Photos from the Wedding

Luci (lu chee) and Mona were married Sunday. I was blessed to be able to go to their wedding. It was great to be there. You can check out the photos I took here.

As is typical here in Romania first there is a civil ceremony at the mayor's office then there are photos taken. After that everyone heads to the church for the religious ceremony then it is off to the wedding reception which last a lot longer than ones in the States. This one started at 2:30pm and lasted till midnight with lots of food, dancing, etc. In Romania people don't usually give gifts but rather flowers and an envelope with money to help with the expenses of the wedding.

Someone secretly arranged with those running the medieval festival that was going on in town to stop there on the way to the reception. There Luci and Mona went through a quick medieval version of the wedding ceremony in front of a big crowd then knights with swords came and stole Mona. To get her back Luci had to have a sword fight with one of the knights to win her back. It was a pretty cool.

Please continue to pray for them and they begin their lives as husband and wife.

In Bistrita for Wedding

I am up in Bistrita to go to my friends Luci and Mona's wedding on Sunday. It is nice and cool here which is a nice relief from the hot temperatures we had in Bucuresti. The day before I left the temperature got to 104F/40C in the shade and 122F/50C out in the open. Now that is hot!!!

This weekend here in Bistrita they are having a medieval festival with groups performing music on stage, dances, and displays of clothes and weapons. After the weekend I will put some photos I've taken here in Bistrita on my Flickr account.

Do You Cherish Jesus?

Prayer Request - Support and Place to Live

I would really appreciate prayer in regards to my support as it is not adequate for living in Bucuresti. Earlier in the day, when I got my first report from my home church on the level of my support after having come back to Romania, Shane and Randie asked me to wait to find an apartment so that I could watch their place when they left to go back to the States for a few months. Later that day when I got my report I saw that the monthly support was low so I decided it would be best to wait to get an apartment and save up some money for awhile.

For the first four months I stayed at the ministry building in one of the rooms set up for teams when they come here. Now I am watching Shane and Randie's apartment till the end of August. Before then I will need to find my own place so please pray that everything will work out.

Ideally (maybe not realistic), it would be best to be able to buy an apartment as real estate and rent in Bucuresti is very expensive compared to the rest of the country and is expected to keep going up for the next 10 years. That way I would not have to worry about rent increases and would get some equity in a place. Considering I do not have a retirement fund that would be great. I have no idea how to go about making this happen but I can pray and see what the Lord does.

Prayer Requests

• That my support would increase and be adequate for living in Bucuresti
• To find a place to live in August in a good location at a good price
• To be able to get a loan or some other means to purchase an apartment
• If I have to rent to have a good landlord that won't try to take advantage of me
  

Andreea's Graduation from University

On June 8th Andreea Oprea graduated from the University of Transilvania in Brasov in the faculty of Modern Applied Languages. Though they have had the graduation ceremony she still needs to finish her final exams then she will officially be done.

Andreea was the first person who started coming to the church when we began meeting on Sundays. Before that she had been regularly coming to the Bible study I had been doing.

Please pray for her as she begins a new chapter in her life. That God will show her what His calling and will is for her at this time.

You can check out a photo album of her graduation here.

Prayer Request - School of Ministry

The planning and preparation for the School of Ministry continues as school will begin the first full week of September. So far we have developed the classes and the schedule for the four semesters of the two year program, finished all the forms related to the application process, and have written out a vision, purpose and mission statement which includes a list of the classes that you can view here.

We are still working on the course descriptions and the student handbook. After these are done each teacher will begin working on their syllabi and curriculum for the fall semester. The teachers for the fall semester are Adi Caciula, Florin Enescu, Shane Herman and myself. At this point it looks like we will have between 5 and 10 students the first semester.

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for wisdom, direction and resources for everything related to the School of Ministry
• For those teaching the classes and for me as I oversee the administration of the school
• For the students coming the first semester, that God would call those He desires to be equipped through the School of Ministry
• For the financial provision for each student so they will be able to come to school full-time

Class List for First Semester

OT310 Genesis
NT353 Luke
NT407 Galatians & Ephesians
OT300 Through the Word Part 1
OT301 Old Testament Survey Part 1
TH101 Lectures in Ministry & Theology
TH417 Inductive Bible Study/Hermeneutics
CL101 Morning Chapel
CL105 Community Worship
CL351 Growing in Christ (The Gospel In-depth)
CM199 Practical Christian Ministry

Total credits: 20.5

Conference Worship and Miscellaneous Video