Romania - 2012
Report Number Five : Final Report - December 9th
On Wednesday, it became necessary to
buy new tires for the VW Van. The 1,000 Kilometers from Timisoara to Zalau, much
on back roads in ill repair, did in the front tires. For $125.00 each I replaced
them but it took nearly a day to find and fit them to the car. Tires are easy to
find in Romania but only in popular sizes. The new tires both went flat and had
to be exchanged on Thursday, without charge but much bickering. The service
Wednesday centered on the dangers of gossip at the request of Pastor Streghor as
one church member left her husband and children that day for personal reasons.
Following church Wednesday evening, Anna Tiripa (age 11) gave me a concert on
the piano which was donated several years ago by the Pitts Family. The piano is
in a storage room beneath the apartment at the church. It is a tiny room and
unheated but Anna practices very seriously several times a week regardless of
the cold!
I lodged a complaint in Bucharest as
to our Shoeboxes being held up at the border, withdrawing our payment and
alleging religious discrimination. Thursday morning two trucks arrived with our
10,000 Christmas Shoeboxes at the Braila Church. Marin will spend the next two
weeks delivering them to various villages and towns in Eastern Romania. The most
we have ever had before was 6,000 so this is a blessing. We paid $1,000 in
handing, $600 by Marin’s father and the balance by Caleb Ministry. Marin is
assuming the delivery cost but we gave an additional $300.00 to cover cost to
the Danube Delta churches for fuel costs. Some larger churches will pick them up
at Braila. It was very emotional to see all the shoe boxes arrive. Most came
from Germany and France and England. It is awesome to know 10,000 children will
now receive a Christmas Gift this year, many for the first time ever.
Traditional in Romania and gypsy villages is a piece of candy in the shoe on
December 5th as a reward for being good. The culprit is St. Nickolas. Then
Christmas day food is given usually at a church fellowship. To this Caleb adds
the Shoe Box gift for the children and a candy pack, and a gift of seven days
food for each family. Then on New Year’s Eve they get an additional seven days
food for each family.
Thursday night Sister Johanna has us
over to dinner to thank us for Caleb’s visit this year. She does this nearly
every trip, serving a special meal as a thank you. This time it was fit5st
course of sliced luncheon meat, Boef salad (like potato salad but with meat and
peppers added), and second course of chicken and cabbage salad. Her son Lorenz
was home and joined us. Her husband Livio is at Sea, a merchant seaman. Oldest
son Lorenzo is merchant seamen but presently home. Second boy is Michael, in
medical school at Bucharest and third son Cornell is in flight school at Cluj.
The family earns well above the average income due to Livio going to sea 18 to
24 months at a time. They sponsor much of the church work along with Marin and
Cristina.
We visit Nukutsa and his Downs
Syndrome daughter Estera, now living in an apartment in the old port section of
Braila. Thursday night is church and during the service we are told a gypsy lady
visiting at The Colony (gypsy slums) has died. She is Hungarian lady who came
for a visit but suddenly died. The family has no church affiliation of money.
Friday I am to be at India Embassy to process my visa application but Marin and
I decide instead it is more important to tend to the gypsy lady. The family has
no money for coffin, funeral or services. The belief among these people is you
must have a service by a church as the church then witnesses before Christ of
your faith so you can enter heaven. Without the service you are condemned! Any
church is unwilling to accept non-members because they fear the unbeliever
weakens the church in spiritual places and may even condemn it as a whole if
burying an unbeliever. So we let Caleb sponsor the lady Iona Serbian, age 62,
buying the coffin and funeral linens and some flowers; Marin sings as I preach
the funeral service at the Colony. This becomes a big testimony to the
non-believers in the Colony and they are moved by our willingness to accept one
of their people. The family she was visiting is very grateful. Our expense is
about $400.00 including burial and just one day of our time.
Caleb purchased solar-powered
players from FAITHCOMESBYHEARING ministry. These are solar-powered or electric
alternative radios that play just the Bible, Old and New Testaments, as daily
devotion, or reading plan, or just going through the Bible. We purchased them in
Gypsy, Romanian, and Ilicano (The Philippines) for villages with non-reading
skills. At Braila we gathered about 20 gypsies and tried them out. They were
very well received and reading schedules set up to rotate the players among
families. (One problem is one "gypsy player" actually was "Russian player" but
we found a Russian village for it!). The Pastors were very excited and asked for
more players. Cristina is setting up a booth in the Town Square to play them
each Sunday Afternoon! The machines are $100.00 each but virtually
indestructible so worth the money!
From there Marin and I rush to
Bucharest to spend the night so I can fly out at 4:30 AM for Amsterdam and then
Seattle. What a wonderful journey 2012 was in Romania!
Report Number Four - December 4th
It is now
Friday after Thanksgiving but no one is Christmas shopping here. We visited a
market for a few groceries. Marin and I had lunch at XXL Penny Market (grocery
store) of chicken thigh-leg and potatoes. Right after, Marin got a call from
Elder Dan reminding him we would visit his mother with him this morning. It is
important as she has rejected Christ and he wants us to speak with her. We hurry
over to the gypsy section near Lacu Sarat and meet her. She has prepared lunch
and insists we eat! I full plate of Samale^ with sour cream and chunks of
roasted pork. It is delicious, truly wonderful and we do our best. We talk with
her at length about Christ. Her complaint is the legalism of churches so I
explain they are mans’ institution to get us to know God but are far from
perfect. She does not like sitting separate from her son and I tell her it is
not a problem. Just go ahead and sit with him and I bet no one complains. She
does not like to cover her head and again I say it is truly not a big deal but
in time she probably will feel more comfortable conforming to traditions but is
not necessary. She acknowledges God but not quite sold on idea of Christ but she
agrees to come on Sunday morning. (Actually several gypsies do not cover their
head and they sit randomly so she should do fine.
We get back to
the apartment, skip lunch and dinner, and then go to the Colony for service. It
is so much fun with the gypsies as they sing and worship with deep passion. This
is THIRD gypsy church at the Colony now with about 60 people in it. Other two
are running about 100 each. Colony has population near 800 so the church is
making great strides! I preached on Paul at Mars Hill and how God used history
to prepare Paul’s entrance by having Athenians erect a monument to “The Unknown
God” hundreds of years before.
Following the
service we pass out candy packs to the kids. I told the adults about Ted Rihanek
and how he use to make the Caleb Buttons in the Candy Packs using the platform
mounted on his scooter, as he could not walk. They were quite moved to learn he
went on to glory and took time to pray for Florence and the family and friends
of Ted Rihanek.
