Summer report
Dear friends,
Summer is at its end and looking back I can say it’s been very long and busy for us here but we have to apologize for the delay in letting you know about the things we have done for the Lord.
I know you have prayed for us and we are very grateful for that. We felt your prayers because we really need them.
Psalm 127 verse 1 says: “Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain.”
From the beginning I want to say that we didn’t do anything but God did it all. My work, our work here in Fagaras would be in vain if God wouldn’t be with us, work in and through us. So, we praise His name and we want to acknowledge Him in all we do.
Let’s start with the beginning.
After I returned home the first thing I had to do was to look for a job. The only thing I had was to become an English teacher. To be a teacher is not the best option in Romania comparing with other wages but I was content with that knowing that I could touch more children as a teacher. Along with my job and the work I was doing in a village church called Berivoi every Sunday and children’s work, helping Luminita, I decided to finish my education and in this respect I attended a part time degree for psychology at “Lucian Blaga” University in Sibiu (73 km. from Fagaras). It seems to be a lot of things but the first year has passed very quickly and with God’s help I obtained a good experience with children in two different village schools near Fagaras.
Than, the summer holiday arrived and with it a lot of activities. I had planned a week of adult evangelism in a new place called Halmeag where I help Luminita working with children. After that there were three weeks of camps. I’ll talk about those later on.
Halmeag is a village I had on my heart for a long time. Initially, I intended to start a project for alcoholics as there are a lot of them there but the lack of funds made me delay it. I know that God has His own time so I don’t have anything to worry about even sometimes I ask God to hurry up.
This summer appeared to be the best time to have an adult evangelism for a whole week. For that we had the privilege to borrow a very big tent, as big as a normal house, because we don’t have any place to meet with the adults, and we moved there living in a smaller tent. The time we spent there was magnificent. The Gospel we shared with the people brought forth three precious souls. We showed the Jesus film to over 100 people in two several nights. We also had a football week for the older boys which it developed in a weekly football outreach. Every day our programme started with morning preparation and than at 18, 00 with the football and than the children meeting and 19, 30 and than at 21, 00 we had the adults meeting. God has challenged us a lot during that time and we are so thankful. I say about “we” because we were four boys: me, Dany Filipescu (26 years old), Dany Carp (23) and Gelu Barbu (14). I thank to the boys for their commitment to this work and I know God has counted that in heaven as good work.
Immediately after that week I was called to go in a different part of Romania to be leader in a special camp. I say special because I’ve never been in such a camp. There it came 40 teenage orphan girls (from 13 to 20 years old). I can say it was the hardest but in the same time the most challenging camp I’ve ever been to. These girls had a lot of spiritual, emotional and psychological problems. I tried to do my best to help: group therapy, personal counseling and Bible study. I had the privilege to lead two of them to Christ.
After that, the next important activity was two week teenagers’ camp with Luminita. I was in charge of morning and evening devotional. It was a very hard and important task but I felt God’s help in everyway. All I know after those two weeks is that the Gospel was preached and the children certainly heard it. We all trust that God will use it someday in their life. Luminita did a tremendous work and I tried to do everything to help her.
I also thank God for helping me to pass all my university exams and after all these I came back to working in the church every Sunday delivering the word and teaching the Gospel.
This summer was also the time of rejoicing as two of my sisters got married. One of them returned to Northern Ireland with Mark, Norman’s nephew, and the other one remained in Romania with her missionary husband. I had a little time to rest and than I started looking for a new job. I can say that God has given me a new job as I didn’t have the time to look or prepare for a job interview. So I’m still an English teacher but in a different school. This time I don’t deal with children but adults. The school is called: “The Army School of Application for Infantry and Mountain Troops”. I believe God has put me here to be a light and please pray for me as I try to be one.
I guess this year I have to take from the beginning again: my job, university, church pasturing and outreach and believe me I need a lot of your prayers.
We all here appreciate your thoughts and prayers for us and remember it’s God that does the work not us. So, we praise Him and give Him all the glory.
We promise to keep you all in our prayers and we hope that if we don’t see each other again on this earth we’ll meet some day in heaven. By the way, it’ll be a lot of time to rest there. J
May God bless you richly and be with you every moment of your life.
If You want to see some pictures, just click on it!
Nick Serb & Dany Filipescu