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Roberta speaking to the women at the Bethlehem Christian Center
Dear GGQ supporters,
I’m finally able to sit down at my laptop at a somewhat manageable time to write my blog for Tuesday, May 11th. It’s 10:30 p.m. now, but with our schedule, I haven’t been able to blog until Midnight on other nights, which accounts for my typos. So suit me! Hahaha!
Before I go any further, I want to thank the families in Timisoara for taking all of our team in their homes for the first 2 nights of our trip. Dan, ourRomanian Concert Tour director, and I stayed at Cipi (Chippy) & Ligia’s apartment. What a nice young couple they are. The hospitality, food and love for serving God couldn’t be better. We now have more Romanian friends for life!
After our concert on Saturday night at Bethel Baptist Church, Pastor Petrica Bulica had a dinner all set up in their fellowship hall for all of us. When I say “all of us” on concert nights, that also means The Impact Quartet. The Romanian dinner was awesome! You need to know that I think that Romanian food is terrific. Kudos to the wonderful lady that cooked for us. She was awesome and we gave her flowers and other things for her efforts and love for serving. Thanks Pastor Petrica for setting this up for us.
I cannot say enough how delightful it is to have the Impact Quartet with us. I think that they are enjoying themselves too and it really offers a variety for the concert attendees, along with having a quartet from their own country singing too. They actually speak excellent English and can sing songs in English, so we mix it up. It’s a blessing to have them and their wives/fiance with us.
We also have a professional video guy, Dragosmer and his cousin, “Larry” (that’s what we call him because his name was too difficult to remember. Hahaha!) are awesome! They are & will be capturing the essence of our GGQ Romania Ministries. They are interviewing attendees at our ooncerts; pastors of participating churches; people and kids involved in the ministries that we support; etc. I can’t wait to see the finished product! You will be able to see the video of our concert tour when it is edited and posted on line. We’ll have various lengths of the video posted in about a month.
On Sunday through Wednesday, Bob, Rob & I are staying at the Bethlehem Christian Center apartment in Hunedoara. The Shoemakers and Wilseys are staying in one of their offsite apartments. Thank you Corneliu for setting this up. Our accommodations are PERFECT!!
Ok, back to Monday & Tuesday. They were relaxation days and to rest our voices; however, we did accomplish some very meaningful GGQ ministry commitments. On Monday, we traveled to Petrosani to visit the missionary we support, Kelly Stark and her kids at the “Isaiah House”. We just have so much respect for her, what she does and the impact that she has on her community. For those who know of Kelly, but have never seen her “in action”, you have no idea how incredible she is and how well respected she is in that City. We spent about 6 hours there and visited other old friends in that neighborhood. It was great to see Catalina and her 3 cutie pie girls; “Little” Crina and her cute baby, Lenuta and all the kids at Kelly’s.
Kelly’s house is in total disarray with water leaking problems, mold and flooring problems, along with the continuing construction that goes on so slowly on her addition. It’s incredible how much they are putting up with in the house.
If anyone has a heart for her ministry, and you can help out financially, you c an donate on our website at http://www.ggqf.org/donations & scroll down to “Kelly Stark & the Isaiah House Family Center”.
While the guys were with Kelly, Alice and Roberta were into ministry needs and went to a camp in the mountains where they met with the leaders who will be working with kids with Autism. Alice has special teaching skills in working with kids with special needs and was very welcome there. The leaders had never worked with kids with Autism, so Alice brought her expertise and passed on valuable information to the workers at this neat camp. Then Alice and Roberta went back to the Bethlehem Christian Center, where Roberta spoke to about 40 women. Thank the Lord that Roberta & Alice were able to come on this trip. They have been invaluable with all of the tasks given to them and the gifts that they have been sharing with the Romanians on this trip. Thank you Roberta & Alice!!
On Tuesday, we did a little sightseeing and went to the “Citadel” on top of the hill in Deva. This is a fort that protected the city of Deva and the tram ride up to the top of the hill is really neat and a little scary. Then we went to that same camp in the mountains where Kelly & Roberta went on Monday. We had our own time with the workers and kids there. What a neat camp. We sang about 4 acapella songs for them, including “This Little Light of Mine” for the kids. We had a nice dinner with everyone and then returned to “home sweet home” at the Bethlehem Christian Center.
What a wonderful 2 days that was. Now it’s time for me to get to bed and rest up for tomorrow’s big schedule. We have breakfast at 9:00 a.m.; then a fellowship time with pastors & leaders in Hunedoara at the BCC at 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. We go to Corneliu’s house for lunch and return to BCC to relax until 4:00 p.m.! It’s back to performing a concert evening for us tomorrow at a big concert hall in Hunedoara.
