"Walk by Faith" Part 2 of 2

As I was going about trying to raise support to go on my first summer outreach to Europe in 1997 I really had no idea what to do. I had read about George Mueller, who was an evangelist during the 1800’s, and how he had started orphanages and other organizations without asking for money. What did he do? He prayed and that was it, he never told anyone about the needs of the orphanages. To me that seemed like a great idea but I didn’t sense this was the way for me to go.

So I wrote a letter to friends and others I knew and showed it to my pastor to see what he thought. He said it was ok but suggested I don’t mention how much I need and let God take care of that. Sounded good to me so I did that and by the time I left for the outreach I had exactly the amount needed for the trip. For me that was very encouraging and would be the way I would deal with raising support from then on. Let people know what I was doing and leave the results to God and pray a lot!

When I moved to Romania long-term in October 1997 I went because God had very strongly confirmed that He wanted me to go. The sense that I was suppose to go was so strong that I didn’t wait until I had support lined up. I sent out letters again and let everyone know what I was doing and why and then I left for Romania. I had a plane ticket and $600 in my hand and didn’t know what would happen but because I believed God wanted me to go I trusted that He would provide.

After being in Romania a few weeks I said to myself, “Was I nuts or what!” All of a sudden there were lots of doubts as I had no idea how things were going to work out. But you know what? They did work out. It wasn’t easy at first but over time things got better and better. I saw God provide when I was in special need many times and those experiences really encouraged me.

But since moving to Bucharest in February 2007 my support has never been adequate for living here in the Capitol of Romania. Living in the big city is a lot more expensive than the other places I have lived. I have a nice apartment and by Bucharest standards my rent is very reasonable. When I tell Romanians who visit my place how much I pay they tell I got a great deal. But what I pay for rent here is what I use to live on for everything- rent, utilities, food, etcetera. Of course, the cost of living has gone up a lot as well so if I was back in those other cities I would be paying a lot more than I did before.

I did not look for this apartment; it fell into my lap, so to speak. When I first saw it I realized it would be a great place for a Bible study as it is on the ground floor, has marble tiled floors, a tram stops right outside in front of the apartment building and is located somewhat close to the center of the city. It is used now for ministry on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and one Sunday a month for movie night. In addition, I have a Romanian living with me who graduated from the Bible College in Hungary and had moved back but had no place to live. I love having him and am glad I can help him out this way but so far he hasn’t able to pay for the additional expenses he has caused as some of the utilities are based on how many people live in the apartment. In May he will start a new job so hopefully he will be able to help out a bit though he will only be making around $300 a month.

I have been back to the States twice trying to raise more support to live here in Bucharest. Each time I would have people and churches tell me they are going to support me but most never followed through. Thankfully a few did but it hasn’t been enough yet to meet my monthly expenses.  So I am in real need of raising a lot more monthly support and even some one time financial gifts as I don’t know how I am going to pay rent next month. I pay three months at a time in the middle of the three months and it comes due May 15. Somehow, by faith, I will be able to pay it. This is my hope and prayer as I would hate to have to move out.

So I would appreciate your prayers very much and if any of you are open and able I would ask you to please prayerfully consider supporting me on a monthly basis or at least sending a financial gift  at this time to help me out so I can pay rent next month.

For His glory,

William


Support Information

By Check
Make checks payable to: Lumina pe Strada

Put ROWA in the memo section and attached a note to the check with my name William Anderson

Mail to:   Lumina pe Strada
              1241 West Olive Ave.
              El Centro, CA  92243

Please include the following information the first time you send support:

1. Name for tax purposes
2. Address
3. Phone number
4. Email address

Giving to Lumina pe Strada (Romanian for "Light on the Street') is tax deductible. At the end of the year you will receive a receipt for tax purposes.

"Walk by Faith" Part 1 of 2

These are the words I have heard in my heart a lot over the past few months. It is a challenging time to be a missionary who is dependent on support due to the economic crisis in the world. I realize I am not the only one experiencing difficulties as several missionaries I know have either gone back home to the States or are really struggling just to pay rent and have enough to live on. This is the world we live in these days and many are hurting and feeling the affects of the economic problems.

While my support had been going down it also did not help that I changed my home church to Calvary Kaleo in Brawley, California after almost thirteen years with Calvary Chapel Boise. It was not something done lightly or easily but I felt God was calling me in a different direction than where CC Boise was going so it was the best thing to do under the circumstances. Pastor Bob of CC Boise was very gracious to continue supporting me for a time which I really appreciate as it helped a lot in the transition.

But now I am fully under Calvary Kaleo and excited about it. The pastor, Shane Herman, had been the pastor here in Bucharest so he knows exactly what the challenges and struggles are here and we are both on the same page as far as the vision for the ministry here. Unfortunately, since Calvary Kaleo is a church plant starting from scratch, they are not in a position yet to support me financially though in every other way they are so good to me.

