Not by Sight

By sight this is a rather frustrating sight. We are tying to start a meeting in the valley with the fledgling group of believers we found almost two years ago. We are trying to get them together but this is proving to be almost impossible. To compound problems Danuti is now wanting to sell the house "out from under Gina" due to some extreme debt that his lifestyle has created. So now for the second time Danuti's lifestyle is threatening to take our meeting place. Last time was the apartment that we were meeting at. It seems almost no one will come to this house for the reputation it has. (The easy solution to move the location but I don't want to) We seem to have lost the ones that have fallen back into sin because they don't want to be convicted of their sins, and we can't get the others to come for what ever reasons. By sight this is a very discouraging situation. (By the way Danuti is becoming violent again and we need to pray for Gina has he is threatening her more and more. If he was close to repenting he sure isn't anymore!)

By FAITH in the resurrected Christ we have a great thing going on in the valley. Last night several woman came from the Holy Trinity church to our meeting. It was AWESOME! One of them, who was one of the two hit by the car described which was described in an earlier blog began to share with us from her heart. I will tell you about that later in this blog. We had Bogdon who is a true repenter now, who works with me, who is my Zone 6 leader making great progress. People in the valley are noticing a HUGE change in his life which is giving glory to God. Christa who I haven't been able to work with much comes to these meetings. She is one of the most humble gifted evangelical woman in all of Romania. We picked up two more girls. Catalina (who is like an evangelical pit pull) and Iliana from our group on Sunday mornings that are now working in the valley. Bogdon and I are meeting with Gabriels family on Saturdays at 6:00 and going through the exact study that we are doing at Gina's house. We may be able to start a third study over in another area. Paula, Bogdon's wife has people coming to her house for the express purpose of telling them how amazed they are at Bogdon's changed life. She is also starting the "John Studies" with three young mothers herself. So last night we only had ONE person, Gina, and a young girl from the valley at our second church meeting! But hey "whose counting anyway" We had a great time the Lord was with us in a big way!

We heard an amazing testimony of one lady during who during communist times was widowed at a young age. Forced to work in a factory to support herself. At one point she fell and broke her arms. It was at that time that her boss was looking to fire a couple of people. The workers "recommended" that they fire her because she believed in God, because she brought and read her Bible at work. So the boss went over to the hospital and handed her the papers. She was devastated. She decided to just go back to work anyway not having any choice. He made her start picking up the trash and cleaning toilets without pay! Then after a short while he pulled her aside and said that it was her co-workers, not him that wanted her fired. He then said that her faith had impressed him and that she could have her job back! To this very day when they meet on the street..he tips his hat to her....this a great sign of respect in this culture. So praise the Lord. She also has a heart for poetry and read a new one that she just wrote and very serious after nearly being hit by that car a month ago. She was holding her friends hand when it happened and her friend is the one I blogged about. Nearly the entire church saw it and thought they both were going to be killed. We call Katie the one in the accident Miracle now. The poem basically said, "confess your sins to God and stay close to Him for you don't know when He might take you home, every day could be your last!"

Good Advice!

Pastor Jay's Apartment

Pastor Jay Raines of First Baptist Cameron Missouri is trying something new. He wants to bring his family on an extended mission trip staying two weeks. He will lead two of his teams and then a third one will follow shortly there after led by Landon.

We have decided that it is far more economical to just rent an apartment while he is here. It will be much cheaper! He will be here just over two weeks. I was so very fortunate today as I stumbled onto a great find. I know that 666 is not the best number to have and the drawing on the wall is a little weird but it has a great view. It looks over Zone 9 and is on the tenth floor. I am certain the the roof can be fixed and the walls repaired before he gets here. Jay has really put a lot of trust in us to find an apartment for him. We appreciate this and really don't feel like it is diserved.



The Apartment number is easy to remember!

We are Christians so this shouldn't really be a problem for Jay. We know that we are currently in the 1000 year reign of Christ and that the Devil is bound ....right Jay? (I was actually just joking about being in the Millennium.)
This really can be repaired. Jay, trust me you need this trial if you want to be a missionary, You will need to be able to put up with these kind of conditions. I will try to have the wall put in place before you get here. There is plenty of room for your two children. The owner said that that the heater works in the summer but not so good in the winter. It is a good thing the Bible tells wives to be submissive to their husbands. I don't think Michele would really put up with this without you laying down the law and letting her know how important it is to suffer for our Lord.

They really came down on the price and said that they would have Internet service ready for You when you get here. I love working in this post communistic culture! I find it amazing that they actaully had a yard up on the roof overlooking the city!

