Tribune Article

Church honors man’s life A son’s death inspired a labor of love, faith.
By T.J. GREANEY of the Tribune’s staff
Published Saturday, September 13, 2008
It was during his first trip to Romania at age 15 that Scott Laws fell in love with the country. The trip came in 1992, just a couple of years after the Soviet Union fell, and people there were eager to learn about the wider world.
Photo courtesy of Sherryl Laws
Scott Laws, left, ministers as a 15-year-old to children during his first trip to Romania in 1992. Laws died of colon cancer last year.
For two weeks, Scott and his family taught Bible school and ministered to people on the street. The boy went to low-income apartment complexes and, after a crowd gathered, read from a picture book to tell the story of Jesus.
"We loved it. We called ourselves ‘Romaniacs,’ " said his mother, Sherryl Laws. "At that time, people were so excited to meet Americans."
Over the next 15 years Scott traveled to Romania eight times. He learned the language fluently, read the poetry for pleasure and held long conversations with locals about politics. As a high school sophomore, he found out that the University of Missouri was creating a study abroad program to Romania. He worked hard to graduate from Hickman High School one year early to take part.
"There was something about it. He just fit into the culture there," Sherryl Laws said. "He was sort of out of step here. He was sort of a geek, and the Romanian teenagers are a little more serious."
Last September, Scott Laws lost a 2½-year battle with colon cancer. Those who loved him said it seemed fitting that something should be done in his honor to aid the people of Romania.
At his funeral, the Laws family collected more than $30,000 for a building fund for a church in Craiova, a town in southern Romania. The church was then little more than four walls and a foundation and was built with the help of missionaries like the Laws family from American Evangelical Free Churches.
About a month after Scott’s death, the people of Craiova were able to put a roof, siding, and doors on their church.
But Sherryl Laws wasn’t satisfied. The church still lacked plumbing, electricity and proper windows. In June, to mark Scott’s birthday, Sherryl sent around an e-mail to her friends to see if she could collect more donations and pull together a team to travel to Romania and work on the building.
In response, more than 100 people donated more than $10,000. Sherryl was also able to organize a group of 11 volunteers from three different denominations, including a trained plumber and electrician, to travel to Romania and donate their work
Among the group that traveled to Craiova for 10 days in August was Larry Sabulsky of Columbia. A certified electrician, Sabulsky said he first promised 17 years ago to go "wire up the church" when missionaries built it. When Sherryl approached him about the trip in June, he had forgotten about the promise but was more than happy to follow through.
Sabulsky and his 13-year-old son Luke joined the team that worked from 7 a.m. until past 5 p.m. on the church site every day.
On the last Sunday of the trip, the Romanian congregation held a service in their new church. Sabulsky said many of the members had tears in their eyes looking up at the sheet rock ceiling, new lights, copper piping and thick, strong windows.
"It’s just a joy to see that church come along so far," Sabulsky said. "To think that one person," Scott Laws, "could have that much influence on something halfway around the world is incredible."
Sherryl Laws said the trip was the perfect way to do God’s work and honor her son one year after his death. She is planning an upcoming pot-luck "Taste of Romania" day at 6 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Evangelical Free Church on Silvey Street, where she’ll show photos and video from the trip. The event is open to the public.
But, she said, at the end of the trip as she boarded the plane in Romania and started the long journey home, she couldn’t help but feel sad. She wished Scott could have been there.
As she was buckling her seatbelt, a Romanian phrase popped into her head. Try as she might, she just couldn’t stop thinking about it.
"Te-Am Gasit" were the words, and she spoke them aloud. But to Sherryl, who knows almost none of the language, the words were meaningless.
When she returned home to Columbia, she couldn’t sleep. Finally, at 4 a.m. she got up, went to her computer, and began chatting with a friend named Oana, in Romania.
"What does the phrase mean?" Sherryl asked Oana.
Oana responded immediately, "It means, ‘I have found you,’ " she wrote.
And then it made sense.
"When she typed those words I was like, ‘Wow!’ " Laws recalled. "That was God’s way of saying, ‘I’m here. I’m with you.’ "
Reach T.J. Greaney at (573) 815-1719 or tjgreaney@tribmail.com.v

