Now We Know!

Thursday, April 3rd: Well, we had a full day of experience on Wednesday so now we know a lot better where to go, what to say and not to say, and the excitement of sharing Christ in Sighisoara! So, here are a few more details from yesterday.

The Evangelistic Team loved going to the market. Several prayed to receive Christ and many wanted prayer. Bro. John was sharing with a gentleman and before he could even ask him if he wanted to receive Christ...the man said, "yes, I want this". Bro. John thought he might not completely understand so he continued to finish his remarks, and the man said, "YES, I want this!" Praise God.

Rebekah Clements had been walking around sharing with several people and noticed that she had a lady that would follow her from person to person. When Rebekah was leaving the lady came to her and started thanking her and making motions with her hands that her heart belonged to Jesus. Not sure what she was saying, but she went away with joy!

The Pastor was pleased with how our team members went out into the crowds and told people about the free coffee and tea so they could hear about Christ and receive a gift. That is why they gave away more coffee and tea than ever before!

Another amazing event occurred yesterday also. On Monday, I helped Jill Mihai, the Director of Casa Vietii, (House of Life), put up 25 small posters in town and two of the villages about the Football (soccer) Tournament on Wednesday at 2:00. By Wednesday, it was cold and had been drizzling all day so we were concerned that they would not come out for the tournament. Usually they have 5-7 teams. Yesterday, they had 12 Teams and all their friends...about 100! Wow, God is so good and sometimes we are so foolish to doubt His ability. Bro. John shared the gospel and 12 boys raised their hands that they wanted to receive Christ.

They were amazed at Bro John's parachute game and the puppets were great...along with the Sin Box Skit. Everyone returned with lots of stories and were ready to eat a wonderful meal prepared for us by Viorica and Nella.

Thursday Events: After another wonderful breakfast at the hotel and singing Happy Birthday to Mario Vega for his 18th birthday...we started Prayer Walking to the church to meet the rest of the team from Mana Church.

Today included two block parties. So far, we hear they are going fantastic! Lots of kids and young people coming out to watch the events. They are doing puppets, skits, sharing Christ, and advancing God's Kingdom! Can't wait to hear some stories tonight.

The Ladies Team had 12 ladies from the village of Soard come for the day. We made lap blankets and scarves then shared four different lessons with them. They became very creative with their designs which was unusual because during Communist time they were no allowed to be very creative. It was fun seeing them trying to make their items really unique.

Karen Brown taught a study on Moms in Touch. This is an international program to help moms learn a method of praying for their children, their schools, and the children in the community. One of the ladies has never prayed out loud before because she wanted to pray in her gypsy language and she had been told she could not do this. TODAY, she prayed out loud for the first time in her gypsy language!


After lunch, we want to be sure they all know the Lord, but we also wanted them to start sharing with others more. We made salvation bracelets and told them if they could explain it back to us that we wanted to give them two more to share with someone else. They couldn't wait to show us what they had learned and the ones that were having a hard time remembering what some of the colors meant they were helped by the others and encouraged so they could have their additional bracelets.

Then Dawn Kirby shared about Christ and the Cross with her "paper-tearing" pictures. They were surprised to see how folding and tearing paper could tell the story of the Cross and the thieves on each side. Dawn explained that just as the thieves had a choice to choose to believe or not that each person has to choose. One thief went that day to heaven with Jesus, one did not. Several ladies shared some of their experiences with us too.

One fun part was Kathy Mendenhall showing them a game that we all played several times and laughed together. They sang one of their songs in the gypsy language and wanted Kathy to dance with one of the other ladies! I believe they all thought Kathy was part gypsy anyway!! We do have some secret video we will try to share later!!

It was a great time together and they were all hugging and kissing us when they were leaving. We look forward to seeing many of our new sisters again.

Well...tonight, it's off to the circus. Yes, the circus starts tonight and you can imagine that Bro. John could not wait to set up puppets and skits outside. Everyone will be getting an extra treat when they come to the circus...they may find Christ. I'm sure we will have more stories from the circus.

Tomorrow we will be attending a wedding and the Youth Festival starts officially. We all look forward to meeting the others coming from another gypsy village.

Please pray for our health...several have runny noses and scratchy throats from a day of cold and rain...but no one is giving in to it. So pray for good rest tonight and healing for all of us.

blessings
Barbara