" Teach me how to do your will..." Psalm 143:10

     I invited some of my friends from college to the program on Sunday nights and I wasn't expecting them to come, but they came . And after the program they told me they've never seen something like that before . They said we are so different , in a very good way of course , and they said they felt better there than going to a concert or something like that . I was encouraged by that, God is working .
    These two past weeks were very busy for me , we had so many things going on at the church and I had to study a lot for school and many times I felt exhausted , but at the end I can see the results and I can see the people's joy coming from what we're doing for them , and it feels so good .


   Three weeks ago, we had a concert . Cristi Golas talked with a christian band and the were willing to come and perform for the Roma people . There were many people, lots of kids and teenagers and they really enjoyed the music . For me , honestly, the music was kind of different from what I'm used with , but it was ok .I think God worked that night and He touched lots of hearts
   

Last Sunday at the kids program we had to reward the best kids there and we prepared lots of gifts for them . They were so happy .

we also had to choose our best soccer players and give them prizes ,
these are our best players, we gave them soccer shoes and soccer balls .

Pastor Cristi giving diplomas to kids

Yesterday and today I had the opportunity of going and downloading big trucks filled with New Testaments in Bucharest . Me and two other guys from the church went there with a van and took few thousands of New Testaments for the people in Pitesti . It was great .

This is Laurentiu, one of the guys from the church

me

we spent four hours moving boxes from one truck to another

Prayer needs 

- my spiritual growth

-my family

-for the church in my hometown , in Bircii

-for my friends that came at the program 

-support raising

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Starting to adapt...

   Last Sunday, after the service , the youth group was asked to say few things in front of the church, and everybody had to say something . And it came my turn to say something, and I said that I am very thankful to God for being the church in Pitesti , and even if I'm not a part of their family yet, I'm glad to be part of their ministry . Before I left, a man came to me, and he said the next words : " I want to tell you something, I already see you as part of our church and our family , and we are blessed to have you here " , that was all that he said, and he left . It was amazing for me, I just stood there and think a few moments at what he said . It was so amazing because I really needed to hear something like that , God is awesome , and he He never stops to amaze me .
   I invite you to view some few pictures to see what's been going on lately in Pitesti and also in Bircii ( my hometown )


  Prayer requests :
  - I want to start with my spiritual needs, sometimes I feel like being blocked spiritually and I need to spend some more time in reading the Scriptures and praying .
  - the church in Bircii
  - my adapting here in Pitesti, so that I could start feeling like part of the church here
  -my parents, they have a hard time now, my dad is trying to find another job, because he has a bad boss, he's accusing my dad of stealing and cheating all the time and my dad doesn't feel like keep on taking all the lies and accusations .

    I invite you to view some few pictures to see what's been going on lately in Pitesti and also in Bircii ( my hometown ) :
 

In Bircii we had Thanksgiving, all the
people brought vegetables and fruits
and the youth group decorated the church
very nicely

I think this picture was made by Paula Roberts, I love this picture

The children singing, the one in the left , the taller guy is my brother, and the
 one in the front with blue jeans is also my brother

Ron and Pavel preaching

the youth group in Bircii

Sunday school with Paula Roberts and Monica Nicolae

I helped Ron with his work on the
house , he's amazing, he just built his own
house . Maybe I can do that too , one day.

This is my apartment in Pitesti . Ron had this great idea that all the youth
from Bircii that are in Pitesti for college should meet once a week for a bible
study and he was willing to be our teacher . 

Pitesti Bible study group 

The soccer ministry with Roma kids is going great . It's just me and Florin Soare and another guy from the church that take care of this , but it's going great . The day I took the photos it was so cold , but all the kids came, it was amazing.

they like pictures very much

This is Marius

The interesting thing is , if you can see , there's no leader in
this group , I was taking pictures , Florin was doing something else,
and the other guy I think he as talking on the phone . The kids, by
themselves started to warm up , it was the first time when we
didn't have to yell at them and to try to put them together in a circle

That;s Florin Soare , the other I.M. missionary

Cristi Golas ( the pastor from the church in Pitesti ) decided to start a youth
group in Raboieni ( Roma neighbourhood ) and he asked me to help him with this,
we meet every  Thursday night .We have games and music and we do Bible
study with them . 

