VBS at Bethel Baptist Church

Last week we had a lot of fun helping with a Vacation Bible School at Bethel Baptist Church in Bucharest.  Every morning, an American team from Mississippi led the kids in Bible stories, games, music, and crafts.  Jessica painted faces every day, and Cameron helped wherever he was needed.  At a church that typically has about 50 in attendance on Sunday mornings, we had over 80 kids every day!  The Thursday evening celebration service had 117 children and 81 adults in attendance!

Each afternoon, we split up into teams of 2-3 people to share the gospel with people in the neighborhood.  We all had great conversations, passed out a lot of tracts, and even a few Bible studies have resulted from our efforts.  The first afternoon (Monday), we talked with a young mother near the church who sent 5 of her 7 kids to the VBS.  When Jessica asked if she would be open to studying the Bible in her home, she said yes!  Please pray for her and her family as a woman from the church will begin meeting with her regularly.

On Wednesday morning, Cameron spoke about the gospel with a grandfather who had stayed during the VBS every day.  Cameron and an American team member had another in-depth spiritual conversation with him on Thursday morning, where they were more direct in explaining our personal need for repentance and faith in Christ.  This man, Gheorghe, was convicted by the Holy Spirit through the many Bible verses they shared and chose to follow Christ!

Here are some pictures:

Cameron helping with recreation

Puppet show

The leaders gathering for prayer in the morning

Jessica painting faces

Cameron & Ken speaking with Gheorghe right before he accepted Christ.

Jessica with her facepainting helper, Andrea.

Please pray for this sweet mother who wants to learn more about the Bible.

Pastor Tommy, his wife Joyce, and Pastor Mark from the American team

Cameron with the pastor of Bethel, Gefi

Evanghelizare

This past week, we were privileged to work with a volunteer team from Illinois and a local Romanian church, Biserica Diakonia. "Diakonia" is Greek for servant, which is appropriate because they wish to "serve" the busy neighborhood where they are located.  It rained lightly throughout the week, but that didn't discourage us.  In fact, it had almost stopped raining by the time we got to our ministry sites.  Praise God! 

The focus of the week was evangelism ("evanghelizare" in Romanian).  We wanted to share with people the love that God has for them, encourage them to read the Bible, call them to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and invite them to come to Biserica Diakonia. 

On Saturday and Sunday, we prayerwalked around the neighborhood and passed out invitations to a special evangelistic event to be held on Sunday night.  The first day, Saturday, Cameron & a Romanian friend were able to go inside a student dorm and share the gospel with a lot of students.  At one point they were seated inside one room with 5 Muslim students listening to Cameron share the gospel!  Altogether, there were 7 new guests who came on Sunday night, and the American team shared about how God speaks today through His Word.

Throughout the week, we passed out flyers explaining where the church is located and what they believe. On Monday & Tuesday, we passed out free water bottles near a busy bus stop, and it was amazing how people would stop to ask why we were doing this for free.  Wednesday, we talked to people in a nearby park about the gospel.  Thursday, we invited people into the church for free Starbucks coffee, tea, and cookies, and Cameron & several team members went to a nearby children's hospital and gave out little bags of goodies.

We had a lot of good conversations, spoke A LOT of Romanian without translators (but they were usually around if we needed help), and on Thursday one teenage boy repented and made a decision to follow Jesus for the first time!

Here are a few pictures from our week:

Praying for the neighborhood

Setting up the tent to pass out flyers & water bottles.

Jessica passed out flyers with these two awesome young ladies.

Passing out water bottles under the tent.

Dinner in Old Town

Setting up the tent on Tuesday

Talking to a man in the park on Wednesday

Singing together in the church

The awesome coffee & tea baristas on Thursday

"Refresh your body and soul with a free cup of Starbucks coffee."  These girls stood out in the rain inviting people to have free coffee, tea, and cookies in the church.

We also took a turn standing in the rain...

Richard encouraging us all at the end of the day on Thursday.

Thursday evening celebration dinner

Facepainting in the Park

Today we had a lot of fun painting the faces of nearly 100 children for "Children's Day" in Romania, in partnership with our church, Biserica Agapia, and Fa O Diferenta (Make a Difference).  People were very attracted to our facepainting booth, because it was free.  :)  We gave out some candy (thanks, Ararat Baptist Church) and some bracelets (thanks, First Baptist Church of Nitro).  We also passed out business cards for our church in Bucharest, Biserica Agapia.  Here are some pictures!