Out Purpose, to “Go back to Help Others,” Has Never Changed!

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” -Hebrews 11:8

This is a verse that has been very meaningful to our family ever since we came from Romania back in 1983 as refugees during very harsh communism, knowing that it was God who brought us here in the U.S. to a land, a language, and people we didn’t know. We came by faith, knowing that God had a plan and a purpose for our lives. We ached for our country who was struggling and still is, being in need of evangelism, discipleship, teaching, and the Light of the Gospel for those in the darkness of sin. Now, after 30+ years of ministry we continue to come alongside the national missionaries we support to encourage and help them with the ongoing efforts. As this world has become more secular and materialistic, more parents are working abroad and children are being left behind in the care of their elderly grandparents. Our strategies have had to change, but the message of the Gospel is the same. We’ve gone back 2-3 times every year, bringing teams, teachers, resources, and anything we could in order to help our missionaries reach people of all ages with the gospel and make disciples, plant new churches and spread the word of God.

The Covid Pandemic has surely changed a lot of things. This year we were unable to bring church teams, but I was able to go to Romania two times, once back in August with people from our leadership board, and the second time with my wife Gabi and three others from our PIEI ministry; Walter Windsor, who came with me back in August, and also Alex and Rodica Popa from the PIEI-Romania Committee. The purpose of going back remains the same: to help others spread the Gospel, to find men who are dedicated to evangelism, discipleship, and church planting in the places where there are no churches, and to help those who are in need. That has never changed.

After all these years of doing ministry in Romania, I would like to share two blessings! Many years ago in the small village of Caciulatesti, nearby the Southern border with Bulgaria by the Danube River, we met one faithful servant and his wife, Gavril and Vera, with no other believers in the area. We started in their back yard an outdoor evangelistic meeting, gathering people he knew from his village. I was there when Gavril became a missionary. Fast forward 30 years- there is a beautiful church, as a building and as a body of Christ, with vibrant believers, a self-sustaining church that is in the process of planting two new churches nearby! Gabi and I had the privilege of visiting that church this fall and spending time with this delightful couple, spending the night in their home, praying with them and visiting some of the people from the church planting.

The second blessing is some very exciting news for our ministry- for the first time in Romania we own a Camp! This summer our ministry has purchased a Camp site in the Carpathian Mountains, not far from our base PIEI Center. It’s a beautiful site, the land has an amazing view and a cabin that needs work in order to be functional. We would love to have this Camp ready by next Spring or Summer! We need people trained in construction to come and offer a helping hand in fixing it, and also funds in purchasing the materials needed for the work to be done, as well as for the furnishings. Children, youth, adults, women, men’s groups, all can be brought there for camp ministry, retreats, and all sorts of events. We dream big, because we have a big God! This camp has a lot of potential, and we believe that the family of God will come together to offer that helping hand we need to make this a working Camp for the Glory of God!

Gabi’s Report on the Women’s Ministry in Romania

October / November 2021

Our leadership planned a very ambitious ministry this fall with the purpose of reaching as many women as possible in order to engage them in the Word, challenge them to use their spiritual gifts in order to serve the body of Christ, and encourage them. A very tall order!

It was a difficult task because we did not go to Romania with a team prepared to minister to women, as we are usually accustomed to do. We never go empty-handed to speak to the ladies, especially when we go to a place for the first time, and some of the repeat places where we did go with a team before had experiences high-quality teaching and care in the previous years.

However, the nationals are always such a great help, and they went the extra mile in providing support, transportation, and even personal care- more than one could ever plan! There were several sisters in Christ that were great helpers, such as sister Damaris in the Alba region, sister Cornelia in Arges area, and sister Florina in the South. There were others which I will mention later, and all the families who hosted us each day in our travels, feeding us and caring for us.

Locations:

The City of Alba Iulia was our PIEI Base. From there we started our travel from the Western Carpathian Mountains and the city of Campeni on the first Saturday morning, then on Sunday to Sard, Monday to Ocna Mures, Tuesday to Selimbar (Sibiu) to visit with the Fogorosiu Family. From there we headed to the city of Victoria where we had two meetings: one with the women from the afterschool program, and one with the women from the church. We spent the night in Victoria, and bright and early traveled through the Central Carpathian Mountains heading South to the Arges Area, meeting with the Orphan girls on Thursday morning in Tigveni, and with the women at the church in Curtea de Arges in the afternoon. We spent the night there and the next morning headed for Draganesti Olt, and we got there by noon. It was nice to see our missionary family Mark and Florina and their lovely boys, as well as the women at the sewing shop, and to spend some time with them. Florina was my helper for the second part of the trip, and we traveled together to several of the locations. The next morning was Alexandria, followed by Maldaeni (a new location) and Beciu. Our last stop was Caciulatesti where we also spent the night and had morning service and an afternoon meeting with the women.

Cornel and I said our good-byes and headed for Bucharest to visit with my aunt and take care of a few personal things for two days, and then back to Alba Iulia we drove!

