Maury Family Romania News

Many Thanks

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:58:48 +0000

Happy (late) Thanksgiving! We hope that all of you had a wonderful day spent with family, friends and reflecting upon the goodness of our Lord. Our family was so grateful to be able to be with our family this year to celebrate, but we also had many tears as we missed our family and friends that are abroad. How anxious we find ourselves for heaven and thinking of the joy that will be when we find loved ones together in one spot! : ) At the beginning of the month, we were thankful to have been able to take part in Charity's sister's wedding. Megan and Philip were married on the 2nd of Nov. and it couldn't have been lovlier!

It has been just a little over a month now since we arrived back here in the States. It has been interesting to see the range of mixed emotions that we have.... Like we said before, it is wonderful being with family and friends here, but we are also grieving the distance that we now have between family and friends who are in other countries. In the 6 years of being in Romania we rarely ever thought that one day we would be crying for the other side of the ocean. : ) When we came to Boise, we felt that the Lord was making it clear that it was time for us to move back to the States for a while, but we wanted to make sure that it was truly Him that was leading, not our emotions or own thoughts. Since being here, we don't have any reason to believe that we are to go back to Romania, but rather feel that the Lord has been showing us that for now, our place is in Boise. Our hearts had desired to get to Sweden as quickly as possible, but we think that it may be further down the road than first thought, maybe even when the kids are grown. Only the Lord knows! We know that as long as our hearts remain open to being available, that He will be faithful to show us when it is time to go, or where to go to. We praise God for His faithfulness and strength that He showered upon us during our time in Romania. I don't think that there will ever be words enough to express our gratitude to Him for taking us down the road that He did. It was full of some very - very very! - hard days and seasons, and yet at the same time, some of the most wonderful days and seasons as well. We find ourselves constantly in awe over His goodness and dwell on the awesome miracles that we saw happen. Our family grew in a way that we would not have otherwise, we grew to appreciate other cultures (even though it was also mixed with frustration at points in time : ), and we think that we saw some of the most joyous days of our lives living out in the village!

For now, the Lord has provided a good job here for John working on re-model/construction, and Charity continues to work (via internet) for a company out of NY, but working directly with the Romanian team that she was working with before. It is amazing how the Lord provides! The kids are missing "home" greatly, but also seem to be blossoming here. We can't help but think that we are back here for the sake of the kids, to be able to grow in their giftings and to get prepared for what the Lord has planned for them in the future. Jerusha has enrolled at Ballet Idaho to continue in the passion that she has for ballet, which was discovered while in Romania. She also discovered that she is a wonderful little seamstress and now loves to sew, being taught by her Nana. Ethan is still enthralled with his Legos, wants to take a karate class with John, and also has asked if there are any inventor classes available to take. : )

Please pray for our family in this new chapter of life that we find ourselves in. Pray also for John who has taken up sketching again (mainly architecture that we saw while in Europe), and is planning on getting his work in a local art museum that is here in Boise. Lord willing, he will have an exhebition opened up this spring.

There are many things to be grateful for this holiday season. Most of all, we are so pleased to share in God's faithfulness, and to have wonderful friends and family. We are also very grateful for your faithful support and prayers these past six years, may God bless you! This will be our last update that we send out for a while, but please feel free to keep in touch with us and write whenever you have time. : )

With love,
John, Charity, Jerusha and Ethan

Home

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:37:55 +0000

Family and Friends,

Thank you all for your prayers for our travel back to the sates. Any issues we could have had with travel were covered in His grace, we arrived home safe, healthy, happy and with our entire luggage. :) We also wanted to give special thanks for the love shown from those of the welcoming committee at the airport – your support warms our hearts!

This weekend will be a whirlwind weekend, starting with a joint birthday party for Charity, Kara, Megan and Philip, followed by all the preparations for the wedding – including a rehearsal dinner and the wedding on Sunday night.

Please continue to pray for our family that God would give us clarity of direction as we seek His face about the future plans He has for us. J

May blessings and much love to all,

John, Charity, Jerusha and Ethan

Deep Into the River

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:12:20 +0000

Dear Friends and family,

Another wedding and reason to celebrate!

This year is the year of weddings for Charity's family. We were very blessed to be a part of Kara and Attila's wedding, which was beautifully hosted at the CC Bible college in Hungary this summer. And this fall Charity's youngest sister, Megan, is getting married to a wonderful guy, Philip. Megan's wedding will be held in our lovely home town of Boise, Idaho. So, it is off to the States in just a few weeks for another wedding and fun times!

Plunging Deep Into the River of Faith

When we plunge into a walk of faith and remove our feet from the river bed, we surrender control and just go with the flow. The surrender is what makes the walk of faith exciting and sometimes scary . However, through this time of faith God has opportunity to once again, prove Himself faithful.

As you all know, this year has been trying in many ways for our family. We have been through team, financial, health, location, cultural, spiritual, betrayal, family, new jobs, and other issues just to mention a few. We know we are not alone in our trials, and are learning to rejoice through them as they are all used by God to refine us.

