Friday 5/22/2009 4:07 PM
Russ Ewing
We have arrived in Baia Mare -- our final destination. All of our luggage got here with us. Everyone on the team is doing well, but we are extremely tired from the long trip. Tomorrow, we will rest, go to some villages where we have helped start churches, and do some preparation work for our ministry to begin. Everything has gone very smoothly, so we can already feel your prayers. Please continue to pray for us.
Saturday 5/23/2009 2:16 PM
Jack Smith
Today was a very restful and fun-filled day. By restful, I mean John and Jenny Reynolds slept until 10am this morning!! Some had lunch at the McDondalds and some went to the Italian restaraunt. The McDonalds in Baia Mare is a 5 star restaurant compared to the McDonalds in St. Louis! All the employees are dressed well, shirts pressed, and seem excited to have their jobs. Very clean too. All the girls went shopping this afternoon, and the guys went with Jessi Sabau to see some of the villages we will be visiting this week. We also went to a village we had visited in the past to see the contruction progress of a church some of the Ellisville members helped plant. We had dinner in the hotel with Pastor Daniel and his family tonight. We are all thankful we had today to recooperate from the 2 long days of travel to reach our destination. Our energy levels are replenished, and WE ARE READY to do the Lord's work this week. Thank you for your prayers. Please pray for Pat Bullock and Dave Watson. They will be giving their testimonies in Biurinta Church in the morning.
Sunday 5/24/2009 4:50 AM
Russ Ewing
We had a wonderful church service this morning in the Biruinta church (Pastor Daniel's church). Dave Watson and Pat Bullock did a good job sharing their testimony. Charles had an excellent message on missions. Please continue to pray for the team. We will be doing a vision clinic in the Biruinta church this afternoon and then have evening service. Please pray for Pat Bullock specifically -- she has a head cold she can't seem to shake.
Sunday 5/24/2009 2:54 PM
Jack Smith
Today was the day the Lord has made! We fitted 146 reading glasses and 84 prescription glasses (230 total). The Team also helped the Lord meet Baia Mare's spiritual needs --- 15 decisions for Chirst were made today. Claudia and Ciprian gave genuine testimonies this evening speaking in their native Romanian language. Pastor Charles followed up with a good evangelistic sermon with Pastor Daniel closing. Opposite from yesterday, today was fulled with lots of work. After Sunday evening service, the Team along with Pastor Daniel's family and Jessi and Cami had an interesting dinner at the Medieval restaraunt. When I say interesting, Jack Smith ate pig brain!!! Yes I said it... pig brain! Today was really a blessed day. Most of the team has adjusted to the time change, and we are ready to do the Lord's work in the villages tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers, and pray that the Lord's best has yet to come in Romania!
Monday 5/25/2009 3:55 PM
Tina Chereji
Greetings from Baia Mare!!!
Today we started vision clinics in the villages and we had an amazing time in Coltirea, a village with about 150 families. We fitted about 164 pairs of reading glasses, 136 pairs of prescription glasses, and there were 25 additional exams that didn't need a fitting. For the children's program we had 50 kids. They sang songs, listen to the stories of Zacheus, Lazarus, Andrew & Peter, had their pictures taken, and did some crafts. Anna Scantlan receives the "Best Actress" award for acting out the story of Zacheus. According to Daniel until now no one has done anything like this for the kids of Coltirea. They were so happy and the best thing is that they all wanted to "Join God's Team." Out of all the people we served today, there were only 5 or 6 men that came back for the service. Most of them were women and kids.
Pastor Charles's message touched the lives of 50 people who prayed to receive Jesus Christ into their hearts. There was a total of 70 people in the service. The people from the village were very thankful, they brought us cheese, homemade sandwiches, coffee, and water. They also asked us to go back.
After the evening service, we all had dinner at the hotel and had a little celebration for Claudia and Ciprian who celebrated their first anniversary.
God is doing an amazing work among the people of Romania. You have to be here to really comprehend the magnitude of His work. Thank you for your prayers!!! We certainly feel them.
Tuesday 5/26/2009 3:43 PM
Tina Chereji
Cicarlau
Well, we had another blessed day! We gave away 190 pairs of prescription glasses, 238 reading glasses, and did an additional 18 eye exams. There were about 100 adults and children that attended the evening service and we witnessed 65 decisions, including the mayor of the village. For the kids' program we had about 30 children.
Yesterday, Jenny and John Reynolds gave their testimonies, and today in Cicarlau, Tina Chereji and Jack Smith gave theirs.
The vision clinic in Valenii Somcutei was canceled due to a local funeral, therefore we will be in Hovrila all day tomorrow. We'll have the same schedule, but in a different location.
We are short on some reading glasses, so please put that on your prayer list.
Thank you all for being part of this mission trip and we ask you to keep on praying for us!
Wednesday 5/27/2009 4:44 PM
Tina Chereji
Hi everyone,
Today was our last day in Baia Mare and tomorrow we are starting the long journey home. We'll depart Baia Mare at 6:35 a.m. (Wednesday, 10:35 p.m. CDT) and travel to Bucharest where we will spend the night. We are all very tired, but extremely happy to know that God used us to help spread His word in Romania.
There were some tears tonight as we said our goodbyes. Our brothers and sisters in Romania made our stay here very enjoyable and we are so glad to have served the Lord together with them.
Here are today's counts in the village of Hovrila:
- 94 prescriptions glasses
- 138 reading glasses
- 23 exams
- 30 kids for the children's program
- 80 for the evening service
- 40 decisions
We are giving praise to God for everything He has done for us this week and pray that God will water the seeds we have planted.
Thank you and we look forward to see you soon!
Thursday 5/28/2009 12:00 PM
Russ Ewing
All,
The team is back in Bucharest -- we arrived this morning -- the check-in, security, and flight was non-eventful (the way we like it). This afternoon, Pastor Radu Opera showed us around Bucharest. He is a Baptist pastor in Bucharest -- he is married to Angela whose mother is a member of Pastor Daniel Chereji's church in Baia Mare. Everyone on the team is doing well, but we are tired. We will catch a 6 AM flight out of Bucharest in the morning heading for Amsterdam, Minneapolis, and then St. Louis -- we are scheduled to arrive at the St. Louis airport at approximately 4 PM. Please continue to pray for the team as we have a long day of travel. Thank you for allowing your family member, relative, friend go on this trip with us. Everyone on the trip made significant contributions to the team effort. This was one of our best trips to Romania.
