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!

All About Jetta

 (Blog entry originally intended for early September 2006)
 The Basics: On Friday, September 8th, we got to drive our "new" car home to where we are currently living. It is a 1987 Volkswagen Jetta 5 speed turbodiesel which is in excellent condition. It gets very good mileage -- a big deal since diesel runs about $5.00 a gallon here (just barely cheaper than gas). We payed 2300 Euros for it (about $2900) plus about another $300 for all the paperwork and taxes to get it in Geta's name. We have enjoyed having it the last few weeks; it has already been a huge blessing to us, and a great help in getting us started in ministry. Our family is so thankful to each of you who have been praying that God would provide us a car.

 The (Really) Long Version: Before we bought this car, we had been praying a lot that God would bring the right car to us, and that there would be clear direction as to which car was the one for us. We also felt very strongly that we should not make a decision to pursue any car until September 1st or later. So we had been praying, and looking for several weeks in newspapers and autotrader-type papers.
 On August 27th, I went with a friend named Ionica (who's also a mechanic) to an automarket in Deva, a city about 2 hours away. People come from miles around to bring their cars to this outdoor swapmeet sort of market every Sunday. We even saw cars there from the area where we live! Out of all the cars we saw there, we liked a 1987 Volkswagen Jetta, and a 1984 Mercedes. They were both in fine shape, but we spent a lot more time talking to the man with the Mercedes, because overall it seemed to be a better car (although Ionica said the VW had a very good engine). Both cars had about the same price on them. We left the automarket with the phone numbers of both cars' owners, and I was fairly convinced that the Mercedes was probably the one for us. We would pray about it that week, and perhaps call the man with the Mercedes on the following weekend (after Sep.1, Friday) if we felt that was the car God had for us. We pretty much forgot about the VW Jetta -- but God did not!
 On Wednesday, Geta's father called us (he works in Deva) and said he had been looking in the newspaper, and had found a Volkswagen that we should come see. I said okay, so the next morning (Thursday) I took a bus to meet him, and we went together to see this car that he had found in the paper. We went about 10 miles out in the country past Deva, through several villages until we came to the village of Fizes, and arrived at the house where the car was supposed to be. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the courtyard of this house, only to see a car that looked familiar for some reason. When the owner appeared, and I recognized him and realized in that instant that the Volkswagen Jetta I saw there before me was the very same one Ionica and I had looked at just days earlier at the automarket. I was really taken aback at the seeming "coincidence". I knew this was definitely not a coincidence, but that it could just be the "clear direction" we had prayed for. We looked the car over very well, I took some pictures to show Geta, and I told the owner we would call him On September 1st (the next day) or later if we decided to pursue it. After I finally got home that evening (via Geta's dad and then hitchhiking -- safe in Romania) Geta and I talked about it, I showed her the pictures, and we prayed about it. We felt that we should pursue the Jetta, and so we called the owner the next day (September 1st) and told him we were interested in pursuing the car.
 We spent the next week (Monday-Friday) running back and forth to Deva and going through the entire process of buying the car (not a simple process here), getting the technical inspection done, and so on until at last, on Friday evening about 8pm we arrived back at out temporary home in Otelu-Rosu. That was the first set of hoops to jump through, in the county of Hunedoara. Then we spent another couple of days running around the county where we were registering the car (Caras-Severin) in order to get all the correct taxes paid, and the new plates for the car. Let me just say, I am not looking forward to buying another car here in Romania. But, thankfully, everything was done legally and in order, and the car is in Geta's name, so if we ever have to sell it and get something with more seats (more kids? You never know!), it won't be too big of a problem.
 One question I know is probably on a lot of peple's minds is: why in the world would you pay over $3000 for a 20 year old car? Yes, I admit I asked myself the same question. If I were in America, I would have to be insane (maybe even committed) to pay that much for a 20 year old VW Jetta. But we're not in America. The market is very different here in Romania, and this type of car is very popular and highly sought after. This is because it is diesel, and because it gets very good mileage (about 1.25 gallons for 100km or 60 miles), so it is comparatively inexpensive to operate. It is also because Volkswagen is a very reliable car, and the parts are not expensive. The car should hold it's value pretty well. (The other Volkswagens in this era, Golf II and Passat, are generally going for anywhere from 2500 Euros to over 3800 Euros!) We got a pretty good deal on this one because we had to do some extra papers on the motor (it is newer than the car) and because we will probably have to paint it at some point in the next couple of years. After we brought the car home, I went to a junkyard in Lugoj (1 1/2 hrs away) and got seatbelts for the back seat so we can buckle the kid's car seats in!

 The car has run beautifully for us; it has already been a huge blessing for us, and a great help in getting us started in ministry. Again, our family is so thankful to each of you who prayed with us that God would provide us a good car at a good price; you are a blessing -- thank you!
 UPDATE: January 09, 2006 -- The car continues to run beautifully for us, and has been such a blessing in ministry for us. We have changed the rear shocks and coils, and the water pump since we got it, but that is it. We are so thankful for this car. Praise God!
 