This spring, we started to have serious financial problems, that made us wonder, and pray about, if it was time to move back to the States. During that time, God provided both Charity and I with jobs, as well as a place to live, rent free, for 6 months. This greatly encouraged us, but we still said that we felt like we should go back to the States in November, seek the Lord, and see if it may not be time to move back. To be honest with you, as things improved here, we sort of put that idea on the back burner, and said that we would head back next spring, just for a visit. : ) Two months ago, we received a surprise call by Megan, asking us if we could please make it back to Boise by November 1st, for a wedding. The Lord faithfully provided the way for us. In the meantime, things happened in the church plant here in Cluj that made us step back, and stop our help with this work. Praying about what the next step was for our family here, we feel like the Lord put reminders in our path, allowing us to see that no matter how we plan, His plan is the best. We were floored when we realized that He is taking us back in November, just as we had felt He was going to do in the spring of this year. There are many other amazing things that makes us believe that the Lord is strongly guiding us in this way, but...we want to give Him time, not to rush this without having open hearts. We are heading back to the States, with the plan of not returning. However, we do have round trip tickets, so if the Lord shows us otherwise while we are there, we want to remain available to Him in this. We greatly covet your prayers for our family during this time. Please pray with us that as God continues to guide us, that we would listen carefully and obey. Our hope is that we will know, for sure, by the beginning of December if we will be returning or not. We will make sure to write updates while we are in the States, to keep everyone fully aware of what is going on. Please pray for us as we fly out of Budapest, HU, on the 29th of October. Kara, will be flying back with us. Pray for a safe and good flight for all of us please. : )

Plunging into the walk of faith is amazing - sometimes we feel like things are out of control, but the truth is, God is fully in control and we can just let go and go with His flow. We are all in the good hands of a loving God.

God bless,

John, Charity, Jerusha and Ethan

Gypsy Ministry

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:39:54 +0000

Hope your summer is going well! It sure has been hot here in Cluj, and we are enjoying every moment of it.

We are happy to share with you that God has blessed the Gypsy ministry of Vladeasa over this past year during which time Nicu Hagiu has taken the Pastoral role in the villages. Our family's direct involvement in the Gypsy ministry has become less over time as our focus on the church plant in Cluj has naturally increased. Our role has mainly become one of prayer, encouragement and moral support to the Hagiu family and for their ministry. The Hagiu family has started writing their own updates for the Gypsy ministry. If you are interested in updates from their ministry please take a moment to sign up for their updates on the Calvary Chapel Vladeasa web page at: www.calvaryromania.org/vladeasa - the subscribe button is located on the right hand side of the web page. :) Thank you for your prayers for the Gypsy ministry! :)

Blessings,
The Maury family

One Step at a Time

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:00:15 +0000

One Step at a Time

Building foundations is tough work! Of course, a good foundation is necessary for a strong and long lasting building that can withstand the test of time, and the stresses that will come it's way to try to tear it down. Building a foundation is also dirty work. It isn't glorious work, it requires sweat, digging in the dirt, laying the form work, putting in re-bar. It feels that it takes so much time to lay the foundation, and in the process it doesn't look like much is taking place, it's all underground and not visible. It is this kind of work that we seem to be called to at this point in the ministry. Please keep us in prayer. We want to lay God's foundation, the one that will really last. We don't want our impatience that wants to see more "happening", to get in the way to make hasty and faulty work. It is tiring and many times feels very discouraging. Please pray with us that we will keep our eyes focused upon the Lord, His great love, and that we would be filled with His patience and hope.

Praise the Lord!!! Scufu, one of the teens that we have been praying for lately, accepted Jesus into his life yesterday! He came to visit John during the coffee shop hours at the church because he said that his life was empty and he needed a new perspective. John had a good conversation with him and then they prayed together. John also prayed for him because of the past demonic activity that he has been involved in. Please keep him in prayer with us, that he will grow strong in the Lord and be a shining light to the rest of the kids that follow him. We also pray for his protection from the enemy and whatever tricks and lies he would try to bring up before Scufu, that they would be shown for what they truly are.

Two weeks ago, we were greatly blessed to have a short term missions team come from CC South London. We met them last year when they came out to the Gypsy villages to serve alongside us and the Hagiu family. We could hardly wait for them to come again this year because the love of the Lord is shining so brightly in their lives. They started out their trip by again going out to the Gypsy villages. Then, on the weekend, they came to Cluj to give us a hand in evangelizing. The main event for the weekend was a BBQ that we had at the church on Saturday. We were blessed to see quite a few people show up. The idea of the BBQ is to introduce people to Jesus by letting people into our lives and hearts, in hopes that they will see Christ living in us. We had many good conversations in the park, downtown, at the church, and a blast just hanging out! The team is gone now, but we are left with a few lasting relationships, and we hope that God continues to give us grace to maintain those. Please be praying for Paul, Rob, Florin and Claudiu specifically - that they would "taste and see that the Lord is good" just as we have. : )

As a side note to the Cluj ministry, we gave a two month notice for the rental that the church is in right now. It has been too difficult to meet the monthly rent each month and we have peace about letting this place go. It is not the building that is drawing people to the Lord, it is the Lord's work, and He is able to do that from anyplace that He chooses. Pray with us as we wait upon the Lord to see where He might lead us. We are praying about finding a hotel that will rent us two conference rooms on Sunday's only, or possibly just taking it to a home study. Either is fine with us and there is a feeling of excitement about it just knowing that we rely upon God.

