Romania - Autumn Mission Report 2018
Chris and I want to say a big thank you for all the words of encouragement we received from the summer report, indeed God is doing great things in this part of Romania.
Just after we returned from Romania in early May, Sami and his daughter Ana-Rut had the opportunity to visit England. Ana-Rut had been invited to a youth conference in the south of England. Ana-rut being underage to travel needed an escort to travel, so with the generous offer of a Christian friend to buy his fare he was able to come.
Sami received a very warm welcome from the two churches he visited. With the aid of PowerPoint he gave each of the churches a very clear outline to the work God is doing in Preajba.
Before travelling on to friends in the south of England we had arranged a meal at the Royal Oak in Broadwas to meet up with the prayer support team. Pastor Viorel and his wife Ema continue to faithfully run the little fellowship in Sadu. Viorel also runs the bible study group for the No 3 adult orphans.
After the camp and on return to their homes the girls re-laid all that had happened to their parents who were greatly disturbed by what they heard. Dani and Sami went to visit the parents seeking to reassure them and explain what had happened. The parents would not accept it was spiritual, much prayer is needed for Dani and Sami, to give them wisdom to enable this barrier to sharing the gospel be broken down.
This was a turning point for Ana-Rut, she immediately went to Pastor Dani and asked if she could be baptised to witness her confession as a follower of Jesus, which took place the next Sunday morning.
Back in May, the day before Sami left us to return home to Romania I introduced Sami to a very rich song which declares what Christ has accomplished at the cross of Calvary. At that time Sami was unaware of what spiritual battles were about to take place. The words of this song read:-
For this purpose Christ was revealed. To destroy all the works Of the Evil One
Christ in us has overcome. So with gladness we sing And welcome His kingdom in
Over sin He has conquered (Men) Hallelujah, He has conquered (Women)
Over death victorious (Men) Hallelujah, victorious (Women)
Over sickness He has triumphed (Men) Hallelujah, He has triumphed (Women)
Jesus reigns over all! (All)
We have to remind ourselves of what the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesian 6: 12-13 - 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
An army is ineffective if it is not engaged with the enemy, and able to overcome. The team in Romania are in enemy territory, Oltenia, the south west region of Romania is a hotspot for witchcraft. We need to sharpen our spiritual weapon as we engage with the enemy. We are again reminded what the apostle said in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 - 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Chris and I are greatly encouraged to see how the team are responding to the spiritual challenges ahead. In addition to reading the scriptures they are seeking knowledge wisdom and understanding by listening to teaching on spiritual warfare by Derek Prince and Joyce Meyer to name a few.
Since December 2017 Pastor Dani has been preaching as a change man with a new zeal empowered by the Holy Spirit. We asked for you to especially pray God protection over the Christians and those who God is raising up in a special way to begin a new move of the Holy Spirit in the area of Targu Jiu. What has happened at the summer camp is a witness to what God is doing in Preajba.
Pastor Dani Berca and his wife Estera were invited by Estera’s brother to England in November 2017 to attend the Fire Conference which is headed up by (CFAN) Christ for all Nations.
Pastor Dani and Estera witness a great move of the Holy Spirit in that conference. This was a new experience for Dani and Estera, the presence of the Holy Spirit was so overwhelming, they witnessed folk being healed, with them falling down and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Estera’s brother is a full time working on the streets of London as an evangelist, seeing people healed and converted. One man who had a bad leg, who he prayed for on the street and was healed and converted, is also now working with him. Back at the home of Estera’s brother, Dani spoke of back pains unaware that his legs were of dissimilar length. Estera’s brother asked Dani to sit on a chair, and then he began to pray for Dani. Dani could visibly see the one leg increase in length. Then knowing Estera also had a shorter leg asked her to sit on the seat. But Estera’s brother asked Dani to pray for his wife, but fervently decline to begin with. Eventually he agreed and again Dani and Estera witnessed her leg lengthening till both were equal. God had privileged Dani and Estera to receive a new experience and empowering of the Holy Spirit which they brought back to Romania. To God be the Glory. Dani was soon led to share with his flock what it means to be empowered by the Holy Spirit taking the above two scriptures as a heading to the message.
Dani and Estera’s visit to the Conference has greatly deepened their faith, experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit and given them a wider understanding of God’s healing power. This autumn Saturday November 29th to December 1st Pastor Dani and Estera are planning to attend a conference in London again, this year it is called KINGDOM ENCOUNTER held at Ealing Christian Centre.