While I was in the States from late August to mid October last year some things happened that served as a warning to me that I was going to experience some challenges when I got back to Romania that would cause me to consider moving back to the States but that the Lord still had things for me to do in Romania and that I should “walk by faith”.

The reason I recognized this is because it was not the first time the Lord had warned me. When I was planting the church in Braşov I had a dream in which I was back in the States and in the dream I realized I was not ever going to be allowed to go back to Romania. Still in the dream, I was so devastated I just cried and cried. When I woke up I realized that it was the Lord’s way of letting me know that Romania was still my calling and I was glad for this reminder as it was not long after that some challenges came up that made me want to quit and go back to the States. But I heard the words “walk by faith’ in my heart.

This time, while in the States, three good friends and my oldest sister in different ways and for different reasons talked to me about moving back to the States. They did not know each other or have any idea that the others had talked to me about moving back. For me this was very surprising as no one had ever done this before. Right away I wondered what was going on. So I took some time to seek the Lord about this as maybe what happened was the Lord’s way of telling me to move back to the States. I want to be open to what the Lord wants, whatever it is. While praying I still felt that God wasn’t done with me yet in Romania. Again what came to my mind was “walk by faith”.

Before I left to come back to Romania I received some confirmation from Shane as I talked to him about what people had said to me. His response was something like, “William, God’s ways are different. When the Lord tells us something we need to learn to “walk by faith”.

So, believing that the Lord still has things for me to do here I am staying. But what does it mean to “walk by faith” in the circumstances I find myself in today? I will explore that more in my next blog post.

Part Two

Switched Email List Services for Newsletter

Last night I switched over to a web-based email list service for my newsletters. If you would like to receive my newsletter by email click on the link below.

Subscribe to Receive My Newsletters

Church Update - May 2010 Newsletter (part 3)

April was a busier month than usual for us here in Bucharest. The day after Easter we went up to Oradea for our annual Calvary Chapel Romania Conference. Many of the 130 that were there said it was the best conference we have had yet. Our church took care of the worship and the audio and video recording of the conference. It sure is great to be able to get together with all those attending Calvary Chapels throughout Romania once a year. .

The second week I was busy editing the video of all the sessions from the conference. It took me a bit over 40 hours to get them all done. Since I still had my regular ministry responsibilities I did some of the editing at night. The conference speakers were all English speakers with Romanian translators so it you are interested you can check out the videos at http://vimeo.com/channels/99181.

The third week of the month we had a team of students from the Bible College in Hungary come to do a week of outreach at our church. Jean, who is an intern at the Bible College this year and is from our church here in Bucharest, led the team and did a great job. They came and did evangelism in the park, helped with the school and kids ministries, painted our fence and some of the building and did other helpful things around the ministry building, Jean taught on Sunday, one of the guys led worship at the home fellowship on Wednesday and two of the students taught the men’s and women’s ministries on Thursday and one of the guys led the worship for the men. So you can see they had a busy and fruitful week. We sure enjoy having the teams come and are always a bit sad when they leave.

So the fourth week was spent catching our breath, getting caught up on things that fell by the side during the first three weeks and transitioning back into the normal rhythms of the ministries.

Home Fellowship

I really enjoy hosting and leading the Wednesday home fellowship. Florin leads the worship, Elena translates for me and I prepare some questions each week to go over based on the sermon on Sunday. We have a time of fellowship and snacks from 6:30 to 7:00 then we do worship for up to a half hour then we do the study and after we have prayer in small groups then finish the evening with snacks and fellowship. I am so thankful for the apartment God has provided for me to host the home fellowship. It is just great for activities like the home fellowship and movie night once a month we do.

Youth Group

In April we only met twice since other things were going on. So the second Thursday we finished our study of what is means to be a disciple of Jesus and the last Thursday we did an introduction to the book of Proverbs which we will go through. In addition I am having the boys read a proverb a day through the month of May so they can see the big picture as well. In addition to our studies I have had the boys (and me) memorize the books of the Bible, a basic outline of the gospel, and several gospel oriented Bible verses. 

We had three boys coming to youth group but Robert has stopped coming so there are only two now, Elvis and David. Please pray for Robert that he will turn back to the Lord. With only David and Elvis it is a challenge for me to minister to them as David is the pastor’s son and is tops in his class at school and Elvis comes from a rough background, doesn’t live with his own family and is way behind in his schooling. Elvis is involved in our school program so he gets ministered to there as well. So David and I are going to do some one-on-one stuff starting with reading through the book “The Naked Gospel” together. I’m looking forward to going through it with him.

Much to Do but So Little Time

Between my responsibilities at the church and what I am doing with the gospel and now trying to get the business going, not to mention other things that I am being asked to do, I need wisdom and direction from the Lord on how He wants me to use my time for His glory and His church. So please pray for me in this regard.

