Thinking of the great privilege I've been given to work with the Lord, I worked according to this grace this month. Indeed, His grace hasn't been in vain for me. He is the source of all things we need in the ministry including proclaiming the gospel. This is my joy, energy, faith and hope. In order to make you a part of our joy and challengesl, I want to share a little with you about what happened this month.

As I have mentioned before, God added several people to our community, especially at the end of last year. They are not a part of our Bible study in order to be baptized later on. This has given me the opportunity to see how God has worked in their lives. The names of the people that attend the study are Emi, Adina, Robert, Cristina, Traian.  They all started to come to church not long ago with a lady named Elizabeta, who is from a Christian family. This study is meant to help them understand the basics of Christianity and prepare them for baptism. I am happy to see their relationship with the Lord growing. We do this study every week to help them grow in their faith. Some of them even started to take instrument lessons as they want like to serve God through music. Our orchestra is happy to have new people!

In my report from October, I was telling you about a visit that grieved my heart. It is about a former neighbor whose wife had died and whose mother was paralyzed. I went back to visit this family this month and continued to plant the seed of the Gospel. Mr. Mirel opened his heart and we had a good conversation. I told him about our only Hope. I pray that God will give salvation to this family.

I shared the gospel with another paralysed lady this month who is in her 50s. God touched her heart when she heard the Bible passage about the woman who had been sick for 12 years. She understood that man's greatest problem was not health, but sin. She prayed that God would forgive her of her sins and make her His daughter. I praised the Lord for his love and for opening the heart of this woman. Her name is Elena and she lives in Branesti, a village close to Pucioasa.

Mrs Adela is another lady that heard the gospel. God took me by surprise when he led me to her. I was actually looking for another family living in the neighborhood. I didn't know where to go and eventually found out that the family that I was looking for didn't even live on that street. While I was looking for someone to ask for directions, Mrs Adela saw me. She came out of the house and offered to help. I thanked her and was ready to go back when she suddenly recognized me.  Her grandson was our daughter's classmate in kindergarten. When I gave her an invitation for him to come to our kids' programs, she invited me in. She actually insisted on my coming in. I understood it was God behind all this.  God says He hears the call of the wretched. This woman told me of a  dream she had. In this dream Jesus told her, "repent of your sins while you still can".  She told me she had a burdened conscience while I shared the gospel with her. I prayed for her. May the Lord have mercy on this family and give them salvation.

During the Sunday service on January 23, God touched the heart of a young man, Vali. He was convicted about his sins. The church felt encouraged to see God working in his life. We prayed that God would touch the hearts of other young people. Vali is a truck driver and rarely makes it here, but there were some circumstances in his life that made him understand God was calling him. So, when he got home, he came to church and received the Word. May God strengthen him on his way!

I am going to say a little about the ministry in Varfuri. It's been a while since two sisters and their brother started to come to our kids' meetings. We tried to find out a little about their family. We noticed that they seemed to be pretty united. When we fianlly made it to their place, we were very much welcomed. As a matter of fact, the children had been telling their parents everything they heard from us. The parents had been reached with the gospel before we made it there. What a blessing the kids' ministry can be! One can never know who the Word will reach! We prayed that God would bless this family, Vali and Maria V. and their children by opening their hearts to receive salvation. We want to take advantage of this relationship for the sake of the Kingdom.