Romania Mission Trip 2008

God is Always Faithful

noreply@blogger.com (lpcsarichioi2008) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:42:00 +0000

How do I summarize what has happened in this last 10 days?

We arrived on May 16 in Bucharest. We were taken on a wild van and car ride, and arrived safely at about 9 at night in Babadag. Babadag is the home base church where Pastor Titi and Liliana are working. Assisting them, and working alongside them, is Valentin and Irina, the church planters for the work in Sarichioi. Babadag is a town situated near the delta of the Danube River in eastern Romania. It is in a hilly area, and is beautiful.

We were taken to the place where would spend the next 9 nights, a place called a pension (basically a bed and breakfast, where we also had lunch and supper). The rooms were very basic, 2 beds, a nightstand, a non-functional sink, and that’s all. The only working sink was by the dining hall. There were no showers here, so those who needed a shower more than sleep went to Pastor Titi’s place and Valentin’s place.

The next morning started the whirlwind that would become our weeks work. We started by meeting the leadership team in Babadag, and then by getting prepared for the evening meeting. Our first meeting was a youth event. We got to meet some of the youth from Babadag and Sarichioi. We had some ice-breaker games, and then Ken and Dave both gave good words of teaching and encouragement and Tami gave her testimony.

Sunday morning, we got ready for church. The church meets in a hall that they rent. They have about 30-40 chairs set up, and use a lap-top with a projector for their song service. Pastor Titi led singing for the first bit. He played guitar and sang, and his wife and Valentin’s wife sang also. Yohannes, a guy from the city of Arad who is there as a missionary, played the accordion. I was thrilled...this must be a great church if they worship on the accordion. Then Pastor Titi let us take over the service. Stephanie D, Stephanie H, and Cynthia led worship in English, while I played....of course....the accordion that was lovingly placed there by the hand of God. Then Ken gave his testimony and the ladies got ready to do their flag worship dance. The dance went well, except for the confined space. Pastor Titi loved the flags, and wants to incorporate them in his worship. After this I preached.

It was great to be in this church, gathered with fellow believers in Christ. They love to worship, and when they start to pray, they really start to pray. Everyone prays, in tongues, in Romanian, with passion. We were all greeted with a traditional kiss on both cheeks by many of the older ladies in the church, and by some of the men as well. There was about 40 Romanians there. Most of them from Babadag, and then the handful of believers from Sarichioi came as well. The service went for about 2 ½ hours, and ended with prayer for those who wanted it.

In the evening on Sunday, we were driven to Sarichioi for the first time. It is a community of about 7000 people. The majority of these people are ethnically Russians, living within Romania. They came here because of changes that were made in the Russian Orthodox Church a few hundred years ago. The church wanted to shave off their beards, and this group felt that wasn’t right, and therefore left to keep faithful to what they believed. The older ones are still very much Russian, speaking the language fluently. The young adults have mixture of Russian and Romanian in their language, and the children really don’t understand much Russian anymore. Most of the streets are dirt, with deep ruts in them from rainy times.

When we arrived in Sarichioi, we met at the centre of town. We split into 3 groups and went on a prayer walk heading off in different directions. While on the prayer walk, one group was introduced to Valentin’s parents, and were shown a piece of property that Valy (Valentin) had purchased. His vision is to build a pension (B&B) there that will be a Christian retreat centre. As well, future teams may be boarded there, and there will likely be space for the emerging church in Sarichioi to meet. The second group was told that the town was built around appearances and traditions. The houses all have fairly tall fences around them and the elaborateness of them relates to how much money and prestige people have. We were told that people from different social positions will never visit with each other in their homes, so a meeting place in the centre of town is needed. The people will meet together in a neutral place. The third team went to the traditional Russian Orthodox Church and felt that each step they were taking was a step of reclaiming the land. After the prayer walk, we met at a house where the church meets to pray and fellowship each Sunday night. There were about 5 believers from Sarichioi, and then Titi’s family, and Valy’s family from Babadag, and us. We sang, shared testimonies, and prayed together.

On Monday, we were blessed to take part in a boat ride on the Danube Delta. This delta is a huge place and is filled with all kinds of flora, and birds, fish, and frogs. It was a wonderful day, except for the sunburns.