Over all, we are doing well as a family even though this has also been a trying time. Summer has been a fun time for all of us, as well as a time filled with changes and adjustments. The kids are growing like weeds and have been very healthy, praise the Lord! Ethan has lost two more new teeth, both very strongly against his will. Jerusha is growing into a little lady and has been creating a lot of beautiful art work. The Lord opened the door for Charity to be able to work here in Cluj for a company that is based out of NY. This is a great answer to prayer and has enabled John to do web designs from home, and on the side, so that he can be more involved with the church work again. He stays with the kids while Charity works, and it has been a good time for all. We are praying about going back to the States for a visit soon. Please keep us in prayer, that the Lord will work out all of the details. It would be wonderful to see everyone again. : )

God bless!
John, Charity, Jerusha and Ethan

Gods Love

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:07:22 +0000

Gods Love

Once an a while a supernatural overflow of God's love is poured out into one's heart - and one almost stands back and watches their heart breaking for people that they don't even know. This happened a few years ago in Calatele when we first went into the Gypsy village of Calatele - where God put a special place in our heart for the Gypsies. That love has never left our hearts but remains even though God called us on to a different chapter of ministry. It was familiar and wonderful to have that special outpouring of love warm our hearts again, this time it was for the young adults of Cluj, specifically those who hang out with the goth/rockers group near St. Michaels church downtown Cluj.

A few weeks ago, some of the youth with an outreach team of Calvary Chapel Treasure Valley met the rockers group hanging out in the center in a well known youth hangout spot. They were handing out invites to the Golgota coffee lounge as well as to our Saturday afternoon BBQ in a local park. Some from that group showed up at the park for the BBQ and we hung out with them for the afternoon eating sausages, playing music, playing football, sharing about Jesus with them in casual conversation and just trying to show them the love of Christ for them. We became friends with a group of eight: Spike, Scufu, Kido, Doru, Paul & Christos (Paul), Roxana, and Daniela. Since the BBQ Kido and Spike have come to the coffee shop and we had a fun time chatting and getting a background on who they are and what they are going through so that we could know how best to pray for them. The following week Spike came back to the coffee shop with another rocker friend, Lucian. Razvan and them him hit it off and they didn't leave until late in the evening.

Gen-X and Technology

We never would have thought that God would use Internet chat and cell phones as a major method to minister, but over these past weeks this has been the major method that we have been in contact with these gen-x'ers. I have a Romanian friend who is a taxi driver and ministers full time as a "taxi pastor" to all the clients who enter his taxi - he has some amazing stories! He asks the clients if they want prayer and surprisingly, many gladly give prayer requests. When he prays for them gives them a beep on the cell phone, letting them know that someone is praying for them. I love the idea, so we thought to use it with the those that we are praying for. So almost every time we pray for them we give them a buzz on the cell phone and they see that we are praying for them. We have gotten a very good response, in that they know they are cared for and prayed for. Not going into details, one of the guys was on the streets and living with friends - and God answered his prayers in a few days - his Dad asked him to come move back home again, an obvious answer to prayer. We don't know exactly what the outcome of all this will be, but we wish to remain faithful to minister to these guys. Please keep them and us in your prayers. For them that they would see that God loves them through answering prayers, and by seeing the love that God has for them through us, and that they would then give their lives to Him. Please pray for those that are in the process of considering if they will give their lives to Jesus or not. Some of them are involved with occult practices, so pray that Satan wouldn't have a grip on their minds and hearts and that they would be free to see the love of God for them. Pray for us to be consistent, in our prayers and love for them, also that we would be given many opportunities and ideas on how to minister God's love. :)

St. Michael's Church - Cluj Center - (one local hangout for young adults)

Simple

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:18:29 +0000

"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty." - Zech 4:6

Dear family and friends,

Ask and Receive

Hope your summer is going well! We feel so blessed by God this summer, we are staying at our friends beautiful house while they are in the States, my sister-in-law Kara just got married to Attila, a wonderful Hungarian man, and we also were able to go to both the annual Calvary Chapel Foundations conference in Hungary with all of our co-workers, and a three day camping trip to Croatia! What make this summer so memorable is God's hand of provision for our family. Earlier this Spring we had a family discussion about asking and receiving from God, and how we can ask for anything and if it's His will, He's waiting to give to us, so we should ask. We decided to pray for two things that we knew would be impossible to happen without God's help and that would make our summer a blessed time for the whole family: a family camping trip to Croatia, and money for all the miscellaneous expenses involved with the wedding and conference. I must admit I thought that it was possible that God would answer our prayers but we were surprised at how specifically he answered them and above what we hoped! One Sunday after church in Cluj, a family in our church asked us if we would like to camp in Croatia with them and that God was paying the way for us! Shortly after a family member of a good friend of ours sent us a gift with a note specifically saying that the gift was for the wedding and conference! I think we all learned a good lesson about asking and receiving and His provision and faithfulness even in the seemingly "nonspiritual" needs of His kids. What a good Father we have!