Keeping in Touch

With all the ways there are now to stay in touch it is hard to keep up with it all. When I first came to Romania there wasn’t even internet where I lived and it was really expensive to call to the States. How times have changed! So I have decided I will try and do a monthly email newsletter, a weekly prayer request on my blog and daily share tidbits on Facebook on what is happening. On Facebook I will also post links to my newsletters and the prayer requests as well, so if you just want one place to find everything Facebook will be the place to do it.

Before I send out my next newsletter I am going to be changing the system I use for sending out my newsletters to a web based one so if you get a notice about it you will know what is going on. Hopefully it will be a smooth transition.

Until next month, may the Father give you a deeper understanding and love for Jesus and the gospel.

William

Support Information

By Check

Make checks payable to: Calvary Chapel Missions or CCM

Put WA in the memo section and attached a note to the check with my name William Anderson  

Mail to: 

Calvary Chapel Boise

123 Auto Drive

Boise, ID  83709

Online Giving to William

Be sure to put “William Anderson – Romania” in the comment box

FYI

I usually receive my support on the 20th of each month so allow at least a week for your support to clear the system.

Contact Information

Email: godswillromania@gmail.com

Blog: http://godswillromania.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dulcewill/ (add me as friend)

Personal website: http://godswill.ro/

Skype and Yahoo Messenger ID: godswillromania

Landline Phone : 011-40-314-323-299 (011 if you are calling from USA) 

Time difference: add 9 hours if you live in Mountain Time Zone (10 hours Pacific)

Change in Plans - May 2010 Newsletter (part 1)

Gospel Ministry Update - May 2010 Newsletter (part 2)

Gospel Ministry Update - May 2010 Newsletter (part 2)

Yesterday I shared that I have started a business in order to get a visa but it is my hope and prayer that God is purposely moving me to publish really good books on the gospel as well as other media related things here in Romania. I am really excited about the possibilities of how God could use my business to be a blessing to many here in Romania. Who knows, maybe it will even make some profit and supplement my support and provide jobs for people. Time will tell.

I know it won’t be easy and I have a lot to learn when it comes to doing this type of business but I want to step out in faith and see what God does. My plan is to try and get the rights to a really good children’s Bible that is gospel oriented and have it translated and published here. Then, Lord willing, after there is enough profit from that book to do other excellent books that really explain the gospel and deal with legalism which is a problem here.

Once I get the rights to publish the book here I will begin to raise the money to translate, edit, print, market and distribute 3,000 copies of the book which I estimate will cost around €10,000 to €15,000 which is $13,000 to $19,000 given the current exchange rate. My plan is to have those interested in being involved with this to give me unsecured loans that I will pay back in two years. I am hoping to get as many Romanians as possible to be involved with this. So far I have two Romanians which have committed to helping me with this first book. If you interested in being involved with this and would like to know more then please contact me.

So next week I will send an email to the publisher of the book in the States to ask for the rights to publish it here in Romania. So please pray for me as I write and send the email and for favor with the publisher in the States when they receive the email.  While I am waiting for a response I need to find a good accountant for the business so I would appreciate prayer for that as well. I would love to find someone here in Bucharest who speaks English, has experience with the publishing business and is a man or woman of godly character.

If you would be interested in keeping up to date with how my business is doing I will be putting regular updates on my Facebook profile as things happen. Below you will find the link to my profile on Facebook if you are not already one of my friends on Facebook.

Gospel Workshop

The past few months I have been spending time reading, studying and reflecting on the gospel in response to what I felt the Lord was saying to me about getting the gospel deeper into my heart. The word that comes more and more to me when I think of the gospel is “beautiful”. For truly it is the most beautiful message ever spoken. May the Lord give me grace to do justice to His gospel in my workshop and may many people be encouraged to really take a hold of the gospel so the gospel can really take a hold of them.

At this point I have one church I am going to do the gospel workshop at while I am in the States and I am open to doing it as many times as possible. So if there are any other churches who would like me to come and do the workshop they should contact me soon while I am working on my plans for my trip to the States.

Gospel Website – http://despreisus.ro (about Jesus)

Things have been going pretty slow as far as the development of the website. I had hoped by now to have the blog up and running but it is not yet. God is still using the site though as there are almost 1,000 pageviews per month with the most popular articles being ones that deal with why one should believe in God, why one should believe the Bible is the Word of God, and why does God allow suffering.

Please pray for those working on the site and translating articles to be faithful in what they are doing. Also pray for more people who have a heart for the gospel to help translate articles and blog posts into Romanian and for people gifted with web related skills to help with the development of the site over time. I think one of the reasons things are going so slowly with the site is that there is spiritual resistance so please be praying for this as well.

That’s all for now, in part three of my newsletter I will share about our church here in Bucharest. Until then.