The rest of the week was filled to the brim. We ran a VBS for 4 days. We expected about 10-15 kids, and planned for almost 20. The first day, we had about 35 kids. We didn’t know quite what to do as we were going to do a craft with T-shirts, and only had 16. We improvised, and it worked out. The next day, we had about 60 kids, and the 3^rd day there were almost 100. We had to split the children into two groups- Gypsy children and Romanian children. The obvious segregation was difficult for us to understand and broke our hearts. Having to split our teaching team and watching this division stretched us but God gave us the grace and strength to walk through this. We taught them John 3:16, and 3:17. We taught Bible truths simply, and the kids listened well.

As well, during the week we had the opportunity to bless Irina’s mom (Valentin’s mother-in- law) by painting her fence. She is not yet a believer, but is steeped in Orthodox traditions. We were doing what we could to help build bridges for Valy and Irina. Another day, we were blessed with Valentin’s mom making us some Mmmm-yummy Fish Soup. It was fresh caught fish from the lake that Sarichioi is built on. She cooked it in a big outdoor cauldron and served it with garlic sauce, vinegar and salt in a tasty soup.

On Thursday morning, we met the mayor of Sarichioi. He is a busy man, but Valentin knows him, and has favour with him. We presented him with a letter written by our deputy mayor on behalf of our mayor, Judy Gordon. We also presented him with a Canadian flag, and some pins and pens. In return, he gave us a Romanian flag on a huge staff made of Sasna wood-he pointed out that his last name is also Sasna. Again, the idea was to continue to build bridges, and to allow Valentin to gain more favour in the community. Friday morning, it was arranged that we would meet with the principal of the local school. When we arrived, he was unavailable, but we met with the vice-principal. He was a nice man and had been teaching for about 39 years. He told us all about their school system and some of their needs and challenges. He also told us about the community, and its history. We shared with him about the Canadian school system and that in our town we have 4 different school systems . We then got a tour of the school, and were taken to the local kindergarten. They have modelled their kindergarten after the Canadian system. Then we were taken to the Russian cultural center, and given more of their history.

Tuesday and Wednesday evening we visited families in Sarichioi. We went to places that have connections with Valentin and Irina, or other people from Sarichioi that are believers. We shared tea, cookies, and had opportunities to share the Gospel, and other scriptural insights for living, as well as just continuing to build bridges for Valy.

Thursday night, we just went for supper with Titi, Valentin and their spouses, as well as Lucien, a man from the church who helped us a lot this week by driving us many places. It was just a time to relax and get to know our Church Planters better.

Friday night was kind of the culmination of the whole week’s work in Sarichioi. We had plans to go to the center of town, and just hang out and build interest. Then we were going to rent a hall and have a 1 hour program, giving testimonies, and doing the Flag Dance in Russian. After that we were going to have pizza and then meet at the House of Prayer with the believers.

BUT, God’s plans are not always the ones we have. On the way to Sarichioi, Marion (one of the Sarichioi believers) called. It was his birthday. So, we first went to his house for cookies and juice. We sang and prayed for blessing on him for the coming year. Then we went to the town center. By the time we got there, the hall booking had been cancelled because we were late. So we went to the cafe in the town center, and had pop, coffee and pizza. We visited with whoever came in. A lot of the believers came, and then some others wandered in. Valy seems to know everyone in town. We just sat and shared the Gospel plainly with them, using testimonies, and whatever the Lord would bring to mind at the time. I believe He directed the conversations.

One of the significant ones that we shared with was Daniel. He is an 18 year old. We had the opportunity to visit with his mother earlier in the week. She is having a hard time. Her husband is working in Italy for better wages, and Daniel is attending school in Tulcea, about 30 kms north, and a much bigger city. Daniel is being quite rebellious now, taking the keys to the car whenever he wants, getting drunk with his friends, and just not honouring or listening to his mother. But, he came to the cafe, and the Gospel was shared directly with him. He knows the way; he is just not ready, or willing yet to make a change. He did come to church in Babadag the next Sunday morning.

