FBC Taos NM goes to Romania

This is my final posting for the 2008 trip to Romania.  I first want to once again thank all of the people who helped make this trip possible for the team from FBC, Taos to go and minister among the people of Severin, Romania.  We were blessed in so many ways, but also faced many challenges as well.  We were unable to connect to internet capabilities for so very long and are very sorry we could not get you daily updates as we had hoped to do.  We tried everyday!  We are very happy to be able to announce to you now, some of the great things that were accomplished during our trip.  Ray was successful in developing a website for the “Romania for Jesus” organization which, of course, is going to help them tremendously.  Our preaching services all went very well and we saw many decisions made by earnest followers of Christ to begin seeking the Lord’s guidance about how they can minister more effectively among their own people.  Our students were absolutely fabulous in their attitudes and their willingness to serve anyone in any way that they were asked.  Their witness for Christ among the Romanian believers is at an incredible high, and rightly so!  They were eager to share with people on the streets when we went out to do evangelism and asked people if they could pray for them.  They were used of God in great ways and have been a great representation to Christ and to FBC, Taos as they patiently endured all situations, from long travel times to plane delays and last minute connections to lost luggage.  I am very proud of them! 

In closing, the learning curve was very steep on this trip and we gained valuable insight, albeit through many problems, about how to go about the business of organizing our next mission trip.  I think the one thing that I’m most particularly pleased with is that our church is now both missed and welcomed back any time by the people of the churches in Severin, Romania.  Only God knows the full extent of what will come out of all of our efforts to plant the seeds of the Gospel into the hearts of the people of Romania, but we know we represented Him well as ambassadors of Jesus Christ.  Thank you again to the team, to my church, and to all of you who, because of your generosity, have a share in the blessings of God that will come from this trip.  God bless you all.

Pastor James

I have put a few pics from the trip on Facebook. You can view them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004747&l=af8a0&id=1064890127

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004749&l=5d5d5&id=1064890127

These are just a few of mine but there will be more posted as I took 2.6GB’s worth, Edwin about 400MB & Jessie Marie used 3 disposable cameras!

Ray

As a child I loved to read fairytales. They were beautiful, the mystery behind the magical creatures, the romance of the princesses and princes, and the bravery of the knights.  Reading these stories gave me a glimpse of something I didn’t understand, something I wanted more than anything. I began to find it in other places, on the corners of every beautiful sound, dancing evasively through the raise of a sunrise. Every time I stopped to appreciate something I caught a glimpse, like a person out of the corner of your eye but when you turn to look to it’s just a coat on a hangar. This thing I detect is something humans have been searching for since man first was born. Some pursue it through art, others good deeds or earthly comforts. Each glimpse is a promise from God, a preview of the beauty we will see when we come face to face with God in heaven.

I couldn’t sleep the other night so I was just lying there and I wrote this. 

The   people   here  have  great   faith ,   after   all   they  went  through  for  many  years.    Pastor  Elena  has  showed  them that  GOD  is  mighty  and can  overcome  many  things.   The   churches here  are  beautiful  with  their  domes  and  paintings  but  you  can  sense  they  have  no  souls  only  tradtions  .  Pastor  Elena’s  church  building  is  plain  and  simple  but  the  people  here  worship  with  their  heart  and  soul.    When Pastor  James told  the  team  that  the  members  from  Romaina  were  praying  and  fasting  for  us   that  they  really  wa nted  us  to  be  there. 

The  buildings  are  so  beautiful  the way they  are  made  with Roman, Greek, Spanish,  and other periods  rolled  into them.  Some  are brightly colored green, yellows,reds, blues  yet some are ruins.  It’s hard sometimes for the upkeep  the prices are so high and people are very poor.   So it’s food or  upkeep.  Talking  about upkeep.  Talking about  upkeep  I came with JB  and left with  and extremely ugly plucked chicken  .  Tar anyone?   Meet me at the airport. 