May the grace of the Lord be yours in abundance,


William


Support Information

By Check


Make checks payable to: Calvary Chapel Missions or CCM

Put WA in the memo section and attached a note to the check with my name William Anderson  

Mail to: 


Calvary Chapel Boise
123 Auto Drive
Boise, ID  83709


Online Giving to William

Be sure to put “William Anderson – Romania” in the comment box


FYI
I usually receive my support on the 20th of each month so allow at least a week for your support to clear the system.


Contact Information


Email: godswillromania@gmail.com


Blog: http://godswillromania.blogspot.com/


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dulcewill/ (add me as friend)


Personal website: http://godswill.ro/


Skype and Yahoo Messenger ID: godswillromania


Landline Phone : 011-40-314-323-299 (011 if you are calling from USA) 


Time difference: add 9 hours if you live in Mountain Time Zone (10 hours Pacific)

Change in Plans - May 2010 Newsletter (part 1)

Church Update - May 2010 Newsletter (part 3)

Change in Plans - May 2010 Newsletter

In Proverbs 16:9 says “A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” I have found this to be so true in regards to my plans to go to the States for a visit. In my last newsletter I shared that I was planning on going in February this year but I ended up not being able to go because I still didn’t have a visa for living here in Romania. If you don’t have a visa Romania requires that you have a ticket to fly back to the States from Romania. That would have meant buying not only a round-trip ticket but also an additional ticket back to the States. The cost to do that made the trip way too expensive. So instead of going in February I worked on getting a visa to live here in Romania.


Started Business
If you remember from my last newsletter I said that my best option for getting a visa was to start a business and that is what I ended up doing through a lawyer and Florin helping me. It is called Evangel Media and the motto is “Bringing the transforming power of the gospel to life”. About three weeks ago I received a five year visa which was the first one I have ever received for more than one year. I was so happy and praised God when I picked up my visa card! It is so nice that I won’t have to deal with this again for five years.


Coming in September
So now that I have my visa for Romania I plan on going to the States in either late August or early September and staying till late October. Lord willing that is! If you would like to meet up while I’m in the States let me know as I am going to work on my plans over the next few weeks. Right now my tentative plan is to fly to California from Romania then on to Montana then Idaho then maybe Washington and then back to California to fly back with a team that will be coming to do a week-end retreat for Calvary Chapel Bucharest and Brasov at the end of October. While I am in the States I will need some places to stay so if you would like to host me while I am there please let me know.


Financial Situation
The year started out really well as I received more support in January that I ever had before. But in February and March I received less than I ever had. Thankfully April was more in the normal range. Starting up the business and paying all the fees for the visa totaled about $1,500 which didn’t help the situation either.  Since I used up most of my savings last year things are really tight now, probably the tightest it has ever been for me except for when I first moved to Romania. In fact, it will be interesting to see if I will have enough to pay rent for my apartment later this month. 


I also need money to buy tickets in order to fly around while I am in the States and it would be best to do it soon so the tickets will be at their cheapest price. In addition, there are things needed for my ministry in Romania that I would love to be able to buy while in the States.


So as you can see I have many needs. Please pray that God will provide for me. Please also pray for more monthly supporters for my regular ongoing living expenses as well as one-time gifts to be able to pay my rent this month and also to cover everything related to my trip to the States. If you have any questions or would just like to talk please contact me using one of the options below.


In part two of my newsletter I will share more about Evangel Media and what has been going on in the ministry. Until then.


God bless,


William


Support Information


Make checks payable to: Calvary Chapel Missions or CCM
Put WA in the memo section and attached a note to the check with my name William Anderson  


Mail to: 


Calvary Chapel Boise
123 Auto Drive
Boise, ID  83709


Donate Online To William


Be sure to put “William Anderson – Romania” in the comment box


FYI
I usually receive my support on the 20th of each month so allow at least a week for your support to clear the system.


Contact Information


Email: godswillromania@gmail.com

Blog: http://godswillromania.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dulcewill/ (add me as friend)


Personal website: http://godswill.ro/


Skype and Yahoo Messenger ID: godswillromania


Landline Phone : 011-40-314-323-299 (011 if you are calling from USA) 


Time difference: add 9 hours if you live in Mountain Time Zone (10 hours Pacific)

Gospel Ministry Update - May 2010 Newsletter (part2)

Church Update - May 2010 Newsletter (part 3)

New Year's Eve Party 2009-2010

Christmas Caroling at the Metro (Subway)

Here's some video of the caroling our church did last night, at the Unirii metro stop here in Bucureşti.

Visit to States & Finances

Lord willing I will be in the States this coming February and March. I am still in the planning stages so I will let you know more as I get things figured out. I really wanted to come back this last spring but I did not have peace about it. Even now, the only reason I can come back is because a good friend of mine is taking care of my ticket to fly to the States. For the rest of my needs and expenses for traveling around America I trust that God will provide. If any of you would like me to come and visit you please let me know but realize that time and money will limit what I can do. But as far as is possible I hope to see my family and as many friends as possible while I am back.

