Ruxi V. - February 2009 Report | Print |
Eastern Europe: Reports - Romania - Reports
Thursday, 08 October 2009 02:05

The month of February we worked a lot to plan the evangelistic ski camp, February 20th - 25th. Many of the Christian students got involved and helped planning this camp. There were 45 participants total, and 15 non-Christian students. The Lord answered our prayers in many, many ways and we had a very blessed camp. In the mornings we had Gospel presentations (who God is, who man is, who Jesus Christ is, what happened on the cross), then we went skiing all afternoon, and then after dinner we had small group Bible studies. We studied from Ecclesiastes 11:9 -12:14 (the Coming Judgement), John 10:1-33 (Jesus the Good Shepherd) and Luke 9: 18-26 (Following Jesus). One night we watched a film about the greatness of the universe, pointing to the greatness of God. Then in the evenings we had games and singing.

It seemed that some of the students were thinking about what they were hearing, and in my small group there was a girl, Daria, who kept asking questions about salvation. At the first study we discussed about the Judgement and about the fact that we are all sinners. Then she asked: "Then we are all going to hell?" We did not want to jump immediately with the good news, so we did not answer her question. The next night, shortly after we began the study she asked the same question. So, the leader of the group started telling her the Gospel. It was a very good discussion about our sin, about Jesus and His sacrifice in our place, about repentance and faith. She continued asking very good questions, such as: "If Christ died for us, can we just go on sinning?", then after we talked about the new birth, she asked: "Then Christians never sin?" I was very encouraged seeing her interest and the fact that she was really trying to understand what the Bible says.

One night while the Christian students were singing, I was sitting next to a girl, Ioana. She had previously come to some of our meetings, and in one of them she said in her small group: "I used to think that I was a Christian, being an Orthodox like everybody else, but now looking at you I wonder whether I am a Christian or not." That night she told me that she had a better time in the camp, with us, than going out with her friends. Then she told me that she started wondering whether she was sinning by going to Evangelical's meetings (while she was an Orthodox). I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with her. I told her that the Bible only talks about two groups of people, and we see that in Matthew 25, one group is heading towards heaven, and the other towards hell. So the most important matter is to be a part of the first group. Then I explained to her that we are all sinners, and Christ is our only hope. After a very long discussion she told me she wanted to talk more about these things.

The first follow up event will be on Friday, March 13th. But even before that some of the students attended our meetings. Ioana attended our Tuesday worship meeting, Melania attended a Bible study group in her dorm, and two twin guys Bogdan and Razvan came to church on Sunday. They never attended an evangelical church before. All this was very encouraging, and we praise the Lord for the work He is doing in these students' hearts. Please pray for these people and also for Alex. He was in the camp, he is not a Christian, and soon after the camp he had an accident. He is ok, but very scared. These are some of the things which the non-Christians students learned during the camp:

"I learned that to be a Christian does not mean to go to a certain church, but to have a relationship with God and to follow Him." Razvan

"I learned that according to the Bible, people are born sinners and with each step they take they get farther away from God." Viorel

"I understood Jesus' role in the Christian faith, and the way to get near to God." Marieta

"I realized how important our relationship with God is." Steluta

Steluta is a girl who attended some of our camps and meetings in the past, but graduated, got a job and got very busy, so we lost contact in the past one or two years. She called me about two and a half months ago, and she wanted to meet with me. I met with her, we caught up, and then I invited her to church and other meetings. She came a couple of times, and she is willing to continue coming. She had heard the gospel before, and I talked to her a little bit about how short life is and that the most important thing is our relationship with God. Please pray that the Lord would open her heart to Him.

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