Another significant sharing opportunity was with another young man. He is working in Spain. Valy says this young man loves God, but he does not attend church. He is 23, and is living with a 31 year old woman. She does not allow him to attend, because she is Orthodox. It sounds like she is quite controlling, and resistant to the Gospel. She won’t even allow him to speak about the Bible with other believers at work, because she also works with him. He is afraid that if he doesn’t listen to her, that she will leave him. We had the chance to share that he needs to live his life for God, and that by his good living and testimony, she may come to the Lord. We also shared that the man is to be the head of the house. We will see what fruit comes of this.

Saturday morning, we did a last VBS. We had about 55 Romanian kids. We recapped the memory verses, and the Bible lessons. The craft this day was the ‘wordless bracelet’. Before they got to build their bracelet, it was explained to them what each bead meant: black bead because we are all sinners; red bead for the blood of Christ; white because we can be forgiven; green for Christian growth; and yellow for our eternal home. Then, the gospel was explained to them and an opportunity was given to accept Christ. Almost all the kids raised their hands, and prayed a prayer for salvation. It was very exciting to see these seeds of truth being planted. These children are the hope of the future church in Romania.

Saturday evening, we had a church conference. Most of the church came for some teaching that we had been asked to prepare. The theme was Healthy Relationships in a World of Mistrust. Cynthia shared on the importance of church attendance and how it has helped her to stand as a Christian woman. Stephanie and Tim shared from material they had recently learned during the Marriage Course that Pastor Mark and Dawn did this spring. Ken and Lori finished off the evening by sharing on keeping good relationships in the church by not backbiting and gossiping and keeping the love of Christ in the Body.

Sunday morning was our last day in Babadag. We again started with Pastor Titi and his wife Liliana, and Valentin’s wife Irina leading singing. Our ladies brought the worship flags, and at Titi’s request waved them in worship. I think that Pastor Titi wants to add this to their corporate worship. After the worship time, Tami, Alyssa, and Dave and Stephanie shared personal testimonies, and testimonies from this week. Then Tim shared a short word, after which the church prayed for us as we prayed for them. Then, people came forward for personal prayer again, and we prayed for them.

After the service, came the sad time of saying good-byes. It is always hard to leave people that you have just spent the last 10 days building a relationship with. It’s difficult because you never know when or if you will ever see these people again. You grow to love them, and share in their lives. It tears your heart, because you always leave people you love at home, family, and friends. But, these people become your family away from home. You share laughter, times of sharing, times of service, and before you know it, they are in your heart.

We do have 3 more years of a commitment to partner with Valentin and Irina and with Titi and Liliana. There will be ongoing communication with them, and more teams will go. Maybe some of us will go again; maybe all new people will go next time. I do know that there is a good work going on in Babadag, and a good work being started in Sarichioi. Titi is a good shepherd and overseer for the flock in Babadag, and a great mentor for Valentin. Valentin has a good heart. He said numerous times that he loves these people (in Sarichioi), and that he loves the town of Sarichioi itself. He has built a lot of good relationships with key people in the community, and with many others who have not yet come to Christ. What we have is just a few good plants growing, and many seeds planted. As the believers that are there mature, they will start producing fruit. As the other seeds that have already been planted and the new seeds start growing, we will see a harvest come. It is hard to know over what time frame this will happen. There is some resistance there due to customs, traditions, and religiosity built into a people that for a couple hundred years have stayed true to their beliefs and customs in the midst of a different people group. These people, in one way, are no longer true Russians. They could not just plant themselves back in Russia without adjusting. They are also not Romanians; they have not integrated themselves into Romanian society. They really are a distinct people group, and this is truly pioneer church planting going on.

We need to continue to keep these sister churches in our prayers, and to continue to communicate with them. We can better prepare more teams to go, now that we have been there. We know the people, and the lay of the land, and can now better prepare for future trips. Our trip was very fruitful in beginning to build relationships and understanding the lay of the land and the people. But, with the knowledge gained from this trip, we can send more directed teams, so that we can be more intentional with our ministry. Of course, we need to keep in mind, to be sensitive to what Titi and Valentin want and are doing at the time we send our next team.

