Romania Day 6 (& 7)

Today we travelled to Cluj, as the first part of our journey home. We called in briefly  at Tinaud, to give some books to the Faurs, to help them in their work with the children.

The journey is through some beautiful countryside. The road twists and turns and there are many climbs and descents but the road is good.

We arrived in cluj, and picked up another Pastor whose name was Paul. He knew the best way to the Hotel, and so he was our Sat Nav. unfortunately he spoke very little English so it was impossible to have any meaningful conversations.

After settling into Hotel Beta, we started to explore the city. I found a hotel I had previously stayed in. We looked at Catholic, and an Orthodox cathedral. What sad places they are!!.

Looking for a few gifts to the home, and a bite to eat we wondered around.  We finally found a shopping mall (Iulius) where we had a Doner Kebab and a cake.

After a bit more shopping we walked back to the Hotel and settled down to watch some Tennis from the French open. We reckoned that we had walked about 7 miles in total ( later measured to be 8.5 miles on Google Earth), which will have been good for us considering the amount that we have eaten, and that we have spent a lot of time sitting in houses

The hotel was 2 stars. It was clean, but basic everything worked, and it was reasonably priced. However, the shower, which was a good temperature and pressure, had a holder that was broken and the bus station was situated next door, which ran rather nosily through the night. There were hoots and shouts going on until the early hours. The remote controller for the TV was missing parts, although it worked and the numbers etc were rubbed out.

So while it was Ok, with a little more care, Hotel Beta could have been  well  better.

We got up at 4:45, and left at 5:05 for the airport. We boarded efficiently for the flight back to Luton, where we were met and driven home to start the washing!

Romania Day 5

On Day 5 we went to see the offices of Editurii Făclia, and our associates Dinu and Lidia Moga. It was interesting to see the process through translation and production.He is able to produce small runs efficiently as he has found otherwise he carries too much stock.  Dinu has a large number of books available. Some titles and authors we recognized and some we did not. Some were from the UK and some from the USA. There were also collections of sermons from Romanian pastors.

We were able to purchase some books for our host and for the work in Black Forest.

After a sandwich and pudding lunch, we went to catch up with Christi and Autillia who we had met previously  Christi was pastor at Cordau which I visited and preached at on my last visit to Romania. It was good to see them settled in thier home. Last time they were living with parents after having to move out of thier flat because it was too expensive for them. 

C&A - a much missed old friend

We went to a shopping mall. It was a pleasure to find a C&A store, much missed in England. i used to buy most of my clothes there. Then it was off to KFC for a taste of home. We got told off for taking photographs by the manger which seemed a strange rule. Our hosts had never had KFC before, and they enjoyed it. We returned to our base, and were offered another meal at 9:30 - more chicken. 

Romania Day 4

Day 4 was Sunday. We traveled to some village baptist churches in which we were due to speak. The countryside was beautiful,and the villages were traditional with a few modern houses.The road tough reminded me of the old Romania. A good mechanic should have no problem earning a living here!
For morning worship we went to Hincris baptist church. When we arrived most of the congregation were already there, and the children were reciting from Hebrews Chapter 4. I understand they had already been there for an hour, much of that time spent in prayer. There was about 120 people present, which is a little lower than thier usual numbers As usual they sang many hymns, and there was a male voice choir from the Baptist Church in Arad. I was asked to preach and Dinu translated for me.
I spoke from 1 Corinthians 15 v 3 "Christ Died for our Sins". A Romanian man who was visiting was also asked to speak and he spoke about resurrection.
We were then given dinner in a traditional Romanian house. The food was good, the soup was a little warm than Laodocian soup.
This was followed by chicken and Potatoes with Salad, and  then cake.
Next we were taken to the neighboring Village of Baleni. There is no church here of any description, not even orthodox and so the baptists are planting one. I will post more on its beginnings later.
On Sundays they met in a school in the afternoon. The school seems rather run down. Again we were treated to children reciting scripture, about the crucifixion of Jesus.
After some singing I was asked to preach. I used Acts 11 v 26 to ask the question what is a Christian?
We then headed back towards Oradea.
In the evening I preached at Cihei Baptist Church on Acts 12 v 5 "Peter was in Prison, but prayer was made by the church for him".
There were about 40 people present. Many were missing as they were attending thespecial graduation service at Emmanuel Church, Oradea,
After another meal of chicken, and this time rice, we retired after a busy day.

