romania (people and ministry)

Romania,
people and ministry

(for
Ms. Patti, in response to your comment)

I
love Romania. Honestly, it reminds me of home. Today Maryanne and I
met up with Monica (remember her?
http://michaelsanders.theworldrace.org/?filename=shes-hungry-feed-her
),
and her fiance Marius. We were driving through the back roads of
Targu Mures, and I could have sworn I was back in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.

Yeah
so Maryanne continued to build a relationship with Monica, and Monica
invited Maryanne and Nicole to join her and her fiance Marius as they
went shopping for their wedding shoes. Nicole couldn’t go, so I
joined Maryanne, Monica, and Marius on a wedding shoe hunt throughout
the city of Targu Mures….Whew, that was a full sentence. Monica
had no trouble finding shoes. She had already picked out two pairs
at a cozy little shop, and just needed to decide between the two.
The choice was obvious to me and Marius, but Maryanne and Monica were
slower to come to the same conclusion that Marius and I had reached
ten minutes prior, that the white high heels with laces didn’t quite
cut it, while the sparkled classy white high heels were simply, the
right choice (another loaded sentence). I want to note that this was
the first time I met Marius, and I had spoken only a few words with
Monica, but hey, why not go shop for wedding shoes with them?

As
I was saying, Monica had no trouble finding shoes, but for Marius we
looked all over the city and still could not find the groom some
shoes. By the way, Marius doesn’t speak English, although he can
understand some, so Monica acted as our translator. Mostly him and I
would just smile here and there as Monica and Maryanne chatted it up.
By the way, Marius really impressed me, he was very honorable by
always opening the door for his bride-to-be, and letting everyone
enter a building before himself. I decided that he passed the test
and that I would allow him to marry Monica. (Rachel if you are
reading this, the man you intend to marry is going to go through a
much more thorough inspection process).

Soooo,
long story short, Maryanne got some words from God for Monica, and
gave them to her in a letter. Monica emailed later tonight (actually
yesterday night, it is currently 4:09 am, I know I know I should go
to sleep, but I’m just too excited about life right now, and hey, you
need to hear about my shoe shopping experience with Monica and Marius
(how many times have I dropped their names in this blog, anyone
counting?)), and told Maryanne how much she appreciated the words and
how much of an impact Maryanne had on her in a short time. So that
is the story of Marius and Monica and the wedding shoe expedition
through Targu Mures.

I
better wrap this up soon, it’s getting on the long side…

So,
Romania, the people and the ministry. Romania is amazing. The
people are wonderful. We worked with an amazing Pastor who has great
vision and a humble heart. We helped him reach the streets of Targu
Mures with the gospel, through street evangelism. We built
relationships with people, and just tried to shine the love of Christ
the best we could. One day God led me to walk right up to 5 guys
about my age and share my testimony. I asked them if they had about
5 minutes, and then started by telling them how I should be dead. I
told my testimony, talked a little about the trip, and encouraged
them to seek Jesus Christ. It was great, took a bit of courage at
first, but God honored it and I pray He uses the conversation to
bring Him glory, and to bring those guys closer to Him!