GOOD JOB IN ROMANIA

We live in Poiana Brasov. This is a resort community for winter sport. We don’t fit in here but our residence is temporary. We hope eventually to have a dwelling within our church building. This will be a great advantage in many ways…more on that later. It snows a lot in Poiana…thus, the ski resort. When I first bought my VW Passat I was told it had auto-four-wheel-drive, which is great in snow and ice…but when I drove on snow and ice it was like driving a car on skis. I had almost zero control. I later bought the proper snow tires which solved the problem…but that story will be written later in this report. While skiing with my new car down the mountain from Poiana to Brasov and driving very deliberately for fear of losing control, I noticed that about every 30 ft there was a swath of bare pavement. This served well because if you lost it on the snow and ice you could look forward to a jolt back under control. Driving and thinking, I thought what the maintenance guys would use to create this unique answer to a big problem. In the USA they just dump salt all over the road…plenty of money…plenty of salt…all automatic… “just drive the truck…Bubba.” I thought since Romania is poorer they use less salt…maybe, since the swath appeared wet, they mixed the salt with another solution or even just water. I thought they probably have a gismo to disperse the solution every 30 ft at a predetermined speed…for the swaths were very consistent. My deep thought was abruptly disturbed by a loud blast from a big horn…in my rude awakening I saw the snow plow truck passing me…since he had all the right traction. As he passed I found all the answers to my deep contemplation. In the light of my headlights I noticed a workman atop the truck bed shoveling out salt, and throwing it the width of the road…as fast as any human could under terrible weather conditions in the back of a moving truck going down a mountain…which just happened to be about every 30 ft at a pre determined speed. Great job in Romania.

ANOTHER GOOD JOB IN ROMANIA

(Prov 11:14) Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. So……I asked my advisors (my fellow helpers in the faith…the other missionaries here) how to solve the problem of my car operating on skis. After much counsel I decided to buy the best set of snow tires offered in Romania. I skied to the tire shop in a driving blizzard. I make my choice, pay my bill and make arrangements for installation. Here we go…I ski my car up onto the sidewalk on top of 10 inches of snow and ice. There is 20 inches on the passenger side and passers by are passing by. There is only 24 inches from the driver’s door to the passing auto traffic. Night is falling fast…wind is picking up…snow is driving…I am inside my car. The tire man comes with a manual jack and manual tire tool. He jacks the car on the driver’s side…the handle of the jack is lying out into the passing auto traffic. He removes the two wheels and disappears inside. I see a man approaching from the rear through my fogged windows…he is walking…and pulling something. He comes up to the rear of the car and carefully maneuvers a hand drawn cart of vegetables off the curb out into the passing traffic and past my car…back over the curb…back onto the sidewalk and continues on. The tire man comes and puts the wheels on with the new tires…he repeats the process on the passenger side in the 20 inch space between a wall and the car while folk walk by. It is minus 7 degrees Celsius or about 22 degrees Fahrenheit…the wind is up to 35 MPH…it is very dark, even at 4:45…and the snow is piling high on my dash as the tire man passes the receipt through my window…The attached picture is a few days later and does not depict it accurately. Add snow, dirt, more traffic, lots more cold and ice and stir with 35 MPH wind and you’ll get the right picture. Great job in Romania. The salt spreader and the tire man make app. $175 per month.

MORE INQUIRERS

While preaching at our street meeting on Saturday we had four serious inquirers approach us, ask questions both in Romanian and English and fill out tracts indicating salvation as well as a desire to receive a visit. All asked where our church was. Oh, how we wish we could give them an address. We are working hard to accomplish that ASAP. . It is true that a street meetings stirs almost no spiritual interest among the hearers and thus you cannot build a church from publick ministry… IN AMERICA. My argument against this was that the Lord did not tell us to build a church…He said “I will build my church.” We are supposed to obey his commandment in Mt. 28:19-20. The publick ministry in USA is beneficial mainly for the doer of it. But it is different in eastern Europe and we are trying to capitalize on that. Dan (23 years old) approached me while Bro. Logan was preaching. He greeted me with a big smile. He spoke fairly good English…said he was saved…pulled out a well marked Gideon NT and told us about his experiences with the Lord. All good. He came to church with us on Sunday and has verbalized his desire to join our ministry here in all that it promises to provide. One of the main things we prayed for and solicited prayer for was for the Lord to provide young men for us to train and thereby perpetuate the ministry here. He later told Bro. Logan that he was attracted by our robust, hearty singing and aggressive preaching and the Holy Spirit spoke to his heart and told him he needed to join himself to us. Our brand of genuine aggressive representation of the Lord is a real attraction here. Most young folk are up to their neck with the dead orthodoxy. Some even see through the charismatic plastic.

TWO BIT HECKLER

A weak reminder of publick ministry in America occurred when a male passed by and yelled, “You ought to learn the language of the people before you preach to them.” I asked him to please return and intelligently talk this over but he just kept walking. Simple reason would argue that it would be years before I tried to minister if I obeyed him. We are currently taking language lessons and training young Romanian men to minister in their own language. Besides this, English is an obvious attraction to many benefits. I guess he was just hoping that I would not preach until I learned the language. After that, he will hope for something else. There is always a reason NOT to minister publickly.

LATEST BOOK

My latest book entitled Parallel Conquerors is available to be read or downloaded online at my website… www.streetpreaching.com . Help yourself and your comments are welcome.

JUST PLAIN LIFE

Life is settling into a routine and we are ministering more. Bro. Logan and his family have quite a bit more settling to do yet but, all is going well. Pray for his container to come next week, his sawmill to get into the country from Poland, another container filled with tracts and both of our families five-year-visas to be received. Next week I will tell you about our language studies…hilarious.