Reasons to Rejoice

Beloved brethren in the Lord!

By God's grace we want to keep you informed how God is using us in His work.

The Covid-19 pandemic was and remains one of the biggest challenges we face in the mission field. We ask the Lord for wisdom; we ask Him to make us efficient in use of the time and resources available to us in this time of global unrest and disorder. People are suspicious, many of them close in on themselves. Others fall into the opposite extreme and are guided by the Epicurean philosophy: "To eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die!" We pray to God for help to have a proper approach for each person with whom we come in contact!

Through all the challenges we face, God gives us reasons to rejoice and encourages us not to fall into exhaustion in our souls. Some time ago I wrote to you about brother Elemer and how his whole family was hard tried because of his health. By the grace of God, our brother feels much better now! Their joy and mine are even greater due to the fact that the youngest member of the family, Ruben, decided to publicly confess, through baptism, his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. With God's help, the baptism will take place on July 18, 2021.

Beyond missionary activity outside the church and the pastoral activity in the churches, we get involved in visiting people who can no longer come physically to the worship at the church due to their health. In ”Craciunelu de Jos” church we have two sisters who are over 90 years old, and in ”Mihalt” we have a sister, also over 90 years old. We also have a 92-year-old brother in ”Mihalt,” brother Cornel, but in his case the approach is much more difficult.

Prayer Requests:

1. For the spiritual growth of brother Ruben

2. For wisdom and spiritual discernment - guidance by the Holy Spirit

3. For working with older brothers

4. For new opportunities to proclaim the gospel to the unsaved people

5. For my family - spiritual and physical health

In His service,

Daniel Petrut, PIEI - Romania Missionary

Gospel Fruit from the Past, Working Today and into the Future

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord!

By the grace of God in April we had two more special meetings at the church of Crăciunel. It was a blessed time because we had two preachers from other parts of the country as guests. The messages brought refreshment to the faithful, and at the same time, a searching of repentance for friends who came to these meetings. May the Lord work in these troubled times. May the Gospel bring light to the souls of the lost!

Florina and Mark Darvell and their two boys visited the church in Ocna Mures. Florina gave a beautiful testimony from when she lived in Ocna Mures in 1993, one block away from my home. I forget the details of her speech, but as Florina told her testimony of turning to God, it brought tears to my eyes. She responded to God after the testimony I brought to an evangelistic outreach held in the cinema in the city. A sequence from Florina's testimony: “I didn’t understand much from brother Daniel's testimony then, but I did understand that Jesus died for our sins. I went home and prayed to the Lord, if there really was one, to free me from the passion of cigarettes. The next day, I no longer felt any desire to smoke!” It has been 28 years since then and … “

This testimony strengthened me more in my faith and desire to serve the Lord! The word is true that Paul planted, Apollo watered, but God made it grow. As for Florina, she was invited to the evangelism outreach by a young woman from the church. Then she started coming to the church with another young woman who lived in the same block of flats. Importantly, she was born again by the Spirit and is currently working with PIEI in the southern part of Romania. Praise God!

Prayer Requests

• For spiritual and physical health

• To make effective use of opportunities the Lord gives to serve those around us

• For the salvation of many souls

• For the Lord to raise up collaborators in our mission work

Be blessed!

Daniel Petruț – PIEI Missionary

Lights in This World

We are especially thankful to God in these times for keeping us healthy everyday. He gives energy and ability to do what we do. We appreciate your support; and we are glad to know that together we are redeemed and called to be lights in this world.

School has started again. Filip-Emanuel and I are actually going to school. Teodora is still doing online school. She is involved in a couple of Zoom Bible Studies, as a spiritual mentor. One Bible study is about Abraham and his life and how he was God’s friend; another Bible study is about the book of James. (Filip is also participating in this one, but as a student); and the final Bible study is about prayer in which she is a student.