From there we
go to Marin’s fathers’ house to pray with Brother Metica and family. First time
they have joined us since the house incident. I preached on End Times (Marin’s’
fathers favorite topic) and then we prayed together on the floor. It always
humbles me to see these Pentecostal Christians kneeling on cold marble floors
praying for 10 to 20 minutes to the Lord! Great time this evening spending time
again with Marius Metica and the family and good opening to reconciliation
between Tiripas and Meticas.
Saturday
Morning we uncovered the items shipped from Seattle for distribution this trip.
We have pain medicines for Mrs Bolohan in Frumose near Suceavea, special
clothing for several families, and the HearTheWord Solar-powered audio bibles in
Gypsy and in Romanian. Cristina WAS THRILLED with both and said she will set a
rotating schedule of one week for the responsible gypsy families for their radio
and will set up the Romanian language one to preach each Sunday in the town
square! They request many more of the hygiene kits for the young girls in the
gypsy colony. They are very successful here.
In the
afternoon, Marin and I took food, clothes and candy packs over across the Danube
to Greci. You may recall, Caleb built a church there years ago to serve the
wilderness village of Greci where the lepers were driven in times past. Buying a
farm and sinking a well which we opened to the entire village, our little church
became a “Beacon in the Wilderness” with a nurse living in the farmhouse and
providing free medical care to the village so they did not have to travel to
Bucharest or face possible institutionalization. After seven years, the nurse
died and a young pastor named Sarin moved in with his wife and seven boys. They
developed the gardens and fruit trees and grapes as well as the church. The
province established a state health clinic removing that concern on our part.
Two years ago Pastor Sarin left. Then in the spring Greci was flooded. The
church was preserved, water just damaging the outer wall foundation as to
appearance, but the barn and house were severely damaged, the house one-third
destroyed. The mayor provided assistance to all other homes for rebuilding but
refused our request. I reminded him we held an agricultural permit and could
easily raise 50-60 pigs on the land in the heart of the city, and he changed his
mind and gave us our share of supplies. Marin has reinforced the home, reducing
it to two rooms, and settling a homeless couple there with their three-year-old
daughter. We visited them and provided food and supplies to keep them going. The
well was destroyed so they need $300 to bring back water to the house from city
water system now operating. I am considering donating the $300 from Caleb.
Sunday it was
pack and prepare to leave following service. I preached on Deuteronomy 30 at
Braila Filedelphia Church and was so pleased to see Daniel and his mother, Peter
Chilliana, and the entire Metika family there! The service was packed and went
from 8 am to 1:30 pm. Cristina translated for me. Now, we head across country so
no idea when can write again. Outside Piteste on the “new freeway” we hit an
uncovered manhole and lost a tire but nothing more severe. It was funny in a way
as Pastor Arel in Chiscan asked us to deliver some supplies to his two daughters
in school in Timisoara. We agreed and when we picked up the boxes his wife gave
us a platter of cookies and sweets as a thank you. They were on the back seat
until the manhole incident. The sweet smell of chocolate permeates our VW van as
we drive! We stayed the night at a hotel/motel outside Piteste with the
bargain price including complimentary breakfast at 6 am to 10 am. In the morning
we were not surprised to have breakfast changed from 10 AM to noon, a common
event in the motel/hotel trade here. No refunds. We left at 6:30 and headed
east, stopping at one of my favorite roadside restaurants in deArges area. It
has big VISA sign in front but each time we eat there they explain sign just
looks good but they have no credit card service. Had a mushroom omelet….very
flat but warm, being two eggs cooked flat and then rolled around mushrooms and
topped with grated sheep cheese. Not great but common. Marin had Tripe Chorba, a
favorite for breakfast by Romanians but not me. Entire meal plus two small
(Turkish) coffees was equivalent of $10.00 US. I never get use to the waiters
greeting you with ashtray and four “complementary cigarettes” in many Romanian
roadside establishments. The packs say “Winston” or “Marlboro” or “Mosrh”
(Russian) but they are all produced here in Turkey using famous names and logos.
We receive cell phone calls from Marin’s father and then from Arel at Chiscan.
Both are scheduling “Long Night” services for Friday night in hopes of getting
us back to Braila sooner. They do not share well with the West! Unlikely we will
be back Friday.
Arriving at Petrosani in the south
end of the Transylvania Mountains in Western Romania, we are about 60 miles from
Serbia. This was Caleb Base in Romania for many years after we departed Suceavea.
Gigi is head of the family Fam Coicheci Gheorghe and for
years he drove me throughout Romania before I met Marin. Caleb helped build the
Filedelphia Church in Petrosani, Dental Clinic, big medical clinic, bible
school, and network of churches. They have an apartment in the church for when I
visit. I first met Gigi in 1993 when his oldest child Roxanna was but 4 months
old. They have now had 5 children; all whom I watched grow as honorary “uncle”.
Roxanne just got married and lives in Vienna. Cosmo and Claudio are in college
in Timisoara. Sergio is senior in high school and Bianca is sophomore in high
school. (Makes me feel old!) His wife Daniella welcomes us enthusiastically and
settles us in the church apartment. Gigi gets off work in the coal mines at 7 PM
and rushes to meet us as we have dinner at their apartment. When I first met
Gigi, he was an elder under Pastor Ile Trian in the First Church (Emanuel) in
Petrosani, and they were building Filedelphia Church. Now, Ile retired and Gigi
is Senior Pastor with 6 assistants. They have 15 satellite churches, a christen
school bible school, and operate the medical and dental clinics free. When I
think back to ’93 when Gigi and I traveled the country preaching in streets,
construction shacks, schools and churches, it makes me very proud to see the
success he has become!
Tuesday Daniela brought us breakfast
at the apartment so we did not have to shop. We said our goodbyes and headed
north along the Transylvania Ridge to Jebel, just outside Timisoara. We arrived
to find Pastor Doran and his wife has just slaughtered their BIG pig and were in
the process of butchering it. As we drove in, they were in the open garage
grilling pork chops freshly cut from the pig! Without losing a stroke, Doran’s
wife cut off three more slices, added them to the grill, and put Doran in charge
as she went in to fix cabbage, bread and coffee! We had a fine lunch after which
Marin helped finishing the butchering. It is now 9 PM and I sit at the kitchen
table typing as Doran and his wife are filling the intestines with pig parts
creaking sausages and meats. I am very relieved we arrived for Marin to help as
it would have taken them all night to complete the process. I think they did not
realize how much was involved. His youngest son moved to New Zealand last year
to manage a sheep ranch for seven years and Doran and his wife make do alone.
