Thanks for all your prayers! We’ve made it safely to Bucharest! : )

God bless, The Romanian Team – Phil. 4:19

Praise God for everyone’s prayers last night! God was faithful & powerful to make today’s meeting a huge success. Several people who we did not know were coming showed up for the meeting, including a leader from Oradea.

We focused our meeting on making substantial progress with Bible translation work. The book of Mark & Genesis chapters 1-10 have already been completed for Romanian Sign Language. However, because of Satan’s work, the translation team here has fallen part twice. We started the meeting by discussing the current problems the team is facing, & then outlined the solutions to make sure this work continues. We currently have the same plan of action in place for the Moldovan Bible Translation work. We will be working with a video production studio in Timisoeara, Romania, called Alfa Omega. The teams will film there two times a year. There will be four signers who are working on their individual books. Each signer will be responsible for 200 verses each filming period. For both teams the four books that we will be working on are Luke, John, Acts, & 1 John.

The discussion was very productive. We were able to cover expectations for team members, & everyone there brainstormed a collection of skilled signers that represent all of the Romanian cities where there are deaf churches. We are now contacting all of the leaders in Romania to come to a meeting in March 2008. At this meeting, all of the plans will be finalized, & the translation work will be done so that the first four singers can start practising for filming shortly thereafter. As you can see, there is a lot of work to be done before the meeting. Please pray that this meeting will be well attended & that all of the necessary preparation can be completed accordingly. Please also pray that God will bless this team with perseverance so that the work may be sustained even in the face of the devil’s temptations.

Late on Wednesday night, Pastor Noah & Jacob had a discussion with the leader from Ploesti. He desperately wants to be a pastor, but because he was never taught how to read, he thinks his illiteracy stands in the way of him becoming a pastor. Pastor Noah & Jacob were able to visit a deaf pastor (Pastor Torok) who faces similar problems. They were accompanied by Pastor Lazlo, another deaf pastor from Cluj. While they were there, Pastor Torok had some business mail from the government that he didn’t understand, so he asked Pastor Lazlo to read the mail for him. This really struck bother Pastor Noah & Jacob because they have seen their deaf grandfather doing the same thing. So often, he receives important mail that he isn’t able to read, so he has to take it to other people to help him understand the text. It’s sad how behind deaf education & deaf rights are in America. Please pray that despite this enormous difference, we can cut down how long it will take to catch the Romanian deaf up with American deaf people, allowing development of rights to increase exponentially. Pastor Noah & Jacob were discussing with Pastor Lazlo last night about deaf education in Romania. Almost every single deaf school in Romania still uses the oral method (teaching speech), while only a few use simultaneous communication (signing & speaking simultaneously). America also tried simultaneous communication in deaf schools, but it failed miserably in the attempt to educate deaf children. This is because it is scientifically proven that when speaking two languages, one will lull into the native language & only sign two out of every five words in the native language. So whether under oral programs or simultaneous communication programs, the deaf in Romania simply aren’t learning. We know that God has a plan for the deaf people in Romania, so please pray that God guides us with His divine discernment every step of the way. Also pray for deaf educators here in Romania to realize how beneficial it is to teach sign language to deaf children as a foundational, native language.

Tonight is our last night in Cluj. Our host families presented us with gifts this evening as it is our last night in Cluj. We were really surprised at their thoughtful gesture of generosity! The deaf people here are such a delight to be with & such humble people. Pray the Body of Christ here in Cluj continues to grow through God’s might & love.

Tomorrow we’re off to Bucharest again. Please pray for our train ride tomorrow. We’ll be on the tracks for eight hours, so pray that we wisely use the time God has given us. On the way to Cluj, we talked with two deaf peddlers. Pray that God orchestrates more divine appointments with deaf people tomorrow as we travel. Thank you for lifting us up in prayer. We appreciate your support!