While in the States the door has open for me to do my gospel workshop in a few places. I am really looking forward to doing it and I hope that even more opportunities open for me.

Finances
As far as finances are concerned things have been pretty tight this year, especially the second half of the year. I know the economic crisis has affected not only me but also most of the missionaries around the world and I'm sure a lot of you reading this email have been impacted as well. I used most of my savings this past half year to make up for the lack of support. So now that I've used most of my savings up I have to look to increase my support for the coming year.

In addition to raising more support I am also trying to raise money so I can replace my tech tools as they are over 5 years old now. I want to buy a new desktop computer, a new laptop and a new HD video camera if the Lord provides for them.

Another thing I want to raise money for is to promote the http://despreisus.ro/ website here in Romania. Some possibilities include putting ads in magazines, placing posters in a variety of places, banners for use with special events, brochures to hand out, and t-shirts to use with outreach activities.

In the email I sent yesterday I mentioned the possibility of me starting a business here in Romania in the coming year. If this would be of interest to you please email me so we can discuss it.

As I look to this next year and what ministry and life holds for me I would really appreciate your prayers in regards to all the things I have mentioned. If you have a desire to support me financially in the coming year or want to help me in some way during my trip to the States please email me and I will let you know how you can do that.

In closing, I want to thank all of you who have prayed for me, encouraged me, supported me financially, and helped me in a variety of other ways as well. Know that anything that was, is or will be accomplished for the kingdom of God through my ministry that you will receive a share of the rewards that Jesus will give on that great and glorious day in His eternal kingdom.

To Him be the glory forever and ever,

William


Links

Email: godswillromania@gmail.com

Blog: http://godswillromania.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dulcewill/

Personal website: http://godswill.ro/

Romanian Christmas Carols

Calvary Chapel Everett Christmas Song
Debbie and the Boys Christmas Song

The Coming Year

This past year our church here in Bucharest focused on the gospel and I can see that God has worked a lot in many of the lives of those that are a part of our church. We are a very small church of around 20, with a real solid core group of 10. Our church has gone through a lot the past few years but I think we are finally going forwards on a solid foundation of the gospel. I have hopeful expectation that God will use our little church to reach many people in the coming year. We know if He does not move not much of real substance will happen but from the work He has been doing in us I think He is getting us ready for something. So with that in mind, if we do start seeing more people come to repentance and faith in Jesus I think I will become involved in helping to develop a one-on-one discipleship ministry for our church.

When the young man from our church finishes Bible School and comes back home this coming September I will hand back to him the youth group and the evangelism ministry which will allow me to focus more time on other things.

As I look to the future there are two main things that I think will take more of my time in the coming year, the despreisus.ro

website and doing the gospel workshops. I think these two things will work hand-in-hand with each other. As the site develops I think it will open doors for me to do my gospel workshop in churches throughout Romania. My vision is to do the workshop in a few cities where I know some people and develop relationships with some Christian leaders outside of Calvary Chapel. Then once I establish a good reputation I will pursue doing the workshop in as many cities as possible. The ideal thing would be to have the workshop in the largest churches in the cities and have them open up the workshop to all the other churches in their cities.

I am not under any illusion that this will be easy. In fact, it will take a miracle of God for this to happen. But since what I am doing in the workshop is calling believers to take a hold of the gospel and live their lives according to it I think God will move. So I am determined to go forward in faith that I will see this vision become a reality. Not because I am anyone special but because it is about the gospel and the one whom the gospel points to. If I fail, I fail, but it is a great vision and worthy of stepping out in faith and seeing what God will do.

The other thing I need to deal with in the coming year is my visa situation here in Romania. Because of changes in the laws a few years ago I can not get a visa through our religious association so my choices are rather limited. One of the best options for me is to start a business as they make it pretty easy for Americans to starts businesses here. I can get a 5 year visa if I do this but I will have to pay about $700 minimum a year in taxes if they don't change their minimum tax laws which they are suppose to get rid of as they are very unpopular here. I have always dreamed about starting a business here to get really good books on the gospel translated and published here in Romania as well as other media related things. So maybe God is working in this so that I can develop more gospel oriented resources and maybe provide some finances through the profits to do other things and to supplement my support. We shall see, time will tell.

I will be adding videos to Vimeo of the things we do as a church over the Christmas holiday so be sure and check it occasionally if you are interested in seeing what we have been doing. Today I added three Christmas carols we sung yesterday at church. I will embed them on the blog so you can see them.

