Each beginning of a new year is a new opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Christ and His ministry for our generation. I spent the end of last year with my friends and coworkers (the Prodans, the Palades and the Mitrofans) and our families, children as well. We realized that God brought us here to bless us, after having spent 11 year in Timisoara and working there. Even though we found it hard when we first moved out to Timisoara, God provided for us and blessed us with friends. We saw wonderful blessings there and God changed many students, turning them into trustworthy men and women for Him. Our children had most of their memories there. We never thought God would ask us to go live somewhere else after 11 years. But we had this challenge around Easter last year. We fasted and prayed and finally said yes. We moved out to Brasov at the beginning of July, and here we are. Our children want us to go back and visit their friends and teachers in Timisoara. It is pretty far and it would mean a considerable financial effort. Lord willing, we decided to go there in the spring.

Brasov meant a new place and new people. We live in rented apartment but we continue to pay the taxes for our own apartment in Timisoara. We would like to build a house of our own so that we won't have to pay the taxes there. We need prayer support to be able to do that. We'll live next to Alex Palade and we hope Sorin and Trisha will have a place of their own here someday too.

The Church of Christ

God gave us the grace to be able to be some of the founders of a new church. The church of Christ must be Christ centered and walk according to His Word.

We are a wonderful team, we complete each other. We get together every Friday morning to have a prayer time and plan the church services. There are about 20 people coming to the church services. Each of us preach when our turn comes and we sing wonderful old hymns. God also gave us guidance when it came to the name of the church, it will be Providence Church. We found this name appropriate because it describes exactly our situation. We are thankful and we believe He will continue to guide us.

Pray for us as a church to grow. We also need to find an appropriate place for our meetings. We have used Sorin's apartment so far but they have neighbors all around. We also need guidance when it comes to the church's evangelistic ministry, the kids ministry, our impact on the community and managing the financial support well.

Viorel's testimony

Viorel is a student at PE College. His life hasn't been easy so far. His father died when Viorel was very young. He got drunk and died in an accident. His mother had to take him to his grandparents. So, he was basically raised by them. Later on, his mother remarried and had another son. They all left to Spain where his parents work. He has to stay here in Romania with his grandparents. Now and then, his mother sends him mother for college. But Viorel never
complains, he is happy that his family is well. He has known the Lord ever since he was a child.
We eventually became his family. He has a good relationship both with his step fathers and brother. God is continually changing Viorel and I am happy to see that. He is anxious to graduate from college and be able to earn his own living. He is seeks God' will for his life and he spends time in prayer. We get sometimes get together and it is always a blessing to spend time with him. He is a precious man of God.

The family - a gift from God

As we get older, we realize that our parents, and family in general, are a blessing from the Lord. What we are now, we mostly owe to our parents. They raised us and provided for us and them supported us in school.
When we became Christians, our relationship changed. We have dealt with many tensions during the years because of "our new religion". They had expected us to become veterinarians. My dad once told me that he felt embarrassed to tell others what job I had. Buy time went by and God made them aware of our blessed life - we have good children, raised well. That made them change their attitude towards us. They haven't made a profession of faith yet but they started to respect and love us again.
We now live in Brasov, which is closer to them, and they can visit us. My mom will not be able to come though because my grandmother is still alive, she will be 100 year old in September.