God bless, The Romanian Team – Matthew 28:19-20

Today we finished our last worship service in Cluj. The focus of today’s message was Jesus as our Friend, with John 11 & the story of Lazarus for the main Biblical text. Tonight we also distributed toiletry supplies, along with hats & gloves. Once again they were elated to receive everything. ToSue Koning, Bonnie Perkins, & the ladies at First Baptist of Olathe, Jacob made a promise to some deaf ladies here that he would tell you this: “God Bless You.” God made this hat-&-glove project possible through you all!They were thrilled to learn that the hats were personally knitted for them. A seven-year-old girl has been staying with one of the families that is hosting us this week. Her grandparents, aunts, & mother are all deaf, & she is a superb signer. She has been a hand-full all week, & we learned that she has absolutely no toys to play with. So in addition to the toiletry supplies, we were also able to spend some extra money to buy her some toys.

Plus, we also wanted to confirm that the leader from Ploesti did indeed arrive for the worship services here in Cluj.

*Note: this post was longer than this when originally posted. The internet must have eaten it up somehow. Hopefully some of you had the opportunity to read the entire post.

God bless, The Romanian Team – Isaiah 43:1-3

Hope you all are doing well! Today we had the opportunity to do a little sightseeing here in Cluj. We visited the botanical gardens with two woman who attend the deaf church. One of them told us some really exciting news! In December 2006, the university in Cluj officially recognized Romanian sign language as a foreign language. Students are required to take a second language like French or English, & then sign language can count as an optional third foreign language. The university said they are willing to make Romanian sign language available as an option for the second language requirements, but right now they cannot. This is due to the fact that as a second language, you need to take 10 or 12 credit hours of that language. The university is blessed with two deaf professors who can teach Romanian sign language, but that only provides students with six credit hours right now. When more Deaf people can be trained & hired as professors, more classes can be added & it will be available to be offered as a second language. This is encouraging, especially for the woman who was sharing with us. She just returned from a international interpreter conference in Spain where she was really inspired to continue advocating for deaf people’s rights. She explained that since Romania is part of the EU now, Romania is now under the law that deaf people have the right to interpreter services. Please pray that a team can be established to form a program to effectively train qualified interpreters.

After that, we prepared for the evening worship service, which was once again, fantastic! The deaf people are captivated by the dramas, because that brings life to Bible stories & Biblical principles. Tonight we focused on the theme that Jesus is Lord of our life. Among the dramas we did tonight, one that really stood out to me was Jesus calming the storm in Luke 8:22-25. After we acted this out, Pastor Noah pointed out that just as Jesus was in the boat during the storm, He is in our lives during our hardships. Instead of being frightened & upset by the problems in our lives, we can look to Jesus, because He is right there.

After the service, something truly valuable always occurs: we fellowship with everyone! We’ve heard several theories from deaf people regarding the causes of their deafness. Some of them know their cause of deafness is from a childhood sickness. Some of them, though, believe that they are deaf for superstititious reasons. One woman we talked with in Moldova believes the cause of her deafness is due to the fact that while she was still in her mother’s womb, her mom saw a black cat, got scared, and so this woman we talked with became deaf from then on. Another man told us that when his mom was pregnant with him, she was frightened by a person with a horrible skin disease, so he became deaf while still in the womb. It is sad that these people feel so abnormal to the extreme degree that they still blame deafness on superstitition. Pray that God can transform their thinking so that they no longer see themselves as misfits in society. Instead of viewing themselves as products of scary encounters, pray we can help them see themselves as a beautiful masterpiece of God’s creation, for that is what they truly are.

Pray for God to give us wisdom as we purchase supplies tomorrow to give out at our last worship service tomorrow at 5pm our time. Pray that deaf people in Cluj will come to the services & find solace in God.

God bless, The Romanian Team – Isaiah 43:1-2

Wow! We are in so awe of God. This afternoon’s service was amazing! Thank you praying for us! The skits & message were definitely orchestrated by the Lord! Our title for this week’s worship services is E.L.F. (Jesus is our Example, our Lord, & our Friend). Today, we did a couple of skits about from the Bible about following Jesus’ example. The first example was the feeding of the 5,000. Pastor Noah encouraged us to follow Jesus’ example of trusting in God to provide & also to set aside alone time to commune with our heavenly Father, because the first thing Jesus did after teaching & feeding the 5,000 was withdraw to a secluded place to pray. The other Biblical example Pastor Noah taught about was Jesus’ willingness to forgive. We acted out the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant as well Jesus’ statement on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We then acted out how Stephen followed Jesus’ example because right before his murder, he echoed Jesus’ words, “Lord, do not hold this against them.” Both Jesus & Stephen did not hold bitterness against the very people who killed them. What a powerful example of how we should live.

