When I left you before we were under house-arrest because of the NATO meeting here in Poiana Brasov. We decided to yield to what obviously was the Lord's will for us to rest for these first few days. When we yielded it was very delightful and enjoyable. We did not realize how much we needed this rest after such an extremely busy summer.

The NATO meeting was serious business though. We live a good mile from the center of Poiana and we had armed police right outside our yard. We stayed put in the house for the duration not wanting to cause any undue alarm or observance of our tentative stay in this country.

As soon as we were set free we started our ministry. The plaza in Brasov begs for publick ministry with thousands of folk milling about, sunning, shopping, and strolling. The accordion was very well received, as I had predicted, with many smiles and at least one hearty thumbs-up. Because the tracts were accompanied by the pleasant music... (Ezek 33:32 KJV) And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not."...they were very well received. I sang "How Great Thou Art" next to the fountain area and many more positive and attentive responses were welcomed. The brief preaching was responded to with curiosity but not repulsed. Many understood what I was saying and two men came to inquire. One was an American Christian visiting Romania for humanitarian Christian ministry. He was a charismatic from Conneticut...nice guy but we came to a mutual parting of theological ways. The other young man I will elaborate on in a moment. The police came and told me I could not sing by the fountain but could sing 10' away in the same area. Their request was silly but they were polite and a bit intimidated by my friendly forward boldness and my lack of fear. Like a dog, if he detects that you fear him he will act in aggression, these police who are not so many years out of Communism still retain much of the fear tactics taught them in previous governments. As for the young man...Andrew was a very polite 16 year old who spoke remarkably good English and asked sincere questions. We were immediately taken by him. He was clean, intelligent, albeit not educated, and likable even though he had lived on the streets for eight years. I would like to have pursued his soul that day but circumstances and surroundings dictated otherwise. We invited him to our church meeting the next day (Sunday) and offered him a ride if he would meet us at a designated place. We prayed that night and the next morning he was waiting one half hour before the stated time. We layed foundation for spiritual instruction during the ride to church. Although he was Russian Orthodox he agreed that if his church contradicted the Bible that he would choose the Bible. He admitted that, although he was religious that he had never established a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We had a fine service and Bible study followed by a delicious meal after which we celebrated Mary Bethany's eleventh birthday. But the real dessert was praying with Andrew for the Lord to save his soul and be his personal Saviour. This is our first soul won in Romania and we pray it will be the watershed of a very fruitful ministry. After he became a new creature I showed him the major problem with the Orthodox church...the fact that they are idolators and in violation of the 2nd commandment. He was hesitant to make a decision and wanted to first talk with a priest. I further instructed him peppering this instruction with warnings. Andrew spent the night in our apartment and we helped him this morning to get some papers so that he can find a job. We expect Andrew to become a part of our lives. Pray for this young man to yield to the change the Lord wants to accomplish in his life.

For the time being, we meet together on Sundays with Dwight Herring and his family. We do everything we do in church except take up the offering. By the way, if you support Dwight Herring your money is very wisely invested. The Herrings are very fine folk and have a wonderful ministry just ahead of them in which they are in hot pursuit. They have made our introduction to Romania a pleasurable experience.

! ! ! T R A C T S ! ! !
Brasov is a university city and education is held as a premium here as it is thoughout all of eastern Europe. Because of this, the people are slightly more receptive to nicer looking tracts. If ANYONE would like to make a wise investment in the work of the Lord...the need for good tracts in Romanian and eventually any other eastern European language will not be soon exhausted. We could easily have passed out many hundreds more tracts on our meeting Saturday but we quickly ran out of our supply. Of course Chick tracts are a premium and are passed many times. They get recycled over and over. If you have an interest...check with some tract suppliers for Romanian tracts and let us know they are coming.

My address is as follows:
Gerald Sutek
OP1 CPO 18
500500 Brasov
Romania

Call us sometime after you get your cheap calling card from www.phonecard.com the Europe card. After you satisfy the numbers on the card, simply dial 011-40-268-262-468 Our email will always remain gsutek@streetpreaching.com