trust me." You see, I tend to be more analytical by nature and one of those strange people who loves math. My wife said, "you can be happy just playing with a calculator." She's partly right! So many things don't seem to make sense in the human but God's ways are much higher than our ways and things don't always make sense in the human. That's the whole idea of faith! We revere Abraham, but if he were living in the United States in 2007/soon to be 2008, many Christians would look at him strangely and think he was weird. You see in our culture, you are supposed to know what you are going to do for the rest of your life, have it all planned out, and that is how we think a good young Christian man should be. Oh, you also have to be very excited about what you are going to do, or something is wrong with you. (tell that to Jesus as He is going to calvary) Here's what many would say to Abraham: Have you talked to a bunch of counselors about what you are going to do? You don't know what you are going to do! You don't even know where you are going! He's a nice man but sure glad he's not married to my daughter. That is what many Christians would think or say!

Faith is trusting God, when things don't seem to make sense or add up. (DDH's interpretation) I'm glad that I can trust God! Some decisions are hard, simply because of wanting to make sure that the decision is God's will, but when we know what God wants, faith says, "I'm going to do it, even when it doesn't seem to make sense." God has never failed me and even though I've not always understood why God said to do such and such, He's always been faithful and months and years later, I begin to realize, my Father knew exactly what was best. That's the God I serve. I can trust Jesus! Praise God!

16 Clarence P. Hausman This was my Grandfather, known as "Pappy Hausman" The pictures on the left were taken during his time in service for our country. The one on the far left is taken in Europe during WW II. Pappy served as a front line medic and God miraculously spared his life as they were pinned down by enemy snipers, possibly fire fights and the dangers of war. An amazing story is how God providentially spared his life in the initial invasions as well. He became sick in boot camp and couldn't finish out with his platoon. Finally, he hooked up with one about 7 weeks later. The amazing thing is that had he not gotten sick, he would have been in the initial invasion of France, where most of that platoon was wiped out.

My father and I were able to visit 2 of the cities where Pappy had been during WW II.

On the far left is 4 generation of Hausmans. Yes, we are crazy and proud of it, but it's not our fault, we were born with it.

The handsome looking couple directly to the left is of Clarence and the love of his life, Esther, known as "Mammy". She was an illegitimate child, of which we still know nothing about her biological father. Pappy was a product of a broken home where his father wanted nothing to do with Pappy's mothers Christianity. God miraculously brought these 2 together and I have a wonderful heritage because of it. Pappy was a Holiness preacher who preached with the Bible Covenants and Holiness Christian Churches.

Clarence and his wife are now enjoying the wonderful rewards of their faithfulness to their Lord and Saviour. One of Pappy's requests was that I preach his funeral. He always was very organized. It was one of my earthly highlights for it was an honor to preach the funeral of my Grandfather who was faithful to his family, wife and most importanty of all, to his Lord. It was truly amazing how God helped me in that situation for it was one of those times where I was extremely aware of how God was helping as I was preaching, all glory and praise to God.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." (Psalms 116:15)

Thank you God for the wonderful heritage you have given to me.

17 The "Hausman" gang! Not only a I thankful for my sisters but also for their mates and children. My older sister married Frank and they have one daughter named Sarah. Frank is the "big guy" and is an excellent welder. More importantly, he's a Christian with many gifts. God gave him the wonderful privilege of leading a man to Christ, right there in the workshop.
My younger sister, Celeste is also married to a wonderful man, named John and they have one son. John is also a really neat guy and they both have helped out with the youth in their church. Bryan loves when Uncle John brings his big truck by Grandma and Pop Pop's so Bryan can see it. They also have a son named Brian, just a little different spelling and our Bryan refers to him as "big Brian". That came about when we were in Russia and Bryan was just an infant we always called big Brian, "ballshoy Brian" and our Bryan - "malenkee Bryan". Confused yet! So were we with all of the language differences that we've had to go through over the last few years.

We love and appreciate each of you and I chose not to go into detail how much you all mean to us, but we do want to thank you for your prayers and support. You guys are great! May we all continue on our journey with Christ!

18 Siblings! I hope they don't kill me for this picture but these are my siblings! This was taken in 1987 before I graduated from H.S. Truly, I'm a rose between 2 thorns! That's a huge joke and my sisters know it! Unfortunately, I was always getting it from at least one of the directions and always out numbered, but I lived through it. By the way, just for the record, Doreen, my older sister was the angel of this family! For some reason, I messed up the mold!

