Rush To The Nations

Update 09/23/15,

We are 27 days into this journey to share God's heart of love and fatherhood for orphan children to His church in Romania.  Excuse us, because of age it took us 5 days to adjust for jet-lag before starting.

So far, Rush and I have journeyed and shared the message in the following venues:

Cluj-Napoca...at a YWAM 3 day annual leader’s conference. 

 Prod... at a regional, 3 day seminar on at-risk children, with various churches and school ministries involved.

Sighisoara....local church and small home gathering, hosted by Tim and Carolyn Bailey, who has just adopted a little baby girl named Anna. We shared the whole message with them.  They want to adopt two aditional teen boys.  We stayed there in a Guest House for 5 days.  We met with a Nazrene professor/educator who speaks to pastors in Russia, Hungry, Romania and Ukraine.  Shared the message with him, as he has great influence on young pastors.

We took a train ride from Sighisoara to Bucharest.  We bought a sleeper car, but couldn’t find our car, got no help, rode in general seating for 3 hours like zombies, then made a frantic search during a quick stop and found our beds.  This was an 8 hour ride that was supposed to start at 2am, but didn’t leave until 5:15am.  I think the train was old Soviet stuff!

Bucharest to Constanta car ride...shared with Costi, who was a Roma orphan, adopted by an American missionary family at age 15. Three years ago Costi returned to Romania from Huntington Beach, CA, with his wife and 3 children.  They work with orphans in Bucharest...yes!!  Rush will stay the night with them September 24^th and visit an orphanage. He hopes to get video of Costi’s testimony and their vision for Romanian orphans.

Constanta...shared with staff at the YWAM base, university students at International Cafe, 3 Nigerian university students in a grocery store.  We have been here all but one night until now.

Medgidia...shared a shortened message at the main church's Sunday service in this city, and that evening, the full message at a nearby “sister” village church. We spent the night at the church's "Children's Center", they minister to orphaned, fatherless, neglected children....a beautiful work loving, feeding, clothing, keeping them in school, teaching the Bible, and counseling the occasional parent about care for their children. We were asked to encourage the staff with a message from the Bible. I told them they were working at the very core of God's heart for the children, that they were wonderfully altering the course of the children’s lives, and that God was very pleased with their "love and good works" (Heb 10:24 - James 1:27)
Note: There is a ministry opportunity here to do some construction work on the Children's Center.  Most importantly to site-build, light gauge metal trusses and a metal roof, with gutters and downspouts.  The leaking is causing mold and structural damage.  Here’s a mission op for a team from the US to work with Romanians in the church.

Constanta...last night, back to the International Cafe, and tomorrow a meeting with a small group of pastors at the home of Norwegian missionaries.

The message has been generally well received here in Romania. There are many people doing excellent work on behalf of orphan children, but they feel alone in those efforts. Many people feel shame for the condition of orphans, knowing of their lonely life and that trafficker’s prey on them.  They have sincere hearts to do something, but they do not know where to start, and they feel alone in their thoughts. Hearing from the Bible how God wants the whole church to pull together and practice pure and undefiled religion, has given them a sense of..."With Gods help, I think we can do this, all of us together."  In Medgidia, Pastor Vasilica Croitor who is the leader of a whole region of 13 sister churches, wants to discuss a more comprehensive plan to teach all of the churches with this critical message. So far, he and Pastor Pilu, in Sighisoara are the most committed to rescuing orphan children via adoption and other excellent ministries they have implemented.  Pastor Pilu and His wife Hadassah have a foster care program and have adopted one baby daughter.

Rush is returning home due to many family and work related needs, but Eric will continue to Bulgaria on Oct 2^nd.  Cicily is a missionary there from the US who works with orphans and at risk children.  She has set up numerous speaking opportunities for the entire month.  Things seem to be much worse in Bulgaria with regards to the outcomes of orphans.

Thank you for your prayers...they are the fuel we run on.
God's grace and peace to you,
Eric

Note:
The staff at the YWAM base here in Constanta has been invaluable in connecting us, transporting us, feeding us, housing us, praying for us...without their complete dedication to this effort we would be far less effective.  Praise God for these missionaries from all over the world!!!

 

Café International