PIEI missionaries surrounding Alba Iulia have started having monthly meetings again. These face-to-face times encourage us, and we have a good time in fellowship and prayer.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• For spiritual discernment in this confusing world

• For God to teach us how to be more attentive to the needs of those around us

• For peace and understanding, especially between members of our churches

• For those who have lost someone or have been affected by this virus

Daniel Petrut – PIEI Missionary

Updates From Family Members

Dear brothers in Christ,   

Hello! We are so glad to be part of this great ministry, to spread the Good News for the lost people. We are thankful to God for all of you and your support. We believe that your prayers have a massive impact in the spiritual world, so we are glad to know that you are praying for us. However, nothing is the same as it was half a year ago.

A couple of weeks ago, school started, we have to follow a lot of new rules, some of them are easier, some are harder, like wearing a mask for about 8 hours a day and social distancing.   We, as a family, are pretty good, praise the Lord. We are able to have services in our church, but there must be a certain distance between each family, we have to wear masks and disinfect ourselves at the entrance to the church and at the exit. Even with all these rules, we are so happy to go to church and praise the Lord with the brothers and sisters there.

Rachel

During this challenging time, I have tried to help some elderly widows from our church that I knew needed help. Along with Daniel, the children, sometimes even alone I would visit them, help them with their house chores, work in the garden or just talk to them. Most of the widows in our church lost their husbands over 20 years ago and as their children live pretty far away, they often feel lonely. Teodora likes listening to their old stories about how our village used to be when they were young and how much it changed over the last 50 years.  Praise the Lord!    

I have also used this time trying to get closer to God, reading the Bible more and listening to pastors preaching the gospel. It is truly amazing how God can reveal Himself to us. 

Teodora

Last summer I went to a camp and kept in touch with some of the leaders there. At the beginning of this quarantine they asked me if i wanted to participate in a study group as a student. Its title was: I choose to be courageous! It lasted about 6 weeks. Later on, I started another study group about Joseph’s life. This one was in English and it was really exciting! When I finished both of them, they asked me if I wanted to start a study group about the book of Romans as a leader. With God’s help, this study is going to last until around November. It is quite weird, but still amazing how you can become really good friends and praise the Lord with some people, from all over the country, without meeting them in person, just through some Zoom meetings. 

I have also started to cook more, but both me and Filip like sleeping a lot so by the time we wake up (around 10- 11 am), our parents have probably already eaten. Thus, breakfast is not my strong point, but I like baking a lot. I have made Cinnamon Rolls, Croissants, Pasteis de Nata, Mini Cheesecakes, some cakes and a lot of cupcakes. Some of them were really good, some of them not so much from the first attempt, but they were all pretty much eatable.

With our hope that our Lord will come very soon, let’s work together for His glory. Amen!

Prayer requests:

• Please keep praying for brother Elemer. After surgery, the doctors told his family that he has cancer. He and his family really need to be prayed for.

• Please pray for us, to be able to keep doing His work here.

• For the children to be safe at school.

• For the elderly brothers and sisters to be encouraged by God

• For guidance in the Holy Spirit and for an efficient ministry

• For my family: for spiritual and physical health

• Answered prayer:  Thank you for praying for my parents-in-law. God has worked amazingly. Their health has improved a lot!

God bless you all!  Best regards,

Daniel C. Petrut, PIEI-Romania Missionary

Call For Your Prayers

Dear brothers and sisters, 

We appreciate your desire to stay in prayer for our needs. The events that we are confronting with right now show us that we need to be able to discern God's will for our lives. So, please pray for :

  ~ for us to be humble and to be able to see very clear God's will.

  ~ for wisdom to be able to take the right decision in any circumstance in life

  ~ for kindness, like God's kindness, in our relationship with the other people

  ~ for determination and courage to stay firm in our faith in Lord Jesus Christ

Please stay in prayer for my parents-in-law ( Constantin and Persidia) . Both of them are really sick. We also have a very precious brother in hospital ( Elemer). He underwent an emergency surgery and is hopefully recovering well.