It does have an indoor bathroom and really the color is quite attractive. This is what just reached out and grabbed me. So I am so thankful for this find. It was the very first apartment that we looked at. Well, pray that Jay and his family are spiritually mature enough to live here.... I mean if they really LOVE JESUS like they say they do..... I am sure that they will just love this apartment!
From the Apartment looking over Zone 9.

Looking over towards the tower!

McDonalds is just to the left of this picture, only a five minute walk from his apartment. This is Zone 9. Come and get them Jay...they are lost and it is your job to find them!

Mihia with John and Daniel

Last night Mihia brought these two young men, John who is 19 and Daniel 17 to hear the Gospel. They both decided to accept Christ as their Saviour. Mihia brought them over to talk in the Zone 9 apartment and after about two hours of using the extended version of "Share Jesus Without Fear" they both prayed to ask God for forgivness. At the same time also admitted that they couldn't get to heaven through good works. So pray for these two young men. I found out later that John, the guy in the middle did a lesson from the John studies last year with Pastor Jay Raines, who just happens to be coming back in two weeks with his entire family. His church, Cameron First is very missions minded as they are sending three teams to help start the work in Zone 9. They are the ones who sent Lanny the "Tennis Man" and Mr. ManSingh the guy who got us in the big Steel factory. They also have Nancy and Whitney and Landon...and..Carrie..and....and.. who have come over to help! They are a great group of believers who encourage us so much to keep on keeping on!

Anybody who has worked with the Orthodox believers knows that just praying a prayer is not a quarantee that someone got saved. This is probably the worst part about working with the American mindset. Sometimes it is very difficult to know what to do because if you do pray a prayer with them it can run them off, scare them so to speak not knowing exactly what they were doing "repeating a prayer" with a complete stranger. So over here we wait until they give clear testimony to their own "Salvation" experiance to consider them "Born Again". They must really make Jesus their Lord and take this to heart before God will bring them into His family. This becomes very clear after working here for four years that not everybody who prays a prayer gets saved. (Read my post on Bogdon...one of my converts gets saved)

So pray that these two men will begin to do lessons with us at the apartment and become apart of the Zone 9 Team.

Missions Change Lives

Here is the latest team from Living Word Baptist Church being commissioned to go again and take the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. This was the Sunday before they arrived here in Romania almost one month ago. Pastor Donny Emmons prays that God will use this team and keep them safe along the way, that God will watch over them and give them strength.

This is a very common sight at Living Word Baptist Church. Matthew and I were a member of a team like this June 21, 2002. This was the trip that led to us being called to the field. In less then a year ...against ALL ODDS we were in the country of Moldova serving the first of two ISC terms. That seems like a long, long time ago when we were standing in our home church with prayers being said over us! At the time we didn't even know that the IMB even exsited! Here is our President, Jerry Rankin whose vision called "New Direction" has allowed people like us who are called to field but lacked the educational requirements a way on to the field. If it were not for his gift of leadership and vision my family would still be looking for a way to the field! God has used this one man to open the mission field for hundreds upon hundreds of Southern Baptists that were "not qualified" from going before. I pray that thousands upon thousands come into the Kingdom through this New Direction. He spoke at our commissining service January 31, 2007 at Highland Baptist Church in Southern California.

Here is our Pastor David Groves and his beautiful wife Karen, They were instrumental in our joining the International Mission Board. Without our Pastor's heart and concern for his people we would not have made it on the field at all. No one has been more helpful to us then these two over our first four years on the field. We love them and appreciate them more then we could ever tell them. They came out to our commissining service and met our Regional Leadership Team hoping to bring many, many teams from America over to Europe. God has given Pastor incredible skills in working with high level people in Europe. He really is in his element when sharing the Gospel with a mayor of one of these old communist villages. I have learned so much from him and pray everyday that some day I will have half the wisdom he has. Karen is actally the one that makes this possible but thats an entirely different stroy!

We had to memorize our testimony. We were given a whopping 160 words to tell how God called us into missions. (anybody who knows me knows that this was a miracle) I still remember mine word for word! "It was on a short term mission trip to the country of Moldova where God showed me the power of the Gospel in a new and heart wrenching way. Night after night these people who had suffered under the cruel hand of communism responded to God's offer of hope through His Son Jesus Christ, it was then that God called me to a life of missions" The Karla told how he too confirmed the call in her heart through prayer and fasting.

January 31st, 2007 we were appointed as Associate Missionaries with the International Mission Board to the country of Romania where we are the Team Leaders for the Southeast region. We are church planters that are trying to develop a way to reach these huge urban centers found in behind the iron curtian. We pray that God will use us to His glory.