Talk to you tomorrow!
Rich
Here is Pastor Al’s blog for Tuesday:
The Children of Romania
Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come onto me and forbid them not; for such is the kingdom of Heaven.” (Mark 10:14) What an amazing verse! I have had the privilege to meet children on 4 different continents during my 20 plus years of ministry and I am always amazed at their curious minds and playful spirits. The children of Romania are no different.
I have always had a curiosity about the life of a teen-ager in other parts of the world. It seems that Christian teens I have met in new places, have a different level of commitment to their faith than the typical teen I have worked with in the US. I could probably attempt to explain it away, but I know that I would never hit the nail on the head and besides, who wants to take away the mystery and wonder. This especially rings true in Romania.
Part of the motivation for the Glory Gates Quartet to come to Romania the first time was to be an encouragement to Kelly Stark from Orange County, California who runs a ministry called “Isaiah’s House.” Kelly has been rescuing children off the streets of Romania for over 10 years now and she shelters them at Isaiah’s House and overwhelms them with the love of Jesus Christ nurturing them as one of her own. In fact, she has even duplicated herself with children who have grown up under her care and they too are now rescuing children with the same dedication and motivation that God has instilled in Kelly. Social services in Romania have gotten to know Kelly very well as she has adopted some of the children and given them her name, to the point that they now come to her begging her to take in even more children. The conditions in which Kelly lives in the village of Petrosoni, does not stop her from effectively sheltering, nurturing, and lovingly care for each one of them. Her home has been under major renovation for some time now and she is currently utilizing a make shift outdoor kitchen. Funds and volunteers are desperately needed to complete the project. (Feel free to contact me if the Lord leads you to help out Isaiah’s House in any way. You’ll be glad you did!) I wish that you could see the faces of each one of these precious children, feel their hugs and hear their happy laughter. Thank you Lord, for giving that opportunity.
We traveled into the mountains to a camp owned and run by Ben and Maria Medrea. Ben is the brother of Pastor Corneliu from the Bethlehem Christian Center in Hunedoara. What an amazing couple and what an amazing camp! There is a group of autistic and handicapped children at the camp this week along with a devoted staff, which includes a large group of teens who had to take the week off of school to volunteer. I learned that the majority (approximately 80%) of the gospel preaching churches in Romania do not believe that children can be saved. Not Ben and Maria and certainly not Corneliu. Thank God for their vision and their ability to allow God to unfold it in their own lives and ministries! You would not believe the facilities God has provided for this camp in Varmaga; they are truly amazing! I wanted to break out singing songs from the movie “The Sound of Music” when we first arrived. Actually, I was kind of expecting to see Shirley Temple and the Grandfather come strolling down the path of the mountain. The camp can sleep up to 90 people including staff and counselors. Churches from all over Europe are involved in volunteering and raising scholarships. 50% of the children who come to “Casa Harului” or “House of Grace” in English, come from poverty stricken homes, but are never turned away because of their inability to pay. God always provides! However, they only accept about 40% of the children who want to come because they just do not have the room for more at this time. Ben and Maria’s vision that God has given has not been completed as yet and they continue to wait on the Lord and they continue to expand as God provides.
Most of our group is staying in an apartment at the Bethlehem Christian Center. The Shoemakers and Roberta and I are staying in an apartment in town that was recently donated to the center by a Swiss ministry who has closed up shop here. Our meals and trainings have been at the center. Children are in and out all day and evening long. The children of Romania only go to school for 4 hours per day; some in the morning, and some in the afternoon. The center has programs every day of the week including what we commonly refer to as latch key programs; helping the kids with homework and keeping them off the streets. In the evenings the grounds are filled with families who just hang out because it is a safe harbor and has a great reputation for families. The center feeds, bathes, trains and nurtures not only children, but young mothers as well. They too need funds and I can direct you to them if you are so led. We support the center from Paloma in several ways, not only financially, but Roberta takes in all of their US donations, receipting donors and providing the center with the list of donors so that they can properly thank them. Corneliu has mentioned several times this week what a blessing Roberta has been to them.
Children all over the world need to hear the good news of the gospel. After all, they are the future leaders of the church of Jesus Christ. Romanian children need our prayers and our support. Ask God how you might be a part!”
Thanks Pastor Al!
Rich
So great to see what the Lord is doing when His servants commit their time and effort to spreading the gospel of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. Praise the Lord!