Doran has seven small churches he operates in small villages, holding services
nearly every night and relying on elders when he must be absent. They stretch a
circuit of a couple hundred miles and are lots of work plus keeping his small
farm going! Their two older sons live in Belgium and Holland respectively.
Doran’s wife is fabulous cook and canned a lot and tends the garden. She has 4
bread making machines she uses constantly! I think she feeds a lot of the Serb
refugees and Bosnians as well. We sent two containers here for which they are
still very grateful. It is our impression that, though looking well, Doran has
perhaps suffered physical setback as he does not discuss his 7 churches or
religious questions on our visit, a previous favorite topic. He did not invite
us to any church services and his wife was very guarded on what he was permitted
to eat.
We left after breakfast, consisting
of some of the very same sausages we had helped make the day before, many fresh
foods from the garden, pure organic foods and homemade bread, and Coca Cola. We
received two trucks of cabbages were donated to Caleb in Chiscan and they were
waiting for our return to distribute them. I asked them to take them at once to
the Colony and give out as some families are having only one meal a day per
Marin due to the bread shortage and absence of work.
From Jebel we went north to
Timisoara and Ianos Nikolai Family. We were met at the family apartment by
Andrew (Andre’), the youngest son. When Ianos went to Australia in 1996 to
initiate Romanian Pentecostal churches for the 5,000 Romanian immigrants in the
Melbourne area, I made three summer trips to help, preaching in seven churches
there, helping with immigration documents, and living with Ianos family, the
boys Icka, Andrew and daughter Diana, and Ianos wife Maria. Andrew was “coming
of age” at this time and acting out severely, to the point of leaving the family
and living with unsavory people. I counseled Andrew and prayed with him
frequently when he would permit it but our last meeting there was in 1998 when
he refused to return to the family and chose to stay in Australia when they
returned to Romania that fall. Our last meeting there was in the parking lot of
Sunshine Church when I called upon family and friends to let Andrew go (he was
19) but to uphold him in prayer, calling for Jesus protection. He got in a
vehicle and left as we were praying for him. He came back to Romania in 2002 but
was very changed and worldly. Two years ago he was selling “designer luxury
clothes and jewelry” when I saw him, but was cordial towards me. Now, we find a
totally changed Andrew. He is in plain clothes, living back within the family,
and totally devoted to Jesus! He asks me to come and meet his wife and to pray
for her, their two children, and to anoint their apartment. When we go, he tells
me after that two years ago he was sitting in a bar having a drink and high on
drugs, living a life of worldly luxury, when he saw me in a vision, I was on my
knees praying for him and leading the family in prayer for him. I was dressed in
“heavenly robes” and in “The Spirit” rather than the flesh. He immediately asked
forgiveness of his family, of Jesus, and has been waiting opportunity to ask my
forgiveness! He said he threw out $40,000.00 in clothes and junk, and Jesus
taught him to dress not to attract attention but just to serve his needs. He now
works with Diane and their cousin Irene in shipping parcels USA/Romania. He
starts each day by walking to the church to pray for a half hour and he never
misses a service or meeting. It truly is a miracle! He stays with us the entire
time we are in Timisoara, driving us and doing all he can to help us!
Diana and Ianos arrive home along
with the rest of the family. It is a very busy time as Diana is getting married
December 8th, the day I leave for Seattle. Her fiancé Daniel is a Serbian
Pentecostal attending College here in Timisoara with Diana. He asks my consent
to wed Diana as I am like a surrogate father to her. We counsel and then
together the three of us at Diana’s request. I give my blessing and visit the
apartment they are fixing up (Andrew driving) and we anoint the corners and pray
as we did at Daniels.
Returning to the family apartment,
Ianos conducts an intensive bible study at the dining room table (Hebrews
10:22-29) as the family prepares lunch/dinner. Ianos is drawing a distinction
here between Jesus Spirit which pervades the Old Testament, and the Indwelling
Holy Spirit he sends to us in the New Testament.
Also living here is Maria, the wife
of Marcello Tinctin and their new baby. Marcello is back in Australia with the
other 8 children. His twin brother Virgil, also having 8 children, is back in
Australia but calls me when he learns I am in Romania. Virgil and Marcello are
very special friends from the Romanian immigrant community I spent much time
with in Australia. Also, Gabriel. the interpreter I used in Melbourne and on the
Country Evangelism Tour in Australia in 1998 calls as well. It is a very special
visit for me in Timisoara as you can imagine and one surprise was to see Marin
and Ianos hit it off very well. Marin barely met Ianos before and never talked
with him. This trip they became very close as they agree on so much in
scripture. After dinner, Ianos invites us to the weekly prayer meeting in the
neighborhood. Held in a room of a construction firm, I struggle up the three
stair cases. Ianos teaches along with three other pastors, short messages each
leading into a season of prayer. In between, Marin is called upon to sing
several songs, which are like sermons in themselves as each tells a spiritual
message. The Romanian song ministry is very strong and each area of the country
has their own, nurtured during communism. Marin manages to fine five or six
songs they have not heard before here in Timisoara. Two visions are given
regarding me during the prayer meeting. The first was through Ianos and it was a
“burned field” in the country that keeps getting lush green vegetation over and
over. The second, from a man I never met, is a vision of two staircases as if
“flying by themselves”. I am on the upper staircase and flams are shooting out
my arms as I am outstretched. They do not burn up but send light out in all
directions. The second lower staircase has Marin whose prayer is supporting
first staircase, but no flames or fire. Marin liked that one! They were nice but
I tend to base my impressions on visions and tongues I receive direct.
We return for dinner and I learn I
am invited to preach at Elim Pentecostal Church Wednesday evening service and
that Inspiration Television is sending a reporter to do a 30 minute interview on
my testimony earlier in the day. Inspirion is based in Timisoara and is like TBN
in USA. It is late Tuesday night. Dinner was described for me by Ianos as “boy
of the cow” as he knows little English. It was like a veal stroganoff and very
good! Maria made mushroom Chorba for me, knowing it is my favorite. We returned
to Ianos apartment and are led across the street to a cousin where we sleep the
night. Next morning as we get up Daniel Beneleau who I knew in Braila has
arrived to invite us for lunch to visit his two babies and wife. We agree. Andre
was outside at 7:30 AM waiting for us to Walk, having returned from church
prayer. Andre’ visits with Daniel in the street and calls on Marin’s cell as we
get the lady up to unlock the house so we can leave.
Andre’ has two families for us to
visit for prayer. The first is on third floor walk-up, giving me much exercise.
It is very sick lady with a bad heart. From there we go to hospital where we
anoint and pray over a Pastor friend of Andres’ in the intensive care ward. You
should have seen him working to staff to get me in. As I anointed and prayed,
both the Pastor and Andre ‘were certain they saw bright healing light coming
down. I saw nothing but felt something clearly beyond explanation.
