Wednesday, October 24, 2012

We Moved!

The Lord is sooo incredibly faithful! We needed to move for a few reasons, one being we needed to have a lease agreement in order to get our visas. Also we lived a little outside the city and since most of our friends out here do not have cars, we wanted to be in a more central location so that it would be easier to have people come over to visit. We were so thankful for the house we got to stay in upon our initial arrival but it was never meant to be permanent so we knew at some point we would eventually have to find another place to live. Since winter is quickly approaching we thought it best to move before it gets too cold. We had been praying for a while and just asking The Lord to provide a house big enough for all of us that had furniture since we don't have any. We began looking around the last week of September or so and it seemed like slim pickings...then a friend of a friend saw this house in the paper. We all came to see it and we all knew pretty quickly that this was the house for us. We were a little concerned because there was no furniture but our landlord told us he had a little that we could look at. By little he meant A LOT! He had TONS of furniture...BEAUTIFUL antique furniture! Our house is fully furnished and then some!! He also had lots of very large rugs for us to use (most places out here are not carpeted, people use area rugs to cover the floor usually). Not to mention the fact that our landlord is absolutely AMAZING. He is incredibly generous, which apparently is a rarety. Our Romanian friends were concerned about us and told us to be very careful because most times landlords are shady and stingy and will often take your money. I can honestly say that I have never had such a generous landlord ever in my life...and I've had some pretty good ones. This guys takes the cake. He even told us that when we rent from him we are now his guests. He put grass in our back yard, bought us a refrigerator and a stove and a washing machine. He also brought over a lawnmower for us to take care of the grass with AND a wead eater. I could seriously go on and on and on about all this man's generosity but it would take all day. He is SUCH a gift from The Lord. It's sooo nice to have a comfortable home for all of us to live in. The house is very spacious and centrally located, it's an answer to every single one of our prayers!

As far as ministry goes, things are going good. The Wednesday night Bible study is still going strong and things in Sabolciu (the gypsie village) are also going well. Ami is still having a Bible study with the women every Thursday and Sierra is still meeting with the young ladies worship team. Steve is still building relationships with the men AND we have begun to meet in the village on Wednesday's just for prayer with anyone in the village who wants to come. It's important that they realize that they can come to church just as they are and that they don't have to get all dressed up and that it's not only a Sunday thing. They are still very stuck in religion and we hope that this will help them find freedom in Christ. We have decided to go with our without a translator (having one would be nice but we know that prayer unto the Lord transcends language and the important thing is that we are meeting and praying because GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS)! We have also begun doing evangelism on Wednesdays before Bible study to pray for people and to invite anyone who might be interested in coming. Please keep these new outreaches in prayer!

This Friday Matt and Steve will be hosting a men's bbq in the village so PLEASE keep that in prayer! They have no idea what will happen...it could be really good...or really bad. In the past when there has been free food things have gotten a little crazy. Not too mention the fact that the men don't really participate. The hope is that this bbq will draw the men out so they can begin to establish more solid relationships with them. A few men have been coming around...but it's really sort of come and go. They won't really committ. So please pray that the men's hearts would be softened and ultimately for salvations! We would LOVE to see the men really step up and take responsibilty and become the men that God created them to be! Also pray that Matt and Steve would have wisdom on how much food to buy, and that things wouldn't get too crazy :)

As always thank you sooo much for all your prayers and support! We love you guys!!!!