  Best regards, 

PIEI-Romania Missionary Daniel Petrut

Trust Our God

Dear brothers, 

   It has been a long time since I sent news from us. During this hard time, we trust our God and we wait for His mercy. We are sorry for everything that is happening in the whole world right now, but we are happy in the same time because our Savior told us all those things have to happen. Moreover, all those things are just confirming the fact that the Lord is near to come. We are glad because in all four churches that we are involved in, there are no Covid-19 cases. Praise God!

  We hope that you are alright!  

  Prayer request: 

~ for spiritual and physical health

~ for the elderly brothers and sisters to be encouraged by God

~ for guidance in the Holy Spirit and for an efficient ministry

~ for my family

In Him, 

Daniel C. Petrut

DIFFICULT TIMES

Dear brothers in Christ,

It’s obvious that we are living in hard times. This global virus is a good test of faith test for everybody. Maybe this could sound strange, but this fear between people may be a great opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Hence, please keep praying for us to use properly any opened door for the Gospel. Also, we need God's protection to keep our spirit, our souls, and our bodies safe.

Dear brothers, we love you and we want to encourage you to stay brave and keep working together for His glory. Blessings and greetings for each brother and sister from MBC. Thank you again for your spiritual and financial support!

God bless you all!

BREAD OF LIFE

We are pleased to share with you news about the work that God is doing through us in our area.

We have been with several families, and we believe God has used us as an encouragement and blessing. A Christian businessman provided a sum of money that I used to help these families. I had an open door through which I carried "bread" for the body and the "Bread of Life". We’ve also been encouraged by the joy of seeing the faces of the people we visited.

We enjoy family gatherings every Wednesday. This month due to the winter season we didn’t meet. But by the grace of God, we are meeting again and it is a blessed ministry. Moreover, during winter we decided to have Friday prayer meetings in families’ homes, not in the church building. In this way, the relationship between brothers is more familiar.
Be blessed!

Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

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THE GOD'S BLESSING

I would like to start with a confession: before I came to the US, I only knew a few brothers and sisters from MBC. Now, having met you personally, I am much encouraged and motivated in the service of our Lord. I remember with joy the love you showed me. Thank you again for all your support. May God bless you!

By the grace of God, we want to share news about the work of the Lord. Our 7-year old son, Filip-Emanuel, is truly a missionary. Yesterday his teacher, who is also the headteacher of the school, told me that he challenged the children to say proverbs in class. Filip-Emanuel said two proverbs, which touched his teacher’s heart.

- Man is tested by gold and gold is tested by fire;
- He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose (Jim Elliot).

The teacher asked him how he knows them? Filip-Emanuel replied: "From Christian cartoons". I am glad and praise God for this testimony!

I had the joy of serving a family at Bucerdea Granoasa who brought their child for blessing. The father of the child rarely comes to our meeting and the mother has not come so far. We want this event and this child, Ianis, to be an outreach opportunity to his parents and family.

Prayer requests:

• I want spiritual children just as Rahela wanted natural children. I want to "give birth" to as many children for the kingdom of God

• For wisdom, spiritual discernment and guidance by the Spirit

• For my family: spiritual and physical health.

Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

THANKSGIVING

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We want to share with you news about us and about the work by the grace of God He is doing through us.

First, God allowed us to be tested, but even in the test, He showed us that He is fully in control in our lives. In our garden we have a 1,850-gallon water tank raised over 16.5 feet. Several times I had to get on it and Philip-Emanuel wanted to go up with me. Finally I took him up with me. Not being careful, he took a step to the side and came very close to the edge of the tank. Fearful, all I could do was scream desperately at him. He was scared and stayed in place. Then we went down safely together. I told him I would not take him up the tank until he grows up. He innocently asked me, “Dad, when I'm seven I can go up with you?” In the evening we prayed together, and still shaken by what could have happened, we thanked God for His protection. Emanuel also prayed, surprising me again, "Lord Jesus, thank you for keeping me from falling off the tank and helping my father not to go to prison because of me."

Second, we thank God that, as in past years, we have had good opportunities for evangelism in the Fall. I made full use of these opportunities at Mihalt, Ocna Mures and Bucerdea Granoasa. We pray the Lord to move in the hearts of those who have been coming for years to such events and have not made a clear decision to follow Jesus.