Immanuel Baptist Church was such an incredible blessing to us. They treated us so good and blessed us with so many gifts. This laptop that I am typing on right now was a gift from the Sunday School class that Karla and I spoke to. They spoiled us so bad! This was the first commissioning service held in Southern California I think.

The flags of all the nations! What a sight to see all the nations of the world represented by all these flags. To the heart of a missionary it just doesn't get any better then this. We pray that God is working through all our missionaries that simply wouldn't be possible without the Southern Baptist and their generous giving. We understand that over 150 million dollars were given to Lottie Moon this year. Praise the Lord for the generous giving of the SBC full of God's chosen!

Danuti-closer then ever to repenting

We are seeing and hearing amazing things here in the valley. First of all the picture on the left is one of the girls that was in the accident the other day. She is fine and is doing much better then her sister. Both are cousins of Danuti. The older girl is in the hospital and doing a little better now. She came out of her coma and is making progress. God heard and answered our prayers. This also brought Danuti one step closer to repentance. He is now back home with Gina. He called me three times this week. He wants us to start seeing him every day if possible and he really wants to move closer to God. He doesn't want his boys to go to jail when they grow up. We just spent two hours with him and I believe that it is just a matter of time now. His friends are all in jail now, he has no money and is wanting to sell the house. (We don't want him to sell the house) We will start weekly meetings there next week.

A picture taken today......see the pool in the background. Danuti knows that I want to baptize him and Gina soon. He even said that he wants to make his marriage official and asked if I would do the ceremony. It would be the first one I ever did. I will make sure he is a true repenter first! So wedding bells could be in the air for them. Of course they already have been living together (well sort of but that is another story for another time) and have two children together so it is about time.

I am hoping that he will be one of the deacons in the new church we are planting in the valley! Don't mess with this deacon....or.... well, just don't mess with him! Please pray for Danuti, he needs to find a job and doesn't know what he can do that is legal. He really needs to find another line of work......pray for him.

The beginning of work in Zone 9

So many things happened this week that I can't remember all the details. This was exciting to me because only one week before the team came we didn't even have an apartment. Cane Creek Stoddard Baptist Association (CCSBA) has promised to support the work in Zone 9. NOT just by helping to send teams but also with the financial assistance needed to rent an apartment. Only three days before the team arrived we secured this apartment. So this was the first time that we were able to actually BEGIN to put the National Bible Reading Plan to practice. This plan is to be led by nationals, expanded by SBC teams coming from Missiouri with an apartment rented by the CCSBA whose Director of Missions is Marshal Link. We are trying to build a prototype model that will start "cell type" churches in heavily populated areas. So this is like the fist step on the way to Mars...but it was a good one! Here Kim and Catalina are enjoying a little friendship. This was Kim's first mission trip and as the week went by she become stronger and stronger in the work and the faith. I was very proud of Kim as we have known her family for several years and also had the priviledge of leading her husband Kenny to Christ on "her birthday" almost ten years ago. Her daughter has a heart for missions and now that MOM has been on a mission trip.....we will see what God does with her!

These are precious photo's to me. I always have big dreams and hopes that what I am talking about all the time and planning will come to pass. I want to see a strong network established in Galati that will lead many people to Christ and leave a church behind at the same time. This group of people is what God used to confirm some of my hopes. We are SO FAR from where I see that we can be but AMEN for all that we see God is doing in Galati. Some will get to see it first hand and others will pray from far away but will also be a co-worker with Christ. This is one my pastors favorite thoughts as he mentions it all the time. God doesn't need our help!

The lady with her hands folded in this picture was the first person to do a lesson in the apartment. They met her on the street on Wednesday, made an appointment for 5 on friday. She showed up and was waiting for the lesson. Praise the Lord. It went well and she will continue to do the lessons.

Discounting the two new people on this mission trip the average age of the other eight was around 65 or so. I was absolutely amazed at this team. They have been coming to Europe for around eight years now. They are a medical team primarily and are the "example" to follow in exactly how to run a mobile clinic. This week though they came to help their brother and I deeply appreciate them. They talked to many people about the Lord and gave our national team a chance to work with them.