Please pray about going on the next trip. Let God guide you

Just about On our Way

noreply@blogger.com (lpcsarichioi2008) — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:10:00 +0000

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. 2 of our team have already joined other prayer teams from the US, UK, Australia and Romania. They report that Romania is Beautiful and that God is really moving.

The rest of us are doing final preparations for the VBS, dance and worship and the ministry seminars.

We covet your prayers as we walk out in faith expecting miracles.

The next time I blog it will be from RO.

We will Be Busy

noreply@blogger.com (lpcsarichioi2008) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:48:00 +0000

We don't know exactly what we will be doing, God has been speaking to us individually, preparing us for the trip.

This is the first of many trips that LPC will be embarking on over the next 3 years. One of our main focuses will be to develop relationships with our church plant partners.

Here is a quick look at what we will be doing:

1) Youth Program – Babadag

a. This will be the only time for the team to spend with the youth from the mother church. There will be a theme for the evening (not yet determined) and the teaching should be on that theme. As well the team will be prepared to share testimonies and to mingle with the youth.

2) Sunday Ministry

a. We will prepare songs, testimonies and preaching. As well as anything else the team would like to do.

3) Social Work

a. Valentin is speaking to the Mayor of the town about possibilities. He would like to serve where the mayor needs help. One of his ideas is to ask to be in the schools but has not received an answer from the mayor yet. A presentation about Canada and where the team is from would be good if they are able to get into the schools.

4) Visiting Families

a. The team may get split into two to go and do some home visitations. It will be good for testimonies to be shared during this time and just to be ready to share with one another.

5) Youth Evening – Sarichioi

a. This will be a chance to mingle with the youth and spend time together. The team is prepared for some games to play, something that will include everyone including the team?

6) Church Conference

a. There will be 40-50 people invited to this and it will be a time of teaching and relationship building. The subject has not been decided yet.

Facts about Romania

noreply@blogger.com (lpcsarichioi2008) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Capital

Bucharest

Total Area

total: 237,500 sq km
land: 230,340 sq km
water: 7,160 sq km

Population

22,329,977 (July 2005 est.)

Languages

Romanian (official), Hungarian, German

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98.4%
male: 99.1%
female: 97.7% (2003 est.)

Religions

Eastern Orthodox (including all sub-denominations) 86.8%, Protestant (various denominations including Reformate and Pentecostal) 7.5%, Roman Catholic 4.7%, other (mostly Muslim) and unspecified 0.9%, none 0.1% (2002 census)

Life Expectancy

total population: 71.35 years
male: 67.86 years
female: 75.06 years (2005 est.)

Government Type

Republic

Currency

leu (RON)

GDP (per capita)

purchasing power parity - $7,700 (2004 est.)

Labour Force
9.66 million (2004 est.)

Exports
$23.54 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports
$28.43 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Natural Resources
petroleum (reserves declining), timber, natural gas, coal, iron ore, salt, arable land, hydropower

Telephones (main lines in use)
4.3 million (2003)

Telephones (mobile cellular)
6.9 million (2003)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

Internet hosts: 50,807 (2004)

Internet users: 4 million (2003)

What we have been up to!

noreply@blogger.com (lpcsarichioi2008) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:55:00 +0000

To be honest we have not had much time to get ready. The team has come together very quickly and God is knitting us together. We began with 10 weeks to prepare and there are only 6 weeks left until we leave.

All we really know right now is that we will be leaving on May 15th.

We have been meeting to watch videos to prepare us. We tend to eat a lot when we get together. God loves fellowship and so do we.

Currently we are working on finding some songs and dramas that we can do. We will also be visiting some schools so we will be needing information about Lacombe, Alberta and Canada.

Sarichioi Mission Team Photo

noreply@blogger.com (lpcsarichioi2008) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:33:00 +0000

Front Row: Cynthia, Lori, Tami, Alysa, Lydia, Stephanie
Back Row: Dave, Ken, Tim

First Entry

noreply@blogger.com (lpcsarichioi2008) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:12:00 +0000

Lacombe to Sarichioi

To Romania with Love. This is the first entry of our blog. We will use this blog to reach out and let everyone know what we are doing to prepare.

Please feel free to comment or email us and say hi.

email: lpcsarichioi2008@gmail.com