Keeping things Simple

Any work of the Lord is impossible without the work of the Holy Spirit and somehow it pleases God to partner with us in His work. Honestly, it isn't like we are really helping Him out a whole lot, maybe sometimes we really just make a bigger mess of things, like a child "helping" Daddy cook. But still, maybe, it is His joy to just hang out with us and see us learn a little too while He does work here on earth. Where we are at right now in the ministry here in Cluj is that we are back to the basic foundations of what we know 1. the Lord has a mighty plan for Cluj, to reach this city with His love, to bring a holy fire here and establish His lamp-stand here. 2. this is a work of the Holy Spirit and it cannot be done by might or by power but by Him. So here we are, waiting on the Lord in prayer, making ourselves available for His work through us with a "can we help daddy?" attitude. With outreach we decided to impliment this and wait upon the Lord in prayer and make ourselves available for the Holy Spirit to work through us. Sometimes this method sounds too simple and it is easy to give up the work of prayer and get ahead of God, but when we wait upon Him we have seen that God does His work through our team. God likes giving us pats on the back when we go the right direction. For example, God put it on our hearts to have our prayer/outreach time Friday evenings in a busy downtown park. This park is usually full of people who casually stroll through the park or sit on various park benches - the park is a refuge from the heat of the apartment blocks and offers the cool shade of large trees. The plan has been simple: sing worship songs, pray and wait upon the Lord making ourselves available to His prompting. The first week just our families were there and God anointed the worship, drawing the attention of those near us especially that of a couple of college students who sat and listened to the music, and it also opened the door to a good conversation with a young man. This past week we did the same thing once again and this time Nicu, Silvana, Charity's parents and her sister, and Costica (a college student from church) joined us. Once again we just made ourselves available to God and the same thing happened - God again opened up the door for good conversations. While Razvan played worship music on the guitar in front of a gazebo surrounded by park benches a couple of ladies with a baby came close to listen to the music and Silvana and Anca ministered to them while Nicu, Frank and I spoke with two Gypsy men who brought their scooter into the park and rested on a bench for a while. It was a great scene everyone was doing their part enabled by the Holy Spirit! Nicu ended up sitting on the Gypsy's scooter - he had the most comfortable spot in the park, Charity, Frank, Margie, Megan were near us praying for our conversations and the Holy Spirit worked - what fruit will remain we don't know, but after all we are just "helping in the kitchen", we are not the chief. :)

Please pray for us that God would continue to give our team unity, for abundant joy in the work, for empowerment for each of us in our various roles! That God would give us effective prayers, ears to hear His directions, and be available to respond accordingly.

To God be the Glory.

John, Charity, Jerusha and Ethan

giving thanks

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:32:37 +0000

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works." Psalm 105:1-2

The first praise report is that we did find a great new place to rent for the church in Cluj. The Lord closed every door but one, so we walked through it! We are now renting a place that is about three times bigger than what we had before, and it is on a main downtown street which makes for a great location. It is nice to have room to breath in our new space, we have a sanctuary, a coffee/lounge room, a children's room and a bathroom. We all worked hard on getting it cleaned up and painted, the place looks great. God has put it on our hearts to give the people who come to the Sunday service opportunities to minster to others in prayer, sharing their faith or with opportunities to exercise helps. It was very encouraging to see the guys in the fellowship give of their time and finances to help fix up the new church. We were so blessed by their response to the needs and it has been great to watch them grow in their service to God.

We just moved into our friends house two weekends ago. The guys of the fellowship, Charity's sister, Kara and her sister's fiance, Attila, and a visiting Pastor, Ken Sutton, helped us move our stuff to the garage at our friend's house. We really felt cared for! We will be living together with our friends until the middle of next month, and they are letting us stay in their house until the first of November while they are away in the States for a furlough. We are blessed by God's hand of provision and protection in this move and it has been great to hang out with friends - our kids are especially loving it! God also provided a job for John which is a great answer to prayer. I cannot begin to explain the joy and excitement that we felt watching God's faithfulness to us through this! Pray for John as he is working part-time at the new job and that God would use this opportunity to reach the business people of Cluj. The opportunities that John and one of his colleague, Calin, have had to share with others about the Lord is absolutely amazing - it seems to be proving a very effective outreach tool! In fact, when we were at the Romanian conference last week, Calin and John met in Brasov to do some work during an afternoon break and had to meet a client in town for a business meeting. They spent a few hours sharing with this guy about the Lord and answering many questions that he had about God. This was just a confirmation that God could use anything to open doors of ministry and maybe this was the way God wanted us to reach out to the business community.

