Dar Dumnezeu

We've had a couple of relaxing days this weekend. Saturday we went to the Peleş Castle in Sinaia, which was pretty neat. It was actually more like a palace - I think it was used as a summer home by one or more of Romania's kings. (Romania is no longer a monarchy...the castle seems to be mostly a tourist attraction now.) We were able to take a 45-ish minute tour in English. Here's a picture of the outside...we didn't want to pay the "tax" to take pictures inside:


Afterward we had lunch at a little place on the street and then drove to a nearby market that had a bunch of vendors selling souvenirs. The guys especially thought that they all started looking the same once we made it past the first couple booths, but we faithfully plodded through looking for gifts and mementos.

Saturday evening we joined Pastor Ion's church here in Campina after a business meeting for dinner. This was the church we went to last Sunday evening. The people were once again very welcoming and giving. We all tried our hand at some ping pong and hung out with the people there. We then as a group watched a "video concert," which ended up being Andre Rieu and his orchestra performing live in New York. A couple of team members were hesitant about watching an hour and a half of classical music, but in the end I think we all agreed that it was quite good and entertaining.

Sunday morning we worshipped again at the church here in Campina. Unlike the other church services we've been to here, we started the morning with Sunday School, so the four of us went off with the youth while Dr. G. stayed with the adults. The youth group mostly consisted of Pastor Ion's kids, whom we've been able to get to know fairly well over the past few days, so we had a good time singing and praying with them. Dr. G. preached a new sermon today entitled "Dar Dumnezeu," which is Romanian for "but God." His text was Ephesians 2 - it talks about how we were dead in our sins, gratifying our sinful natures. Verse 4, though, starts with "but God" - you probably know the verse: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved." It's cool going through the Bible and seeing places where it says "but God" and seeing how God has shown He's still the one ultimately in control of the world.

After yet another delicious meal, we all did our best to sleep and rest for a few hours before going to Brătăşanca for the evening church service. We had not been there before, but this will be the church at which we will hold our afternoon classes throughout this coming week. The church was fairly small - about 20 people this evening - but we're told that there will be 40 or so young smiling faces waiting for us tomorrow afternoon.

So that takes us up through this evening. Please continue to pray for us. Specifically:

• That we'll be able to begin our second week with as much enthusiasm and energy as our first.
• That God would start to work in the hearts of the children and teens we'll be encountering in the two villages we'll be working in this week.
• That God would continue to work in the hearts of those we worked with last week.
• That our work here would open doors for the local pastors to be able to get into homes which were previously closed off to them. Specifically pray for Pastor Chezar, the pastor of the church in both villages we were at last week.