Jonah and the Whale  was  the  parable that  came  to  mind  when  we  were  doing  outreach.  It was a whale  fountain  that  Pastor Mimi, Sister  Livia, Sister Carmen  and  led the children  in  worship  and  song.   Just like Jonah coming out  of  the  whale  to  finish GOD’S   plan  so  we  are  too.                 JessieMarie  

The Whale statue in the park

From Ray -

It’s cool to celebrate the 4th of July from the other side of the globe. As I think of our freedom, I think of the Romanian people who lived under communism. The way that system killed and oppressed these awesome folks. As I walk from our apartment to the places we meet, every turn is a reminder what a destructive thing communism is. Glad they can celebrate Dec. 22 as their independence day!

Happy 4th to you all! Blow somehting up for me (please keep all your fingers)

Our youth joined with the Romanian dance team to dance to a worship song on Thursday night. They had only a few hours in the morning to learn it & the whole team did a great job!

Here’s the watertower in Severin, about a block from the Pastor’s house.

This is the worship team

Sunday Morning dance

Pastor James Sunday morning

From Ray

Sorry we haven’t posted sooner. The internet modems are different here and need drivers that won’t work with our Macs. Here in Severin, there are not any wireless hotspots or the like so we are using the Pastor’s PC at her house.

Well, we have had quite the week. We are spending our whole time in Severin, a town of about 120,000 people. We finally got our bodies on Romanian time so we seem to be in the groove. MAN is it HOT! Some humidity thrown into make sure we’re nice & sweaty.

The folks at Pastor Bogdan’s church are the best. They are so gracious & kind. They have been making us a lunch & dinner to die for each day.

The nights are where all the action is. We took last Saturday to rest up and chat with our new friends at a Saturday night dinner. Sunday brought our first Romanian church service. They have a great worship team who really blessed our time. Along with great music, Pastor James shared the message. I was to give the message for Sunday night’s service, so we did it youth group style – all in a circle. Youth here is considered anyone not married so it was quite a different feel from youth group in Taos.

Monday was a trip to the mountains & a swim in the lake for some & a small fire for others. Edwin & Selah swam across the lake in triumph.

The rest of the week has been out reaches at night to invite folks and families to the conference. This showed itself to be a great opportunity to not only let folks know about our conference but to pray with them right there. God really moved as several of us were able to pray for folks and the worship team was able to invite the little kids to come over for sing-a-longs and fun.

The sun doesn’t set until around 10pm so we find ourselves out late every night, getting to be after midnight. It’s a great time!

Tonight the conference begins. Pastor James will be bringing the message tonight, during the full day tomorrow and Pastor Bogdan will bring Sunday’s message and baptism.

We hope to post one more time before we leave. See you then!

When they started singing English hymns in Romanian I was thrilled. They had a lyrics projector, so I could really see the words and recognize the some as Latin based. I had forgotten how ninja linguistics is.

A group from the church and our group…. Team USA, went to a busy part of town to pass out fliers.  One lady brought her guitar and grouped around a bench and sang worship songs, children flocked  to the music, we had about 40 kids listening and singing  along . I sat down  and started drumming on a guitar case. Before we had left the church to pass out the fliers we were praying to have more children in their church. God knows what he is doing.

It’s been… seven days. Yes. I’ve seen things I never thought I’d see. Wonderful things. Beautiful things. Incredibly powerful things. It’s amazing to see God work in people who don’t know us, who can barely understand us as we pray for them. The fellowship and compassion is very admirable. The pastors are very close, very involved with their congregation. The people in the street aren’t as defensive as, say, someone in New Mexico, but we won’t know until tonight whether they intend to come or just wanted us off their backs, but I know regardless of who shows up. God touched some people’s hearts in the streets, and He has a plan for Romania. For the short amount of time we’ve been here we’ve been busy enough to have some great experiences, and in only seven days…