Returning to Ianos apartment we
await the television people from Inspiration TV (Romanian Christian Network).
Andre takes us to 4th floor
apartment for prayer for lady and her two grown daughters. We are served juice
and cake as we visit and then I am asked to pray for daughter with sleeping
problems. I anoint her and we all pray. I gather through The Spirit her problem
is not spiritual but physical after very intensive prayer. I am asked to pray
for mother and other daughter and receive strong responses. Finishing, the first
daughter I receive response that her difficulties are not spiritual as the
mother believed but rather behavioral and I proceed to tell her this in a gentle
fashion. She then admits she lives alone and chooses to stay up all night
watching television rather than getting her sleep. Her mother is embarrassed by
this but I tell her not to be. The girl still needs prayer to put her life in
order. She is in her 20’s and needs routine and discipline to get her life in
order. We pray for the second daughter and then the mother and the household.
While praying, the mother receives a vision for me. She sees a man coming before
me who is about to go to India. The man needs help in refining his weapons of
spiritual warfare because the idols and spirits in India wait to battle with
him. She is not certain when the man will go but says he will prevail if he
keeps his eyes straight ahead in the battle but I must prepare him. She I shaken
by this vision and find difficulty in expressing it and show much concern for
the man. Marin is taken aback because only he and I realize the man going to
India is I. The people in Timisoara have no idea I have made this schedule. I
ask several ways to describe the man going to India and the response repeatedly
is “it is unclear, but you must prepare him as he will need many weapons”.
Andre’ figures out it is me but the lady and her daughter do not.
We return to Ianos house where Marin
drinks his first Latte’ and eats hi first yogurt, two things he has always
avoided, and then says he wants to go to India with me! We are scheduled on
Friday to apply for our Visas in the India Embassy in Bucharest.
Diane and her husband-to-be Daniel
arrive with news we have been invited to Serbia on our next trip to address the
1700 member Pentecostal Church in south Serbia about 80 miles from Timisoara.
The Pastor has invited us to use their retreat center and teach for two or three
days. I have preached in Serbia before, the border is fuzzy here, but not in
Pentecostal church. There are only about 3,000 Pentecostals in the entire
country and they nearly operate underground still. Three southern communities
are nearly 100% Pentecostals which is why the one church there is so big.
Andre’ and Diane and their cousin
Irene Nikolai from Detroit operate a business of shipping parcels between USA
and Romania. They are a little more expensive than the Faraway Lands service we
use in Seattle ($1.10/pound versus $1.40/pound) and ship from Detroit. Irene is
visiting for the wedding. (I performed her wedding 11 years ago in Detroit to
Ianos son Nic) They offer to ship our boxes FREE from now on from Seattle to
Romania, 12 to 15 per month. This is a huge gift to us and they agree they will
pick them up in Seattle. This will save Caleb Ministries about $800 a month!
The Television Reporter does not
arrive and it is now time to go to church at Elim Pentecostal Church in
Timisoara for Wednesday Night services. The Pastor has asked I come and preach
this evening, sharing the pulpit for the Wednesday night service with a young
pastor from Moldova. I was asked at the last minute to present my testimony
rather than preaching as they have heard of it for years from Ianos but not
heard it personally. (This is like 40 minutes before I am to speak. I rarely
give the testimony anymore as it is very emotional for me but I consent. The
Elim Church is the largest in Romania, 5,000 members, and has its own brass
band, orchestra, string orchestra and choir. They televise all their services
via internet throughout the world.
www.Elim.ro (Select the streaming or download of 29 Noi 2012 Joi Emi Fedur)
My presentation (in English and translated into Romanian, begins 45 minutes into
the service. The Elim Church in Timisoara has hundreds of satellite churches and
affiliates in Canada, USA, England, and Australia and around the world. The
denomination has 9,000 churches worldwide. That they permitted me to preach and
then selected it to be online is a great honor. Ianos and his family sit in
front beaming the entire time as I speak and though I must condense much of it
to fit, it is just like I was preaching back in Australia with them in
1996-1997-1998.
When church is over the Pastor
offers resources at their expense to translate the book “The Chorba Trail” into
Romanian and arrange the publishing there in Timisoara. (They have a printing
factory)
Returning to Ianos House, we have
evening prayers and then dinner. It is decided by Elim Pastor that the
television can use the internet program. The church televised it on their
station and on radio already live but I was not told until later.
Thursday morning we awake to find
Andre’ waiting with two more families to visit and pray for before heading over
to visit Daniel Beneleau and his family and then leaving Timisoara. We get to
Daniels precisely at noon and Andre is still with us. As we visit, Daniel serves
a careful lunch, having been overly warned about my sugar aversion and seafood
allergy. This young man who left Romania to work in Spain and experience the
worldly and then returned, is a true delight for me. (I carry his photo still in
my Bible to remind me to pray for him) His choice of lunch for all of us is a
platter of organic goat cheese, organic sheep cheese, organic buffalo cheese,
goat yogurt drink, organic good cholesterol only pork. Trust me; it tastes as
good as it sounds. It was so clear he was trying hard to keep me healthy. But
then he brought out a platter of jellied donuts…..this I cannot reconcile.
Taking leave of Timisoara after
three days was very hard but we had to move on. Andre’ and Diana and Sammy could
not have been more generous hosts and it was such a great gift to see Ianos and
his wife Maria looking so well.
Thursday was December 1st, the
National Birthday for Romania, so in many villages and towns as we traveled we
encountered celebrations, parades, cultural dances and family and village
crests. It was also the day news arrived of Larry Hagmans death so radio was
recalling the series Dallas. It was first Western TV show to be broadcast in
Romania, followed 2 years later by Twin Peaks. The announcer on radio laments
for the first five years following the revolution they were treated to three
hours of TV a night, same program each night for a week. First hour was
political speeches, 2nd hour Dallas, and third hour political speeches. He says
it was “local corruption, USA corruption, and our national corruption”.
