| It was hot, the
second day in a row it hit 40C (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Our coolest day was 98, and that
was five days ago. The streets were dusty, empty, like a scene from a Clint Eastwood
spaghetti western. Some had treated us as gunslingers in such a movie, running inside at
our sight, others had stared coldly, wondering what we were really all about. The three of
us, Andre, my interpreter, Claudio, our guide, and I, turned to the right, down yet
another hot, stony street. We spotted them, sitting on the only street bench afforded
shade from the glaring afternoon fireball in the sky. An old gentleman, his wife, their
neighbor sat passing the summer afternoon in quiet conversion. We made our approach.
"Hello, my name is Mark Puckett, and I’m from the United States. I have come to
share what Jesus Christ has done in my life. Do you have a few minutes to talk?" |
 |
New Believers in Sat
Minier puruse the follow-up tracts
(testimonies) |
|
| Andre translated, we had done
this scores of times before. "Da," came the response. Yes, they had time to
talk. I shared my testimony, with Andre translating it into the least known of the Romance
languages, yet the one holding closest to its old Latin roots. I then explained the
Gospel, and all three prayed to receive Christ, newborn children of the King. She appeared
as we were collecting their personal information. Her hair was reddish, even more so in
the blazing afternoon sun. Her name was Carmen, and she was curious about what we had just
shared. I again told my story of Jesus and His love; Carmen drank deeply from the
regenerative Living Water, and I outlined His wonderful plan for her salvation. Once
again, the Holy Spirit poured out illumination and faith, and Carmen bowed her head and
opened the door to her heart. Jesus entered in. I saw Carmen two more times that week. both at services in Sat Minier. The
last service was also our farewell service, and I preached out of Hebrews 4:4-10,
emphasizing the urgency of all to respond to God immediately upon His calling. When the
invitation was given, Carmen came forward to confess Christ before the congregation, and
to ask for membership into the body at Sat Minier. Her last words to me as we departed
were, "Thank you for leading me to the Lord." Slava Domnului! Praise the Lord!
That is just one of the 352 stories our team
witnessed this year in Romania. Our seven person team shared the Gospel with hundreds of
people in the thirteen villages and towns we entered. Not everyone we encountered was
receptive to the Gospel. Many completely rejected the possibility that anyone could be
saved, much less certain of such a salvation. Others opted to cling to dead tradition
rather than embrace a new life. The team worked very hard, sharing the Gospel with
hundreds of people. Less than half of the people with whom we spoke received the Living
Christ, and we celebrate the victory, and praise the Lord of the harvest. The lack of
overwhelming responsiveness to the Gospel is a chilling reminder of Psalms 103:9:
He will not always strive
with us; nor will He keep His anger forever.
The Spirit of God is moving, but the
hardening of hearts in Romania is evident. The young people are not nearly as interested
in hearing the Good News as they were four years ago. They have loved the darkness rather
than light. The apostate Orthodox church continues its bewitching fearmongering to control
the older people, and discourage them from speaking to us. Middle-aged people don’t
know what to think; communist indoctrination tells them there is no God, the Orthodox
religion they have witnessed is a farce, and what these strangers from America tell them
is almost incomprehensible. Yet, we observe, the Breath of God moves freshly and
powerfully as we reach out to new communities, the Samarias of our Campina, Romania base.
We will continue to push outward, until the true Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached
in every village and hamlet possible.
I want to ask you to pray, and pray earnestly
for Romania, particularly the believers in the Campina area churches. Please pray for the
following:
• the intense follow-up campaign now
being conducted by the pastors and elders
• the follow-through unto baptism for
those who were serious about their profession of faith
• the spiritual and numerical growth
of the Romanian churches
• the binding of the Orthodox church
and the breaking of its stronghold on Romanian society
• the organization and start of the
new Maranatha Bible College of Campina, a ministry of International Theological Education
Ministries (ITEM), brought together with the Campina area churches through a cooperative
effort with GNI
• the strategic planning and
implementation of next year’s crusade July 1 - 12, 1999
Please pray for these needs between now and
next year’s crusade. We want to take a youth VBS team to work with the children, and
have a 12 person evangelistic team. We have also recently established contacts in Moldova
and Turkey, contacts we hope will propel us deeper into Eurasia. |
