It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas in Romania!

 

 

 

 

 

November News

Dave

Much of my time thus far has been spent on setting up at home and language learning. Apart from that, I have had several meetings with key people to work on job descriptions, writing protocols for the relationship between the radio station and church, and planning for training sessions in the weeks and months ahead.  For the last several years, Biserica Metanoia has been producing programs which have been aired on a local Christian station.  As of the first of October, that agreement concluded so we have been focusing more of our attention on pursuing a radio frequency and establishing a new station.

We hope to have word about an exciting opportunity related to purchasing a frequency within the next couple of weeks.   Please keep this opportunity in your prayers and ask the Lord to provide all that will be needed (finances, resources, personnel, wisdom, etc.) should this become a reality and that our spiritual enemy will be kept far from this project.  Thank you for your prayers and partnership with us!

  Beth

Much of my time has been spent getting the house set up and just learning my way around.  The first time I went to the grocery store, I was so overwhelmed!  I spent nearly 2 hours just trying to get a few familiar things, but I have progressed quite a bit since then, thankfully!  It takes me longer to do most household type things here, so I have my hands full just keeping up.

I wanted to get school going for the girls as soon as possible so that they could be on a more regular schedule, so that was a big priority.  Then we got going on language training.  We have lessons 3 days a week.  That takes a good deal of our time, and after only 2 months, we can tell a big difference in how much better we can communicate and understand.  We have a lot of work ahead of us, so thank you for your continued prayers for us at this critical time!

We’ve also had the privilege of having several new friends over  for a meal and fellowship.  We’ve had American, Scottish, Korean and of course, Romanian friends into our home, and it’s been a rich blessing to get to know them all!

  Kayla

After my parents and younger sisters moved to Romania in mid-September, I stayed back in the Quad Cities for a few extra months. I have been playing volleyball for 8 years, and since it is my senior year, my parents let me stay behind and finish my volleyball years off with Morning Star Academy. I was very thankful for this opportunity because I have played on the same team with the same girls each year, and I couldn’t imagine not playing with them my senior year. Overall, our team did a great job and placed 2^nd in our conference! I’d call that a success for senior year.

Once volleyball season was over in November, I headed over to Romania to see my family again after several months. My family had already set up some of my room to make it feel more like home for me. I was really happy to be back with my family after being apart from them for most of July to November.  I was thankful that my sister, Kelsey, and new brother in law, Chris, were there in the Quad Cities though, so I could be with family.

At home, not much is different than America. When I step outside though, that’s a different story. Living in Romania is definitely an adjustment. I do miss the U.S., but I’m learning to adapt more and more each day. I think the hardest part though, is learning the language. It’s embarrassing when someone says something to you and you just stare back not knowing what to say! Thankfully, we have a great language teacher, Tabita, who helps us three times a week. Hopefully our whole family will be fluent soon!  I think that will make a big difference in how much more at home we will feel.

  Kristen

Romania is different, but in a good way. Sometimes its hard for me and I miss my friends and Koby, our dog, but it’s also been a good experience for me.

I wake up every morning at about 8:00 to 8:30, and then start school. I finish school around 2:00 to 3:00. Three days a week our family has language lessons with Tabita.  Language is hard, but I am glad that God gave me a good memory!

From there I usually read the rest of the day, or I so some chores like: walking Kasper, clean the bathroom, etc… On Friday’s I go to Comete which is Metanoia’s youth group, but it’s pretty different from the one at Harvest Davenport.  It’s still a good youth group though. Of course we go to church every Sunday, and now I have a new puppy to play with!

  Kendra

When I first arrived in Europe it all seemed surreal to me, like I was on a short vacation and would be going back home to America any day.  That feeling remained for some time before it finally faded away.  Now I am feeling more and more like this is “home”.

After getting over jetIag, we commenced school, which I didn’t much prefer!  The first day of church was really hard because we were still so tired, but we finally got over the time change.  I have a few friends that I have met from youth group with similar interests that speak English pretty well, so I am thankful for that!  The bad thing is, I don’t get to see them very often because they all go to Romanian school.  My parents are looking for a sport or other activity that we can become involved in so we can meet more people our age.  I hope we can play volleyball.

I liked having Kelsey and Chris come visit us a couple of weeks ago.  The house was full of laughter and talking.  It’s good to have Kayla with us again too.  It makes things seem more normal, I guess.

I don’t like learning Romanian (just being honest), but I know that it will help me in the long run to be able to communicate with my friends here.