Calvary Chapel Bucuresti, December 20, 2009

In the third of three post I will share with you about my plans to visit the States this coming year and also about my financial situation and needs in the coming year. Until then. May His peace be with you, William

Another Year in Romania

In October I celebrated 12 years of serving the Lord here in Romania. It has been quite an adventure and nothing like what I expected! I came over to work with young orphans but ended up eventually planting a church and later helping to start a Bible school. Through it all God has been faithful and in my weakness He has used me as He has willed. On the mission field your weaknesses are made more obvious and it is very humbling. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. My life has been made far more richer for having come to Romania.

This Past Year
Now in regards to what has been going on this year my responsibilities at the church have increased as I took over the youth group and our street evangelism ministry in September. One of the young guys from our church is going to Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe in Hungary and during the summer he was back and started these ministries so when he went back to school in the fall I took them over. There are only three boys that come but I am really enjoying my time with them. We spent the first three months looking at the gospel and now we are studying what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

(to enlarge click on photo)

So my main responsibilities for the church are as follows: on Sundays I open our service with a Bible reading and prayer and at the end of the service I do the announcements. In between I video the sermons and later that day I edit the video and put it online. Since my Romanian is not so good during the service while I am videoing I spend a lot of the time praying for everyone in our church and for our church. Tuesdays we meet as a staff to pray and fast and focus on ministries of our church. On Wednesdays I host and lead our home fellowship so I spend time cleaning my apartment and going and buying drinks and snacks beforehand. On Thursdays I host the youth group at my place. And Fridays I lead those who show up on sharing the gospel in parks and places where ! people h ang out. In addition, on the third Sunday of the month I invite everyone over to my place to watch a movie.

In addition to these things I help coordinate our monthly meetings of all the Calvary Chapel pastors here in Romania, as well as organize workshops we do in order to better equip the people coming to our churches. In November I did two evangelism workshops, one in the south and the other in the north. We do this to make it so people don't have to travel so far. I also video the workshops we do and put them online for those who can't make it. I don't do all the workshops myself as I try to get all the pastors involved in what we do.

Evangelism Workshop, Bucuresti, November 20-21, 2009

Developing Romanian Gospel Website
I am also continuing to develop my Romanian gospel website called despreisus.ro (about Jesus). Also related to this is the making of a variety of videos for use with the site, for our church here and for outreach in general. The development of the site is going way slower than I expected but it is coming step by step. One of the challenges is getting enough people willing to translate and do other stuff for the site. But God is using the site already even though I have not tried to promote it yet. Once I am happy with the home page and that the blog is up and running then I will do a lot more to promote the site. In the last 5 months there have been 623 unique visitors and 830 visits from people from 49 cities here in Romania. In addition to these stats I have 111 videos on Vimeo that are being watched around 300 to 400 times a week though this figure can vary quite a bit. On YouTube I have 19 videos that have been watch 42,482 times since I added them. I also have added a few of my gospel oriented videos on three Romanian social networks and video sites and they had been viewed 9,978 times. I have videos also on despreisus but do not have a way yet to know how many times they are being watch.

Another thing I have been working on is updating the teaching materials and powerpoints for the gospel workshop I do. I still have a few Calvary Chapels here in Romania to do this workshop at but after that my vision is to do it in as many other churches as possible outside of Calvary Chapel.

So this gives you a good idea of the main things that have been happening here in Romania with me. Thanks to all those who have prayed for me and supported me financially to be able to serve the Lord here in Romania.

I am on Facebook so if you are as well please add me as a friend: http://www.facebook.com/dulcewill

In the second of three posts I will share what I think the future holds for me and my ministry. Until then God bless.

First Home Fellowship Gathering

Părtăşie de casă 1 Ianuarie 2009 (Home Fellowship) from William Anderson on Vimeo.

Here is a bit of the worship from our first ever home fellowship yesterday evening at my apartment. I really enjoyed it a lot! There were eight of us and we had a great discussion on the importance of the gospel. May the Lord use this weekly gathering to open us up to being real and loving one another.

New Year's Eve Group Photo

Here is a really good photo Dana took of all of us at our New Year's Eve celebration.

Revelion 2009 - Bringing in the New Year

Revelion 2009 from William Anderson on Vimeo.

Here's video of some of the things we did to bring in the new year here in Bucuresti, Romania. I really enjoyed our time together, I think there were about 14 people. We had food, played some intense Uno, just hung out, worshiped, prayed, shared with each other about the past year and what we were looking forward to in the coming year and we went out and watched some fireworks in the neighborhood. I got home a six in the morning so I need to spend some time getting caught up on my beauty sleep:)

During our sharing time I was really blessed when Ioana, one of the older ladies in our church, said she had been praying for five years for a church and finally found it in our's. May God bring more like her in this new year.

Colinde de Craciun (Christmas Caroling)

Colinde de Craciun from William Anderson on Vimeo.

