What a finale! The Holy Spirit definitely moved at Bisceria Baptist Church today. Our last day of worship services was a full one! To start off with, Pastor Noah preached for the 10am service. Jacob, Pastor Noah, & I, along with help from some of the church members, ministered through drama, music, and testimonies. Pastor Noah’s sermon focused on the story in Acts 12 when God rescued Peter from prison. Pastor Noah pointed out that even though Peter knew he might be arrested, he continued to preach the Gospel Pastor Noah encouraged us to also hold unswervingly to the truth & not be dismayed at the face of opposition. Both Peter’s friends (who had been praying for him) & Peter himself were flabbergasted when they discovered that an angel had set him free. Pastor Noah reminded us that when we pray, we need to not be surprised when God does something good, because our God is good! In addition, when God does do something good in our lives, we cannot keep it a secret! Peter’s testimony in Acts 12 is a good example of how to proclaim to people what God has done for us.
We spent the afternoon preparing for our last worshp service which started at 3pm. There were people visiting from two other deaf churches in Moldova. We were all excited for what God had planned and praised him when we saw the room packed. Our theme for this last service was truly letting go of the world so that we can have a relationship with Christ. All of our worship services are full of drama. For deaf people internationally who have not been able to read the Bible because of lack of reading and writing skills, drama helps to really bring the Bible alive. Yet even for the deaf in America and abroad who have incredible reading and writing skills, drama is a critical ministry tool because the deaf culture is a visual culture. We always do two dramas that the team comes up with, and then two dramas from the Bible, one old testament, and one new. The Bible references for the last service were the story of Nebuchadnezzar from Daniel 2-4 & the story of Saul’s conversion from Acts 9. Pastor Noah noted how Nebuchadnezzar vascillated between serving God & worshipping idols. He encouraged us to be steadfast in our walk with the Lord stressing the fact that Saul was sold out for Jesus after his experience on the road to Damascus.
Of all the worship services, we had the most in attendance today! Praise the Lord! Several people we’d invited from the deaf apartments finally came today, along with several deaf teenagers that we’d never seen before. To say the least, it was super exciting to see so many there to hear the Gospel. At the end when Noah gave an invitation to any who wanted to give their lives to Christ & accept His free gift of eternal life, two people came forward!! An older man & the mom of the little boy we took to McDonalds. Even more good news, the mother of the little boy’s friend didn’t want to go to the front of the church, but asked if we could go to her apartment tonight to pray with her to accept Jesus. We will be doing that shortly after we post, so anyone reading this at around 2:50 central time, be praying that she will make this eternal decision.
Then, our brothers & sisters in Christ here presented us each with a wooden plaque that Vasia hand-carved!! They were exquisite! They told us to hang them up back in our homes in America so that every time we see the plaque it will remind us of them & what God is doing in Moldova.
Finally, we passed out the supplies we had bought earlier in the week. Things were chaotic after we told them to come into the hallway to receive some gifts that we had purchased for them. Everyone was elated to get the toiletries that we had purchased for them. After everyone had collected the bags we assembled for them, we told them to get a set of winter hat and gloves. There was an immediate rush towards the boxes with the hats and gloves, and people were delighted to try them on. Thank you once again to Bonnie Perkins, Sue Koning, and the wonderful ladies at FBC for all the knitting. We have videotape of people picking out their hats, and can’t wan’t to show you how your love made a lasting impact on the deaf people of Moldova.
I also want to write about a Moldovan woman who has made a lasting impression on the entire team. Zina is by far the strongest woman we have ever seen. When we needed to carry supplies up two flights of stairs, she could take two loads to our one. One late night at the church she fixed us dinner, and we saw her carrying an entire dinner table by herself. Furthermore, every time we see her, she is serving! As Jacob acknowledged, she is the epitome of the Proverbs 31 wife. She can do everything, and in half the time of everyone else. The church is blesed to have her as a leader and a servant. God has used her to inspire me to desire more of a servant’s heart.
Prayer Requests:
1. Rest and rejuvination as we get ready to head off to Romania for two more weeks of meetings, leadership training, and worship services.
2. The ability to get everything done tomorrow that we need to for our last day in Moldova. There are a couple of shut-ins that we need to visit and some mothers who we want to deliver diapers to.
3. Blessed conversations with anyone we encounter before we leave.
God Bless,
Jacob and stacie*-Psalm 20:7
