Grace Bible Baptist Church
Grace Bible Baptist Church & School
Romania
Teen Mission Trip
June 21st - June 30th
Our teens are so excited to be leaving on a mission trip to
Romania. They are accompanied by our Youth Leaders, Rev. & Mrs. Finley.
Mr. & Mrs. Bibart are also part of the group as chaperones and translators.
The Sunday before leaving, Pastor Johnson and the Church Deacons held a
Commissioning Service. They prayed for our teens, their leaders and
to open the hearts of the Romanian people to receive the gospel.
Hugs and kisses abounded as the bus was boarded.
We were very blessed to have our bus driver, Mr. Kool, who delivered the
team to the airport.
6/22/05 - Wednesday
The team had a very easy, smooth flight. Everyone on the plane kept complimenting Mr. Finley on how great his group of teens were. He was very proud. Arrived safely in Bucharest around 3:00 p.m. (8:00 a.m. our time). Everyone was very tired, but excited.
6/23/05 - Thursday
Rev. Finley called about 10:30 p.m. (their
time). The team was having their evening devotions. He said that
they had been spending a lot of time in the bus traveling around.
They had been street preaching and visited a hospital, where 2 people were
saved. So far, 9 people have been led to the Lord. Thirty-five children that were evacuated from a flood in Timisoara (their houses were
destroyed) are staying in the same complex as
our teens. Our teens are looking forward to caring for and
ministering to these children.
The weather in Bucharest yesterday was warm, but the people there were unemotional and cold. Today, they are in the mountains
where it is 50
degrees and they are "freezing."
Everyone is well and they are continuing to go forward.
6/24/05 - Friday
Rev.
Finley called around midnight, their time.
He said that they have spent a lot of time traveling around.
Today, they got up at 9:00 a.m., ate breakfast, then traveled to
Brasov Center to a place called Veronica's, a place similar to a Bed and Breakfast,
where they had a great lunch. After that, they went
to a field in Dobarlau, where Michael preached the gospel to a small
church. Our teens
performed and did their skits.
In
the evening, when they went back to their complex, the Mayor of Brasov was
there. A person from the newspaper
was also
there and took some photos of everyone.
They're not sure if they will be in the paper, but they will check to find out. The
teens were ministering to everyone in the complex, including the children
that were evacuated, due to the flood. The
teens are are steadily building relationships with these children.
Carl performed the rope illustration and all of the kids prayed to receive
Christ.
Rev.
Finley said that every time the group goes out, at least 2 - 4 people come to
Christ. He said that Romania
is a beautiful country and that where they are staying there are gorgeous
mountains, with rock faces and snow-capped tops.
He described them as "phenomenal."
Tomorrow,
the teens will be street preaching in another town. On Sunday, Rev. Finley will
be preaching during the morning service and Mr. Bibart will be preaching
during the evening service. The
teens will be performing at these services.
Next week, they will have the opportunity to go to a prison or
an orphanage.
He
said that the translators are invaluable.
Everywhere they go, a small group comes around.
They have been passing out a lot of tracts, trinkets and candy.
Everyone is well and getting along.
6/2
Rev.
Finley called around 1:30 a.m., their time.
Today, they were in Sighisoara, which is where Dracula (Count
Vladimir) was born. In
Romania they "demonize" him and he is quite a celebrity.
The group drives past Dracula's castle every day.
They do a lot of walking and bus riding. They also had a chance to do a little shopping today.
They spent much of the day traveling around street preaching, witnessing and
evangelizing. About 12
people gave their hearts to Christ today.
Food:
For breakfast they have a piece of bread with butter or mustard and
a piece of lunchmeat, usually hard salami.
They also have hot tea and jam.
Many of the kids brought along peanut butter.
Heather's is real popular, because she brought along Goober's,
which is peanut butter and jelly in one jar.
Their
favorite lunch so far was at Veronica's, where they had a Hungarian bean soup,
followed by macaroni with lamb. They
are excited because they are going back there tomorrow.
Today, they had pizza for lunch.
They usually have dinner at Mimi's (where they are staying). Tonight they had potatoes and floured chicken.
Rev.
Finley said the teens are sometimes picky at breakfast but usually they "pig out" by lunchtime.
Coca
Cola, Fanta and bottled water are very popular in Romania. There are a lot of little Coca Cola shacks.
They are not like convenience stores, but more like the size of our
mini photo huts.
The
teens
are staying in an ornate guesthouse like a hotel. It has spikes and is wooden.
