ROMANIA TEAM MISSIONS 2008

            Our mission team this year consisted of 48 people – 19 from Florida, 10 from South Carolina and 19 from Georgia and Alabama.  We had 5 sets of grandparents who traveled and ministered with their grandchildren, and 3 sets of 3 generations serving together.  What a special blessing it was to see them sharing the Gospel together!  Our group represented 8 different churches and many different professions and callings.

            We all met in Atlanta and flew together to Ferihegy airport in Budapest where we were met with our two 46 passenger busses, which made our 5 hour trip across the border to Oradea much more comfortable.  After spending the night at a hotel in Oradea, we had a 7-8 hour bus ride to Bistrita where the church and a hot meal were waiting for us.

            The aim of our 2008 Mission was to again hold evangelistic services in some of the 40 mission churches under First Baptist Bistrita and to present our second year of “American School of Heroes” to the children of Bistrita/Nasaud County.  Annie Ruth Yelton, Minister to Children from First Baptist Church, Simpsonville, SC has written our second curriculum of School of Heroes for us to use this year.  SOH I taught Old Testament stories and the characteristics of Biblical Heroes through “You Can Be a Hero” while SOH II is “Children of the Bible” and teaches how Jesus loved and served little children. Both are fantastic and pierce right to the heart of the Gospel.

            For the second year in a row, the Mayors of 3 large towns opened the doors of their schools for us to use and even city buses were at our disposal to transport our teams.  We praise God for our relationship with the governing bodies of these cities and for the witness He has allowed us to have.  The principals and some of the teachers from these schools were so impressed with our programs for the children, every one of them has asked us to come back for a third year. 

            Our team of 48 was divided into 5 teams, working alongside 32 Romanian teenage translators.  We cannot say enough about our translators – their maturity, their love for the Lord and servant hearts are an example to all of us.  We had four  3 hr. morning schools with an attendance on Friday of 984 children!  YES  984 children!!  We also held an evening school with an attendance of 85 – FINAL TOTAL  1,069.  We believe these are ‘heavenly numbers’ known only to God, but as each child filled out a commitment card on the last day after viewing the Jesus film, more than 400 indicated that they had received Christ.  The churches will follow up with every child and family in attendance.