Sami and Marta also wish to go to the conference. Estera’s brother has already obtained tickets for the conference. We are praying God will release the finances for them to buy their air fare. We believe this is a great opportunity for Sami and Marta also to get a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work to also increase their faith, to be more effective in the work of God.
In August Dave and Chris held another Garden Party at their home. We thank all those of our prayer group and members of our church “The Source” who helped to make it such a success. We were able to raise just over £655 towards the loan used in purchasing part of the land and building the flat over the Granary, living accommodation for Sami, Marta and their family.
After a long summer break Sami and Marta are recommencing the weekly children’s AWANA group and the teenagers Saturday club in the Granary. In addition to running the Granary, Sami also shares a leadership role in the church fellowship as assistant leader with Pastor Dani in his chapel sited at Dani’s home. Sami leads the early morning Monday prayer meeting, and jointly leads the weekly bible study with Dani. He preaches alternate Sundays again sharing the role with Pastor Dani.
Sami and Marta continue to use the Granary for outreach to the village, through hospitality including a monthly ladies meeting. We are pleased the Granary is also being used by other churches and Christian groups to run special teaching seminars and retreat opportunities.
Chris and I are so grateful for your continued support and prayers, as always we pray God will richly reward you all for you faithfulness in supporting Gods work in Romania, please continue to pray for the work both in Targu Jiu, Sadu and Preajba.
On behalf of all our Christian family in Romania.
God bless - Dave & Chris
In the last two weeks of June Viorel and Ema together with their two boys Caleb and Levi were invited to England with the generous help of Elaine Frampton who paid for their air fare. As well as visiting members of their family who now live in England they first spent a few days in Birmingham, before spending some time in Newent giving a report of their work at St. Mary’s church.
In the first week of July Tony Malcolm one of our prayer team together with his daughter Hannah arranged a week’s mission in Sadu and Preajba, a very packed program which went off extremely well. It was agreed Tony and Hannah would lead children’s activities in Pastor Viorel’s church in Sadu each morning, and then lead another group of children in the Granary in Preajba. Tony and Hannah used acts and drama to teach the truth of the bible and how to pray which included some of the children’s parents. Cricket is not a game played in Romania, so Tony introduced the children to Kwik Cricket. Kwik Cricket is a fast game which can have two teams of up to 10 to 12 children who can take part.
During the summer Sami and Marta, Pastor Dani and Estera together with Dani’s American mission supporters Mike and Julie Rogers held a one week camp in Preajba on the land connected with Pastor Dani’s home. It was a packed program with fun and games, each evening session gave the opportunity to share the gospel.On the last evening they had a time around the camp fire. Late in the evening the leaders retired to bed leaving the young folk to continue talking around the camp fire.
Among the topics of discussion were the various types of films they had watched including some of the horror movies. In the very early hours of the morning the young folk decided it was time for them to retire to their cabins and get to bed. One of the teenage girls who live in Preajba, as she made her way back suddenly stumbled and fell, rolling on the ground, her eyes manifesting a glazed look.
Sami’s daughter Ana-Rut, Phillip, Pastor Dani’s son and Vali one of the young men belonging to the Preajba church recognised demonic manifestation. Meanwhile two other girls also manifested the same. Praise God for the three Christian young folk because with the limited understanding they had, they began to pray over them. They continued to pray for an hour until the evil spirits had left them. The next day the three girls knew that God had touched them and something special had happened to them and had got so close to giving their lives to Jesus.
Romanian Mission - Full Report – 2023
To listen to this report in AUDIO – Click HERE
Chris and I rejoice with the apostle John when he said in 3 John 3-5 - It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. We can testify how or fellow Christians in Romania are faithfully following their Lord.
Chris and I left a very dull UK with rain and clouds, to meet wall to wall sunshine from 28 to 32 C for most of the mission. This analogy is so very true of the comparisons of leaving the church in Britain with the churches in Romania.
The mission was a very rewarding and enjoyable time. Chris and I accompanied by Leo were swamped with so much warmth, love and joy, many of the Christens we met for the first time treated us as their close family with overwhelming affection We were met with such openhearted warmth and love., This spirit which we experienced was an expression of their love for the Lord and a sincere yet rich openness to share and ready to receive from us what God had laid on our hearts. Within this spiritual atmosphere we experienced what the apostle said in 2 Corinthians 3:17 - where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Sensing this freedom we indeed knew the Joy of the Lord was our strength - Nehemiah 8:10
It has been four years since we last visited, due to the Covid pandemic and health issues. The first week we stayed with Sami and Marta dealing with practical issue in the Granary property, maintenance to the site and as it is a charity, we held the Annual general Meeting. We gave much of our time over to the young people visiting their Friday evening activity in Maranatha church in central Targu Jiu. Sami’s daughter who is part of the youth leadership team was an inspiration and brought us much joy and encouragement. ~In the last two years God has been speaking to her heart, giving her a passion for evangelism. Through her God given passion the youth work commenced, which has built up into a rich group of evangelical Christians. Many of these young folk have over the last few years been attending summer camps with MIA (Mission in Action). MIA Camp both evangelises but also nurtures the young folk and train them to become evangelists and councillors nurturing new Christians.
