Life

(Blog entry originally intended for late October 2006)
This entry is to let you know what else we have been doing the last few weeks and some of the things coming up for us in the next few weeks: what has been going on in our life here. As always, we do appreciate that you care enough to take the time to read our blog, and please feel free to ask any questions you would like to, whether out of curiosity or in order to clarify something.
September 10th: Our family went to the church in Rusca Montana. We knew when we walked in that I would probably be speaking (and that means Geta translating) because there were only a small handful of men there that day. Sure enough, when the man currently leading the Sunday School hour got up to close that hour and move on the the regular worship service hour, he announced that the church would sing a song together, take the offering, and then that "we will hear a message from the Word of God from brother Andrew". I wasn't surprised, it was just kind of funny, that's just the way it works over here. If you come to visit us here in Romania, make sure you have a message prepared to share, and keep it handy (in your Bible)! We had an interesting time during the service because we couldn't leave the kids with anybody (they don't know anybody well enough), so we had to have them on the stage with us, and that was an experience in itself. Sometimes one of the kids wanted a toy or book the other had, and sometimes they came to us and wanted us to pick them up. Needless to say it was a different experience. In the end, everything was okay, and the people weren't too distracted.
September 17th: Our day in the church of Izgar, a wonderful day of ministry and fellowship; see entry below for the whole story.
September 24th: We went to the church in the village of Dalj, which is near the city of Caransebes, about 15 miles away. Our friend Cosmin (who was ordained as a missionary August 20th, see previous entry) and his wife and son are serving there on a regular basis as basicly the pastor and leader of the church. It was great to have the opportunity to visit the church in Dalj and see the way that God is using Cosmin and his family to minister to the people there. It has been a real blessing to see the various ways that God is using fellow students from the bible school in ministry; it has also been an encouragement to us as we begin our ministry.
October 1st: We went to the church in Rusca Montana again, where we heard Diana (a graduate of the bible school) speak. She shared about the year she spent in Mozambique with Janice Peters, a missionary that we at Bridgeport Chapel support. She learned Portugese in about 3 months there and then taught classes to children, and shared about Jesus. God has certainly used Diana in a great way, and has placed a true and deep love in her heart for the children in Mozambique. She would like to return to Mozambique, and we believe that she will, at God's appointed time.
October 6th: I went with our good friend Utu and his van to take a load of our things down to Turnu-Severin, to an apartment that we will be living in, probably until next spring or summer.
October 13th: After a long search -- and I believe much praying on your part -- we finally found an apartment to rent; it has two rooms, a bathroom and kitchen, and we will be moving on the 13th to Turnu-Severin to live. The apartment is on the third floor, and also has two balconies, one of which is enclosed (very useful for storage). Although smaller than we had originally hoped for, it is a price we feel we can afford. Rather than 120-200 euros per month for a 2 or 3 room apartment, we will be paying 70 euros per month (about $90) plus utilities. Isn't God amazing? We are very grateful for this apartment for a number of reasons: 1> The price; 2> the owners are very nice, and fixed it up for us before we moved in; 3> the utilities (gas, water, electricity) all have meters on them, so we only pay for what we use (this is normal in America, but not normal here, although it is becoming more common); 4> the apartment has hot water and heat (which we didn't have in Otelu-Rosu); 5> By moving down to Turnu-Severin, we are much closer to the villages where we want to be working, and we have a nice warm place to stay for the winter.
Later: We will move again next spring or summer to be even closer to the villages where we will be primarily working. We don't know for sure exactly where we will move to at that time, whether it will be a town or a village. Please pray even now that God will be preparing a place for us to move to next year. We would have liked to have moved closer now to the villages we will be working, but nothing worked out for us at this time. We definitely believe that we are to stay the winter in Turnu-Severin, and be prepared to move again late spring or summer. We hope to be able to put our new address on the blog sometime soon.
Thank you for your continued prayer for us, and your continued support of us. We think of our family and friends often; we miss each of you and we pray for you as well. We'll talk to you again soon. May God be with each of you...