Celebrating Baptisms

Yesterday, Mike preached a powerful sermon on "What shall we do to be saved?" from Acts 2.  At the end of the service, Elias Hosu, the son of Pastor Simi and Gabi, was baptized in front of his friends, family and the congregation.

The Sunday before was a baptism at church for a married couple.  Next week will be another baptism.  Usually, all four candidates for baptism would be baptized at the same time, but due to Covid restrictions, it was decided to baptize them on separate Sundays.  In Romania, a baptism is a big celebration and friends and family are invited to attend, so in order not to be over the size limit for gatherings, nor to turn people away from the service, three separate services were required.

Pastor Simi, Elias and Mike in the baptismal tank

We praise God for the act of faith taken by these four young people and pray that they will be blessed and will grow strong in the Lord.

On to the Next Book

 The new Inste semester has begun!  Monday evening our group took the first test for Old Testament Survey.  This is the lesson that the students must write the Old Testament books in order from memory and they did very well. The discussion was lively and helpful as well.

  The group met on our veranda and even though it was warm enough when we started, by the time we were done, we were wearing jackets and blankets.  Next week we will probably have to move our meetings inside again.  

We commend all six students for their determination to extend their Bible knowledge and to enhance their relationship with the Lord.  We are off to a good start.

Oradea

 Thursday we drove to Oradea, a city about three and a half hours from our home in Gherla, to do some Inste business.  Our group is preparing to begin studying the third Inste book, Old Testament, so we decided to pick the books up in person and spend a bit of time with the Romanian Inste Director, Timotei Bulzan.  It was great to encourage one another in making disciples using Inste.

Discussing Inste with Timotei outside over lunch

Beautiful view from the picnic tables at the top of the mountain pass on the way to Oradea.

The trip was not only for business.  We also took some time to enjoy the area.  Thursday afternoon we walked through the old town of Oradea and then splurged on a hotel for the evening.

Pastors Simi and Gabi Hosu invited us to join them on Friday and Saturday to tour a couple of caves in Șuncuiuș, not far from Oradea.  Our friend Pastor Teo Bulzan is from this area and we stayed at his church's retreat center there.

Friday we toured a small cave that was accessible only by a swinging bridge over the river.  The cave was good, but the swinging bridge was the best part.

The swinging bridge over the river.

We made it across!

 That evening, we stopped by Teo's family farm and watched them harvest potatoes.  We helped a little bit and were rewarded with delicious fresh French fries for lunch the next day.

Even the little ones helped harvest potatoes.

Saturday we toured another cave that is accessible only by foot or by train.  We decided to hike the 45 minutes to the cave. 

We walked along the river and by the railroad tracks to the cave.

 Romania is a beautiful country with beautiful people and we enjoyed the couple days we were able to explore new areas.  May God bless this country with a mighty spiritual revival!

Baptist Youth

 Sunday we were blessed by the ministry of the youth from the New Life Baptist Church in Gherla.  The young people led in worship and prayer and shared short Bible messages, testimonies and poems.  The leader of the group spoke on the unity, fellowship and ministry of the Church. 

Youth from the Baptist Church leading in worship

 What a pleasure it was to be unified in the presence of our loving God!  God is working in Gherla, not only in the Open Bible Church, but in other churches, too.  Please keep praying along with us for a mighty move of God in Gherla and in Romania.

Inste Final

Rejoice with us!  Last evening, six students completed the final for the Discipleship 2 Inste course. 

Nancy's well-worn Discipleship 2 Inste book

It was so exciting to see the students take the test, we forgot to take a picture.

Now on to the next course, Old Testament Survey!