Here is some video I took on Monday and Tuesday nights of our caroling at the metro (subway), our neighbors, and at the main hospital here in Bucuresti. Our hope was to share the gospel and the love of God in His Son. The video begins showing some of the practice we had before we went out on Monday night. In the metro section you will see people putting money in the guitar case. This is a Romanian custom which many people participate in. When you go caroling to neighbors or people you know it is customary for people to give treats or money.

Not What I Expected (Part Seven)

Below is part seven (and final part) of my newsletter that I sent out recently. If you would be interested in getting my newsletter and prayer requests you can subscribe here.

My health has been pretty good which I thank God for. I rarely get sick or have problems with my body that limit what I can do except for the problem I have with my knees which resulted from years of being on my knees while teaching gymnastics and now growing older. For those of you who do not know back in 1999 I came close to death due to severe hyperthyroidism and it took years to recover from the effects of it.

What health related issues I have had have been related to the amount of hours I work which at times has resulted in me living off my adrenaline and not eating right or getting exercise. In July I decided to lose weight and start exercising. Since I left Brasov in December 2006 I had not done any fitness or sports related activity to speak of and I had put on 14 pounds. But since July I have lost 15 KG/33 lbs with a goal of 16.5 KG/36 lbs by the end of the year. I exercised using dumbbells consistently the first three months but since have not done much as I have been extremely busy spending 12 to 14 hours at work most days. I am trying now to get back into a habit of working out.

Recently I sent out some prayer requests in an email and I shared about my support needs but not everyone who gets my newsletter gets the prayer requests. But that is going to change; from now on I will use this newsletter email system I have to also send out my prayer requests so people can unsubscribe if they want. I will do it to both lists for a few times to give people a chance to subscribe to the email system if they want to continue to receive my prayer requests. Here is what I wrote:

“On a personal note I would really appreciate prayer concerning my support which has been very low for some time. When I came to Bucuresti in February 2007, after being in the States f! or two m onths, my support did not increase as much as it needed in order to live in Bucuresti. So I did not get an apartment right away but rather lived at the ministry building for a year (for four months of that I watched someone's apartment while they were in the States). Living at the ministry building wasn't the best situation but it let me save up a lot of money. After being here a year God dropped a great apartment in my lap at a good rental price for Bucuresti though it was almost as much as my total monthly living expenses in Brasov. About two months after moving in I sensed the Lord telling me to be very careful with my money cause my support was going to dry up. I shared this at our monthly pastors meeting and one of the guys said he sensed that as well for me in his spirit. So with that confirmation I have been very careful and sure enough most months my support has been only one-third to half of what I need. I think God was preparing me ahead of time for the impact the financial crisis was going to have on my support. He is so good! So if any of you are looking for a missionary to support I have a great opportunity for you.”

I hope this seven-part newsletter, while long, has given you an idea of what has been going on with me and my ministry since I moved to Bucuresti in February of 2007. I am so thankful for the privilege God has given me to serve Him in this place. I have my struggles and weaknesses and I realized that I don’t deserve to be His servant but His grace to me is more than sufficient. Praise be to him forever and ever!

Before sharing a few prayer requests with you I have some questions for you. Do you treasure Jesus and the gospel above all else? Do you have a passion for Jesus and the gospel? Are you growing in your understanding of the gospel? Does you life flow from the gospel? Do you desire to see your family, friends and others come to know Jesus and the gospel? If not, I encourage you to pray to God that He would change your heart an! d life s o that these things are true of you. It is my prayer for you. Become a Gospel-Driven person and encourage your church to be a Gospel-Driven church. Jesus is coming soon! Focus on what's important.

Here is a music video I put together for last Christmas. It is in English with Romanian subtitles: It’s About the Cross

. I shared this at the Christmas program we did for David’s seventh grade class yesterday (Thursday). I put some photos from it on my blog. Remember that is where you will find videos and videos of what I am doing and stuff on the gospel. You can subscribe to be notified when I post something new on my blog in the right sidebar.

Prayer Requests:

1. Wisdom and grace to use my time efficiently and effectively as God wills.
2. For strength, energy, vision, creativity, resources, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to serve the Lord well and bring glory to Him.
3. For my support to be adequate to live in Bucuresti.
4. For God to open a door for me to minister to university students, I have been praying for this since this June.
5. For our church here in Bucuresti to become what Jesus desires it to be and to be a light and a source of blessing to the city.

Craciun fericit (Merry Christmas).

Grace be with you all,

William

Email: godswillromania@gmail.com
Website: godswill.ro

Blog: godswillromania.blogspot.com

If you would be interested in giving a one time gift or supporting me regularly you can do so online or by mail. If online go to my church's Donate Online to Missions

page and click on the arrow next to . There a drop-down menu will appear where you will see my name. If by mail make the check out to "Chapel Missions" and attach a note saying it is for "William Anderson". On the envelope write:

Calvary Chapel Boise
ATTN: Jana Patton
123 Auto Drive
Boise, ID 83709

Christmas Celebration

Săbătoarea Crăciunului / Christmas Celebration from William Anderson on Vimeo.

