Izgar: The Unexpected

 (Blog entry originally intended for late September 2006)
 On September 17th, we went to a small church in a very small village about 2 hours drive away called Izgar. We have been there quite a few times before in years past, and the people are very precious to us -- they have a special place in our hearts. There are only a handful of people in the church in Izgar (6-8 or so normally), but they are dedicated. One of the attached photos (above) is a picture inside the church of our family with the people that attend there (although a couple of regulars were not present). It was wonderful and moving for us to return again to a church that has come to mean a lot to us, and spend a day in ministry and fellowhip there.
 When we arrived at the church, we were a little early, but as the people arrived, several of the ladies wept when they saw us. Even though it has been over 3 years since we were in Izgar, they knew us and remembered us right away. There were many kisses and hugs of greeting (Romanian style -- the kids still aren't used to being kissed repeatedly by total strangers). During the morning service, Geta and I had prepared a list of songs to sing together, which we did. I had prepared 2 messages (one for the morning service, one for the evening service), but another pastor showed up and spoke. After he left (he was going on to another service in another church to speak), we still had some time left in the morning service, just enough to give an introduction to the message for that evening. Geta translated, and it went well.
We all decided to have the evening service at the home of the elder of the church (see the other photo with Joseph and I). He is very old, and cannot walk almost at all anymore, and so cannot come to the church. He also cannot see or hear well at all (we needed to yell in his ear when we talked to him, and even then he did not hear us all the time). After the morning service, our family ate lunch outside the church, and then went to the home where the elder lives (also the home of his son, and daughter-in-law; she is first on the left in the group photo). We spent the afternoon with their family which was very nice. Joseph had his first negative encounter with a bee (he got stung), which was not very nice. He was pretty upset, but calmed down after a few minutes. When we went to see the elder there at the house, the daughter-in-law had warned us of his problems, and that he doesn't even seem to know them anymore, which is very sad. When we saw him, he knew us right away and seemed so happy that someone cared enough to come to see him. We had the impression that no one really cares about him anymore. The whole situation made me nearly cry. (I told Geta later that since he knew us right away, maybe he just pretends not to know his family so they'll leave him alone!). It was very good to visit with him and spend time together.
 
 When the time came for the evening service, we set up chairs in the courtyard of the house. I expected the church people to come for the evening service, and they did, even the ones who had not been present in the morning. And then something totally unexpected happened: other people from the village began trickling in, until we had not 6 or 8 people, but 18 adults, 3 children, plus our family packed into that little courtyard that warm evening. I suspect that many people that would not normally come to the church came, probably more out of curiosity than anything else. I want to share with you that I felt the weight of responsibility for those people there like I haven't felt for a long time -- responsibility to share what I could about Jesus Christ and the Gospel, and responsibility to make it as clear as I could. I felt this was a monumental opportunity, and that here and now may be the only time some of these people would ever come to a Christian service or hear or listen to a message from the Gospel.
 We proceeded with the service, Geta and I had a few songs again that we had prepared, and then a number of the other church members shared various songs and/or poems, until a whole hour had passed. We still had a second hour to go, and it was time to start the message. Geta translated for me, and we spoke from Matthew 5:13-16 about being salt and light in this world. There are many opportunities in those few verses to share the Gospel message and who Jesus is and why. By the grace of God, I felt that we made use of each opportunity to explore and make as clear as possible the truth that Jesus Christ is the true Savior and the only way to heaven, and after 50 minutes, we closed the service with another song and prayer, and I felt pretty tired. We visited a few more minutes and then headed for home.
 The people gave many hugs and kisses when we left and were so grateful we had come. I belive though that we as a family received so much more blessing than we were able to give that day in Izgar. We hope to go again from time to time to Izgar to continue to share with the people there, and encourage them as much as possible. Please pray that God will strengthen and build the church in Izgar, and encourage the believers there, and that He will give them wisdom and strong faith to stand in the face of anything or anyone that would lead them astray or feed them false doctrine. May you be encouraged in your faith as you read this story and see that God loves this small handful of people in a village far away and that His mighty hand is at work!