Thursday was rainy with intermittent
snow as we traveled 800 kilometers from Timisoara to the town of Zalau, outside
Cluj in the countryside. Here, we arrived at 9 PM looking for parents-in-law of
Brad & Melinda Herman. Three cab drivers said the address did not exist. Another
insisted the entire bloc did not exist. Still, by deduction we found it but it
was 10:30 at night and no one answered the door. So we journeyed on the Dej and
found a motel for the night, having driven over 1,000 kilometers from Timisoara
(625 miles) on less than ideal roads. Having breakfast of plain omelet and
mushroom sauce and coffee at the motel, I barely got out the door before loosing
all of it in flowerbed! The salt burned my throat. Should have had the tripe
chorba like Marin! We journeys on through the mountains into Moldova. With
light snowfall, the countryside is beautiful with small villages nestled in
valleys, church steeples reaching up from each town, and horse-drawn carts
everywhere hauling wood for the winter months. At Suceavea we ventured down back
roads to Frumose where we found the widow Mrs. Bolohan. Her husband was murdered
two years ago, senselessly by a young man who beat him about the head because
Mr. Bolohan “looked strange”. We had provided numerous surgeries and treatments
to Mr. Bolohan, a peasant with no medical coverage, as he was burned about the
face by a bucket of flaming tar while roofing a barn. His ears and eye-lobes
were rebuilt, features restored and he was able to work to support his family
again. The young man served two years in jail and was ordered to pay a monthly
pension to Mrs. Bolohan but she has refused to receive it, saying he needs to
get on with his life. She asked us for pain medicines for her rheumatism which
we brought to her on this journey.
After visiting with Mrs. Bolohan and
gifting her three years of meds and some funds for her comfort, we went on to
Iasi, to Marin’s in-laws for two nights. Here we rested Saturday, learning our
Christmas Shoeboxes were held up by the European Union at the border but may be
released in two weeks. The European Union refuses to acknowledge needy children
within their borders. Marin says it may be Christmas in February, but it will
happen!
Saturday evening, I received two
visions in my sleep, which repeated several times. The first was a silhouette of
a New Jerusalem, as floating in the air or above the horizon. There is a high
prayer tower and a hand comes down and taps the tower, indicating “it is
complete” or “it is finished”. The city then lights in a glow like soft
fire-hearth light and whisks off. The hand then returns and a much older city
appears and the hand or a finger actually, hovers over and individuals fly up to
it. A voice says selection is done and the faithful of old now complete the
city. My impression was that my witness to Saints was fulfilled and Old
Testament faithful now will complete the city. I do not know if this is personal
just as to my work or as to all work, but my sense is it was just to mine.
The second vision which follows
shows a country road from the early 40s’ and an old car traveling towards me. I
do not know if I am standing in the road or in the car. As it approaches, it
comes to center of the road and straight at me. The vision ends there. It could
mean anything really. Then I am given a number… 15 50 I think this might be a
Bible Passage but I can find no chapter 15 with 50 versus so am puzzled. I
clearly survive the car incident as the 15 50 follows.
Monday morning we come back to
Braila, bringing with us Daniel, Marin’s brother-in-law. He has an exam in
school in Braila to take at 4 pm along with Cristina. The European Union has
closed sale of honey to all who do not complete a Bee-Keeping agricultural
certificate so Cristina and Daniel have been in school last 6 months to complete
the course. Travel is very slow due to the snow and ice. We pass 4 accidents
with cars off the road. We arrived in Braila at the school at 4 pm! Though
Romanians have been keeping bees for literally centuries, the Government decided
to standardize everything and chose this way. If you go back six years, The
European Union struck a trade agreement with China to permit their honey and
other goods into the Union. In exchange some European goods are sold in China.
The result was Europe was deluged with cheap Chinese honey. As a solution, the
European Union is training Romanian Beekeepers and using the funds to pay bounty
to French, German, Swiss and Italian beekeepers. There is lots of black market
honey in Romania now but Daniel and Cristina decided to take the courses so the
family can enter the legal marketplace.
It’s now Tuesday Afternoon and I
rest.
Jerry Brian Riess
Click on each photo to enlarge the image.
Report Number Three - November 22nd
It was quite a test to follow up
last nights “Long Night” service in Braila with the monthly program in Gropen
(pronounced grow-penn) on Friday but well worth the effort! About twenty miles
from Braila, Gropen is a farming village of about 5,000 people, mostly farm
workers growing cabbages, potatoes or watermelon. Monthly, the Betany
Pentecostal Church hosts a Friday night service which has become a “must attend”
for local Pentecostals. The church is nostalgic for Marin as it is located on
the lot where his birth home once stood. His family deeded the land later to the
village to construct the Pentecostal Church!
Service began at 6 pm sharp and
concluded at 11:15 pm. Amusingly, I was seated directly next to the wood stove
to be sure I stayed warm. It was very hot and a young lady kept adding more wood
to the fire throughout the service. I roasted slowly…The church was full so I
could not change seats. Marin was next to me and he un-layered to his tee shirt
by nights end. As I was going to preach last I felt it necessary to keep my
sweater on. Five hour services are common here and on Sundays the standard for
Pentecostals is five hours in the morning, a lunch or supper break, and then
three hours in the evening.
Church began with the call to
prayer. The local pastor sits up front on the platform and in this case Arel the
District Director sat next to him. Two or three hymns are sung to accompaniment
of a keyboard. The pastor then nods to some local or visiting pastor in the
middle of the concluding song and he comes forward and kneels in prayer at the
podium. When the song concludes he stands and gives a 5 to 10 minute
ENTHUSIASTIC preaching on a prayer subject (i.e. Israel-Gaza conflict, people
who are ill or suffering, unemployment, the economy, devotion to God, the
unsaved etcetera) and then the people stand or kneel in loud prayer, most in
tongues, for about 10 minutes. Another song and the pastor nods to another to
come and kneel and then preach followed by song. Occasionally a prophecy is
given or a psalm read…. This process repeats for two hours, last night it was 2
˝ hours as there were nine pastors who led the directed praying. Sometimes only
one or two pastors or elders are utilized in this but in every Pentecostal
service at least the first hour is devoted to these prayers just as our services
always begin with worship time.
The local pastor then called for
specific prayer needs within the church community, followed by another time of
loud praying. Then we had two or three songs (a cappella or with keyboard), a
recitation, and then preaching began! First preacher spoke on King David. Second
was evangelist from Spain who called us to praising Jesus. Another couple songs
and then local pastor preached followed by Marin singing and then I preached. My
topic was based loosely on the Experiencing God curriculum of Submitting to
Jesus, using as text Pauls’ Damascus Road encounter (Acts 9) and how it changed
him from a persecutor to one whose life was directed by the Holy Spirit. The
District Director Arel gave the concluding teaching, spending much of it
remarking at the energy of a 70+ evangelist! I had preached two nights before
in his church at Chiscan and with him frequently in the Danube Delta churches
and he finds me a fascination I guess. He then closed the service in prayer and
plates of cake were passed about (a popular style bunt cake marbled with cocoa
served here often) along with soda pop. Peter, the farm worker who was injured
in farm machinery two years ago was at the service and we visited. His arm has
healed and he can work again. Some of you may recall Marin gave him a fictitious
job as accountant so we could pay him for his family needs while he was mending.
