3 Days, 8 Services

 On January 19, 20, and 21 (a Friday, Saturday and Sunday) I (Andrew) went with a pastor from the city of Orsova, and a couple other guys to two mountain villages about one hundred kilometers away for a weekend of evangelization. Evangelization is a time in a village or villages when the people of the church invite their friends, family, neighbors -- anyone unsaved -- to come to the church. There are usually guest speakers during the evengelization, and usually the church is pretty full. This can be a great opportunity to present the Gospel to those who have never heard it before, and for peoaple to come to know Christ. In fact, my wife Georgeta was saved during a week of evangelization in the village of Rusca Montana where she grew up.
 The villages that I went to with the pastor and the other guys were named Obarsia Closani, and Marasesti; they lie in a beautiful, rather isolated setting, with high mountains rising on each side to overshadow them, and a rough road winding it's way through those mountains to each village. In one of the villages, Obarsia Closani, is a house owned by the church where we stayed at night over the weekend.
 There were two services Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night, as well as two services Sunday morning, that we participated in. At each service, we sang songs, encouraged the people, and spoke from the Word of God. I was privileged to have the main message during three of the services, and short encouragements in several of the others. It was a blessing for me to see how receptive the people were to us, and how eager they were to hear a message from God's Word.
 The people were also very generous and kind, which was a blessing as well. Each night, a family from the church in Obarsia Closani would prepare us a meal; Sunday after the morning services we were also invited to a family in Marasesti for lunch. It was amazing how God took care of us while we were there, and provided everything we needed (we had not taken any food with us!)
 Sunday night after the final service, we all drove home to our families. I was fairly tired after all the services over the weekend, but I was also felt very blessed because I had gotten to be a part of such a wonderful experience over the weekend. Please pray that God will continue to work in and bless the villages of Obarsia Closani and Marasesti.

 Picture: this is a picture of me in the church of Marasesti with some of the children (from L-R: Emil, Gabi, Andrei, Me, Ionuti). We had some fun before one of the services, talking and playing games. They were very friendly, and reminded me of some of the children from our home church of Bridgeport Chapel.