About Committed to Youth

Hi, I am Doru Pavel. Welcome to my blog! Together my family and I work together in Ciorani and Valenii de Munte, Romania to fill the gap of youth mentoring at our church there so that transitioning youth have a chance of being strong, well-rounded, successful, and faithful Christians . We volunteer at the local orphanage to meet the needs of children that would otherwise go neglected from a lack of a parental figure in their lives. We disciple children in our local church, and meet with young men who have left the orphanage or aged out to guide them through life with the advice found in scripture. We started this blog to serve as a portal to share with you a glimpse into the  missions experiences that surround the development of faith in youth. We desire to reveal the goings on of world missions, the obstacles we encounter, our spiritual development, as well as, the development of  the children we work with.  We would love for everyone to be able to see what is happening in our hearts, minds and the mission, as God works through us. We post monthly tidbits about expat life, missions work, and spiritual development.  

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If you are new to our site please check out the following posts: If you would like to know more about me and what called me to minister in Romania click here. To see a list of our current prayer requests you can see our Faith List by clicking here. What we do in Romania. Due to prejudice and economic hardship many children are left in government institutions at an alarming rate. Although, this amount has decreased dramatically since 30 years ago there are still over 10,000 children being abandoned every year and roughly 52,000 children seperated from their families for sometimes years at a time for no acceptable reason at all.  Many of the children grow up separated from their families all their lives and become unprepared to handle real life situations because they suffer from lack of positive adult interaction, stability and mentoring. Sadly the reality for these children is that there is no one to reinforce positive virtues and values that make successful adults. They do not understand the importance of doing well in school, being motivated or learning to be self-sufficient. There are countless children that end up on the streets, homeless, involved in sex-trafficking, drugs and the like.  There is no denying that positive role models are a necessity for young children, that’s where we come in.  Every day we meet with the children before and after school to help them integrate biblical principals into their every day life. We help hold a chapel service for them, play games, assist in camps, hold workshops, and one-on-one discipleship all aimed at helping them be prepared to integrate into society. We are a family that is following Mark 9:36-37 call to welcome the youth to the ways of Christ, fostering Christian growth and discipleship. Our desire is to develop leaders with character, from among the youth of Romania that would be fully equipped to lead and disciple current and future generations in their country. We are currently live in Romania fulfilling full time missions work at an orphanage, gypsy villages and churches in our area. Our story. I grew up in Chicago, Illinois, son of Romanian immigrants in the late 80’s. My parents had fled the communist rule of Ceausescu in hopes for a better life in the United States.  Although, I did not grow up in Romania, my mother worked diligently to keep us as close to the Romanian traditions as possible. After the curtain fell, we traveled almost yearly to visit family in Romania. I spent plenty of summers learning the culture, language and understanding more about my heritage. It was those summer months that I spent with my cousins and friends that I really began to realize how different life was for the youth in Romania. Generally speaking there was a lack of hope, peace and joy that surrounded us the entire time I was there.  I know that those summer months were spent to bring me where I am today.  It was completely obvious that the lack of Jesus Christ was inhibiting people from experiencing a better life. Years later, after college, after serving in the United States Marine Corps, after getting married and three kids later, God reignited my call to minister to the youth in Romania. Working at a cable installation company, I distinctively remember the day, while I was in prayer God told me to “Go to Romania.”  I promptly shared this with my wife and we began the long road of preparation for missions.  Two years after we received the call, we sold what we had, packed and shipped what we could, and arrived in Romania. It has been a long and arduous journey both spiritually and physically for our family. As you can imagine moving across the world is not an easy task with, now, four kids in tow. But, that is a testament to the will of God being done.  There is absolutely no way that any of this would be possible if it weren’t for God.  Over 20 debts paid, house sold, cars sold, kids being all in for missions, funding coming in, finding an organization to work with, the list goes on  and it all happened so quickly that it’s undeniable that God’s hand print was on our lives for all of it. We have been here in Romania for around a year now and, although, things don’t necessarily become easier, we know we are in the hands of the One who has orchestrated all of this for His glory alone and for that we maintain love, peace and joy.  Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—with the blood of the everlasting covenant, equip you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to Him forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 12:20-21 HCSB If you feel the Lord leading you to donate to our mission please know that all general donations are welcome and will be allocated to where needed most if you would like to donate to some thing specific please see our Faith List . No gift amount is too small. Your gift will be handled with complete integrity through Saving Grace World Missions (http://SGWM.com/about/). Please make sure to designate on-line funds to “Pavel, Doru and Natasha”. Ensure all checks that are sent are made out to SGWM and are marked in the memo line for Doru & Natasha Pavel. Mail to: Saving Grace World Missions 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203 Yorba Linda, CA., 90886.

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