He is very grateful and yet it cost Caleb very little to support them for six
months. ($1200 total) Many from the Braila Church came to Gropen to hear us
preach again which is why I have to change the message each time but I do not
mind. They are a wonderful support group. Two carloads of the gypsies came along
with our own car of 7 people. It was an awesome service.
Sunday at 5 AM
Marin and I get up to drive across the Delta area to Tulcea, stopping at Chiscan
first to pick up District Director Arel and his wife. Taking the barge “ferry”
across the Danube, we find the drive slow due to fog and occasional rain storms.
Arriving the 110 miles east at Tulcea, I preach at the Emanuel Church with the
Pastors wife translating. My topic is Deuteronomy 30: 5-14, one of my favorites.
Three other pastors preach before me and two visiting youth groups sing. Then
Pastor Arel got up to speak but he said he was set to talk on Joshua 1 but
nearly all his points were already covered in my talk! An Englishman was at the
service. He said he lived in Tennessee several years, has US and British
citizenship. He was going to leave for Iasi last Thursday but was told I was
coming on Sunday and he wanted to hear me. (I think he misses English
conversation) He has a 3 month visitor’s visa and is a missionary to Romania,
singing with his guitar and preaching when he is asked and has a translator
available. After the service he asked to join Marin and me as we travel the
country. He is supposed to meet up with us in Braila Tuesday to go to Iasi.
(pronounced “yash”)
Church
adjourned at 2:00 and from there we went to the village of Nickoalie Balescu
(named for Romanian poet). This is a very small house church in a farming area.
Many from Tulcea followed us there so the church was packed. Half way through
the service 21 men arrived carrying an elderly man in a chair. He reportedly was
dying and had stopped eating. He came that we would pray over him. After I spoke
(on Acts 14 & 16, Paul’s calling of Timothy, healing the lame man at Lystra,
etc.) an elderly pastor named Gergen preached. He apparently was attributed with
the gift of healing hands but he was retiring and they wanted me to pray with
him and the older man. When Gergen was finished preaching we went to the back
where the man was in a heavy wooden chair. I anointed him and prayed and then
Gergen did the same. It was quite intense as the Spirit was heavy in the room.
Several began speaking in tongues and having visions. The church was clearly
changed and the man affected by the prayers. The woman were crying and reaching
out to touch us as we prayed. The pastor of the small church fell prostrate in
the front and stayed there on the floor just crying and singing. District
Director Arel concluded the service. On the way home we spoke of the perceived
need for a “healing ministry” to replace Gergen and I advised any can willing
believer can do the praying and anointing. They are thinking of establishing a
monthly healing service rotating among the 19 Danube churches and 14 Braila
churches. They have always depended on a designated “healing pastor” like Gergen
but now see the weakness as he is definitely leaving. I think he is burned out
as he appears very weak and tired and needs a rest.
Back across the
Danube to Braila and we returned to the apartment to find Paul and Stephen have
pink eye! So Monday was visits to the hospital to see Doctors for 3 kids. Marin
worked on his house. Julian destroyed the electricity at the apartment. We had
no firewood so it got very cold and damp. Folks visited all day for prayers.
The Englishman
we met in Tulcea was supposed to arrive in Braila to join us but he never showed
at the ferry at the appointed time nor did he call.
Cristina fixed
fish Chorba so I fasted on Monday. Tuesday, Brother Metica (the family living in
Marin’s home) called to advise his mother died in the night. We will conduct
services on Thursday. She was feisty lady of 75 years age and I had prayed with
her many times. I liked her a lot.
Tuesday night I
preached on Luke 7 (John the Baptist in prison contacting Jesus). After church
there was much discussion concerning the funeral services being at Filedelphia
Church) Pentecostal) or the Baptist Church. She attended Filedelphia but was
member of Baptists. Baptists won so I will preach there Thursday night for the
family living in Marin’s home.
Wednesday was
shopping for funeral preparations and making arrangements with the family for
the service. Cristina and Marin show enormous Christian love and restraint under
the circumstances in my eyes. Wednesday evening Marin and I, Gypsy Pastor Fannie
and his wife, Gypsy Pastor Milam, and Elder Dan I went the 60 miles to the
house of Soara Metica for viewing, condolences and preaching. It is a very small
village but typical Romanian small farm. She lived there with her husband who I
understand from others is alcoholic. He never appeared Wednesday or Thursday. I
was designated to preach for the Pentecostals and another for the Baptists.
Marin was to translate but said the 22 year old grandson Marius would. Marin
went to the toilet just as I was called to speak. Marius tried to translate but
broke into tears and it became obvious this was too hard on him. I ended and
took him to the back bedroom where we talked at length. He shared much about
grandmother. She taught the village school for 19 years and she told Marius
about Jesus and took him through the bible in readings. He clearly is very
shaken by her death. He asked if she was in hell presently. I said “what do you
mean?” He replied h was told that all who die go to hell for three days to pay
for their sins before being raised”. I said “No, Jesus paid that price in
full!” We talked quite a while and he was very relieved. (About 3 hours!) His
understandings are part Orthodox, part hearsay, and part truth. Finally we
returned to Braila at 11 pm for a late snack of mushrooms picked in the park by
Paul, Anna, Cristina and Claudio. They were in white sauce or there is a pot of
mushroom chorba which I love!
It is Thursday
and we are all about the Metica Funeral today. I hope to send out the third
report today or tomorrow as few can be sent while traveling across country.
Metica and I go back far as friends. He ran the Caleb warehouse in distributing
clothing, etc. They use to come each night to the Tiripa home to pray with us
for years, at each of Marin’s’ various homes and apartments. (8 moves in 11
years!, mostly to unfinished spec houses or apartments). When they lived next
door to Tiripas' each evening they would show up and pray on the floor. It is
curious that frequently we prayed for the son Marius and now here we are drawing
close in his time of need. He was viewed as troublesome and a problem teen back
then. The daughter Simone usually joined us in the prayers as did Grandmother
Soara Metica. (Soara is “sister” in Romania indicating a believer)
At the village
house about two hundred had gathered for the service and burial. The Orthodox
Pastor offered to translate for me. It was a kick because as soon as I said
“Holy Spirit” he froze and the Pentecostals (vast majority there) gasped. He
realized his dilemma and loosened up and did a great job translating. I tried to
cover the points Marius had not understood well the night before. I used Psalm
23, John 11:1-31, Philippians 1:21, Job 19:25-27, John 14:1-6, Psalm 28:7,
Obadiah 16, Psalm 146:3-4, and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. I finished by saying it
was time to give the family rest and room to grieve, and to simply love them and
pray for them and try to lighten their load. It was an unusual funeral message
as generally Romanian sermons are gloomy. (A pastor in Tulcea told me they do
not like joyful songs in church as it makes the congregation feel too good and
self-sufficient so they are not dependent on the pastors……)
After two
songs, the casket was removed to a tractor trailer and the people walked along
as we went to the cemetery. In town center, the tractor stopped and Pastor
Streghor gave a sermon shouted into the streets of calling people to salvation
by accepting Jesus as Soara Metica has. (This is common public preaching which
was even allowed under Communism and is still done today by Pentecostals. Then
we drove on to the cemetery where the Baptist Pastor preached the burial service
and she was placed in the grave. We all returned to the house for a lunch of
three courses plus pop or water:
1. Plate of 5 black olives, two
slices tomato, one slice red pepper, 3 sticks of cheese, and 2 slices of salami.