   

some of them playing foosball

    A dog says : " You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, you must be God. "
    A cat says  : " You pet me , you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, I must be God. "
     This is basically what Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison are talking about in their book " Cat and Dog Theology ". I started to read this book like a week ago and I realized that so many times I am like a cat , I am thinking that i deserve all this, I deserve all the people that pray for me, I deserve their love and I deserve their support , and without even noticing , I created a circle around me , with me being in the middle and trying to get everybody closer to me . But I should be outside the circle and let Jesus in the middle and I should try to push everybody closer to him .
      I was so convicted when I read this book , I said " God , if I wouldn't have Your love , I would be dead right now , You took care of me , You've been a shelter for me and You gave enough strength to keep going every time I was down, for that, You surely are God and You do this because You love me. "

      This passed weekend we had the first meeting with the Roma people and kids . We had somewhere between 45-60 people , it was amazing . Me and two more guys were in charge of the older boys group , we had kids from 7 years old to 16 . I never imagined it would be so hard to control some kids . I struggled so much because some of them had a very bad behavior .
     We started the program with worship time for everybody , parents and kids , then we split in four groups, the parents , the girls, the boys and the kindergarten kids . We games, bible study with them, we talked with for a while just to know them better . They really appreciate this because It's nice for the Roma people to see there are some people that cares for them and love them, the parents trust us with their kids . God is working in their hearts and I am glad I can be part of this .
    Soon, we will start the work at the coffee shop and that will be an awesome ministry, ministry to the youth in Pitesti .
     These are few pictures from Sunday night ....

Our group

The guy standing is Vali, we have the same names, it's so confusing sometimes

prayer time

The pastor ( the guy with white t-shirt ) is so dedicated to this ministry

worship time

     Thank you for your prayers and I'm glad you are behind me and you are involved in this ministry also . God bless you

First month in Pitesti

       It's been almost a month since I've started my ministry here in Pitesti . It's going great, but sometimes is harder for me , spiritually . There are lots of temptations in a city like Pitesti and if I'm not careful , Satan can trick me .That's why prayers are so important ; without prayers I wouldn't be here . I need lot of growth in prayer because sometimes I feel so weak and that's because I don't pray and I don't talk with God enough . But God, in His amazing love gave me people like you, that pray and care for me . Thank you .
   

making packs for the kids

     The school is ready to start here , so everybody in the city is back from vacation and they're getting their kids ready for the school . We had the great opportunity to serve to their Roma kids and we were able to get some school supplies and to make some packs for them .It was great because these are families that have almost nothing and they live with 100-150$ per month . I am amazed because I have no idea how they do it . The kids were so excited and it was a joy to see their faces and their enthusiasm when they were looking in the bags to see what they got .

after they received the gifts we talked with them

this girl was eager to see what's inside

We've decided to start a bible study every Sunday night in the Roma people's neighborhood , in a small kindergarten . God is working here and I am glad I can be part of this . I am excited because the gypsies are people that nobody cares about and everybody think they are bad people and thieves . Is so good for them to see that there are people that care for them and to understand that God cares for them .  

the boys like pictures a lot, they like to show off

me ( right ) and Marius ( left ) with some of the boys

the girls waiting in line to go inside to get their bags

        Looking forward to see what God will do here . :)

together with the pastor of our church in Chennai, India

the youth group

When I started my missions internship in India with my Polish friend , Simon, we were asked right from the beginning to speak in the church and for the youth group . We did good, I am not a preacher , but I just said basic things from the Bible, I just presented the Gospel . At the end of the meeting, almost everybody came to us to shake our hands and to congratulate us for our preaching, and they were asking us what Bible schools we finished and things like that . We didn't know how to react, we just said " thank you " . The interesting thing was that we didn't do an extraordinary talk, but the people in the church and the youth group didn't have a good knowledge regarding the Scriptures . It was a challenge for us, but this thing reminded me that we have to know our Bible . We challenged the youth group to study more and we even asked them questions from the Bible every time we met with them . It was amazing to see that in few weeks, boys from the youth group started to come to our place to ask about verses that they couldn't understand . God worked there.
  
