We are glad to write you again about the works of the Lord where we have ministered. We decided to read and believe Psalm 146 every time when we felt low. It is written "The LORD will reign for ever". We know that He reigns and nothing is above Him. The evil attacks us and in our beloved... but we know that the Lord will reign forever. We decided to share with you this thing so you could find encouragement and hope in the difficult times of your lives. We invite you to read Psalm 146 and to meditate upon it.

I just received a message from a student on my phone. It encouraged me and I want to share it with you: "People are always intolerant and selfish, but we love them anyway!  If you are a good person, people will accuse you of evil-mindedness; be a good person anyway! If you are honest, people will double cross you; be honest anyway! What you have been building for years people can destroy in a second, build anyway! After all it's always between you and God, not between you and them...!"

"For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord" Ephesians 5:8

This verse applies to Robert too. I met him the year before on Easter. Since then the Lord started to change his heart. Robert is a student of Polytechnic Faculty, 3rd year. He started to live in the light of the Gospel and he is zealous for the Lord and for others. His father suffered a stroke and he was hospitalized. Robert asked for a New Testament and he went home to share Christ' love with his father. He has started to come to our church. We pray for him for his salvation. His example reminded us that we were in darkness too and now we are light. Please pray for Robert! His mother is Romanian and his father is Hungarian. He had attended the Catholic Church. "He who has begun a good work in you will perform it." Please pray for Bogdan. He started to learn the basic doctrine. The baptismal service is in December.

The ministry with the international students

I believe the precept "you have to know one for being able to love him". I have often seen the international students on the street or in the dorms, but I didn't know them. I was thinking of them only for a moment. I didn't know anything about them. But because God is a God of the stranger, He gave us the opportunity to know them. We started to visit and talk to them. God lead us to a student from India. I had talked with him when he was with other students from India. One day I had the opportunity to find him alone. He was a Brahman in his religion. I shared the Gospel with him. I emphasized that an impersonal God couldn't hear him and give him an answer to his needs, but a personal God can hear and can help him. I was amazed that our discussion brought joy in him. He hugged us. I felt my logical arguments couldn't combat the wrong perspective of the students from India. But this weakness made me cry out to the Lord for help. I am called to love them and to explain them the Gospel the best I can, but especially to love and to serve them. Please pray for this young man, Pankaj.

Another good news is that a student from India got baptized in March. It was an encouragement for all of us!

Family

The children grow up. We are grateful to the Lord for the challenges from the children. The family is a most beautiful place in our life. Sometimes it is not like that and it hurts us. Flavius had an accident in school. A schoolmate hit him with an object in the eye. We had to take him to the emergency room. It wasn't something serious and we praised the Lord for that. He healed in a few days.

Ani got involved intensely in the ministry. The Lord blessed her effort. Sometimes our house is disordered and this is a discomfort for Ani. Pray for us to find the balance between ministry and family so we can be good parents, a good wife and husband, and good workers in His vineyard.

This verse applies to my beloved disciple, Bogdan V. As you know he wanted to become a policeman, but the Lord closed that door and opened another. He came to Timisoara. Now he is a student of Psychology Faculty, 1st year. The Lord gave him many gifts and he is an influential person among his roommates and schoolmates. One of his roommates is a challenge for him. This roommate is called "the child" by all the other students. He stays in front of the computer 15 hours a day and he plays games. His friends do the same thing and it is difficult for Bogdan to sleep at night or to do some constructive activities. We know that this is a test from the Lord. I pray for him to be a testimony of love for his roommate. The Lord says that we have to love even when is hard for us.

Another test for Bogdan is the fact that the Lord gave him a disciple. During the exams he felt that his relationship with God was less intimate. So he started to pray for himself to be used by the Lord in His ministry. He had just finished the prayer when a student stepped in his room. His name was Bogdanel, 5th year. He asked him "Do you have a Bible? I would like to read the Bible". That student had an exam the next day and he wanted to read the Bible. They became friends. Bogdanel is sometimes open. But there are times when he is suspicious and he has preconceptions toward the Christians from Romania. This is also a test for Bogdan because he has zeal, but less wisdom. But we know that the Lord will perform what He has begun in us.
Praise the Lord!