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Christina Semon June 2009Missionary Serving in Romania
I learned many things aboutmyself during the past year.During the first week of GreatLent, we read in the Book ofProverbs, “Trust in God with allyour heart and do not exalt yourown wisdom” (Proverbs 3:5).This past year I learned that Iam powerless. I had to let myown agenda – my own will – bedropped and smashed to piecesas a glass hits a cement floor,and change my frame of mind totrust in God’s will alone. Thework that I had to do was chal-lenging. I kept remindingmyself that I am not in thisalone, because God gave meconfidence from Sunday toSunday to do what I had to do.He gave me this confidencethrough my interactions with allof you, which were like a breath of fresh air to me. Duringeach week, I would spend my time preparing for the fol-lowing Sunday, and by the end of the week I was usuallynervous. Then Sunday would come, and I would presentmy missionary plans despite my nervousness. Somethingjoyful and unexpected would happen--all of you openedyour hearts to me and encouraged me to continue facingthe challenges of building a support team. While I mayhave arrived feeling nervous, I always left strengthenedfor the challenges ahead.
And so, I proceeded in faith to build a network of sup-porters for this work. Through God’s grace and your sup-port, my goals for departure to Romania were met. Thenext step for me was a transition from thinking aboutfundraising to starting to think about the destination. But
it was difficult to slow downfrom the active traveling sched-ule to a more stationary sched-ule of studies on Romania.However, before I could trulybegin this transition, I had tocatch up on many items which,until then, I did not have time tofocus on. During this time, aswell as earlier in my journey, Iwas blessed with opportunitiesto visit a few monasteries. Atthe monasteries I was able tosense how fast my thoughtswere going and the amount ofeffort it would take to slowthem down. I left from theseholy places rejuvenated andmore centered in Christ. I wasready for my next challenges.
And now, the initial supportbuilding phase has passed, and
you and I are ready to go for a journey to Romania.Thanks to your support and prayers, I am transitioning.The first three goals for the field are to: 1) learn the lan-guage 2) learn the culture and 3) love the people. All ofthese goals take time. I am grateful we have missionarySaints who have gone before us and laid this path we canfollow to help us integrate into another culture. TheGospel has been preached in Romania for many centuries,and so we will learn how the Good News is being livedout among the Romanian people. I am excited and hum-bled to join the existing team of Romanians involved inthe Protection of the Theotokos Family Center and the St.Dimitrie Program, and all those people whose paths I willcross while in Romania.
Christina (second row, far right) was hosted by Fr.George Gartelos at the OCF at the University of WY.
Christina Semon June 2009OCMC MISSIONARY NEWS
NON-PROFIT ORGU.S. POSTAGE
PAIDST. AUGUSTINE, FL
PERMIT NO. 35
P.O. Box 4319 • St. Augustine, FL 32085-4319RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANMISSION CENTER
SemonSemonMissionary
Contact OCMC:P O Box 4319St.Augustine, FL, 32085
1-877-GO-FORTH (463-6784)1-904-829-1635-FAX
Contact Christina:
Str.Calea Floresti, No. 1Bloc T1, Scara 2, Etaj 3,Apt. 533400 Cluj-Napoca ROMANIA
[email protected] since 2009
Reflections on a Year of Transitions
MISSIONTEAMS
2009 OCMC Mission Teams are now posted at:www.ocmc.org. A team will be going to RomaniaSeptember 15-30 to conduct woman retreats. Inaddition, other teams will be traveling to manyother countries providing catechism, health care,youth ministry, and construction assistance for aperiod of two to four weeks. Applications andinformation are available at www.ocmc.org/pro-grams/teams or by contacting the teams depart-ment at: [email protected].
OCMC Mission Teams MISSIONARYSERVICE
OCMC is prayerfully seeking dedicated OrthodoxChristians to answer the call for long-term mis-sionary service in many countries. Please join us inpraying for more laborers in the harvest, includingthose opportunities in Romania listed below:
• Youth and young adult ministry workers• Substance Abuse Counselors
Long-term Opportunities
ChristinaChristina
Christina Semon June 2009OCMC MISSIONARY NEWS Christina Semon June 2009OCMC MISSIONARY NEWS
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When the missionary candidate is well on his orher way to completing the support building, one of the lastevents to schedule is the Commissioning Service. OnFebruary 8th we held the Commissioning Service, duringwhich special prayers were prayed over me. At my homeparish of All Saints Orthodox Church, His Grace, BishopTikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, visitingpriest Fr. David Rucker, Associate Director of OCMC,parish rector Fr. David Cowan, and the faithful, all cele-brated the Divine Liturgy together. Then, at the end of theLiturgy, was the Commissioning.
