Jim 2 Rom a nia

Romania 2013 Summer Report

The summer ministry here in Romania is over! What a super summer! Some basic facts: We had 42 evenings of ministry. There were 5 rain outs and 2 places we had to leave, so the number could have been 49! We visited 29 total places, 7 brand new villages. This was the summer of small cities, we ministered in 5! We ministered in 2 Sunday services in villages that churches are in the process of being planted! God gave me the opportunity to preach in both! We had 7 Americans here working with us this summer! We drove 15,000 kilometers or 9,300 miles! We know that thousands of people heard the gospel! We told the Gospel with the wordless book colors to hundreds of children and gave them bracelets with the 5 colors on them so they can share the Gospel with their friends and family. People came to Christ, and we are working to follow up on those individuals! There are many stories to tell of the ministry this summer! Its difficult to choose from so many for this report. We spent 3 separate weeks away from Craiova and stayed in areas too far to drive back each evening. One of those places is a small city called Vulcan, in the mountains about 3 hours north of Craiova. We had a contact family in Vulcan and we stayed with them and with their neighbor upstairs. The neighbor and her son were not Christians. The son is Cristi, 24 years old. We invited him to go with us the first evening of ministry and he was so very impressed with all that happened and watched the film about Jesus very intently. On Thursday morning Cristi and I had walked a few blocks into the city and he asked if we could sit and talk. We did and he proceeded to tell me how much God was moving in his heart because of being with our team all week. Pray for Cristi, he has the white band on his arm in the photo on the left, below. He still needs to give his life to Jesus.

We spent a week in the area of Resita, a city about 4 hours west of Craiova. We worked with 2 pastors there. Gigi Negrea pastors 4 small churches in villages. We went to the village called Seducu Mare and had super nd ministry there for 2 evenings. It was our first time in this village and many people came. On the 2 evening, one of our team members, Ligia and Lori took time to get to know 5 teenage girls, and spoke with them all during the film. They came to me after the film and said that all 5 had trusted Jesus! You can see Ligia with the girls in the photo on the right above. We are working with Christians in the village to disciple these girls, and some of us will visit the village in October to speak with them and others in person. Every place we go is different in many ways, but we operate the same, with the children, young people and show a film. We were in a village called Miluta and it was probably the smallest attendance we had all summer, about 40 people. We were located in an alley, very wide with grass, but this is where people bring their cows home from the fields every evening! Before dark the cows came walking through and all we could do was make room for them! During the film a tractor drove through and some people sitting to watch the film had to move to let the tractor through! We were in 5 small cities this summer, all of them had good size crowds come. One was in the mountains called Lupeni. Permission had been obtained to operate in a park in the center of the city where many people walk and gather in the evenings. We were stunned at the number of children that came, more than 100! The sight of so many children involved in an organized activity was unusual and drew a crowd just to watch! When it came time for

the film, many people stopped to watch. We estimate about 200 each evening! One couple wanted to know who we were, and we told them, they said they are Christians and told us the church they attend. This couple was rejoicing the Gospel was being proclaimed to so many in the park in their city! In Resita our team was joined by a young man who had been told about our work by friends and whom I was introduced to on Facebook! Iosif Zevedeanu just graduated from a Christian high school and has been interested in us for almost a year; Iosif is bold in his witness for Christ and showed that as he helped to pray with people after the films. Iosif is going to attend the Timisoara Baptist Bible Institute beginning in October. This is the school that has the other Cinema pe Roti van in Romania! We are trusting God to use Iosif at TBBI as he trains to be a missionary. You can see him in the picture on the left below; he is the young man looking at the camera. He was instrumental in helping the two little boys sitting with him to come to Christ!

The picture on the right, above shows the children in the city of Petrila who God brought to us! They are enjoying the balloons created for them and graciously provided by a sister from my home church. We love how the children are the door to teens and parents who come to see the films and hear the Gospel! Its no wonder Jesus said in Matthew 19:14 Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Thanks Americans for joining us this summer! We were blessed to have 4 return this year and 3 come for the first time. David and Maggie Moul from my home church were here for 6 weeks. Loren Hallack, also from my home church was here for 10 weeks. Pastor Tim McMichael, his wife Jill and daughter Emily were here for 2 weeks, they are from Tennessee. Stephen Jones, son of the president of Drive-In Ministries was here for 12 weeks! God used each one in many ways during their time here and I am deeply thankful they could come. They brought resources that helped with the work. Counting the cost. Now that the summer is behind us, I have been sitting here remembering what God has done. I would be remiss to not think about and thank those at home who have prayed and given to allow the Gospel to be planted into many hearts through Cinema pe Roti. We spent about $270 per week on just diesel fuel for the van alone. It costs about $6.45 a gallon here. My best estimate on cost per week was low. We had other expenses each week and I thought the $250 per week I spoke about during the summer was a good estimate, but in reality it was low. We have ended the summer with our mission advancing us about $2500 more than what has been sent to help us. We need to return this money to the mission. We will still have expenses, but not nearly as great. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide and keep providing through the fall time. Whats next? We have a number of projects to work on this fall. There is follow-up to do. We are working toward starting a Bible study in the village of Carceni. We are working to register as an official organization in Romania. There are schools and prisons to visit. I want to preach again in the 2 villages where the seed for churches have been planted. I have my Romanian home church to be involved with. Teo is working on his application to be a missionary with Drive-In Ministries. Our prayer for Teo is that he will be granted a visa to come to the states with me when I come on December 19. Teo suggested we consider doing a conference in a couple of the small cities we were in during the summer. The desire is to present the Gospel again, indoors, using music, preaching and a short film. We have begun to work on this. It will be called Pentru Inima Mea or For My Heart presented by Cinema pe Roti. The fall time will be busy. Thanks so much for praying and giving to keep Gods work going in Romania! God bless you! Jim Morgan