We are all settled in Cluj now. Matt & Beti are staying with one of the families from the deaf church, Jacob & Noah are staying with the deaf pastor, & Maleah & Stacie are staying with another family who attend the deaf church. We’ve talked quite a bit with the mom, dad, & daughter who Maleah & Stacie are staying with. The mom & dad are deaf; the daughter can hear. The dad has an older deaf brother who is also a member of the deaf church; their testimony is remarkable! Their hearing father was a pastor; when their parents found out that both of their sons were deaf, they thought they would never get saved. The sons didn’t understand what church was all about as the church they went to was geared toward those who can hear. However, they faithfully prayed for their two sons for 30 years. When the boys were adolescents, they received a Bible with pictures & really enjoyed this visual aid! They both accepted the Lord & are serving Him in mighty ways. The older brother travels around to different cities & evangelizes. The younger brother, the one Maleah & Stacie are staying with, is an exquisite carpenter. Their home is full of furniture he has crafted from old wood he has restored.

Maleah & Stacie had the opportunity to talk with younger brother’s hearing daughter tonight. She will turn 15 on July 31st & is looking forward to going on a trip around Western Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc.) with a hearing church. However, the trip is in August & doesn’t end until September 5th. Here in Romania, the kids have to take very important tests to determine which high schools they can go to. The tests are on September 4th. She has a meeting tomorrow with the school personnel to determine whether or not she can take the tests separately on September 6th. If not, she will either have to go to a high school concentrated in math, which she has no interest in, or she will have to miss the trip. She wants to stay in the high school where she can concentrate on studying different languages because she wants to start her own business that eventually networks with various countries around Europe. She aspires to be a lawyer who specializes in deaf clients. What a blessing she is to the Deaf World! Please pray that God’s will is accomplished tomorrow during the meeting & that the Lord is glorified in this decision.

Speaking of a lawyer who specializes in deaf clients here in Romania, she commented on how there are no services here for the deaf. Legal firms don’t take the time here to communicate with the deaf Romanians, so their service is not equal to that of the hearing population. Praise the Lord for opening this young woman’s eyes to this injustice. A couple other members of our team discussed with a hearing woman who goes to the deaf church the lack of interpreter services for the deaf. If a deaf person needs to go to the hospital, appear in court, etc., they have no interpreter services. The hearing daughter we talked with said she’s gone many times with her parents to translate between her deaf parents & hearing people. The fact that there are no interpreter services established for deaf Romanians has huge reprucussions in their lives. A communication breakdown in an emergency situation can mean life or death for deaf people (for example, even in America, deaf people have been wrongly convicted & sent to prison because of poor or no available interpreter services). This deeply touches our hearts, because deaf people deserve to have interpreters just as much as any other person who speaks a different language than the people around them. Please pray that this need will be recognized more & more so that deaf Romanians can be empowered here!

Tomorrow we will be visiting a few sites here in Cluj before planning & then conducting the next worship service at 5pm our time. Please pray that the word about the worship services spreads! The deaf Romanians live in all kinds of different housing (unlike the deaf Moldovans, who live together in the deaf hostels), so door to door evangelism is quite a challenge. Pray that God gives us opportunities to invite deaf Romanians to the service tomorrow! Thank you & God bless you!

God bless, The Romanian Team - Proverbs 4:18 

Hello again everyone! Yesterday was a great Sunday. We had a really good time and were able to have a lot of great fellowship with the deaf in Bucharest.

