Thoroughly enjoyed today.  I had a very profitable monthly meeting with Jacob Hughes.  As a team, we are working on detailing out the doctrinal statement for our team and future church plants, team ministry philosophy, and working through other details in preparation for furlough and the second term in Soroca.  Each time we meet is always an encouragement and a highlight of my month.

This evening, I had the joy of teaching the Romanian Tuesday evening Bible study at church.  Seeing as Jehovah’s Witnesses are becoming more and more abundant here, I started a couple week series on the abundant reality of false teaching, our need to know the Scriptures, and focusing on the doctrine of the deity of Christ, that He is JEHOVAH God.  The people were very attentive and were hungry to study the Bible.  We had a young man who had been working nearby show up.  After the study, I was able to talk with him a little more, exchange numbers with him, and give him a Gospel tract to read through.  Please pray for my followup with Victor.

I will be leaving this month with a Moldovan friend up to Soroca to do some more home hunting.  Hunting for a place to live here is very different than in the States.  I need someone who has construction experience and will be able to identify issues with the homes we look at.  We don’t know if the Lord will lead us to a place to live before we leave for furlough, but we are trying to take the steps to open up that possibility for us.  Please pray for our safe travel to Soroca and back, for God to lead the hunt for a home, and for the safety of our families during out time away.  It would also be great to make some more contacts and have more witnessing opportunities during our time there.

I’ve never enjoyed changing a dead car battery as much as today. I carried the dead car battery (10 years old, and not repairable) to where I could get on public transport, got to the place to get the new battery, and was able to witness to the same man (Roman) that had sold me our winter tires. He is a (temporary) atheist and has been turned off to religion by priests and other religious people, who are hypocrites, in his mind. After sharing the Gospel with him, I left him with a tract and my number. While we had an amiable talk about God, he did not seem open at the time to changing his disbelief in God. Interestingly, he is originally from Soroca, where we plan to church plant next year. Pray for more watering on the seed in Roman’s life.

When I lugged the new battery home, I found out that the new battery was a centimeter too long for the tray it sits in. This led to another chance to plant some seed…. the taxi driver who drove me to exchange the battery. Things went fine until I offered him a tract. He was quite stuck in his church traditions without wanting to talk too much about what the Bible says.

When I returned to our car, the battery fit exactly in the tray. While working on getting everything hooked back up, two guys came out to work on their car, which was next to mine. This led to the normal, “hey, what’s y’a fix’in on your car?” conversation that guys like to have with each other. This then led to exchanging phone numbers with one of the men, Eugene, and him asking for us to get together sometime, possibly as early as this Saturday. He knows a good bit of English and is interested in practicing his English and just getting together to chat. I already told him why I’m here, so talking about the Gospel shouldn’t be any shock when we meet next. Please pray for Eugene’s heart to be prepared for when we do get to meet.

When I concluded that the car battery needed to be replaced, I was not expecting all the added divine appointments that came about from it. If something “wrong” happens today that you were not expecting, when your “car battery dies,” keep your eyes open for people God may bring into your life for your to share Christ with.

P.S. The car is back to running order 🙂

2013 January

Sometimes it is hard to know when to send out a prayer letter.  This has been one of those.  I’ve waited over two weeks, hoping to be able to share better news, but in the end, God chose what He deemed best.

In the middle of January, Stephanie went in for her first pregnancy checkup.  We were encouraged to find that the doctor said the baby was healthy and all looked great.  Later on in the evening, though, Stephanie started bleeding, which required us to return to the hospital.  She was in the hospital overnight and sent home on bed rest and some medication.  A week later, she was back in the hospital for two days with kidney infection. While at home the following Sunday morning, she started going into labor. Enoch Gross was born on January 27 at 8:11 am, “but he was not, for God took him.” Stephanie was 17 weeks along when we lost him.  Please pray for Stephanie’s healing and for us.

In the midst of all this, God so wonderfully worked out so many  details, including Enoch’s burial. Due to Enoch not being a certain weight in order to be considered “a life” by the government, we did not receive a death certificate, which makes getting an actual plot at the cemetery a difficult option. At the same time, I was told by the hospital staff that it would be illegal for us to bury him on public property.  A man in the church here, both he and his son, went through the same trial of losing a child due to miscarriage. Wanting to be a blessing to us, he provided us a place on private property. He had dug the hole and was ready for us when we arrived.

Stephanie’s last morning in the hospital started off difficult, hearing babies crying at the hospital and knowing she won’t be holding hers. But God quickly changed grief to joy. The doctor, Natalia, who has been tending to her since our loss on Sunday, came in to ask Stephanie a question. She said that she has seen that we are very different. We talked some with her on Sunday right after we lost the baby and told her we were believers. Even though she is Orthodox and found out we are Baptists, she still was intrigued by how we were handling the situation (we were not handling anything….. it has only been God’s grace and enablement). She pointed to Stephanie’s Bible next to her bed and asked Stephanie if we could get her a Bible. Her ten year old daughter had asked her why her grandmother has a Bible but they do not. Stephanie was ecstatic to see the Lord using Enoch’s death to draw someone to the Gospel. When I arrived to pick up Stephanie we were able to give her a Bible for her daughter and one for herself. We also gave her a Gospel tract and evangelistic book. We gave her our contact info and the info on the church we are attending. Please pray for Dr. Natalia’s salvation. She was such a blessing to us during our time there. We would love for her to be saved and meet Enoch in heaven one day.