They are all staying on one floor.
The guys are on one end and the girls are on other.
They do have hot water. The
translators are teenagers and are staying with our teens.
Our teens are forming good bonds with them and having devotions
with them. The teens lead in
devotions every night.
Everyone
is still very excited and having a lot of fun.
Rev.
Finley called around 12:00 midnight, their time.
They
had good church services today, both morning and evening.
Rev. Finley preached in the morning, with the aid of a translator, and Mr. Bibart preached in the
evening. The teens sang the song called "Mission."
The boys played soccer (called football in Romania) against the
Romanian nationals and were "beat horribly."
Soccer is the number one sport in Romania.
Some
of the kids are getting a little touchy and tired. Some are homesick, especially after they call home.
They have handed out a lot of tracts, trinkets and candy and are
starting to run low on their supplies.
The church they are at is mostly English speaking, with about 100
people in attendance. The
church is about the size of our old chapel.
The church is tucked back in the middle of an alleyway.
They are hoping to raise funds for a new church soon. In
church they sing songs in both English and Romanian.
Today's
food: Breakfast consisted of
cold cuts, bread and tea. Lunch
was at Veronica's - chicken soup and stuffed cabbage (stuffed with pork
and rice). Dinner was some
kind of meat concoction (Rev. Finley wasn't sure what kind of meat) and
cheese rice. They are
planning to visit an orphanage on Tuesday.
Rev.
Finley called around midnight, their time.
He said they woke up early today and started out with soul winning
in Brasov Square, where Justin led his first person to the Lord.
It started raining, so they went to some malls.
They were "kicked out" at the first mall for witnessing and at the second mall
Rev.
Finley led two people (Marianne and Gabrielle) to the Lord.
After that, they went to Veronica's for lunch, where they had
vegetable meat soup with meatballs in it.
After lunch they went to a hospital in Bran.
The hospital is in very bad disrepair and very run down. Carl preached and Arzoo and Abigail did a rope illustration.
They went back to Brasov Square and had ice cream.
They passed out more tracts. They
have already passed out over 5,000 tracts!
When they went back to Mimi's, they hiked up a mountain where a
cross overlooks Moeciu. It
was a big white, metal cross.
It was a gorgeous sight and they took a lot of pictures.
On Sunday night some of the kids were sad because they were homesick. Everyone is doing much better today.
Rev. Finley
felt that they had lost focus yesterday and Satan was attacking.
He prayed with the guys last night and today they came out with a
new determination. "Yesterday
was a stumbling block, today they made it a stepping stone and came back
more powerful than any day before." One
of the things he told the guys tonight was that he's not here to remove
the problems they face, he wants them to learn to overcome their problems
themselves.
Steve
is a real go-getter and leader, giving out lots of tracts. Richard is doing awesome.
He is steadfast and faithful.
Mike is awesome, always reading his Bible.
He's good one-on-one, and has led several people to the Lord.
Josh is a blessing, continually leading people to the Lord, as
well. Carl gave an awesome
devotion tonight about leadership and about what he expects of himself.
Suzanne
gave a flute solo that was unbelievable at church Sunday night.
She is sort of the girls' leader.
Allison is really getting close with some of the girls at the
complex. Rachel is very quiet
and steadfast, passing out a lot of tracts.
At the table this morning, she was doing devotions and sharing
scripture with the translator. She gave a devotion which included everyone.
Hannah is very quiet and has been linking with Allison and Steven.
She is starting to be able to witness more boldly.
Abby is supportive and willing to do anything.
She's an encouragement to everyone.
She gave her testimony the other day about what Christ means to
her, and it was great. Arooj
gave a VBS-type of lesson in the morning for the little kids.
Lindsey said she never had been soul winning before and is now very
excited about it. Heather is continually faithful and supportive of her
team members. Joshua,
Crystal, Rachel and Richard gave testimonies in Church yesterday.
Ellie led one child to the Lord today with the rope illustration.
Emily is very faithful with passing out tracts and very close with
the translators. She worked
on the inside and outside to include the translators. This
evening there was another group at the complex playing disco music.
To overcome this, Allison told a CEF story at same time.
Dinner
tonight was at Mimi's - steak (maybe pork?) on a hot fire with boiled
potatoes. Rev. Finley said the meal
tonight was "awesome.
Top
10 things they miss:
1.
Air-conditioning
2.
Umbrellas
3.
Ice
cubes
4.
Showers
5.