2. Plate of 4 or 5 samole’
(small cabbage roll with rice and pork center)
3. Plate of 1 piece fried
chicken, 2 pickles, and white rice.
4. A tray
was passed of cookies and breads and a large pail of apples.
The mayor of
the village gave $1,000.00 towards funeral and feeding the village as is
customary. The meal menu itself also is customary as well. Surprising was the
mayor or someone found bread for the meal!
We returned
home 6 pm in time to start our church service. This was Thanksgiving Day, 2012
in Braila, Romania.
Click on each photo to enlarge the image.
Jerry Brian Riess
Report Number Two - November 15th
Monday evening we visited two
families in the port area. The first lives up a long curved old broken staircase
so entry was slow but finally successful. They have 5 children. They live
cheaply in condemned building they are trying to repair and then convince the
city to let them stay. The husband had surgery on his leg and necks paid by
Caleb Ministry as they are gypsy and have no state health care. The neck tumor
was successful and the leg is still mending. They have a 6 month old baby, Sarei,
they asked that I come to dedicate and pray for. It was a good visit and they
were quite grateful.
The second family is also gypsy,
three children, one with severe nerve damage from birth resulting in palsy and
tremors, and the young girl who suffers from what they say is a "numb leg". We
had lots of fun visiting and praying with the entire family. The father asked us
at church last night to make this visit for his son. He shared a vision the Lord
gave regarding me that was quite beautiful, involving a heavenly garden planted
in heaven of prayers given through the years for children.
Tuesday was prayer service in Braila
Church with a short teaching on journaling in which I emphasized the technique
SOAP which we promote at Westside Foursquare Church. (Scripture, Observation,
Application, Prayer)
In Romanian
soap is called Săpun so the acronym does not work in Romanian but the basic
teaching principle does.
I was very pleased to see
Peter Chilliana at the church. When I met him three nights earlier at his
mother's (The widow we took food to) he confided he had not been in a church in
six years. We talked about his fathers' exile from Russia because of his faith
and why he Peter had himself lost his longing for Jesus. I was so glad Peter
spoke English well making it easy to minister to him. To see him back in church
Tuesday night was a thrill. He arrived before we did at the church and when I
walked in he gave me a big hug and a holy kiss on the neck (Romanian custom for
men
1 Corinthians 16:20,
Romans 16:16). This event alone of seeing him restored to fellowship in church
makes my trip worthwhile to me. He stopped in Wednesday to again visit.
After the service Tuesday eleven of
us visited a gypsy family in Lacu Sarut to pray for a lady who is being
terrorized by visions and manifestations of a crude and indecent nature. This
has been going on for about four months. She has been seeing counselors and
specialists but to no avail. The pastors asked we come and counsel her, pray
with her and see if we can help. She is gypsy lady with five children and lives
with her husband and her own extended family. The entire household is being
victimized by this unpleasantness. We gathered in prayer on our knees, sang
several songs, anointed the couple, and prayed at length repeating the process
for the evening. The Lord revealed she has been cursed by a sorcerer (still
common in gypsy cultures). We were able to identify generally the source and the
reason but not the culprit. The reason was revenge for an offense to the
sorcerer. My advice was that she and her husband memorize a verse a day of 1
Corinthians 13 (The Love Chapter) inasmuch as the spell is demeaning true love,
and that each time an event occurs they recite the passages and command the evil
spell to leave in the Name of Jesus. We plan to uphold them in prayer as a
church family and to return in a few days for more concentrated prayer.
Wednesday she confessed to her husband and the pastor she had been having her
fortune caste along with her mother concerning the future and that she stopped
paying the diviner. They are now using the memorized scripture to repudiate the
attacks together. Her mother left the home.
Wednesday evening was service in the
Chiscan Pentecostal Church of Brother/Pastor Arel followed by a homemade pizza
feast in the fellowship hall. (You do not want to experience authentic Romanian
pizza as it involved lots of sour cream , French fries in the pizza , and
vegetables but little meat , tomato sauce or cheese. Once I received it with a
fried egg atop!
Thursday evening was long night
service at Braila. This custom from the dictatorship days and communism is to
gather usually in a farm house at 8 or 9 in the evening as though "coming home
from work" and then staying up all night praying, singing, teaching and sermons
until 6 or 7 am at which all leave as though "going to work" for the day. This
is how Pentecostals operated underground for years. Now, most Romanian
Pentecostals have "Long Night" once a month but meeting openly in the church or
a home. About 2 or 3 trays of bread and tea are passed around as a snack. In
farming areas like Braila people bring baskets of food, canned goods, fruit or
whatever they have and leave on the porch. The Elders then divide the supplies
so each have some to take back home. Widows are given extra portions of food as
are big families.
Friday we went
shopping for bread! It is in short supply here due to poor crops and the closure
of many local bakeries unable to meet the new European Union food standards to
be licensed. We went to eight stores before we could find bread, the staple food
in each meal here!
There is
lots of animal life here..100 plus turkeys, about 9 cats, 5 puppies..and Gypsy
Julian has been assigned task of keeping them out of my room as the family
clothes are stored there (Stephen & Elisa have allergies/ but I cannot take it
seriously as they play with the cats and dogs all the time). One cat managed to
allude Julian for two days, living atop my suitcase and then inside the couch
when he approached. I named her Svengali... The word "svengali"
has come to refer to a person who, with evil intent, controls another person by
persuasion or deceit. The Svengali may feign kindness and use manipulation to
get the other person to yield his or her will. Julian has met his match.
Click on each photo to enlarge the image.