Beginning Again in Romania

Hello friends and family, this is an update about how our family has been and a little bit about what we have been doing since we left the United States and got here to Romania.
We arrived in Timisoara, Romania on August 2nd, and Sylvia Thomas met us at the airport. She took us to stay in the village of Rusca Montana, where Geta grew up. Geta's family very kindly let us stay in a seperate room out in back of the main house, but after a few days it became apparent that the walls of that room were very moldy, and it was causing us (especially the kids) to have serious breathing problems at night; they seemed to cough all night long, and breathed heavily. We tried for several days building a fire and leaving the door and window open to dry out the walls, but it didn't help at all.
On August 11th, the Thomas family was kind enough to let us use a nice, large, vacant house that they own in the town of Otelu-Rosu for awhile, until we are able to find a place of our own in the southern part of Romania known as Oltenia. Then we will move down there, probably near the city of Turnu-Severin. We have been staying in the house that Thomases own for a little over three weeks now; I am happy to say (and thankful) that the breathing problems cleared up for us almost right away after we moved here.
On August 13th we were honored to be invited and able to attend the wedding of one of our long time friends Eugen; he was married in the church in Rusca Montana, the same church that Geta and I were married in five and a half years ago. Eugen's bride is named Simona, and she is from the Oltenia region of Romania, where we will be moving to soon.
On August 20th, we were privileged to attend the ordination of one of our other long time friends, Cosmin, who was ordained in the church in Zlagna as a missionary in the area. Cosmin and his wife Mari were married in that same church just over three years ago.
On August 27th, I (Andrew) went with another good friend of ours, Ionica (who is also a mechanic), to an automarket in the city of Deva; it is like a bazaar or swap meet for cars. We went to take a look at the different kinds of cars that are available, and get a feel for the prices right now in the market. It was quite interesting -- many different kinds of cars, at all different prices; however, the prices seemed to be more expensive than they are in the united states. Ionica and I had a good time together, and it was a good experience.
On September 12th, we may be going with Utu to a meeting of church leaders in the area where we will be working. There, Utu will introduce our family to the church leaders of the area so that they will know who we are, and that we will be working with Utu and Vio in the area as missionaries. I don't know for sure yet if we are going to this meeting, I still need to hear from Utu for certain about it. I do believe it would be an excellent opportunity to meet some of the various other pastors, missionaries, and church leaders of the area. It would be a way to make new friends in the ministry, and possibly open doors for future ministry opportunities.
Geta and I and the kids do very much appreciate your friendship and your prayers. The following are specific prayer needs for right now:
#1> MEETING: please pray that the meeting on September 12th would be as God would have it, that it would be a positive experience, and that God would be honored.
#2> CAR: please pray that God will continue to guide us and give us wisdom in the matter of finding a car both for our family and for ministry. There is a possibility that God has led us to a car, but we are still seeking God's will on this issue. (This is a whole other story about the search for a car, but that is for another blog entry at a later date). God can close the door on this if He so wills, or He can pave the way for us! Please pray for us for clear direction!
#3> PLACE TO LIVE: we hope to be moving to the Turnu-Severin area within two to three weeks; this is the area we intend to be working in. Please pray that God will provide a place for our family to live, where He wants us to be, at a price we can afford.
Thank you for taking the time to read the entries in this blog; we hope you have been encouraged somehow today. Geta and I hope you enjoy the two pictures we included with this blog entry; they were taken at the house we are currently staying at in Otelu-Rosu. Please know that we are encouraged by your reading these entries and by your continually bringing us before the throne of the one and only true God.
Love in Christ, Andrew, Geta, Joseph, Ammishaddai, Elijah

...Whirlpool, part 2...

Similar to the previous entry, but a little later on in the month, August 24, we were also very grateful to be able to purchase a refrigerator for our family as well. We had looked at several different models that we liked and narrowed it down to two, but in the end We picked this Whirlpool refrigerator/freezer combo because it was a good brand, and it had a couple features we liked (such as glass shelves) inside. (No, it does not have any "6th Sense" feature :-) ). It cost a little bit more money than the other model we looked at (we paid about $474, a decent deal) but it has an "A+" energy rating, and even though it is bigger, it consumes about 90 kilowatt hours less per year than the other models we looked at. Even though it is about six foot eight inches tall, is not as heavy as it looks; I and another guy about my size carried it into the house with no trouble at all. The refrigerators here are narrower in many cases than in the United States, and much less heavy (the washing machine was another story -- it was quite heavy). As with the washing machine, it is a huge blessing to have the refrigerator, and we have been very pleased with it. Enjoy the picture of our new refrigerator attached to this blog entry! (The refrigerator area is the top portion, and lower portion is the freezer). Again, it is because of all that each of you have done for us, and because of God's provision, that we were able to have this refrigerator for our family to use. Thank you!

...Whirlpool, part 1...

We very much want to thank everyone again who was involved in any way with the Bridgeport Chapel Garage Sale this year, and also for the love and generosity that was shown to our family before we left America to come to Romania. We are and continue to be deeply grateful to each of you. As many of you probably already are aware, one of the things that we really wanted to be able to get when we came back to Romania was a washing machine for Geta. Because of everything you have done for us, we were able to get one on the 14th of August, about two weeks after we arrived in Romania. We paid about $346 for it (a pretty good deal, actually). It is really pretty much top of the line, a Whirlpool "6th Sense" as it is called. No, we don't see dead people; the "6th Sense" feature refers to the machine being able to "sense" the weight of the load and adjust water and electricity usage accordingly. Let me just say that having the washing machine has been a huge help in the day to day work, we have used it a lot, and we are very pleased with it. Please enjoy the two pictures posted of Geta's new washing machine with this blog entry. Again, thank you all very much, and may God bless you as you have blessed us!