Mom's
cooking
6.
Family
7.
Cold
water and cold soda
8.
Dr.
Pepper and Mt. Dew (Rev. Finley's favorite)
9.
A
good cup of joe (their coffee tastes like its been in a Chevy
for 10 years then drained
out-- it instantly puts hair on your
chest)
10.
Grace
Bible Baptist
Their schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday is being switched around. Tomorrow, they are having a church service in Bran and taking the 35 children with them. Our teens are getting close to one another and, more importantly, they are getting closer to the Lord.
6/28/05 - Tuesday
Mrs.
Finley called about 12:40 a.m., Romanian time. Today, the team walked around
and shopped at Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle).
The castle was sparse, not creepy.
It was an old house, with ornately carved dark (almost black) wood
furniture, white walls and wooden floors.
Mrs. Finley overheard an English tour guide say that for the first
couple of years after the castle opened, no one came.
After Hollywood did the Dracula movie, and people found out about
the castle, they now have thousands of tourists every year.
When the tourists first started coming, they didn't know what to do
with all the people.
The
team went to Veronica's for lunch and had a kielbasa-type of tomato-based
stew with thin sausages and potatoes.
They had a great dessert - some kind of flat, fried pastry with
sugar, that everyone enjoyed. Mrs.
Finley said that Veronica's is not like a Bed and Breakfast like
previously reported, but it is someone's house.
The whole yard is a garden and it is very beautiful.
They eat in the carport which is surrounded by rose bushes, flowers
and grapevine trellises. The
house is gorgeous. When they
eat, they sit on covered benches at two long tables.
All of the food is brought out to them when they arrive.
Afterwards,
they did some more shopping and passed out tracts again at Bran Castle,
then they stopped for ice cream. Later
in the day, the team went to a church service at a small church in Bran.
About 20 of the evacuated children attended the church service with
our teens. The church was
very conservative - the teens weren't allowed to perform their skits but
they were allowed to sing their songs ("Rejoice in the Lord
Always", "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" and "Soon
and Very Soon "), which they sang in both English and Romanian.
Rev. Finley performed a new rope illustration with a knotted rope -
he tied the rope in knots, then pulled the rope straight illustrating how
when we sin its like putting knots in our lives but Jesus can make it all
straight again ("when we confess and ask forgiveness Christ makes it
all straight"). Carl and
Joshua preached.
At
8:00 p.m. they had dinner at Mimi's - a chicken leg quarter seasoned with
paprika and buttered noodles. For
dessert they had cake with cherries and a "bread-type thing with a
cream cheese layer in it". Both
were very good. After dinner,
the team had free time to play Uno, socialize with the children and walk
around. At 9:30 p.m., they
held another VBS-type of service for the children.
Steven was in charge. They
sang "Rejoice in the Lord Always" and "King of Kings and
Lord of Lords". Lindsey
and Heather gave testimonies. Steve,
Carl, Mike, Joshua, Richard, Allison and Suzanne
made up a skit about the Good Samaritan, Ninja-style.
Instead of Jews and Samaritans it was Ninjas and Samurais .
They made it up, practiced and performed it tonight.
Next, Ellie gave a CEF Bible story about when Jesus calmed
the storm. Then,
everyone (teens and children) played 7-Up. (The children put their heads
down, with their fists on table with their thumbs sticking up.
Ten people go around and each one puts down one person's thumb.
Everyone lifts their head up and if their thumb was put down they
stand up and they have three guesses to figure out who put their thumb
down. If you guess correctly, you take that person's place.
If you guess incorrectly, you put your head down again.)
The team had devotions and then went to bed.
6/29/05 - Wednesday
Rev.
Finley called at 12:30 a.m., their time.
Dinner
was at Mimi's - chicken and rice. After
dinner, they had a full service for the flood children.
Hannah and Carl gave testimonies and Allison gave the lesson.
Then the teens went out to a bonfire and sang songs and gave
testimonies. Everyone went around and told what God had done and what it
meant to each one of them. There
were a lot of memories and tears. It
was "truly awesome." Rev.
Finley said that the group was busy packing now as they have to leave at
8:30 a.m. in morning. They
have to be at the Bucharest airport by
1:50 p.m. for their 3:50 p.m. (8:50 a.m. our time) flight.
The Bibarts will be staying on for a few more days.
Please pray for traveling mercies, as they will be traveling most
of the day tomorrow.
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1518 N. Rolling Road
Baltimore, MD 21228
410-788-6132
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