We started our journey by meeting with the women from several mountain locations who came to meet at the church in Campeni, Alba. Two of PIEI missionaries, brothers Florin Botar and Relu Rodean arranged for these women to get rides to the local church there. Several of them attended my two online teaching bible studies earlier this year, and they were so excited that I got to go all the way to their town high up in the mountains. They had prepared delicious pastries, sweet breads, tea and coffee, juice, fruit, and had them all set on a ping-pong table upfront ready for us women to have a “sweet time” after our Bible time. The message I had prepared for them was a look at the Woman’s Reflection in the Mirror through the Old Testament and New Testament. We had a great time in the Word, followed by a time of prayer in small groups, with a challenge of praying for each other with written prayer requests. I prepared a little “goodie bag” for everyone with a double mirror, pen, chocolate, some paper, cards, and I collected everyone’s home address and contact info to do a follow up later. We also had a crochet craft, making a key ring / heart shape on a button with beads, which everyone enjoyed. How we wished we had more time!

This was the format of several of the meetings I had in other locations, only I had different messages, and different activities, based on the group and location. I let the Lord lead me as to what I should prepare for the women. In one location, the ladies wrote letters to themselves, applying the challenges from the message and giving themselves opportunities to write down some personal decisions that nobody else would see. These letters were mailed to them a month later. In another place, the ladies worked on team-building, and used marshmallows and toothpicks to construct a structure together following a printed design. This was an activity after a message on unity and the “us” in being a part of the body of Christ.

Last but not least one of the most important subjects was evangelism. I had a group of moms and grandmothers who were part of the kids’ after-school program who were not part of the church, but were meeting at a church for that program. The wise pastor thought that I should meet with this group before I met with the women of the church. I had complete freedom in what I should speak to them about. I immediately thought: the message of the Gospel! Several of them brought the kids with them. I have a good friend Rodica Ispas who is a weaver and she made me 200 bracelets with the wordless book colors (the Gospel colors) when I told her my schedule. By the time we got to Romania she had them ready! I used these bracelets as a tool and gave these women and children the gospel, giving them all two bracelets, one to keep and one to give to someone at home by sharing the message that goes with it. We did a review, to make sure that they remember what each color stands for, and they all took notes to know what Bible verses go with each color, so that they know how to share the Gospel. We prayed and gave them the opportunity to make decisions for Christ and follow up with the pastor.

I shared this experience in several of the churches where I went and met with the women, and many of them expressed their desire that they too wanted to hear the message of the Gospel. Some said that they don’t know how to share, other said that they are shy, and they would love to have such a tool to share with their own kids. I had to change some of my messages to make room and I was so glad to share the Gospel not just as an exercise, but as a need. One woman was there with her mother-in-law who came to the town to have tests at the clinic. She was so against her Christian son and daughter-in-law, and was immersed in the rituals of her religion, but without knowing God. Well, she was there hearing the gospel presentation, and she was very receptive, seeing that everything was from the Scriptures.

Another highlight was the meeting with the girls from the orphanage. They are our girls, our precious sisters in Christ. They are beloved, loved, valued, and treasured. I cannot share too much about this because I will start to cry! This is always such a tender time with them. The hardest thing is that our time is so limited. We had another meeting with the ladies at the church in Arges that afternoon, so we could not stay long. That aches in my heart. They long for us for months and now for more than a year, and we give them such limited time! I wish I could stay there a few days at least. I adore and love these girls, they are my sisters, and we need each other.

As we went from place to place, I felt that I was getting a sinus infection and started to cough too. We went prepared with medication, so I started taking meds immediately. Long story, the night before we were to fly back to the U.S. my husband and I (and another board member who traveled with us) tested positive for Covid. This test was required by the airline. The Romanian Health Department immediately took legal measures and quarantined us for 14 days.

We were so blessed to be staying at the PIEI Center. We had friends and relatives from the U.S. who immediately sent prescriptions for us via email to a local pharmacy nearby. We also had a local pharmacist who helped us, and there is another beautiful story, you can ask me one day! Our friends Nuți and Cornel Fogoroșiu came from Sibiu and brought us food and meds that first day of quarantine, never had hot boiled potatoes taste so good, fresh eggs, and, of course, stuffed cabbage! Cornel’s family who lives in Alba Iulia was amazing in taking care of us, especially our niece Alisa, she was making sure that we take our medications (especially my husband), and made a chart of what to take and how much, how great was that! She went shopping for us, and also took care of whatever else we needed. We had a local sister Jenny from the church who cooked hot meals for us every other day and we got to become friends mostly via text message, as we still needed to keep our distance.

We never stayed two weeks before at the PIE Center! That’s a long time! Can you believe that as I took all the women’s addresses, I had the time to write over 130 letters and cards, make phone calls and do a follow up with the ladies that I otherwise would have not been able to do. My precious helper Damaris, who also cooked for us and brought plums and grapes from the village, ordered those beautiful cards with the words from Jeremiah 31:3 “You are loved with an everlasting love” in Romanian, and each letter went out with one of those cards with a magnet on the back. That was a lot of writing and labeling, and on the only day of freedom we had before flying out, we went to the post office to buy stamps and mail them out! Two weeks turned into a month of ministry in Romania, Covid and all, but all productive for the glory of God.