God opened our hearts that day and in flowed thelove of Christ. I felt the synergy flowing through theDivine Liturgy. That day, God showed me the joy thatcomes from stirring up our hearts to give honor and gloryto Him. It made me aware that God is truly merciful to
me, unworthy though I am. It seemed that worshiping inthat Divine Liturgy were far more than those visibly pres-ent. Through the love and prayers of everyone I had meton my travels this year, I sensed that we were all united inthat Divine Liturgy. Is this different from any other serv-ice? That unique experience made me aware of the inten-sity and significance of the Divine Liturgy. It is truly a giftfrom God.
One of the parishioners at All Saints compared theCommissioning Service to that of a wedding. Oh what joythat brought to my heart! It’s probably the cheapest wed-ding a daughter could ask for from her parents. But seri-ously, our Bridegroom, Christ, unites us together as Hisbride, the Church.
I want to say thank you to all I met, and all I haveyet to met, for your decision to participate with me in thework of the Holy Spirit in Romania. I am grateful for myfamily and friends who gave me assistance. My thankful-ness extends to those who gave me hospitality and supportin various ways which encouraged me to continue on thismissionary path. Everyone’s prayers and embraces arevital to me because they provide me spiritual and physicalstrength. I know that I am not alone in this mission field.Thanks be to God!
My last training session, called “Pre-Field Training”(PFT) took place at OCMC headquarters in St. Augustine,FL, from February 23-27, 2009. Coming fromPennsylvania, I had enough of the cold. I was ready forsome spring-like weather in Florida, and I wasn’t disap-pointed.
This week-long session targeted the following: lan-guage training, how to maintain communication with yoursupport team, communication tools to use while in thefield, sessions on culture shock, and physical and spiritu-al wellness, a review of the budget, dialogue with the fieldleader, and, finally, purchasing a plane ticket! It wasextremely important for me to be trained in all these areasso that I could understand better how to “fit into the pic-ture” over in Romania. As a result of this orientation, Ifelt prepared and ready to make the transition to Romania.
During the first day, one of my sessions was on lan-guage training. I am interested to begin learningRomanian with the help of the method I was taught.Language acquisition will be my number-one priority, asit will enable me to interact with the people of that culturemuch more intimately.
On the last day at OCMC, Fr. David Rucker andOCMC staff said a prayer over me ,with the laying on ofhands, in front of the icons of Saint Herman of Alaska andSaints Cyril and Methodius. All of my associates makeme feel that I am part of the team at OCMC. They are allexperts in their departments, and theygive me the best advice and suggestionson how to manage during this transitionperiod.
Also on that last day of PFT, mydeparture date was confirmed with thetravel agent. I was happy to announcethat I would be departing for Romaniaon March 17th, Saint Patrick’s Day. Itraveled through Munich, Germany, toCluj, Romania. I asked for your contin-ued prayers that day and throughout myjourney. I was grateful to travel on a dayin which we commemorate a missionarysaint who worshiped the Trinity in hisdaily life and participated in making dis-ciples of Christ. Holy Saint Patrick, intercede for us!
Living in Cluj, Romania is awonderful experience. I live with awidow named Anica. We live in theeastern part of the city in a sixth-floor Romanian apartment. She andI get along very well. Although shedoesn’t know English, we are find-ing ways to communicate. Cluj hasa population of approximately317,000 people, and the mass trans-portation system works well. I usethe buses daily to travel around thecity and walk all over the place. Myprimary work at this time is to learnthe Romanian language and culture.Many people here are able to speaksome English, so it is challengingsometimes to speak Romanian with people. In spite ofthis, I am striving to respond to them in Romanian. I amtaking lessons with a tutor five days a week for 3 hourseach day. I am also working with the Romanian staff sev-eral times a week at the Protection of the TheotokosFamily Center to enhance my language skills and begin tointegrate into the ministry.
It was a great blessing and joy to celebrate Pascha inRomania. The parish I attend is St. John the TheologianRomanian Orthodox Church, and it is the same parish
where Floyd and Ancuta attend services.It is a small wooden temporary churchwith many people coming to worship.The majority of people have to be out-side because of how small the church is.For example, at Pascha, there were prob-ably over 500 people with only 120packed in the church. It was a wonder-ful experience and the Paschal DivineLiturgy was filled with jubilation forChrist and love for each other. Glory to God for all things!
Pre-Field Training at OCMC
Chirstina with Clergy and her family at theCommissioning Service
His Grace Bishop Tikhon commissioning Chiristina at herhome parish of All Saints, with Fr. David Rucker, OCMCAssociated Director looking on.
Christina dyeing pascha eggs and prac-ticing Romanian; “Hristos a înviat!(Chirst is Risen) Adevarat a înviat!(Truly He is Risen)
Christina picturedwith (clock-wise)Kriss and Geoff
Whiteman and LukeBeachum at St.John’s Winter
Retreat in Bedford,IN.
The Commissioning Service First impressions of the Field
