This past week was a great week of ministry for us. As each day brings me closer and closer to my return to the USA, I have seen God move in increasingly amazing ways. This week, we had the privilege of ministering with the Crossroads Mission Team from California! I love it when we host teams because of the community and the amount of ministry we get to do. More hands working, means more ground is prepared at one time. This group that partnered with us was a phenomenal group, and our ministry this week was powerful! Three events from this week that I want to highlight are the Teist ministry, evangelism, and youth ministry outreaches.
As we do every week, we did a Micro Kids at both Ludesti and Teist. Both of these Micro Kids were very successful and unique. I was put on car guard duty in Teist and was, therefore, held back from Micro Kids. What was cool about this, though, is that I got to connect on a much deeper level with many of the adults from the village. I was able to communicate with them on a very friendly level. So much of ministry is based on relationships. It's how you see needs and then know how to fill them. It's the start of knowing how to pour out good into hearts and understand them more clearly. Let's be honest, the people we let affect our lives the most are the ones we love the most.It was also my joy to do a food drive, with the mission team, there in Teist. We gave out bags of food to the thirty-five homes in the village and were able to talk about God's love for them. As we left each home we blessed them with a prayer, reminding them of how important they are to God.
We also did more evangelism this week and many more people gave their hearts to God. The story I would like to highlight here, however, doesn't come from one of our scheduled times of evangelism. The day the mission team had shown up, God had challenged me with this scripture: “Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help? (Romans 15)” God really began to challenge me to take those moments of ministry that are extremely inconvenient for me. Like when I’m rushing from place to place, or when it really costs me something. Ministry costs you in general, but it seems like God rewards great sacrifice. Example: Jesus dying on the cross for us. Nothing can be more inconvenient than dying. And yet in his great sacrifice, his reward was all of mankind.
So, when I was in a rush to make it to a friend’s house, and a guy stopped me because he heard me speaking English, I stopped. This guy was about to leave Romania for work in Italy, and very depressed. He was sitting on the sidewalk sharing his last beer with his friends, when he called out to me. As soon as we began speaking, he spilled his woes to me.
He said, “There’s no hope in Romania. We’re all poor and everyone hurts one another. How can you have any hope for this place?”My reply, “Because I have Jesus. He is my hope.” Hope is the acknowledgment of promises, and thank God that we serve a God, who keeps all of his promises. There is no hope without promises.
And so I began to share Christ with this man. God moved on this man’s heart, and he gave it to Christ. Right there, with his beer and friends on both sides of him, we got to pray. Here is where I began to see a great smile stretch across his face.“I’m excited I get to go to Italy!” he said, “It’s God’s plan for me.” For eight months, I have gotten to see what a blessing sacrifice is. When you slow down, observe, and give out of inconvenience, you are rewarded with moments like this. You get to see the five loaves and two fishes feed five thousand people!
We also did a lot of youth ministry. One event I want I want to highlight here is the Noua Creatie youth group opening in Moreni. Eugen, the pastor that we help with the youth group in Targoviste, opened his own church in Moreni, and we, with the Crossroads Church mission team, got to be part of it! Pastor Travis from Crossroads was the speaker, and at this event our conservative estimate says seven youth gave their hearts to Christ!!! This was a phenomenal start for the church and we couldn’t have done it without this team. Let me just say that I really liked them. There are so many more stories about last week, but I’ll tell you guys more when I get back in America. It still blows my mind that God called me here as a missionary…and it blows my mind to think that in about two weeks I’ll be back in America, only to be shipped back out in January. God is amazing!!!
Thanks again for all of your continual support, can’t wait to see you all, and God bless! 
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