Heidi Longworth Newsletter Summer 2023

Summers in Romania usually mean camps, conferences, outings and home-made lemonades of varying flavours on the terrace. Apart from the ridiculous amount of torrential rain, this summer was no exception.

May

It was great to have a trip back to the UK for the Elim missionaries conference at Malvern and ELS (Elim Leadership Summit) in Harrogate. It was a great time of spiritual refreshing, and really encouraging to spend time getting to know fellow Elim missionaries. Great to be back at my sending church, New Life too and spending time with my family.

June

One of the bigger churches in this part of Romania (Harvest Arad) hosted a conference for children and youth workers. A group of us from Deo Gloria church went and had a great time together. We made connections there and picked up resources that have been invaluable for the youth ministry in particular.

As school was out for the summer, the camp at Varmaga started to host a monthly day of get-togethers for people with disabilities. For the event in June, our youth group was invited to host and organise the program. So we took all the youth and they took part in the worship band, giving testimony and generally chatting with the guests. Fun was had by all and it was a great opportunity for the youth to serve.

I saw my cardiologist in June who is pleased with my progress and will see me again in October - praise the Lord!

This academic year I did a training course called Seedbed as part of my induction into Elim missions. Each Thursday evening I joined with Kings Church in Warrington via Zoom and was greatly encouraged to learn alongside others passionate about local missions. I completed the course at the end of June.

July

The first weekend in July Deo Gloria church hosted a team of five from K180 in London who came alongside us in a weekend of street evangelism. They did some training with us in how to share the gospel and to share your testimony and then we sang in the park and went out to chat with people on the streets. We held a youth event in a local restaurant too. I think it helped us as a church to gain confidence in speaking with people about the Good News of Jesus Christ, and was great to make some good friends in the process. And of course whenever anyone visits Hunedoara, we have to take them to visit the castle too!

I led a week-long camp at Varmaga for people with disabilities and their carers. I had a young team (all of them were teenagers), but they were amazing! We did all the usual games, crafts and activities, including a sensory path and singing round the camp fire which ended rather abruptly with a very sudden torrential downpour and we all had to run as best we could with wheelchairs - we all got drenched but laughed a lot too!

I completed the Elim Academy in July. I’d had a series of training videos to work through over several months. It’s a great resource for any missionary and I learned loads from the videos.

Another youth leader and I lead a girls group. We’ve usually cooked together and done a bible study, working though a series on women in the bible. We took the girls for a day out in the beautiful city of Sibiu to celebrate one of the girls doing well in her exams and getting into the high school she wanted. It included a meal in the old town, shopping in the mall and the Barbie film at the cinema!

August

A friend of mine from Scotland came to stay and we had a lovely time. We went for a couple of days to the quaint and beautiful citadel of Sighisoara. We explored the towers of the guilds and soaked up the atmosphere before leaving for an overnight in Cluj too.

I think the biggest highlight of the summer has been Deo Gloria’s youth camp. Originally concerned that we weren’t going to have enough people for the minimum requirement at the venue, we ended up having to stop registrations! About half of the participants were completely new to us and I have to confess to a bit of angst as we were preparing, not knowing how it was going to be. We knew some of the young people had challenging behaviours and backgrounds and we were desperate to show them the love of God. But God was so gracious and worked so obviously. From the start it went really well, but the Thursday evening was something incredibly special. We did a prayer labyrinth which had at the heart the Gospel message, and as they came from the final station of the labyrinth into the main room where they were offered prayer one-to-one, many of them were crying because they had been convicted of their sin, repented, and given their lives to Jesus. Although for some it may have been the emotion of the moment, for many I think it was a genuine experience of the presence of God and of repentance and new birth. Since then, our youth group has grown substantially, and most of them are coming to church on Sunday mornings each week, sometimes bringing their parents too. It has been a huge encouragement to the church to see all these enthusiastic young people joining us. From 16th September, we will be starting Youth Alpha, so please do pray that it would seal in their hearts what God has done in the camp and that those who didn’t make decisions to follow Jesus would do that soon. And for those that did, please pray that as they start school again this coming week, they won’t be negatively affected by those around them, but that they would shine the light of Christ where they go.

And after a tiring, but very fulfilling week at camp, I got away for a few days holiday with a friend in Bologna. It was hot! But we really enjoyed seeing the city from a little tourist train, as well as visiting various coffee shops and restaurants, and having siestas in the air conditioned hotel! It was lovely to have some time away and see somewhere new.

Prayer and Praise

Thank God for:

A great summer filled with the goodness of God, especially at Deo Gloria’s youth camp and the young people that are now coming to church
For all I’ve learned through Elim Academy and Seedbed and that I’ve been able to complete the training
For the seeds that have been sown through the weekend of evangelism and the camps

Pray with me for:

The courses I’m involved in teaching at - History Makers happening this coming week, and EnRoute Romania missions course starting middle of October
The youth at Deo Impact as we embark on Youth Alpha, and that God would continue the work he started in all those who were at camp
My MA dissertation as I restart my studies
A good health review coming up in October and for plenty of energy

Thanks for all your love, support and prayers.

Love and blessings,
Heidi

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