Last week our family went to Brasov for the annual Romanian conference. The Lord touched many lives during the week and several people came to know the Lord. About ten different Calvary's were represented there with around 150 people attending. Several people from our church went along with the team families. We all had a wonderful time of fellowship, sharing and giving and receiving encouragement. God also used this time to unite our fellowship, we were praying that God would give the new believers deep roots in Him, and the conference was a great start in that direction.

Here are a few prayer requests:
Silviu - that God would open his eyes for his personal the need of a Savior
Costica - for His growth in His walk with God and that he would be deeply rooted and grounded in love
Calin & Teo - for discipleship and God's direction toward missions
Cristian - for healing from his frequent seizures
Razvan - for an awesome empowerment of the Holy Spirit
Jon & Becca - for safe travels, and health during the pregnancy
Our family - that we would be a blessing to Jon and Becca's family as we stay with them

In His great Love,
John and Charity

hot food, hot topic

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 10:14:32 +0000

Hey guys! We just wanted to update you on how the outreach BBQ "hot food, hot topic" went earlier this month. We handed out 800 fliers for the event, mostly on the street that the church is located. The church is surrounded by bars, and God opened doors for us again with the regulars who hang out at the bar directly across the street from us. While we were handing out fliers we were invited to hang out with the guys that were on the outdoor patio and after some discussion to wet their appetite about the topic, we invited them to come to the BBQ. The night of the BBQ it started to rain on us and we were afraid that no one would come, and after a while a few people showed up and left, and we moved the event indoors. The guys from the bar came and were more interested in the discussion than the food, and we started the discussion. After a few minutes the house was full of students and some came and went during the discussion but they were interested. Just as we arrived at the gospel message part of the discussion, one of the guys told us that he didn't believe there was a God. Just then ex-satanist guy full of piercings carrying three beers with him. He began to cause a distraction, taking away the topic from the gospel message. Razvan began to discuss with him and reveal the huge holes in his argument for the non-existence of God. We began to talk about experiences of the supernatural that he had in the past during his Satan worship acts and many in the room shared about their experiences as well - many in Romania have had supernatural experiences because of the use of witchcraft and demon activity in this country. The conclusion was brought full circle when the ex-satanist agreed that there must be a God and even if he cannot see Him, he has had so much experience with the darkness that surely there is a God. Earlier this week I met with the "gang" of guys that came to the study and they are eager to have another discussion. Praise God that he can use anyone to preach the existence of God even a ex-Satanist, and that he used the message to open their eyes to see just a little of the truth and they are attracted to the truth. Pray for our next event. We had to put on hold our next BBQ because we are trying to move into a new building - our land owner has given us a few weeks to move out of our current space and we are still looking and praying about where to move.

Another blessing came last week in the form of a reporter, his name is Razvan. Razvan came to visit us during or weekly "house hours" last week and then came for a Sunday service. He decided to write an article about our church for a local newspaper - what God has put on our hearts to do with the student outreach is so radically different than what is normally done here in Romania that we have become somewhat of a curiousity. We were excited yet a little skeptical about how we would be portrayed. In the process of writing the article we met with Razvan a few times and God established a good relationship between him and our group. The article turned out wonderful, the church, our vision, and our work was accurately and favorably portrayed in the article giving us a great publicity boost. Praise God that he sent us Razvan and the article turned out so good. Pray that God would give Razvan a hunger for His word and fellowship. :)

urgent prayer

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:44:55 +0000

We were informed today that the ministry house that we had been renting has been sold and we are expected to vacate the property by the end of the month. "The house" is the at the center of the ministry here in Cluj and is used for our church activities: Sunday Service, Friday prayer meeting, daily leaders prayer, Children's church, and outreaches: monthly Wednesday BBQ's tri-weekly coffee shop hours and weekly Kids Club ministry. Please be praying with us to find a new facility that will suit our needs for these purposes, and for future growth; also please pray for the right price in monthly rent.

Blessings,

John

Gracious God

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:53:17 +0000

The following is a update from Pastor Nicu Hagiu and his wife Silvana serving in the Gypsy villages of Calatele and Sacuieu - Calvary Chapel Vladeasa:

Dear brothers and sisters, and dear friends,

It is our hearts desire to share with you what God has done here in the humble villages of Vladeasa. Every day and every week He continues to bless us with his grace and mercy. He kept showing us that these gypsies are precious in his eyes.

About four weeks ago, on a Tuesday, we went in one of the villages, Sacuieu, where we have every week women bible study. But two Tuesdays ago, nobody showed up. I was very disappointed and hurt, but God had something else for us to do. Usually during the women bible study, Nicu, my husband, uses this time to go and visit the men from the village to get to know them better and to share with them personally. In a short while I found it out that a baby, six months old died of high fever, having pneumonia. The parents were unbelievers, the mother came a few times to the church, but the father never came. I went up to their house to see the mom, and when I got there Nicu was out side the house talking with the father. All the children from the village followed me when I went in the house, to see the mom and the baby. They were all there around the house like little angels guarding this lifeless baby. In that moment I understood how blessed I am comparing with this poor family. Their dead baby was laying there, and they had nothing, no money, and no food. Their last money were used to buy some candies for the other children that came to see their baby friend. The father was outside not being able to say a word. The baby was his only son, they still have two other older daughters, but his pain was extreme. The mom was preparing the other daughter to go to the hospital because she was sick, too.