One day soon after Ana-Rut returned from camp she was sitting on a bench reading her bible in the Park of the city of Targu Jui. Shortly a family came and sat on a bench opposite her. Moments later one of the ladies showed signs she was in discomfort, she had developed pains in her stomach. The Lord nudged Ana-Rut, she felt the Lord say go and pray for this lady. Very gingerly Ana-Rut got up and walked behind the lady sitting on the bench and asked her if she would like her to pray for her, to which the lady said yes. A few moments later one of the family members came up to the bench and suggested to the lady they go and seek medical help. The lady responded, no it is all right the pain has gone. This was such an encouragement for Ana-rut to have obeyed the voice of God and prayed for that woman.
The ethos of the MIA camp leaders is most admirable and has born much fruit. Young folk come onto the camp each season and many give their heart to Christ. The ministry continue through the year, with follow up teaching and mentoring. Many of these young folk have become councillors, teaching and encouraging new Christians. These new leaders also are trained in evangelism and form a vital part of the summer camps.
To give an example Pastor Viorel’s son Caleb was part of the youth group leadership team but has now studied in the University in Dublin. He was very quickly voted in as director of the Christian Union in the University. At present Caleb is doing a term at a University in Georgia. One of his friends sent him a birthday note which said what a wonderful job he/Caleb and God had done in the Dublin University. For the last two years only 25 attended per week. But his friend sent a photo of the group which appears to be around 60 attending each week. Caleb carries the aroma of God’s love and is gifted in communicating the Gospel in a loving attractive way.
On the first Sunday of our visit, Sami and Marta took us to visit Gori and Angela. In 2017 Gori and Angela invited the members of Dani Berca’s church to visit their home on Christmas eve for Carol singing which continued each Christmas afterwards. A strong bond built up between Gori, Angela and Sami’s family. With the large increase on the cost of living, which is restricting Sami and Marta’s time holding less activities in the Granary, Gori and Angela asked Marta if she would be willing to take on a cleaning job with them which she accepted.
Marta began to share the Gospel with them and like the women in the New Testament the seller of purple the Lord opened Gori and Angela hearts. Some few week back Gori wished to talk to Marta as he wanted to have a serious talk about becoming a Christian. Marta wrote out the way of Salvation and handed it to him. Shortly after Gori gave his heart to the Lord. Meanwhile Angela is still on the journey. Chris and Marta had a good long talk with her, and were later joined by Gori for a bible study, but as yet she is not ready to receive the Lord into her heart.
On the Sunday morning we attended Dani Berca’s church in Preajba together with Sami and his family. In the evening Sami took us to a new fellowship that has recently commenced in Targu Jiu. It is run by Gabi and Hannah, a church plant which is being supported by an apostolic church in London, Hannah is Pastor Dani Berca’s sister. Most of the young orphans attended this church as well as attending Pastor Viorel’s church in the morning. They liked Gabi’s church because they loved the worship time.
We found the service inspirational, as this particular week Gabi was focusing on street evangelism. Gabi was encouraging the congregation to take copies of the New Testament out onto the streets and give them to folk. Gabi is a gifted street Pastor formally living in London praying and healing folk on the streets. Gabi in his message gave members of the congregation a clear understanding of how they were to make contact on the street. He encouraged them not to just hand the New Testaments out but make conversation, and when they felt it right offer them a New Testament and invite them to a Sunday service.
For the second week we stayed with Pastor Viorel and his wife Ema.
Viorel has recently been voted onto the Southern Region Baptist Union leadership, becoming deputy leader. Pastors in the Baptist Union are not able to go to the leadership and seek help, Viorel is a very wise man and well suited to this position.
On Thursday afternoon we attended Sadu church bible study where Chris and I preached. We preached at all the services we attended during the two weeks except Gabi’s church.
A new church has recently been built in the village of Balesti some six miles south west of Targu Jui. The leader Samuel (in blue) bought the land and built the church himself. Samuel is not a qualified minister, is not permitted to lead the communion/Breaking of bread ceremony which is held once a month. Viorel as a fully trained Baptist minister has been invited to become an overseer of the church, allowing him to administer the communion.