Edi came back from America and I talked to him a bit. Possibly because Edi is an introverted person, I don't know his spiritual state. He started courses again at the university in Cluj, and we meet quite rarely.

Prayer Requests:

• For an efficient work in evangelism

• For wisdom and guidance from the Spirit

• For divine protection

• For Edi

Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

THE ONLY WAY

We hope that this news about how God uses us in His work is for all who read an encouragement and at the same time a challenge to intercession in prayer for us. We thank God who gave us birth through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus! We thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord and to us. Be blessed!

Last day God gave me an opportunity to talk to an university professor. Starting from the policy, which suggested to me who I should vote for in the elections, for the president of Romania, I replied that I do not like the position of the recommended one regarding the LGBT movement. From here, to talk about spiritual things was only one step ... He shared his negative experiences with certain priests. One of them suggested him to give more money to the church to keep his soul forgiven. The teacher's reply was that he did not need a salvation earned by money. He told the priest that he was trying to win his salvation through good deeds! I told him then that salvation could not be won by money or good deeds. If it were possible to save man in this way, the Lord Jesus Christ would not have to die on the Golgotha ​​cross for the sins of mankind. Because he was a rational guy, what I told him was devastating to him. He agreed with me, but briefly changed the subject, returning to politics again. May the Lord bless him and change his heart.

I find out that Edi moved from Michigan to Florida. In this way, God removed him from that environment in which he could not grow spiritually. I also talked to his father and we believe that this experience will help Edi get closer to God.

Prayer requests:

• For my family: protection and guidance;

• For the children and youth ministry: they seem to have no interest in the Gospel anymore;

• For real conversions and lives transformed by the Holy Spirit.
  

With love,
Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

BETWEEN SMILES AND SIGHS

It is interesting to note that the major events in this life doesn’t care about our vacations or holidays: our children are born, our fellows become ill and die, often overcoming our plans, of people. I had just arrived in the south of the country with my in-laws and the following day one of the elders from the Ocna Mures Church called me to announce that a sister from Stana de Mures (she was over 90 years old) had passed away. Shortly after the funeral, we were in Stana de Mures and we sitted in fellowship at the Lord's Supper with the remaining brothers (one man and two sisters), along with a group of brothers and sisters from Ocna Mures. The prayer of the only brother who is still there, Joseph', is that God to work in that village so that the door of the church will remain open until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Joseph is almost 80 years old and sisters Margareta and Livia are over 80 years old!

At the same time, great joy in our family because the wife of a nephew gave birth to the first child, a boy. Also, our extended family (from my wife Rahela), celebrated the "golden wedding" of my in-laws: 50 years since they were married. Of the nine children in the family, only Rahela, my wife, lives in Romania. The other eight brothers are established in Spain, England and Germany. Of the nine children, only one of the girls failed to participate in this beautiful event! This is the journey of each of us, as one of the Romanian pastors in the USA called it: "between smile and sigh"!
Edi, the brother I wrote about is better. Most likely in September he will return to Romania. Thank you for your prayers and support. I wrote to him about Brother John's intention to get in touch with him and I think it is an encouragement to Edi.

Be blessed!
With holy love, your brother in Christ,
Daniel C. Petrut - PIEI Missionary

GOD WORKS IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

Two weeks ago, Mihai, Sister Paraschiva's husband, has passed away. For a long time he opposed his wife's desire to return to the Lord. A few years ago, Mihai had a stroke. Suddenly he became more tolerant and allowed Sister Paraschiva to come to the Church meetings. However, he passed away without knowing Jesus as a personal Saviour. Like the church, I was with Paraschiva's sister in this tough trial. Soon after, along with sister Paraschiva, they arrived on a Sunday at the Church meeting, two of the three children she had.

At Ocna Mures we have a sister (Lenuta) who had surgery at the spine. A few years ago, Lenute's husband, Viorel had a surgery at his head. Sister Lenuta is one of the most active sisters in the group of sisters who make up the "Marta Group". This group of sisters is responsible for helping families with poor physical condition and work at the old foster care. We visited our sister and our intent is to stay closer to this family until Lenuta' recovers.