In a short while we left, but both of us felt to come back in the evening to help them with what we can. It is the customs to stay three day and nights with the body. When we went back there, the house was full with people, that were sitting around and smoking, everybody was surprised when we showed up. Some were embarrassed and threw their cigarettes. After half an hour some of the gypsy men started to ask Nicu questions about God, and about things from the Bible. They even brought latter a cd with Christian gypsy music that we gave them, and they were all listening it. Nicu ended sharing with them for more than five hours, answering to their questions, and preaching to them the love of Christ and His grace. It was wonderful. We didn't realized what the time was. God used this sad event so that those who never wanted to come to the church to be able to hear the Gospel. There were the men who are kind of the elders of the village, and surprisingly they were very interested in the Gospel. In this sad evening they could know us better, because now we were like one of them, seating there with them, talking and eating with them. After mid night we went home, being so blessed by what God has done that evening.

The next day we went there again, and in the evening some more gypsies came that attend our fellowship, and we started the evening with prayer and with praise songs. Believers and unbelievers were singing together this gypsy song which they love, “Oh, Lord, I cried to You, and You helped me”. It was again a very blessed time, and last week evening even the father could sing together with us. God comforted him with His love. It was for the first time when he was exposed to gospel of grace. His face started to be more peaceful. God's Spirit did the work in his heart that a million words could not do.

The next Sunday after the funeral, he was the one that was waiting for us in the front of the church building. To our surprise, he came and hugged Nicu, and it is something that is not cultural for them. He was like another person, but the surprise continued, almost all the men that were there last evenings came to the church service. Until now mainly the women came to the church and one or two guys. But now the room was full of ladies and there were around eight or ten men. Again they were opened for the gospel and they prayed and sang with us.

Since then, the father of the baby is the first one that come to the church service and he is full of love for God. Two Sundays ago he brought his mother and his father to the church, his father being very sick, he asked Nicu to pray for him in the church, and he prayed for his father, too. He brought also to church his wife and daughters.

We want to encourage you, if you want to pray together with us for him, that the seed that fell in his heart to be in a good soil, to be able to brig forth lots of fruits. Pray also for him to learn how to be a good husband and a light in the village.

Praise God some of the other men from the village, started to attend church regularly. Pray for them, too that they could quite alcohol, and that they could understand how good is our God.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy!!

In His grace,

Silvana & Nicu Hagiu

Communications

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:17:17 +0000

To better communicate with everyone, we are trying a few new things. To do this, we would like to ask if you would be willing to send us your personal mailing addresses in order that we might be able to send out quarterly hard copy newsletters as well as special updates.
If you would, please respond to this e-mail with your name and mailing address.

Thank you!
John Maury

New Happenings

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:07:15 +0000

We have been in Cluj for six months now and we have seen God laying the foundations of the ministry here. He established the ministry in our ministry house located in the university district and we are seeing fruit from the labor. God has added to our fellowship: Costica, a new believer; and Calin, Teo and their young daughter Maia have decided to join our growing fellowship and are a very welcome addition to our family. :) Now we are beginning to see the next step God is leading us in. That is to sharpen our ministry team, and give us clear focus for a decisive work. In addition to our "open house hours" and our weekly church service we feel that God is putting on our hearts to focus on outreaches.

One of the largest challenges we face in our outreach in Cluj is that the majority of students have never been to an evangelical church. Many students have misconceptions about what a Biblically based church looks like. To meet this challenge we are going to offer a "first step" toward weekly fellowship and Bible study through various outreaches. It is on our hearts to give the students the opportunity to hang out with us and see that we are real people who live our lives by the Book while having fun. Now that it is Spring time we are going to redirect our outreach focus back into the very successful barbecues at the ministry house, and couple them with bi-monthly special events. For our events we are going to bring in Romanian and foreign Christian bands for concerts, host casual sporting events, have movie nights at the house, and focus our attention upon discussion of "hot" Biblical topics relevant to the student population.

We are kicking off the first "hot topic" series with a teaching on "What about sex". The majority of students are sexually active outside of marriage so this topic should draw some attention. In a nutshell, we will cover God's purpose and design of both procreation and pleasure and then focus upon what the Bible says is sexual sin. We will focus upon the fact that we are all sinners and that is why Jesus needed to come and save us and use it to preach the gospel message. It should be fun! Please pray that God would help us to convey the truth without compromise, yet not leave cornered people without the hope of a Savior from sin. Pray that God would use these "hot topic" studies to set those in religious bondage free and that many would give their lives to God!

