The month of December was a month of major changes in my life. It began with the final session of exams at Southern Seminary. By God's grace I passed all the exams and on December 13 I graduated with a Masters of Divinity degree. It has been a tremendous blessing to be able to study in this institution and get some solid training in the last five years of my life. I have been on campus only four semesters.

The rest of the time I was in Eastern Europe and doing ministry while taking some on-line classes. This training has been a great determination to study some areas of theology, history, languages, and practical issues in ministry that I would never have studied otherwise. I received good sound training that I pray will be helpful as I minister to the missionaries and churches in Eastern Europe. A particular benefit of this training has been an in-depth study of grace. Eastern Europe needs biblical teaching on the doctrines of grace. There is much confusion and false teaching. To correct these errors we need to preach, teach and write books. I pray that my generation will experience a time of theological recovery of some of the most precious doctrines that we have. All over Eastern Europe there are just a few teachers that are capable of explaining the doctrines of grace in a sound and balanced way. I pray that more and more young preachers will be exposed to good teaching and be convinced by the sound biblical reasons of why these great doctrines are so important.

After graduation, I left Louisville and traveled to Virginia to spend the rest of the month with my girl friend's family. We had planned to celebrate Christmas and New Years together. While I was in Lynchburg, I attended New Hope Baptist Church, where I helped pastor Rice with some Sunday School teaching. The church is studying personal evangelism. I was glad to preach the Word and encourage believers to go out and preach the Gospel.

Christmas eve was a wonderful moment in my life. That night I proposed to Trisha Mock and she accepted to marry me. We got engaged in the church building and prayed to honor God during our engagement time and also as a family. Pray for us as we pursue marriage and a life of ministry on the Gospel field. We plan to go back to Romania and plant a church in the city of Brasov. This vision came to be more and more clear, so I will be going back soon starting to lay the basis for this new ministry. This is going to be, along with the other missionary projects of HeartCry, a ministry in which we will pour our energy and life. Please pray for clear guidance from the Lord. We hope that this vision will grow and become more and more a part of building the kingdom of God in Eastern Europe.

We are grateful for your support in prayer. We also appreciate your financial support for all those who labor on the mission field in Eastern Europe.