Teodora prepares to go to a Christian camp in Arad. We hope that her experience in the camp will help her to know and serve the Lord more and more. Edi, who was baptized together with Teodora, went to Michigan with a student visa to work during his vacation. We want that during this period he will not lose faith, but on the contrary will come closer to God. Even if he does not try to show it, his mother's death has affected him a lot.

Prayer Requests:

• For Sister Paraschiva and her family - divine blessings and the conversion of her children;

• For the physical recovery of Sister Lenuta;

• For Edi and Teodora - spiritual growth and maturity.

Be blessed!
With love, Daniel C. Petrut - PIEI Missionary

BAPTISM AT CRACIUNULU DE JOS

We come back with new information from the mission field in the Mihalt missionary circle. We have enjoyed much this month of the rest that God has made part of us through His grace. Not necessarily a physical rest, but rather the rest and the joy of harvesting.
We enjoyed the PIEI meeting, where we met in a holy fellowship with brothers and sisters from Ukraine and other missionaries from Romania. We also had a good time in fellowship with brother Cornel Stef and Tani Nemes. There have been two days when "we have our hearts in His presence."

As I remembered as a project, this month we had a baptism. Three young people publicly declared their faith in the Savior Jesus, our Lord. Each of them had a beautiful testimony of their return to the Lord:

- Edi, about whom I wrote before, decided at 19 years to live his life on the path of repentance after the dramatic experience of his mother's death in February 2019;
- Deborah, she had regrets because she was not decided to be baptized with her sister Damaris in the following 3 years. Very emotional, but determined to serve the Lord all her life;
- Theodora, our daughter, in whose heart the Lord worked the stage with the stage. I complained when I saw her in the summer camp in Ukraine last year, coming out with many young people in the call to repentance. Now he took a new step forward by faith, confessing that he wants to serve his Lord and ours publicly through baptism.
May Adi, Deborah and Theodora live all their lives bringing glory to the Lord!

Prayer Requests:

• For us converts;

• For Edi, Debora, Teodora - spiritual growth;

• For guidance through the Holy Spirit, wisdom, courage and vision in the work;

• Spiritual and physical health.

Be blessed!

Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

Christ is Risen!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, with the help of God, we started to organize a baptism in May at Craciunelu de Jos Church. Edi's intention is serious, we started preparations, and our joy is that other two young women have decided to receive baptism with him. It's Debora, a youth from Bucerdea Granoasa Church and our girl, Theodora.

At the celebration of the Lord's Resurrection we were together with the brothers and sisters of Ocna Mures. I was glad to serve with my brother Cornel Stef, with whom I spent all day. Between the morning and the afternoon church meetings in Ocna Mures, we were at Stana de Mures to visit and encourage the only christian believers who are in this village: a brother and two sisters. They were glad, but in my heart there is sorrow, because they are old and there are no other believers in this village.

”Marta” Sister Group in Ocna Mures continues to be involved in evangelistic social projects. The work from the old town shelter has been stopped for a while, as a period of quarantine because of the flu.

Prayer Requests:

• For the baptism of 19.05.2019;

• For us converted to Stana de Mures;

• For Ocna Mures;

• For my family: spiritual health and physical / guidance through the Spirit and spiritual maturity.

Be blessed!
Daniel C. Petrut - PIEI Missionary

God works in different ways

Beloved brothers in Christ!
A couple of days ago, i asked a brother about how the Lord's work goes to their church. I knew the pastor of that church began preach to another church. The brother replied frankly: "On the one hand we are sorry for the pastor, we have become accustomed to him. On the other hand, the church began to wake up. When the brothers realized that leaving the pastor left a gap, they began to get involved with what they could!
I was writing about the Sister Lenuta funeral, and a sister-in-law of Lenuta said to me: "Maybe God want us to learn something through it!" ... and the answer came. The youngest kid of Sister Lenuta, Edi, was a teenager with a more rebellious attitude. His parents prayed for him a lot, for him to be saved by Jesus Christ. Before I left the cemetery, I went over to the family members and encouraged them. When I came to Edi, the Lord gave me this words: "Do not forget that your mother prayed a lot for you!". About a month ago, while I was on a visit, the phone rang: it was Edi, who told me that he was very determined to follow the Jesus Christ and would like to meet me for a talk. Glory to God!