Concerning the sporting side of our outreach, next month we will be putting on a Basketball seminar called "improve your game." The plan is to kick it off by offering tips to improve ones game offered by an American coach and a Romanian sports professor - and we will follow it up with a monthly open court "walk on" indoor basketball game. Please pray that God will bless this event, give us good contacts, and good invites to the BBQ's and Bible Studies, and that we would make good friends and have good times doing this outreach.

God has been working for the students of Cluj and is using us in that work which is even more apparent in that He has given us some very amazing opportunities both in partnerships and ministry opportunities these past few weeks. Campus Crusade for Christ and YWAM want to partner with us in our college outreaches! We are in the initial stages of planning so please pray for continued favor, wisdom, and that our co-efforts would be fruitful and glorify God!

Finally, we are gearing up for teams, and more teams, who are planning on helping us this summer. It is interesting that God is calling people from all over the world to help here in Cluj and Vladeasa: so far teams will be coming from Idaho, California, Texas, England, and possibly Germany and Hungary. Please also be praying for the +5 teams that are coming to assist us this summer in outreaches. We are praying to the "Lord of the harvest" for a huge harvest here in Cluj. To Him be the glory!

Village Mafia

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:35:57 +0000

Nicu called to let us know that he was asked to do a funeral service yesterday for one of the families out in the village of Sacuieu. A lady, Dina, had a baby boy last fall and he came down with pneumonia just a bit ago. He had a horribly high fever with it and by the time she got him to the Dr's, the fever had done too much damage and he died four days ago. The father, a non-believer, has been in rage over losing his only son and took out his anger on his wife by beating her. The Orthodox tradition is to stay with the body for three days, day and night, until the burial. It would have been normal for the whole family to have stayed in the house with the baby, but Valean would hardly allow Dina in the house to mourn in their tradition.
They went to the Orthodox priest, as is normal, to ask him to perform the burial. Because the baby had not been baptized, he refused to do the burial, and also told them that they were not allowed to bury him at all in the cemetery without paying him an exuberant price. If they had the amount that he has asked for, they would have been willing to pay as this to Orthodox believer's insures entrance to heaven(the Roma people take on whatever religion is most prominent in a country, so they have the same belief having been taught this for so long). When Nicu and Silvana went out to have the Tuesday evening study, they found out about the whole delima that was being played out and spent many hours with them trying to comfort the family and friends. Nicu said that Valean along with several other men, were very open to hearing about the love of the Lord, and we are praying that through this, they will come to know the Lord in a very personal way. The family asked Nicu if he could do the service and burial, and he agreed.
Yesterday afternoon, Nicu called back to let us know how it went. The funeral did not happen at all and we found out that it's because of Sacuieu's own little mafia gang. The mayor house stopped the funeral yesterday and would not let the baby be buried because the family did not have the death certificate. Only the mayor's office could give them the death certificate, and he refused to give it to them because Nicu was doing the burial instead of the priest. (Come to find out, some one in the mayor's office and priest are in-laws.) The priest happened to be around and said that he would bury the baby for a reduced price - the mayor's office said that he would give the death certificate if they would have the priest do the burial. So, the family is paying whatever they can scrape together and the priest and this specific man at the mayor's office are happy because it's still money in their pockets and control back in their hands. It's enough to make one very ill.

We realize that this gives answer to something else that has been going on and that we have been waiting for answer for... The land that we had inquired about receiving to build a church on, belonged to the village of Sancraiu, in which we lived in. Sancraiu though did not want anything to do with the Roma people, and in order to keep the record of being "Gypsy free" they traded land with the village of Sacuieu, which is where the church is, in agreeance with Sacuieu to give us a portion of the land to build a church on. Sacuieu agreed, and since receiving the land, there has been a long delay and one which they told us could take many years waiting for all of the papers to go through, etc. We had been working with the mayor's office to see this through, and now it all makes a lot of sense as to why nothing has yet happened.

So, much prayer is needed for this village. Prayer that the control that the priest and mayor are exercising over the people, holding them in bondage, would be broken. Really it comes down to praying that the chains of Satan himself would be broken there. Please pray for Valean, first that he would come to the Lord, and then comfort for him, Dina and their two young girls during this time. Pray that through all of this, that all of the Roma people would see God's heart for them, not what the priest has taught them that you have to buy your way into heaven. Pray that if it's the Lord's will, that we would still receive land to build a church on, even if the mayor is trying to stop it; or that we would be able to find another house to buy so that we can side step having to work with the mayor on this. This kind of happening is the normal thing here in Romania. Please pray for extra strengthening for Nicu and Silvana as it gets very frustrating to have to deal with these types of things and see people hurt so badly by these going ons.

Welcome!
Praise the Lord! Costica, a first year student who started stopping in at "the house" to visit a couple of weeks ago, accepted Jesus as his personal Savior on Friday. He came to church on Sunday with a face that radiated joy and excitement to learn more about the Lord. Eva accepted Jesus a few weeks ago and it's neat to see her coming to fellowship as well. It is always very exciting to get to welcome new people into the family of Christ! Please keep them in prayer, that they would grow in the Lord and be blessed.