Missourian Article

In memory of a son, money raised to build a church
Sunday, August 3, 2008 9:08 p.m. CDT

Sherryl Laws, right, and a team of 10 are going to Romania to work on the completion of a church in memory of her son, Scott Laws, left. The project has been under way for 17 years. ¦ Courtesy of Sherryl Laws
BY REBECCA H. ROMANO
COLUMBIA — Scott Laws had a heart for Romania and its people. He spent his summers there as a teenager and became fluent in the language, so much so that the Romanian people thought he was a local.
His love for Romania began in the 1990s. His church, Evangelical Free Church of Columbia, was sending mission teams to Romania every summer to work with the Evangelical Free Church of Craiova. Scott went on several of those missions to the southern Romanian city. But this year, Scott won't be returning to Romania because he lost his battle with colon cancer in September at the age of 30.
Get involved
Donations for the Craiova Romania Church can be sent to: Evangelical Free Church, 600 Silvey Rd., Columbia, MO 65203. Put Romania in the memo line of the check.
Or if you would like to be part of the mission team, you can reach Sherryl Laws at sherryl.laws@gmail.com or 573-449-8391. For more information about the Craiova Church project or to read about the team’s journey, access their website at teamcraiova.blogspot.com.
Related Media

A young Scott Laws shows Romanian children a story book of the gospel of Christ on a mission trip to Craiova Romanian in the early 1990s.

The Evangelical Free Church of Craiova (Biserica Evanghelica Libera din Craiova) is finally being built. 17 years ago, the E-Free Church of Columbia started a church in Craiova, Romania. It is slated to be complete this year.
His mom, Sherryl Laws, and 10 others will leave Friday for a 10-day trip to Craiova, a trip, in many ways, they're making to honor Scott. Sherryl's team will help complete a new facility for Evangelical Free Church of Craiova.
Seventeen years ago, the Craiova church wanted to build a facility of its own, so it began purchasing land in the area. It took 17 years to complete the purchase. Finally, building has begun.
About 15 years ago, both Sherryl and Scott dreamed of moving to Romania and working as short-term missionaries. Sherryl said that she now believes that God "tied her heart to Romania," not because he wanted her to be a missionary to Romania, but rather for Romania.
As part of her duties as a missionary, Sherryl said she feels called to raise money for the completion of the church in Craiova. A year ago, $30,000 in donations were given to Scott's memorial fund for the Craiova church.
"God has honored my son by allowing his memorial to be a part of building (God's) church. I just wanted to follow through with that in Scott's memory," Sherryl said.
Sherryl set a goal to raise $10,000 to purchase windows for the church for her latest trip. With two weeks to go, the group still needed $3,000. Sherryl says she isn't ashamed of asking people for the money, either.
"I can't be ashamed of asking for money; I don't sing, I don't preach, but God has given me the courage, or whatever you want to call it, to speak of the needs of Romania," she said.
So, anyone who knows her has been asked to donate.
"I always felt that when we went, we were the eyes of the church here. We needed to come home and tell of the needs there," Sherryl said. "I feel like I alone do not have the resources, so I have to speak up and say what they need."
She was part of a team that attended the first Craiova church service. The team used street evangelism to invite the Romanian people to attend. That day, 300 people made professions of the Christian faith. In her mind, it would be wrong to share the message of Christ and then leave the Romanian people without a church.
"I believe that when they have their own building, they can be a beacon of light in a very dark place," she said.
Although the exterior of the Craiova church is close to completion, there is still much to be done inside - plumbing, electrical wiring and windows need to be installed. The volunteers' goal is to complete the sanctuary before winter so the Romanian people can finally worship in the church. However, the church still needs $50,000 for its completion.
Sherryl said she believes that without the help of Americans, the Romanians, with their average $300 monthly salary, wouldn't have the funding to build the churches. "We have the wealth of the world. We have so much here that we could build this church and 50 others if we would just give."