Prayer Requests:

• For my health - I'm very cold for over a week;

• For the spiritual growth of Edi - a sincere dedication and total dependence on the Lord;

• For the Lord to open as many doors for evangelization;

• For my family - protection and guidance from the Lord.

In His service,
Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

Be thankful for all things

Dear brothers in Christ,
In the Bible, we are urged to be thankful to God for all things. All things also mean the bad things and trials that God allows for a while in our lives. We know that all things work for our good, but we understand that only faith helps us to be thankful for all things.
Unexpectedly, an very active sister in Christ from Craciunelu de Jos passed away. Sister Lenuta was very helpful in this part of the work; dynamic and faithful, a balance factor for her family and for the local church. She was 63…
Two days after Lenuta's funeral, Brother Aurel of Bucerdea Granoasa passed away. In the case of Brother Aurel, leaving to the Lord meant a release from a sick and suffering body. He was 78... When I baptized him, in 2013, he couldn't declare his faith publicly out loud. He had a throat operation and his vocal cords were irremediably affected. We established that he will answer my questions by raising his hand. Many people of the church were watching with tears ... now, our brother went to rest!
By the grace of God, we continue our run until it’s our turn to go home. Friday's meetings at Mihalţ are more and more important & desirable for each of us. We start the day with fasting and prayers, and in the evening, at the end of fellowship in the Word, with songs and prayers. After that, we extend our fellowship to a table of love, eating together.

Prayer Requests:

• For my spiritual and physical health: blood pressure has long been above acceptable levels;

• For revival of the local churches we serve;

• For God to open new opportunities for us to serve the unsaved people;

• For my family: protection in the demonic attacks that come upon us.

Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

Times of Refreshing

We share with you some news from our mission area. In children ministry, we are faced with an interesting phenomenon: a state of apathy and indifference, which has nothing to do with the fact that we are at the beginning of the year, but rather with the fact that many of the young people waste their energy in things that consume their spiritual power. It is a difficult challenge and the intense spiritual struggle to help them fall in love with the Lord Jesus.

Instead, we enjoy family fellowships. We proposed in all churches where we serve, that every friday to be a prayer & fasting day. Here at Mihalt, at the end of the fasting day, we meet with everyone who wants to come. Besides the prayers we raise for the revival of the church, we began to study together the three basic conditions of biblical discipleship. We are struggling to keep the believers aware of the need to go out beyond the walls of the church. We are trying to make our part as good as possible and we expect "times of refreshing” to come!

Be blessed!

Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

Goals for a New Year

Full of gratitude, we praise God for His faithfulness towards us until now. Now, at the beginning of the year 2019, we look behind and we can see how God provided for us and how He blessed our ministry.
We also want to thank those who supported us in our projects, to those who prayed for us, encuraged us and offered us different things so we can be a blessing to others.

Our goals for 2019 are:

• to continue our projects in a few churches from Ocna Mures, Mihalt, Craciunelu de Jos and Bucerdea Granoasa

• to pray and to change our approach in the youth ministry and to build stronger relationships with them

• to pray for leaders in our kids and youth ministries

During these times of winter, we can notice stronger relationships between families. We want to encourage worship meetings because they lead to a better connection with the local church.

Please pray for:

• physical and spiritual health for my family

• guidance and equipping through the Holy Spirit

• human and financial resources

Only through Him,
Daniel Petrut - PIEI Missionary

Close fellowship

By God's grace we enjoyed with brothers from Mihalt a beautiful church fellowship. On this occasion we invited people from the village and we were very happy when  some of them responded to our invitation. In a more restricted space, fellowship continued in our house.