The Little House
Please be praying with us over "the house" that we rent for the church and student outreach. The landlady had promised to set up a rental agreement with us after finding another rental for her business. She did find a rental, and then instead of following through on her word, put the house up for sale. We have peace that the Lord is going to take care of us in the midst of this and that we will either be able to stay here or that He will provide an even better place and the funds to go along with it. Please pray with us for His safety and provision to be over us. It could be that the Lord is providing for us, if we do have to move out, as we are pretty cramped in the space that we have. We pray that if we do move, that we would find a bigger place that would be large enough to have a good sized children's room and a large enough room to hold services in as well. We will see!

Prayer:
1. Pray for "the house" that God would protect us from it getting sold with or will provide us with a better rental.
2. Pray for continued favor with both the government and neighbors in both the city of Cluj and the villages of Calatele and Sacuieu. As we open a branch of our Romanian Association here in Cluj
3. Please pray that our team would be known for our love for one another and for those on the outside
4. Please pray for safe travels for Dave and Lili Bunnell as they have made a trip home to work on Lili's citizenship paperwork - for favor, health and speedy success
5. Please pray that God would prepare us for the upcoming challenges and that we would respond to challenges in a way that glorifies Him.
6. Please pray that God would bless the various studies, prayer meeting, outreaches and events - that God's love would be manifest to those in need.
7. Please pray that God would bless the upcoming Super Bowl night - we are showing the Super Bowl, here in Romania most guys don't know who won, and so it is new to us. :)
8. Please pray concerning our family's transportation needs - that if it is God's will, He would provide a car for our family
9. Please pray for Charity's back and neck and unusual tiredness - pray that God would heal her of whatever is causing these pains or direct us to a solution.
10. Please pray for Nicu and Silvana with the situation of the funeral. Pray that God gives them wisdom and the supernatural ability to comfort the parents and bring truth to their family who have been rejected by the Orthodox priest to even bury their child in the grave yard.
11. Please pray for the upcoming CC Romania conference - pray that God would speak and minister to His flock here in Romania and give health and safe travel to the speakers.
12. Please pray for the 5+ teams that we will have here this summer - please pray that God would use them mightily for His work here, for health and safety as they are here too. Please pray that we would see a massive harvest this summer! Pray that our team will be able to have the strength to keep up with all the teams.

Praise:
1. God is opening doors with the students and children of the neighborhood of the ministry house. Last week we saw Costica a first year college student give his life to the Lord and he is excited getting involved with every possible church activity! For the boys in the Saturday kids club, in this past month two boys have made confessions of faith.

If you want to see what "the house" is all about please see the Calvary Chapel Cluj website at: www.calvaryromania.org/cluj and click on the image "the house"

Thank you all for your prayers and support of the work here in Romania both in Cluj and Vladeasa.

Electricity!

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:28:22 +0000

Electricity!

Following up on the prayer request sent out last week in regards to the electrical issue in Calatele and the vice-mayor threatening the electricians...
Nicu was able to escort the electricians back out to the house, and there was not a sign of the vice-mayor or any of the other men who had made the threats. The men were able to get the electricity installed at the church with no problems. This makes it possible for Nicu and Silvana to hold Sunday school in the house for the children of Calatele again. Praise the Lord for safety for everyone involved and that the kid's can continue to come and be blessed at the church!

(left -picture of inside of "the house" - witnessing to Rodica,right - fuzzy picture of Sunday morning service at the pizza shop)

The House Hours Begin ~

The students are back and "the house" in Cluj is ready! This week was our first week opening up the house with our new posted hours for this specific outreach. The vision for this time is to use these hours to evangelize and to invite the students, hundreds of them, who pass by the house daily. Please keep us in prayer, as well as the rest of the team as we all have our days on which each couple will take turns for this outreach. Please pray that the Lord would open doors and the hearts of the students.

Praise and Prayer ~

    * Praise the Lord for the electricity out in Calatele, and for the safety of all involved. Praise the Lord for the continued growth in the lives of the believer's in Sacuieu.
    * Praise the Lord that the house is ready in Cluj and for His provision to have been able to do this.
    * Praise the Lord that Doina is done with her chemo treatments and has been able to go back home. Please continue to keep her in prayer, that full recovery will be made.
    * Pray for the continued ministry in the Vladeasa area.
    * Pray for the Cluj ministry, that we would rely upon the Lord to guide and to give us boldness.
    * Pray for health for our families - The Pop family has been visited by chicken pox, and the Bunnell family had a flu bug this last week.
    * Pray for the ministries accountant, , who has come to realize that even though she believes in Jesus and what He did on the cross for her, that she has been lacking a personal relationship with him. She was very touched when John was able to share with her about this and she wants to start joining us at church.
    * Pray for Eva Rodica who has started coming to church, that she would understand what it is to walk in faith and not in religion to be secure in the Lord. Pray for her healing as she has a large tumor on her jaw.

In Christ,
The Maury family