     I did my internship in two places , first three months in India, than I stayed one month home and then two months in Poland .  India was a hard place for me, with everything being so different . But God used us there and we were able to build relationships and to make friends and I think  lots of people there learned that Christian life is not that easy, it takes lots of work and sacrifices . God showed us this things and people around us were able to see that through us . 

the kids in the church New Life in Radom, Poland

After India, I though Poland will be so easy , but it wasn't like that . I went there with lots of expectations and that was a mistake, because Poland was so much harder spiritually . The place where I went, was so dark, full of people struggling with alcohol, lust , drugs , I was in a war every day .      God used this time to prepare me for Pitesti, Romania, the city where I am now .
   

garage sale in Living Hope church in Pitesti

some of the Roma kids that are involved  in our soccer ministry

  I  have been accepted as a full-time missionary and God opened lots of doors for me here with a local church. God led me to the city where I went for high-school , to a nice church , this church has asked me to help lead a soccer ministry with kids, in worship and I will also work with Roma (gypsy) people who are struggling and need Christ. And I want to focus more on building relationships and discipleship . I have talked with the pastor of this church and with some other people from the church and they are ready to take me in their ministry and to allow me to serve them . And I also have the support of my home-church, the church that sent me .  I am excited because this could be a great opportunity for my church to be partner with another church and to be involved in some ministry  here in Pitesti .

with the pastor and two of the guys from the youth group

the youth group from a very big church in Chennai, India

When I started my missions internship in India with my Polish friend , Simon, we were asked right from the beginning to speak in the church and for the youth group . We did good, I am not a preacher , but I just said basic things from the Bible, I just presented the Gospel . At the end of the meeting, almost everybody came to us to shake our hands and to congratulate us for our preaching, and they were asking us what Bible schools we finished and things like that . We didn't know how to react, we just said " thank you " . The interesting thing was that we didn't do an extraordinary talk, but the people in the church and the youth group didn't have a good knowledge regarding the Scriptures . It was a challenge for us, but this thing reminded me that we have to know our Bible . We challenged the youth group to study more and we even asked them questions from the Bible every time we met with them . It was amazing to see that in few weeks, boys from the youth group started to come to our place to ask about verses that they couldn't understand . God worked there. 

the kids in the New Life church in Radom, Poland

 
  
   I did my internship in two places , first three months in India, than I stayed one month home and then two months in Poland .  India was a hard place for me, with everything being so different . But God used us there and we were able to build relationships and to make friends and I think  lots of people there learned that Christian life is not that easy, it takes lots of work and sacrifices . God showed us this things and people around us were able to see that through us .   After India, I though Poland will be so easy , but it wasn't like that . I went there with lots of expectations and that was a mistake, because Poland was so much harder spiritually . The place where I went, was so dark, full of people struggling with alcohol, lust , drugs , I was in a war every day .      God used this time to prepare me for Pitesti, Romania, the city where I am now .
   

some of the Roma kids playing soccer

garage sale in the church in Pitesti

  I  have been accepted as a full-time missionary and God opened lots of doors for me here with a local church. God led me to the city where I went for high-school , to a nice church , this church has asked me to help lead a soccer ministry with kids, in worship and I will also work with Roma (gypsy) people who are struggling and need Christ. And I want to focus more on building relationships and discipleship . I have talked with the pastor of this church and with some other people from the church and they are ready to take me in their ministry and to allow me to serve them . And I also have the support of my home-church, the church that sent me .  I am excited because this could be a great opportunity for my church to be partner with another church and to be involved in some ministry  here in Pitesti .