God has given me 2 wonderful sisters and I'm blessed. One of my fathers desires for his children was that we go to college and get an education. All 3 of us have graduated with Bachelors degrees. More importantly my dad's goal was that we live for Christ. I'm thankful to say that each of us as are living for Christ and that makes our biological bond, even tighter for we are bound through the precious blood of Christ.


I love each of you and may we all be found faithful to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

19 I'm thankful for our medical care here in the United States!!!!!! I know it's not perfect and it keeps getting worse as far as all of the paperwork, expenses, & and all of that but across the board it's tops. Some of our liberal politicians need to go live in many foreign countries to see how socialized medicine really works. No names will be given but I think I remember at least one who pushed hard for socialized medicine here. We had just enough experiences while on the field to remind us to seriously pray for God protection. Yeah, we could get some good medicines really cheap and over the counter and that was nice but I feel a little more comfortable here in our hospitals. We are blessed as a nation, may we realize freedom is not free and that we as God's people must humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways. Then and then only will God heal our land!

20 I'm thankful for airplanes, email, computer, digital cameras and cell phones. I know some of this overlaps, but that's ok, God doesn't mind if we repeat a thanksgiving a second time. Thank the Lord it only takes about 8-10 hours to get to Europe rather than having to go by ship, like in by-gone days. How blessed we are to have all of this "stuff"! Many people would be thrilled to have the problems we have with our technology stuff. Cell phones in a foreign country were such a blessing for it gave us a little safety net if we were out and about and had an emergency.

21 Well, since I'm on the subject of Russia, I'll say that I'm thankful for the Russian food! Borsch, Russian salads, that wonderful Russian bread that was great with soup, the special cookies, foreign McD's (sorry but they're much better and cleaner at least in Russia, Romanian and some other European countries and you'd be thankful for it too if you had to travel several hours to get to one), & Russian Hot Tea! I'm not a coffee drinker but I love the hot tea! MMMMM, it's absolutely wonderful

We thanked the Lord many times while in Russian, Romania and other countries in Europe that he called us over there rather than some of the other places that have some very interesting delicacies. God is good!

22 Babooshka Nadya (Grandmother Nadya) I would tell Babooshka Nadya, "you are my favorite Russian Grandmother". She is between 55-60 and a dear saint. She is compassionate, caring and has eyes that just ooze out with compassion and love. I don't think she knows more than one or 2 words of English but she was a kindred spirit. This dear saint was not educated in a Bible seminary, not gifted in her speaking but is a woman of prayer and living out God's word. There probably wasn't a person in the entire church who was more influential in bringing people to Christ. She lived out God's word and talked about her Saviour to people. God has blessed her and used her for His glory! Her response to people when they questioned her was to point them to God's word! If people will read God's word, I believe with all of my heart that God will speak to them and change them. God's word is powerful!

I also loved to go to her house for dinner! She's a great cook!

God bless you Babooshka Nadya and we trust we'll get to see you again someday!

Cultural Memories!

I am thankful for the wonderful memories we've had as a family in foreign countries! Some of those memories we can now laugh at and some we still shake our heads! Going to the park for a family day, walking miles and mile around Moscow, riding many hours on the trains, the wonderful foods, and hearts of the people. We really don't have any gory food stories for we loved the food. I will share the fact that because of my wife had many back troubles I became the guinea pig for going to the chiropractor. If you've ever had a Russian Massage, your idea of a massage will totally change. It's not some peaceful, relaxing time where your muscles are loosened. IT'S SURVIVAL! It's no wonder you walk away felling better, for you've just survived human torture. (Smile) If you don't learn to laugh at these cultural experiences, you'll lose your mind. We tried as much as was possible given the circumstance to laugh!

I am thankful for all of the Memories, we cherish them!

24 This one actually would be very high on my list! Actually, almost all of them would be very high on my list. But the 24th.... reason for being thankful this year is.......

All of our new found friends in the countries of Finland, Ukraine, Romania & Russia! We have learned so much from you all and we love and appreciate you. Many of these are believers who have taught us so much! Some are not believers but we pray that God will speak to their heart and bring them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!

We are like so many other Missionaries in that you go to a foreign country to serve and try to be of some help, but you come away feeling like you have been ministered to more than them. There's a special place in our hearts for these dear folks and I only wish I had 1000 lives to live for the cause of Christ and reaching the lost. May we hear God's voice as he tries to call us to take the gospel to all people. He's trying to call, but I'm afraid too many are tied down to the worlds' philosophies.

