Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Mission at Giurgulesti

The church at Giurgulesti had their annual outreach mission last week and we from Gotesti were invited to come with a team and do a programme and preach the gospel on Sunday the final day.



I came with 6 others including Slavic ( who led our programme) and Aliona his wife who together with Anisoara sang the songs in our programme.








Recently baptised ones Sergiu and Vasia gave their testimonies.





We took the passage from Luke 15 on the lost sheep and tried to show how this is an example of our experiences when we leave the Shepherd's way and go our own way i.e the lost sheep undoubtedly became hungry on it's own and so do we ( although ours is a spiritual hunger for love, assurance, purpose etc )
We then referred to the fact that Jesus is the answer to this emptiness - He Himself said "I am the bread of life" We looked at how the sheep probably got very hurt and how we also get hurt from various experiences in life - abuse rejection etc. Jesus said "I have come to heal the broken hearted" And various other things we also loooked at.

At the end of the message we made an appeal for anyone who wanted to come back to God and follow Him with the rest of their lives.

There were two that responded outwardly and here in the photo is Dana, one of those, being embraced by her father who is already a member in the church.



They held each other for a long time and wept.

It was a priviledge to be at that moment in her life and that of her family.

Pastor Mark

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Chris Elston

We were pleased to have Chris Elston again with us at the church in Gotesti.

Chris has a teaching English ministry in Emanuel church in Cahul.

Around 80 students come in various groups and many then go on to come to the church regularly.

We were just at their end of term Christmas party when a great time was had by all.

Chris came on a visit to us in Gotesti and preached on Sunday morning.

His message was on the grace of God. God demonstrated how much he loves us by giving His only Son to die for us while we were still sinners - Is there therefore, anything good He will withhold from us if already gave us the best he has - his own Son. Many were touched by the timely reminder of His grace.

Ion Manica, a former student of our bible school was also with us along with his wife Irina.

He is from the village of Tartarul and the church there meets in his house. It's been hard work for them for many years and yet his message was from the Psalms about being thankful in all things. It encouraged us all as we all know how difficult things are for them.

Pastor Mark