Romania Day3

We visited our Friends the Plumbas Family.It was Nelus birthday and we enjoyed sharing his cake, which was up to the usual standard. In the afternoon we went to the village, and observed the farming techniques still in use in parts of Romania.The sun came out and it got rather warm.
In the evening I went to the graduation ceremony at Emmanuel a University Oradea with our host. It was a pleasure to Congressman Jeff Miller speak after receiving his honorary Doctorate. In this day and age true Christians in high positions is so rare. He gave the students good advice and spake of his dependence upon his saviour.
We also caught up with some old contacts and and a good time of fellowship with them.
We returned to watch the champions league final, which was hosted by the FA at Wembley.

Romania Day 2

Day 2 started late as we weren't picked up by Pastor Faur until 11 am. We were then taken to the village of Sinteu. Sinteu is a collection of small farms spread over a large area. It is really beautiful. We saw though didn't get chance to photograph some oxen pulling a cart!! Most of the villagers are of Slovak origin, and are Catholic, rather than Orthodox
 Here Pastor Faur has been working for a few years trying to begin a gospel work. We went to the school where he had given out books at Christmas to the pupils. There is one family of believers and he is trying to encourage them.
He told us that he had been able to sing carols at various places around the the village. They were invited to sing and speak in the catholic church, which they did.
After returning to Tinaud for a late 4 course lunch ( the diet will have to wait until I get home), we spend about an hour relaxing.and then went to Black forest.

They had about 30 children to thier Friday Club, and 10 women to the woman's meeting. I spoke on names written in Heaven to the children, and children being a gift from the Lord to the ladies.
We returned to Tinaud for a late BBQ. We finally arrived back at our hosts at 11:55 rather tired.
Update: Photos now added

Romania Day 1

An early start yesterday morning as we headed via the train to Luton airport for as flight to Timisoara on Wiz. Flight was good, and touchdown perfect. We quickly found our host Vashil. Then we traveled 4 hours to Sin Martin. The roads seemed to have improved somewhat especially with a Motorway between Timisoara and Arad.
We were delighted find that prior to Vahsil going into the ministry he had been a chef for 15 years, and it showed.
Our associates Dinu and Lidia joined us for a delightful tea and we were able to discus our program for this visit, and make contact with the people we wish to visit.

The painful gospel message

From a testimony of  a dear brother in Christ, concerning his time in national service, during square bashing ...

There was one incident at the end of the six weeks training that I was there for. We had had six very hard weeks of marching and exercise and doing all those things we had to do to become a soldier first before we got back to our trade. Towards the end of the six weeks was over and everybody was so relieved, they were doing silly things, throwing things about the billet, having pillow fights and spraying people with a stirrup pump hose as they came in the door. One young fellow, fellow from London, I can still see him now. He was only a young, quite a small insignificant lad, he had got the hose, and somebody opened the door and he let them have it. He sprayed him with water, and it turned out to be the orderly sergeant!

To say he wasn't pleased was to put it very mildly. I can see him, he got him by the collar and he said “Lad I am going to teach you a lesson you will never forget.” He said” I am going to take you down the gymnasium, we are going to put boxing gloves on, and I am going to give you a beating you won't forget. The lad was terrified.  He literally was frightened, shaking he was. My friend John, the Christian lad came up, put himself between the sergeant and the little lad, and he said “ Sergeant , If you want to beat somebody pick somebody your own size I will come down and stand in his place.” He said I don’t care you are all as bad as each other."

So he took this lad , they went down the gymnasium.  John came back with black eyes, nose bleeding, tooth missing. All the lads in the billet crowded round him, and said” why on earth did you do that?”

And it was one of the most poinent Gospel messages I think I have ever heard. He preached the gospel to them and said somebody did something far, far more than that for me 2000 years ago. And he told the billet, all the men and they gathered round him and he preached that gospel to them and it was wonderful.