Mihia the tall guy in the red shirt is also a God send. He has a great heart to help me see this ministry come to pass. I didn't even know if we had ANY help at all going into this week. He delivered in a big way. He found people who were more interested in Evangelism then making money off the week translating for the americans. This is exactly what we need. It has become a big problem that those who speak the best english are the ones that the church gives us when the teams come. This hurts us in big way because they are normally very busy already with other duties or only come to make the extra money and will not help with follow up. I am not saying that I blame them but it can not be a part of this plan. I would rather just have those who want to see Galati come to Christ. This is a big prayer request but I know that God will honor this as you can not serve God and money!

Jewish Neighbor

We had a great opportunity to witness to this dear 92 year old Jewish lady named Sarah. Her son is Rosantal and is pointing to the 10 commandments posted on thier door post as the scripture commands them! The time spent with Sarah softened her heart a little and she promised to think about everything we said. After Alina shared with her, Karen, Ruth and I took our best shot at telling her about Jesus. She is very sharp mentally but in rough phyical condition. We gave her many things to think about.

Karen explaining Salvation to her. I really felt that God prepared her heart for this because she gave so many good words to help her explain the purpose of the Law and some examples from the Old Testament. We know that many were praying for this along with Lee, Ruth and I as she was talking to Sarah.

She just can't believe that Jesus was God and that he was the Messiah. We read Romans 10 to her and Isaiah 53. This proved to help a little. She was so tired when we left but promised to think about everything we said. I told her it would break my heart if I came to her funeral and knew that she had rejected Jesus as the Saviour. She needs our prayers. Rosental did seem to want to do a Bible Study with us though.

TEAM LIVING WORD BAPTIST CHURCH

Pictures from the week past. It was neat to see the hand of the Lord working in so many ways. This is a picture of two lost people on either side of Meriana a repenter, that were with us at the Samale Party

This is the Small Group Training room that we will use in the future to develop the cell church we want to have in Zone 9.

The first three people to complete the National Bible Reading Campaign. They are all members of Holy Trinity Baptist Church now! God is GOOD!

Team Living Word Baptist Church. Thanks for being flexible, willing, and (almost!) able to anything asked of you. We had a challenging week and in my heart of hearts I see your trip as one that helped us get back up to speed. When you showed up almost no work was in progress. We see from last nights (lack of attendance) that the valley needs our prayers. After handing out nearly 1600 invitations it was slightly discouraging to see so few people there. But one of Roberts friends gave his life to Christ after pastors sermon. The great thing about last night was the number of believers from the National church that are helping us. We are starting to see more and more jumb on this ministry. Of the 150 people there last night many were from Holy Trinity. Lorenso (Roland) really enjoyed the Servants song...he held back the tears. Thanks Living Word you are the best church a missionary could possibly belong to! We are truely blessed!

SARMALE PARTY

Here is Gina and her friends. They worked all day to help put together our Sarmale Fest. This is one of the strongest woman I know of. She has been so faithful to wait for God to change her husbands heart. When she began praying for her husband she just broke down. We had prayer for him asking God to bring him home to his wife and family. Pray for this that God may recieve the glory and honor when it happens.

We had a wonderful time last night at our Gypsy Sarmale party. Where it became more like a church service. The american team was very tired last night after six or seven hours of doing street evangelism. We worked in Zone 9 and found it to be the typical day...."I don't know where I am going when I die and I don't really care. I am Orthodox" I did have an interesting meeting with a man named Cornel that was saved a month ago. He jumped of a bridge trying to kill himself and decided on the way down that he didn't want to die. God spared his life and now he is on our side! He will begin coming to the apartment and learning the Bible making him our first potential leader from the harvest in Zone 9. We also had a very, good profitable meeting with a JW lady who had been faithful to attend for 24 years her cult and goes fives times a week to the services. We will meet again and seem to have already made some progress with her.

We sang Amazing Grace and I simply couldn't hold back the tears! We even had four of our national leaders /translators sing several beautiful songs for us.

Here is Alina and her disciple Gina (a different Gina) having a great time. This Gina was baptised recently, well actually the same time that Paula was, she had a wonderful time and when we took her home it looked like she was walking on air going up to her apartment.

Gina's Sarmale....The best Samarle in the whole world. She provided everything for us. It was a great night all the way around. I loved to see the nationals building relationships like this. The Americans bring a lot to the table also. They already know how to function as the Body of Christ and can demonstrate this to the nationals on the fly! I think that last night was the closest thing to a New Testament church service that I have ever attendend. It was exactly what I am shooting for may God in heaven breath life into the Valley. Pray for our Big Event tonight at the club. We are expecting many people there tonight.

Pastor and Karen having some of the delicious Sarmale. You can see the bar in the back ground over there by Bogdon and Roger. It was difficult to keep some of the LWBC team members out of the bar but we mananged!