When we first arrived in Moldova, the government here granted residency permits for only one year at a time. This changed in 2011, and we have since been able to apply for two year residencies. Two weeks ago, we worked on getting our health certificates and other documents together and turned them all in to the lawyer last week. Please pray that we will receive our residencies once again for the next two years. It is crucial for us to receive a two year residency in order for us to take our upcoming furlough.

During our first year here in Moldova, the Lord began to impress upon me the biblical example of team missions.  Jesus sent His disciples out two-by-two.  He later told the seventy to go out ministering in pairs.  Barnabas brought Paul to work along side of him in Antioch. The Holy Spirit told the church in Antioch to send out Paul and Barnabas together as a team. The first response that Paul and Barnabas had after separating was to choose another partner in ministry.  This led me to ask God if He had a ministry partner for me with whom to work in church planting.
Later on, missionaries Jacob and Viola Hughes arrived here in Moldova. In the times that we spent with them, we began to see how much we are in agreement on doctrine, standards, and even ministry philosophy. While they were on deputation, they had been faithfully praying for another couple to work with them here in Moldova.  Over a year ago, we agreed to seek God’s will about working together and started meeting together once a month to spend time in prayer and learning more about each other. After a year of praying together, getting to know each other, taking survey trips together, and seeking guidance from our pastors, we believe God has brought us together for the future work in Soroca as a team.  We are very excited to see what God has in store for us.  Please pray for the Hughes and us as we continue language studies and make plans to work together in Soroca after our furloughs.

When we moved into our apartment last month, the last thing I expected to find was an American living down on first floor.  No, he is not a missionary.  He is married to a Moldovan and has had a very interesting life.  Our talking so far has been confined to the times we are entering or exiting the building and happen to see him feeding the pigeons or looking outside the kitchen window.  He has been very kind and welcoming to my family and me since we first met him.  I have had it on my schedule for the past two weeks to try and meet with him, but due to the complications with Stephanie’s pregnancy and then the loss, I have had other things to tend to.

One time a week or so ago, Abby and Caleb were with me as we were carrying groceries back to the apartment.  Our friend was there at his window and we were able to talk some.  Abby came right out and asked him, “Are you saved?”  His response was that he knows “the Big Guy upstairs” and can even speak in tongues.  I gather from this that he has some religious background.  I so want to meet with him and further talk about his relationship with God and get to know him more.  Unfortunately, he just accepted a contract to do some work in Afghanistan for several months and leaves this Saturday.  I talked with him tonight and am going to try and meet with him tomorrow.  Please pray for us to be able to meet and for me to clearly give the Gospel to him with love and the power of the Holy Spirit and find out where he stands spiritually.

Stephanie made it home today. She still has some recovering to do. The infection is still in remission. The doctor believes that the infection is what brought about the miscarriage, once it reached Enoch. Stephanie never started feeling badly nor running fever until a week after she started having the complications.

This morning started off difficult for Stephanie, hearing babis crying at the hospital and knowing she won’t be holding hers. But God quickly changed grief to joy. The doctor, Natalia, who has been tending to her since Sunday, came in to ask Stephanie a question. She said that she has seen that we are very different. We talked some with her on Sunday right after we lost the baby and told her we were believers. Even though she is Orthodox and found out we are baptists, she still was intriged by how we were handling the situation (we were not handling anything….. it has only been God’s grace and enablement). Well, back to this morning, she pointed to Stephanie’s Bible next to her bed and asked Stephanie if we could get her a Bible. Her ten year old daughter recently asked her why her grandmother has a Bible but the do not. Stephanie was extatic to see the Lord using Enoch’s death to draw someone to the Gospel. When I arrived to pick up Stephanie we were able to give her a Bible for her daughter and one for herself. We also gave her a Gospel tract and evangelistic book. We gave her our contact info and the info on the church we are attending. Please pray for Dr. Natalia’s salvation. She was such a blessing to us during our time there. We would love for her to be saved and meet Enoch in heaven one day.

We wanted to thank you once again for all the prayers. God so wonderfully worked out the details for Enoch’s burial. Due to Enoch not being a certain weight in order to be considered “a life” by the government, we did not receive a death certificate, which makes getting an actual plot at the cemetery a difficult option. At the same time, I was told by the hospital staff that it would be illegal for us to bury him on public property, too. But you all were praying and……. A man in the church here, both he and his son, went through the same trial of losing a child due to miscarriage. Wanting to be a blessing to us, he provided us a place on private property. He had dug the hole and ready for us when we arrived. There were other little details that were not possible to go as we had wanted, but we had to leave those things in God’s hands. The burial was short and simple but gave some needed closure.

Stephanie had to stay another night. She still has an infection, which is getting better, but they said she needed to stay another night. I think it was some protein count or something else, that is supposed to be at “6.” When she showed up at the hospital, it was over 100. It is currently down to 45, so there is much progress. Emotionally, Stephanie is doing well. We still have our times of letting the tears flow, but we are continuing to find God’s grace and peace sufficient and comforting. Jacob and Viola Hughes, Dan and Emily Ford, a host of others here have been a huge help and encouragement to us. We thank God for having people nearby who show Christ’s love in such tangible ways. Thank you for praying for us today.

January 27, 8:11am, Enoch Gross was born, but he was not, for God took him. Thank you all for your prayers for us in this time. Need to work out details in regards to burial and such. We do not understand but we know God is still love and His will is best.