25 Our Missionary Friends - We've made some great friends over the past several years and we love you all! Some of you we wish we could get to know even better and wouldn't it be grand if we could all get together someday. Well, God being our helper, we will! I won't mention all of our Missionary friends but here's just a few. God bless The Kuhns's - Honduras; Geises (both) - South Africa, The Keeps/Blacks - Philippines, The Sankey's/Stetler's - Mexico, The Hoffman's - Dominican Republic, Sally Sebo- Romania (we worked with her for a year and she's a great Missionary) and The Dickinson's - Columbia, S. America.

Like I said, I've only mentioned a few for I didn't want to get into the rut of looking on a web sights to make sure I didn't miss someone. These are just a representative of many others who have answered the call, left the comforts of the United States and gone to spread the good news to the world.

There are many others along the way who've shared their experiences, helpful suggestions, and wisdom that has been invaluable to me. Missionaries are on the front lines of spiritual warfare. Many soldiers have faced death as a bullet has gone ripping by them. Some of those soldiers have sacrificed their lives for our country. Hopefully our missionary friends don't have to face those physical bullets, although some are in places where that is very possible, but each of them faces the "bullets" that are much more dangerous than any piece of lead. They face the dangerous enemy fire that kills more than the body, it's the soul he's after. We are in a war! Be strong and let Christ be your defense!

26 Automatic Dishwasher, electric garage door opener, a garage, house with consistent and constant heat, water that can be used right out of the faucet without having to boil and filter it, a refrigerator that doesn't need to be thawed every couple of weeks, water that I don't have to fetch from the well, police men who are nice and not looking for "gifts" (don't ask me how I know about this), church services where we actually get fed spiritually because we can understand what's being said, not having to convert from kilometers to miles - in my head, not having to convert from the foreign currency into dollars to get an idea if something is expensive or cheap, hot showers, washer & dryer, CHEAP GASOLINE - yes that's right I said cheap gasoline for at $3 a gallon that's over $2 dollars a gallon cheaper than it was in Romania, consistent internet access where I don't get disconnected almost everytime I send an email, unlimited cell phone calling during certain hours, padded pews, normal - non-reckless driving, interstate highways where you can safely go 70 MPH plus, going to a park and not having to worry about where you step and sit quite as much, .....

There's so much to be thankful for and over the last 4 years these "simple" little things all of a sudden have become even more precious. Yes, we feel very spoiled! God has been way too good to us! He is good! All the time!

It's about time we become thankful!

I know, we are supposed to be thankful all of the time! I also know that the Bible says in Psalms 34:1 "I will bless the Lord at all times." Then in I Thess. it says, "Rejoice evermore." If we are putting these verses into practice, we're sure to be thankful. May we not be like the world out there who gripes and complains at just about everything.

So, I decided to start naming some things that I am thankful for. Hopefully, I will give one for each day of the month. I'm a little behind, so I have to make up for it.

(Most of these are not in order of importance)

I'm thankful for
30 The Christian Nation Chruch that has opened their arms and accepted us and has made us feel at home. Thanks a bunch!
29 The wonderful messages that Bro. Eisenhart and Bro. Pilmore have been preaching. It's been a delight to go to church and worship God and take in what He has for us!
28. All of our dear friends across the United States! God's family is the best! You can go around looking for hypocrites if you want and you'll be sure to find them. However, in order for their to be a hypocrite, there must be someone/something genuine. There can't be a conterfeit without the real thing. I chose to find the real ones, and I've not had any difficulty in finding real Christians. To all of you who call yourselves our friends, Thanks a million! We love and appreciate you!
27. Mountain Dew along with good chocolate like Hershey's. Hey, go easy on me, you'd say the same thing if you spent 4 years in a foreign country and you missed some of these things. Sometimes I actually try to discipline myself by refraining from theses tasty treats, but I think I'm addicted. It's all my parents fault! (Smile)

A few updates!

I thought I'd finally take the time to give some updates for anyone who really cares. Just some twisted humor there. First, both Laura and Natasha are seeing a chiropractor and are going 3 times a week. The Dr. is really concerned about Natasha's for she is still young and developing. He said that her condition can be fixed. We have been very concerned about not only Laura's back but also Natashas and it is something we need to take care of. Laura's back can get better but never to the 100 percent stage, for she's "old." That was the words of the Doc. (Smile) I'll spare you of the details. We are grateful for the wonderful Dr. who God has led us too. Continue to pray for both Laura and Natasha's physical condition.

As far as the Youth Center goes: Sally is back in Romania and God really helped during the services that she had. It looks like I will be going back to Romania along with a work team from the Beavertown, PA area. Please pray that God's will is done as far as this work team goes. We are hoping to finish the insulation, sheetrock, floor tile and maybe some painting as well.

Continue to pray that God will help with all of the work that needs to be done!