Here I am in Romania, after having spent a week in Greece. What a worldwind of experiences that I’m having in three short weeks! Greece was awesome! We did a lot of work for God’s kingdom there, and it is definitely needed. We traveled there with our ministry contact from Romania, who is trying to spread the word of God to Greece. When we were in Greece, there was a team of people that went to the park to play with the children and talk to their parents while spreading the love that was gifted to us from Christ. A team went to the basketball courts to play with the locals, build relationships, and start conversations. A group of people went to work with a man named Paul who is starting a church in Thessaloniki (how wonderfully ironic that the Apostle Paul from the Bible spent so much time in Thessaloniki, and cared so much for the Thessalonians as well). Another group of people went to the streets and sang songs and had conversations with people that were interested, also inviting them to church. While the final group stayed back and worked with our ministry contact, Raul.
Raul is a pretty amazing person and has a passion for spreading the word of God all over Romania, and across the globe (like the US and Greece for example)! I’m writing this blog because want to let you all know a little bit about him, because he is seriously so cool and does so much out of his love for the Lord.
First of all, he is the pastor of the only Christian church in this small area of Dragonesti, Romania. Most pastors do this and maybe one other job on the side… but not Raul.
Raul heads up every ministry that is based out of his church with a group of helpers standing behind him.
Think of it this way: The Three P’s. People, Projects, and Partnerships.
The people are the missionaries that he works with. There are quite a few people here Raul has met over the years, that have decided to move to Romania and become permanent missionaries in this area. He does his best to support them, as well as supporting international missionaries and setting them up with contacts to be with when they move to different countries, so cool!
There are 14 projects that are based out of his church. You can see nine of their local projects here: http://www.hoperomania.org/local.html Hope Church Cell Group, 25/5 Kids Clubs, A New Testament for Every House, A Fishing Rod not a Fish, 9000 Souls, Buildings for Building the Kingdom, and After School Program.
Now, I can go on and on and on about what these wonderful projects do, but I will spare you the 3,000 word essay. This month my squad will be helping with Buildings for Building the Kingdom! How exciting!!!!! I’m super pumped, but every project is just so great, I can’t contain it!
Also, they have partnerships connected to their church. For example, Adventures in Missions! Thanks to that partnership, is the only reason why we are all here right now.
Although he has the Three P’s, it doesn’t end there. Each of those three topics have three parts as well: Local, Regional, International. He has local, regional, and international missionaries working with him; local, regional and international projects that he has begun, and local regional and international partnerships to help spread the good news!
I thought I was busy back at home, but dang! All this on top of preaching every Sunday and having a family?! He says he can only do it because of God, on his own he would never be able to handle all of this work. Raul is definitely a driven man and has the best interests for others in his heart.
If you could pray for Raul and all the wonderful things that are happening in Romania right now, that would be awesome! I hope this continues on this path. Raul said right now there are about 50,000 children on his side of Romania, and of those 50,000 children, about 20 of them are saved. Please pray for the other 49,980 children, and every adult that is connected to them.
Here are some links in case you want to stalk follow everything he and his church are doing.
http://www.hoperomania.org/local.html
https://www.facebook.com/HOPEforGreeceMinistry?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/HOPE-for-Balkans/753517488094513?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hope-Church-Romania/143722055707102?fref=ts