  Visitors

As Kendra mentioned, Chris and Kelsey came for a visit. They helped Kayla with her move here and then stayed for a couple of weeks.  We showed them all around Arad and introduced them to most of our friends.  They were also able to take a train to Oradea and visit the kids at CP2 orphanage where Kelsey worked as an intern for two summers.  Ironically, that is where the two of them met too, so it holds a special place in their hearts!

In addition,they visited with some other ministries near here and are in the process of praying about where God might be calling them to serve in the future.

Thank you for praying for and with them!

  Kasper

Meet the newest member of the Jolly family!  His name is Kasper and he is a bichon maltese.  Unfortunately we couldn’t bring our beloved Koby with us, so we got a new puppy.  Don’t worry, Koby! We’re not replacing you!  We’re just making our family a little larger.

 

 

  Support Needs

We are still praying for $375 in support in order to be at our minimum level.  Would you pray with us about this need?   If you would like to join us in reaching Romanians for Christ through radio, please pray about what God would have you do.  You can easily give by going to http://www.hcjb.org/donate-give-to-missionaries/jolly.
Your gift makes an eternal difference!

 

 

Settling In

Settling in is a process, but it is really happening.  Just thought we’d share some pictures of our new house as we do some work on it to add color and an updated look.

Life Without a Car

“Zoom, zoom, zoom.”  “The relentless pursuit of perfection.”  “Like a Rock.”  “The Heartbeat of America.”

I am sure you recognized these familiar car slogans as soon as you read them.

 

And whether your car looks like this:

 

OR LIKE THIS:

The fact of the matter is, most of us probably couldn’t imagine

They get us to work, to the grocery store, to the Dr.’s office, to our kids’ soccer and piano practices, to school, to church, to Chickfila, to Wal-Mart, and on and on it goes!  Unless you live in New York City or in a small enough town where you can walk from one end to the other in 10 minutes or less, a car is vital to everyday life.

When we get to Romania, one of the first things we will need to do is buy a good, used car.  Thankfully, we have people at the church ~ Metanoia Biserica ~ that know how to find good used cars, and they will help us with that part.  What we are asking you to help us with is the needed funds to purchase a car. Most of our support account has been depleted by the needed funds to just get over to Arad, so having the money to buy a good car will be a need that we are asking the Lord to provide for us through His people.

So many of you are faithful monthly supporters, for which we are so thankful!  Others of you are prayer warriors, and we need the power of your faithful prayers!   But now we are asking you to prayerfully consider sending a one-time gift to help us purchase a vehicle.  Again, our good friends at Metanoia will make sure we get the best deal on a quality used car that will transport our whole family, so we thank you, in advance, for any donation you can make.

To help make it as easy as possible for you to give, just click on the link below that will take you straight to the secure HCJB website.  From here you can easily make a one-time donation using your bank account or credit/debit card.  We are the second missionaries down on the page, and you can just type in the amount of your gift.  When you checkout, you can put “For Jolly Car Fund” in the comments section, so it goes to the proper place.  Here is that link:  http://www.hcjb.org/give-missionary/Page-2.html.

If you’d rather send in a check, you can mail it to:  HCJB Global, P.O. Box 39800, Colorado Springs, CO  80949-9800.
Just be sure to make out the check to HCJB Global and put “Jolly Car Fund — 110348″ in the memo line.

OR

Call HCJB — U.S. donors call:             719-590-9800

Remember ~  Every little bit helps!  Thank you  and thank you!

Until the whole world hears,  Dave and Beth Jolly

Missionary Training

Missionary training is NOT for the faint of heart! We learned this the hard way when we attended Missionary Training International in Colorado Springs for 3 weeks in June and July. “It was intense!” say our daughters, Kayla, Kristen and Kendra. In the teen group, they were learning many of the same things that we were discussing in our adult sessions ~ topics such as being culturally relevant, what it means to “exit your world and enter another”, conflict management, and how to properly grieve the losses we will experience and say goodbye.

“The hardest thing for me was learning how to defend what I believe in, and the best thing was our leader, David. He was cool!” says Kendra. “I liked the team building exercises we did, but sometimes there was conflict that we had to work through.” (Kristen)

We even had the opportunity to experience some real live missionary training when we had to evacuate our facility due to the wildfires that ravaged the Springs area! We spent 3 nights and 4 days in a church Sunday School class-room. It was quite an adventure!

While it was an emotionally draining and intense experience, we know that the tools we were given will help us greatly once we get to Romania. We also made some wonderful friends who share the same passion that we do about taking the Gospel to places where God has called them.