I thank God for giving me the privilege to be a coworker with Him in His mission field. By His grace we have succeeded this month in maintaining the work in the village of Patrauti de Sus. I would like to share briefly with you about the ministry in our church.

I have been involved in our village both spiritually and physically. As usual, I preached the Word and helped with leading and organizing issues. The one who planted the church retired this month as he is getting older and has some health problems. He still helps with the construction. The church members elected me as their new pastor and I will officially be dedicated on January 10.

I was able to make more visits to the people in the village because I knew they would be more open this time of year. I noticed that they have changed since the years before. People have become more superficial as they only talk now about earthly and material things. After Communism fell, the people were open to hear about God. That continued for about 15 years. But things have radically changed recently. People say they are Christians and want to know what God wants from them. They say they are interested in His plan for their lives, but that's only in theory.

We usually make visits on Fridays and have a special night when, along with three more people, pray for God's mercy on the village. Even though there are two Orthodox churches, one catholic and a monastery in the village, the people do not agree with everything they teach and do. Some of them agree with evangelical teaching, but they find it difficult to come to church. There are many things that keep them in bondage, tradition, relationships, and shame. Even if we are sometimes discouraged by the results, I still encourage my Christian friends to press on and pray for the salvation of the villagers.

As I have mentioned above, we have a prayer night on Fridays. Two ladies from another church join us in prayer for the village. There are a few others who attend a church 15km from here and they help us with the building construction. The sermons I deliver have an evangelistic message. We usually have 5-7 unbelievers who come to our church and that is why I always share the Gospel

One more thing I want to share with you is about the pastoral visits I started to make to our church members. I wanted to hear their personal needs, the problems they go through and pray with them. I realize it is a beneficial thing for the church members because they can be more open to ask questions that they wouldn't dare ask in church. They are very open to talk about things they cannot understand. I cherish these visits because I can see needs that I can help them with. I also feel a great unity and deeper relationship with them. My personal goal is to visit each family in December.

Another thing is the ladies' ministry. The ladies in our church chose a lady to oversee the ministry.  They're all excited and more united than before which enables them to pray together. Unbelieving ladies come to these meetings and they bring prayer requests as well.

As for the church building, we put up the windows and hope to put up the doors as well in December. Our church members who now work in Belgium were the ones who gave us the financial support for te construction. Due to the economic crisis, they no longer work as much as they used to.

Please keep us in your prayers. Pray both for the spiritual ministry and for the church building that God will give us the money to finish what we started.