Jerry
Riess
& Caleb Good News Ministries
Report Number One - November 12th
Greetings from Romania where gasoline is
$7.40/gallon! I arrived on Friday and was met at the airport by Cristina, Marin
and Elisia. Elisia completed her first week of tests but had to be returned to
Bucharest Hospital on Monday for another week of examinations. She is 10 years
old, the middle child of the Tiripa family, and afflicted to Downs Syndrome.
The school where she attends in special programs decided it may be best for her
to be institutionalized so the health department has ordered a battery of tests
to determine if she can function in the family or should be taken by the state.
The family is very upset by this intervention, of course. The first doctors in
Braila administered electric shock treatments, sending her home nearly catatonic
for two days! So now Cristina stays with her during all testing to be sure they
do not repeat this unwarranted invasion of their daughter. She functions very
well in the family and is cared for and loved by all who know her. She gave me a
big hug at the airport and asked me to take her home to the family! We did.
My journey from Seattle was uneventful. On
the flight from Seattle to Amsterdam I visited with a couple from Hope4Children
on their way to Uganda to supervise well drilling. From Amsterdam to Bucharest
my companion was a man from Kenya and two Romanian college students. They read
from my book “The Chorba Trail” on my kindle and were going to get their own
copies.
I was very tired at my arrival having
acquired a serious cold on the flight. My head was spinning as we drove the
three hours from Bucharest to Braila, stopping once for Chicken Chorba soup!
(Delicious).
The cold grew worse each day for the first
week, but I am so happy to be here again among so many precious friends and 2nd
family. We are living a Spartan existence with the Tiripa family. They lost
their house to foreclosure (It was pledged for another house they built on the
same lot but those buyers defaulted but still live there and the bank gave the
Tiripas' the choice to forfeit their house or the other and they elected to give
up their own house rather than put their friends on the street. The other
family (Metika) use to have a vegetable and fruit stand in the marketplace.
Because the standing became very difficult for both husband and wife, they sold
and bought a kitchen utensil store (like a dollar store) but it failed and they
lost their investment. They are back at the marketplace but earning little so
far. So the whole Tiripa family has moved into the small temporary apartment
above the Braila church. It is three small rooms including kitchen. Bath is down
stairs behind the church. We are many....Marin & Christina, their kids Claudio
(17, a nephew) Julian (The gypsy man who borrowed my underwear a few years
back), Anna 12, Paul 11, Elisa 10, Steven 5, Michael 2, and now I. We have about
100 turkeys in the church yard Marin raises for income. The apartment is cold
and damp but living here is necessary for now to save funds to rebuild so the
family is struggling along cheerfully. It seems as if every corner is covered
with damp laundry drying or plastic crates of clothes or toys or things. I am
trying to get rid of the cold so rest as much as I can. The gypsies brought us
an old wood stove to help keep me warm and we set it up Sunday after church.
They have a gas furnace for the two rooms but Marin cleared out a storage room
for me to live in which is BIG but had no heat source. The wood stove is very
welcome and Claudio, Marin, Julian and Paul take shifts bringing up wood and
feeding the stove. They set up dial-up internet in my room and brought up a
couch for me to sleep on. I feel I am intruding having a “private room” and
people tending the stove for me but they insist!
Sunday morning I preached on Nehemiah and the
walls being rebuilt. After, we installed the wood stove with many gypsies
participating as if a ceremonial gifting to me! Sunday night Cristina insisted I
rest rather than preach. (The church is very cold and drafty but they are
remodeling a large room below the apartment to serve as “winter church” which
can be heated.) After the service in the evening, several came from the service
to greet me. I think there were 13 or 14 people in all as I entertained in my
pajamas and wheezing state. But they are family and obviously did not mind the
informality.
Monday Marin and I drove Elisa and Cristina
back to the Bucharest Hospital to have them stay the week for testing. The
doctor defended his decision of using electric shock to “rule out epilepsy”.
Since there had been no indications of epilepsy ever in her life, this was
ridiculous and the hospital barred him from any further involvement in Elisa’s’
treatment.
Back at Braila we were joined by Christina’s’
father who came from Iasi by Maxi Taxi to help look after the kids. He sleeps in
the kitchen.
Tuesday Marin and Julian brought in plumbing
materials and installed a toilet! Modern conveniences. (Cristina said I should
have visited last winter so it would have been installed then!)
Tuesday Evening was prayer service. The
Braila Church holds services 7 times a week…twice on Sunday and holding Monday
in reserve to visit the sick. The other 14 Caleb Churches in East Romania do the
same and the 19 new ones in the Delta are holding service twice a week and one
night for prayers.
After the service a young man came up and
told me three years ago I prayed for his wife who was pregnant and told them it
was a boy. They were surprised as the doctor said it would be a girl but indeed
it was a boy! He asked me to dedicate him as he and his wife waited for my
return.
Tuesday night the Bucharest State Media
reported on the voting in America and said “all who vote against Obama are
racists”! This made me furious, of course.
Wednesday I saw Doctor Michael who reports
“you have a cold. Drink fluids and sleep”….. We gave him a turkey for his
trouble.
Thursday Sister Johanna served lunch for
Marin and myself, Beef Chorba and then Samale’ (cabbage rolls) and pumpkin
pastry for dessert. She always feeds me on my visits.
Elisa returns to Bucharest Hospital for tests
Monday for 10 days regarding her Downs Syndrome situation. I will write as the
trip progresses but sparingly as this is slow dial-up server. Keep us in your
prayers please.
Thursday after church Marin and I buy
groceries and get donations from the Tiripa pantry and Johanna to gift to a
widow. She is the wife of brother Chilliana, the Russian I had visited many
times before. They lived in Romania as he was a criminal in Russia for his
Pentecostal teachings against the Russian Orthodox Church. You may recall my
first visit with him he said I was “the prophet he had been expecting for 10
years to pray over me so I am consecrated and can finally go to Jesus”. He then
got on his knees on the concrete patio as I anointed him and he was so relieved.
He then began attending the Braila Church and we had many good visits for four
years! He died last winter. His widow receives 400 lei from the Braila Church
and they gift food and clothes to keep her going. Her son Peter returned from
Greece where he worked. I met him for the first time and he could not stop
talking about how much his father loved me and my visits. I was overwhelmed!
Friday Marin and
I drove back to Bucharest Hospital to get Cristina and Elisa. It was quite a
sight at the hospital when the “Tiger Security Guard” demanded a bribe from
Marin in order to enter the hospital drive. No bribe was paid! Cristina said the
doctors released Elisa back for one month. She is to undergo special schooling
in Braila and then return to Bucharest for further testing.
Click on each photo to enlarge the image.
Jerry
Riess
& Caleb Good News Ministries
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