Some of the celebration we had at church on Sunday, December 21. It includes clips of the worship, giving of presents and the fellowship meal.

Not What I Expected (Part Six)

Below is part six of my newsletter that I sent out recently. If you would be interested in getting my newsletter and prayer requests you can subscribe here.

One of the others things I wasn’t expecting when I moved to Bucuresti was how much the gospel would take a hold of me and become a focus of my heart and my ministry.

As I was coming to the end of my time planting the church in Brasov I decided that the best thing I could do is finish by doing an in-depth study of the gospel for our mid-week Bible study. I really enjoyed studying the gospel; I had never focused so intensely on it before. In doing the study I began to appreciate more and more the beauty and power of the gospel and wanting to learn more. So after I got settled in somewhat to Bucuresti I started a study of the gospel at the church on Tuesday evenings. For me these two studies were a time for experimenting and getting a feel for what I should cover in the study, how to teach it and what kind of homework to give. When you lead a study you are the one who learns the most, which is one of the benefits from doing it.

One thing that surprised me in both these studies was how little most those coming to the study knew about the gospel. These were the people who were, for the most part, active in the church and most of them had been Christians for a quite some time. So when I began planning out the curriculum for the School of Ministry I decided to include a class on the gospel for each of the four semesters. The titles I came up with were understanding the gospel, living the gospel, proclaiming the gospel and defending the gospel.

As I searched the internet for materials on the gospel and what people were saying about it I got the idea that it would be awesome to have a site where all the best stuff on the gospel was in one place. That was the beginning of thinking about making a gospel oriented website. Since then I have been making a database of all the best stuff I can find, searching the web almost daily. I also began to put posts on my blog about the! gospel as a way to get started doing something as I find that is the best way to learn and go forward.

The first semester of the school we studied “understanding the gospel” based on an outline I had developed from the first two studies I did and it was pretty intensive. The class was an hour and a half for fifteen weeks. I didn’t just give the students a bunch of information but would give them lists of Bible verses and some examples and have them write out weekly assignments so it would force them to think. In Romania most education is giving information, memorizing it and saying it back. I was not interested in that. So the class really was a challenge for the students.

From the class I put together a detailed outline of the gospel, the Bible verses for each part of the outline and my writings from some of the assignments into a booklet which is over 30 pages long. If you are interested in looking at it you can download it from the links right below. I don’t get much feedback on them but I sure would like some. I know it still needs a lot of work but it was what I could do with the time I had.

Gospel in Detail Letter

Gospel in Detail A4

Evanghelia detaliata

The second semester we studied “living the gospel” and I started from scratch with this class as far as developing the materials to be covered. I think the class opened the students eyes to how the gospel applies to living the Christian life but I still have a long ways to go before I will feel content with what I am teaching about living the gospel.

After we closed the school and began discussing doing workshops one of the pastors wanted us to start with the gospel. That perked up my ears and I volunteered to do it. Since it would be an intensive weekend workshop I had to do a lot of thinking and planning for it. I came up with powerpoints to use with the workshop. If you are interested I put them on SlideShare, you can see them here: English

Romanian

. I did the workshop twice and the first time I videoed it and added the powerpoints to the video. I made a channel

on Vimeo if you would like to check them out.

After the holidays I hope to work on my materials more for the workshop. I plan on dividing it into two separate workshops, one for understanding the gospel and another one for living the gospel. Then I pray that God will open a door for me to do this workshop all around Romania and wherever else God would want me to do it.

In the seventh and final part I will share about my health, support, prayer requests, etc.

To God be the glory through Jesus Christ forever,

William

Email: godswillromania@gmail.com
Website: godswill.ro

If you would be interested in giving a one time gift or supporting me regularly you can do so online or by mail. If online go to my church's Donate Online to Missions

page and click on the arrow next to Romania. There a drop-down menu will appear where you will see my name. If by mail make the check out to "Chapel Missions" and attach a note saying it is for "William Anderson". On the envelope write:

Calvary Chapel Boise
ATTN: Jana Patton
123 Auto Drive
Boise, ID 83709

Delirious Concert in Bucuresti

Concert Delirious Bucuresti from William Anderson on Vimeo.

On Saturday night there was a Delirious Concert here in Bucuresti. A group of us from our church went. Cost was about $10. They put on a great concert, really rocked out with worship and gospel oriented songs. Martin Smith is pretty much "the man" for the group. He put out a lot of energy and seemed to really enjoy himself on stage. I heard they are retiring the band soon. It was great to get a chance to see them live. The video is a collection of clips I took with my photo camera. Quality of video and audio is pretty poor but you can see some of the energy of the band and crowd. Enjoy.