Romania Report 1

Sorry for not making a posting sooner. Today, Monday, ends the Easter celebration here in Romania. A country of eastern orthodox and they close up all businesses to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Eastern Orthodox is the second largest world religion. It and the Roman Catholic Church at one time were one church, and therefore their religious practices are very similar. They, as do the Roman Catholics, believe that the word of God is not the sole source of authority from which Christians get direction from God. They believe that the traditions of the church actually take precedent over the written word of God. As a result of this belief, they believe that salvation is not an act of faith but also dependent on the keeping of the traditions.

The baptist churches in Romanian also celebrate eastern with a week of celebration, and end it on Monday. We were given the opportunity to be a part of this celebration. It is different from the celebration of the orthodox church, since it is not celebrated as a high holy day of tradition, but instead a great time of remembrance and challenge. We believe that we may be here at one of the most sensitive times of the year. People all over the country have been thinking about what Jesus did.

We were at the church in Balini on Easter Monday. The is one of the locations that we are helping the start of a church. Partner in Missions International or PIMI under the leadership of its founder, Brother Bob Ward, is the missions organization that we are working with in starting this church, and the church in Batar. The pastor ar Balini and the pastor at Batar are presently being supported through the Sunday morning giving through the Sunday School Lifegroups.

The church of Balini on Eastern met with a church in a neighboring village, since they do not have a building to meet in. They also had a baptism service of one of their new believers, who was saved through the door to door evangelism of earlier groups from Stevens Street. The man was partially paralyzed and had to be placed into the baptism pool by six men. It was an amazing celebration of the church.

This morning (TUESDAY) we are starting the work on the building in Batar. We have been told that gypsy men who typically work in other towns and countries, have decided to stay in the village to help with the building. We are going to need some of them, but not many. We hope that we will be able to keep them all busy and in the process have opportunity to talk to all of them about their relationship with Jesus. Pray that God would save men for the start of this church in Batar.

Well that is all for today. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for the work here in Romania. Thank you for praying for us. Those of you who have been on mission trips know what I mean when I say that we can sense that God is moving as a result of the prays going up.