Staying Busy Before And During Quarantine

Sweet friends,

We pray our letter finds you well, and that it will encourage you to see how God continues to work around the world. Our hope is to get your mind distracted a tad from the world-wide crises

we're all in. 

 As you take a glimpse at the ministry that has taken place for the last few months, picture yourself   

 photoshopped right beside us, because you are truly part of what we do. 

Sometimes we do our Sunday services in a more creative way: sitting around the tables and taking communion in smaller groups; reverse Sunday, where order of events go backwards; African worship, testimonial Sundays; interview-type message.

If you'd like to watch our Biblical Parenting video done by Bill and Naty together Click Here.

Men in our church meet every Saturday morning for breakfast and prayer. 

Because of ministry responsibilities, only Naty was able to attend the annual IBC meeting in Naples, Italy. 

Several times a year we are part of the event held by Light Into Europe, serving the blind and deaf in Romania. Bill does the official meal prayer, although it's not a Christian event. We connect and create relationships for the Kingdom. 

In the fall Naty initiated a DISCIPLESHIP course for 5 months. Last session had to be cancelled because of the COVID-19. 

Thanksgiving event in our church is always a big hit. Among the mashed potatoes and turkey, we have great Chinese, Romanian and other international cuisine. The meal is always followed by Scottish Dancing. Great way to keep our weight in check. Lots of non-believers get to be part of this. 

Christmas is another wonderful evangelistic opportunity. Our kids program is creative.

We get to share the Gospel with our guests. 

We make it to Moldova periodically to help with ministry opportunities there. 

Naty and an IBC team from Italy served in Moldova for a week of evangelism. We shared the Gospel in homes and churches, with young and old. We distributed food packages, and wood supplies for the winter. 

At the beginning of the trip, Naty got the chance to share the gospel with the owner of a car-washer, at the end of week, he attended this baptism service taking place in Naty's dad's church. Praise Jesus.

At our International Church saying goodbye to families, and individuals on a regular bases is normal. Even at that, it never becomes easier. We are constantly replacing Sunday School directors, elders, worship team members and more.  (In the picture we have a dear family leaving: an elder, and our Sunday School director)

The Nigerian Ambassador to Romania had to go not long ago. We miss this strong prayer-warrior. 

As much as we hate the people we're constantly losing due to transitions, we love connecting with new people. This passed fall we saw and increase among the Nepalese culture. They often come to Romania to work in Assisted-Living Homes, and many of them speak better Romanian than English. So, we started each Sunday after the service we have the Nepalese group meet for Worship and Prayer in their own language. 

Our church had the privilege to shoot a scene in Richard Wurmbrand's movie (a Romanian Christian martyr), filmed by John and Judy Grooters for the Voice of the Martyrs. 

Our family joined as well. The scene focused on the day Richard Wurmbrand came to Christ in this exact Anglican church from Bucharest. The reason the movie director wanted to have believers there was because it's a scene of a Prayer Night. He wanted to have real believers have an actual night of prayer (except we were dressed in somebody's clothes from the 30's and lots of cameras were on.)

Mina, Naty, Emil (Richard Wurmbrand), Bill

The movie opportunity inspired Naty and her parents to dress up like country people did back then. NOT PART OF THE MOVIE. (Naty, Andrei and Lidia - her parents)

For the last few years, the women in our church did their retreat in the winter about 3 hours away from Bucharest. 

The women had an amazing time studying about Our Thieves Of Joy: worry, comparison, fear, anxiety etc.

They had lots of studying the Word, prayer, singing, crafting, laughing... and of course intense sledding. 

Our Valentine's dinner was smaller than usually due to the beginning stage of Coronavirus spreading in China. We had last-minute cancelations. In spite of that, we had an amazing time of laughter and great Italian food. All women won a fancy bouquet of flowers... and Naty won a skillet. At least, we didn't go home empty-handed. 

                                                            In February we celebrated Naty's birthday.

 

   ... Then Bill's birthday 

                        

                                                               ...Then Mina's birthday in March, the day schools closed due to the COVID-19.

For a few days, Mina's blood sugar readings were so high and hard to bring down, that we had to get out of the house to run it low. By God's grace, after a week of biking her ketones were back to normal.

We had to make a choice, to take her to the local hospital and risk to get infected with other stuff, or bike on our own on the empty streets.

Stores quickly emptied out. The panic of TOILET PAPER, and the non-perishable foods left the store shelves naked. Six weeks later, we have toilet paper but still no flour. 

Yes, church buildings are closed, meetings are canceled, but we are more busy than before. We had to adjust to new ways of reaching out: Bill is now preparing his message, recording it, and editing it... then we send links to our tech person.

Our weekly Bible studies take place on Zoom. We are creative the way we do an ice-breakers, worship, studying, and prayer.

Our Sunday mornings look like this: We host Zoom for those who don't have access to Facebook. First we have Sunday School that Naty started doing and posting on YouTube as well, then we have worship recorded at the house of our Worship Director, then Bill's sermon (usually), followed by our Prayer Time on Zoom (where we can take communion too).

Naty makes the videos for Sunday School in English and Romanian to help out the churches in Romania and Moldova too. The girls are a great help in singing along, setting up/ tearing down for the video.

WATCH HERE... and give me the honor and SUBSCRIBE.

Finally, we want to THANK YOU for your continued partnership in the work of the gospel in Romania and Moldova. Over the last 20 years, we consider ourselves some of the most blessed people on the planet to have friends in ministry like you. You've not only enabled the ministry financially, but your friendship has encouraged us each step of the way. During these trying times in which we live, the sacrifices that you continue to make financially are greatly appreciated. We pray that God will continue to bless each of you richly, and meet your every need.