Prior to our visit Viorel said he looked forwards to us visiting this church. Viorel made it clear he would take on the task of elder and show how a pastor looks after his flock, by visiting each member and getting to know them well. Viorel took us on a number of visits to many of the congregation. We were invited to their Thursday evening service where Chris and I were permitted to preach, We were warmly received by all. At the end of the service a number of folk in the congregation came forwards for prayer.
Over the two weeks we were in Romania we were privileged and invited to pray for a number of Christians with a variety of needs. We kept a note of the people we were asked to pray for during the mission, it came to a total of forty five.
On the last Sunday of the mission we visited Sadu church, then joined the Orphan girls for a meal at Vio and Ema’s home. Chris and I prayed for two of the girls who are asking for baptism.
In the congregation was one family covering three generations. This included Victoria the grandmother, sat by her side was David. At the rear of the church was her son Tiberius and daughter-in-law Lorraine. Some fifteen years back on one mission, the moment we got into Viorel’s car, Viorel said he was inviting us to a wedding. This was the first weddings he had conducted after he first qualified as a minister. Without warning at the start of the service Viorel asked both Chris and I to preach at the wedding service. Viorel asked me to preach the Gospel because a large number of the members were not Christians. After the service and meal, as is the custom the bride and groom speak to each person attending the wedding and receive a dowry. Chris and I once aware of this custom quickly got an envelope with some money to present to them. When Tiberius and Lorrain came to Chris and I, they thanked us for coming and then made a very touching comment. Tiberius said – We want to be like you. They sensed an inward life that was manifesting in both of us which humbled us, which they desired to have.
This Sunday after the service at Sadu, Tiberius’s son came up to Chris and said – I do enjoin hearing both you and Dave when you preach. A little time later Tiberius came to us as we were about to get into the car and began to share the great things he had discovered about the Love of God. We knew that Tiberius and Lorrain take the boys to the Pentecostal church in town joining with the young folk where they get added fellowship and encouragement. Do we endeavour to invest in Christian and non-Christian friend’s lives praying they will grew up to be good citizens for the Lord. Jesus said in John 15:16 - You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
When we arrived at Viorel’s house we had a warm greeting from the Orphan girls. Catalina the young lady in grey on the left of the picture came up to me and handed me a scripture. She said this is for you. The scripture was from Revelations 3:11 which reads - I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. I found this little gesture very endearing, Catalina was encouraging Chris and I to press on, to be faithful, knowing God will reward us in serving him faithfully.
It was such a joy to meet the girls again, some of them we have known for twenty years. The warmth and love we felt, Vali (in black to my left) one of the orphan girls invited us to her home in the countryside the village where Viorel was brought up to meet her son Luca David. Please pray for him he is very timid and finds it difficult going to school.
We had many opportunities to preach and share Gods love, it truly was a most amazing time led by the Holy Spirit.
Viorel and Ema shared their dreams to be able to sell their apartment/flat in Targu Jui and get a good price then buy a place in Timisoara for Levi to stay in, when he goes to University in Timisoara. Pray that Levi will have a good pass with his school exams and gain a place at Timisoara University to study Physiotherapy.
Also please pray for good Christian wives for Caleb and Levi, that Caleb will progress well in his studies at University and pray for his future. Vio may visit Ireland next year to earn more money and Ema may join him.
Future projects – Viorel would like to do an outreach with the immigrants in the area. To build friendships and then have a place to meet. Also to expand the work with the orphans, currently there are sixteen to twenty. He wants to invite more so as to include others who need love and care. Maybe creating two separate meetings or have a larger building so they still can provide food.
On return a day after we arrived home we both became desperately ill with a fever. We started to recover then after a couple of days Chris relapsed with a bad cough, ulcerated mouth and needed antibiotics for a chest infection. After two weeks since we returned, we decided to send for a Covid test kit, we both tested positive, we continued to isolate. It took at least a month before we both got our strength back, but the sacrifice was worth it considering what a blessed trip it was.
Soon after we arrived back we had a WhatsApp video call with to Sami he has had to have an x-ray on the upper part of his spine around the neck. Trapped nerves are affecting the sensation in his hands and arms, it can be put right through physiotherapy. He has been attending a clinic in Targu Jiu for the therapy and is much better.
Thank you all for your support and prayers, it was a memorable time. God is doing something special in the area we are supporting in Romania.
Love and God Bless
Dave and Chris