The Church of Smirna

"'The Words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. I Know your tribulation...Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.'" (Revelation 2:8b,9a,10b)
Dear Friends and Family,

"Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior." (Titus 1:4b)

As many of you know, our family has been living since October of 2006 in Drobeta Turnu-Severin, a city in the southern part of Romania situated along the Danube river. About a year ago now (May 2007), we discovered that my (Andrew's) driver's license had expired, and since Geta does not have a driving license, we were pretty much not able to leave the city much (the driver's license issue was taken care of 3 days after we arrived in the U.S. for a visit last November).

Since the time we discovered that the license had expired, we have been attending a church in the city. Called Smirna (Smyrna, from Revelation 2), the church is relatively new (2 years in September), and it's vision is: "a sea of worshippers in spirit and in truth". Smirna is very much alive, with Biblically accurate teaching, a program for the children during the service, truly moving worship times, and wonderful times of church fellowship together. The Pastor of the church is Ionut Corlan, and his wife's name is Jenni, an American from Wisconsin. They have two daughters, Maya and Lena, and are expecting their third child in November. Our families share a lot in common, from the marriage of a Romanian and an American, to our love of children and people, to our desire -- and in fact vision -- to see more and more people come to Christ in ROmania, especially in Oltenia, the southern region of Romania in which we reside.

At Smirna, our kids have made friends with the other children in the church and have enjoyed being with them and learning during the children's program; Geta has many times helped during this time, or been the teacher during the children's program (she trades off with a couple of the other ladies in the church). I (Andrew) have often been involved with teaching in the church, which is something that I love and have been gifted with; it also gives me plenty of opportunity to learn more Romanian, because I usually teach in Romanian! Practice makes perfect -- or at least better!

We have gotten to know the people that attend the church, and have become very good friends with most of them. The church has many opportunities for times of fellowship together, from birthday celebrations, to meals together (similar to potlucks at Bridgeport Chapel), and even a church campout last July -- a relative novelty here, and well worth the effort.

We are blessed to be a part of Smirna; God has used and will continue to use our time, our friendships, and our experiences there to teach us many things, build our faith in Him and prepare us for further ministry here in Romania. We are blessed with wonderful friends, brothers and sisters who truly love the Lord and want to know Him more.

May God's blessings be upon each of you as well; we love you and pray for you.

Andrew, Geta, and family

p.s. The pictures included in this post were taken on Easter Sunday, which was on April 27th in Romania. The picture below was taken during Sunday School, and if you look carefully, our three older kids can be found in the picture.