The deaf church started at 10:00. We showed up at about 9:50 and were the first ones there. We were surprised when by 10:05 there were only two people and the pastor hadn’t even shown up. Little did we know that this congregation is used to showing up extremely late. There were still tons of people filing in even an hour and a half after the service started. We had more people at the church yesterday then we have had any day this week which was a blessing. The deaf pastor of the church gave a sermon, and when he was done he invited Noah to preach, which was about the time most everyone had come.

After church we spent a few hours fellowshipping with the deaf. It seemed that a lot of the conversations we had were a lot like conversations we’ve had with other deaf over the past three weeks. It’s the same story over and over again, but it’s a true story. And the sad part is that the only reason it’s true is because of discrimination. We talked to so many people who expressed to us how horribly the deaf were treated. They kept telling us how hearing people think they are stupid and will push them down. That leaves them with no money and a hard life. Many of the deaf Christians expressed their frustrations with family members who are alcoholics. If you remember us talking about one of the women who accepted Christ in Moldova, she struggled with an alcoholic husband who could be abusive to her and her son. They truly do live in a silent world, because it’s a world of silent oppression. No one realizes that it’s going on, or stops to think it’s a bad thing. That’s part of why we’re in this ministry, because we have a heart for this cultural group, and want equality. It’s hard to tell the same story again and again but it’s one that needs to be told, and one that needs to be rewritten.

I’m sure many of you know the joke about the man stuck on his roof during a flood. A man in a paddle boat, a man in a motor boat, then a man in a helicoptor come by to save him, and the drowning man brushes them aside saying God will help him. When he dies he goes to heaven and asks God why he didn’t save him, and God tells him that he sent a paddle boat, a motor boat, and a helicoptor, what more could he ask for! We acted out this joke as a drama for the deaf in Romania and two people now have come up to us asking us where in the Bible that story was, saying they had forgotten where. This really struck us hard because the deaf really have no complete knowledge of the Bible, and thought that this joke was in the Bible. One of these people who asked us was a leader. The Bible Translation work is so important so that the deaf can understand the Bible and be able to read all of it instead of trying to make sense of the bits and pieces that they can read.

It’s also amazing how the deaf are taught that some things are taboo. We talked to several adults who expressed frustration that they were never able to go to college because there is no deaf college in Romania. It would be extremely difficult to get deaf people into hearing colleges though. Everyone is always surprised when they find out that Noah went to a hearing high school and is going to go to a hearing college. They can’t believe it. They also can’t believe that there are couples where one spouse is deaf and the other is hearing. They don’t know why a hearing person would ever want to do that.

Also, one important lesson learned: Never tuck in your shirt near an embassy. We were about to go into another church we visited during the evening, and Jacob wanted to tuck in his shirt. He went down the street behind a trailer and started tucking in his shirt, but he was right next to the Israeli embassy. The security guard at the gate saw him and started looking at him very suspiciously. He watched him the whole time, walked away for a few seconds, and then came back and started talking to Jacob in a foreign language. Jacob put his hands in the air and said “I’m just tucking in my shirt”, and that seemed to appease the guard. Praise the Lord that we didn’t start an international incident.

Prayer Requests:

1. Safe travel to Cluj tomorrow. We’ll be traveling eight hours by train.
2. The ability to plan well for our time there.
3. That a lot of deaf in Cluj and surrounding areas will hear about us and come.
4. For good planning for any meetings we may have with leaders.

 God Bless,

The Romanian Team-John 15:15/Jeremiah 33:3

Praise the Lord! Yesterday was an amazing day. We were extremely blessed by our experiences in Ploesti & were able to see some genuine excitement for Christ among the deaf people in this city.

We started our worship service at 2pm & were told by the hearing people who operated the church that we needed to be out of the building no later than 5pm. The deaf in Ploesti usually meet on Saturdays from 2:00-4:00 in the afternoon. We knew that our service would probably last much longer than two hours from our experience working with the deaf in other countries. They are often so hungry for the Word that they don’t care how long they stay. Our last day in Chisinau, we were with the deaf at the church for eight hours.

The worship service itself was really great. We were able to see a lot of people who had come to our camps in years past. It was good to see them again & observe how our ministry is making a continual impact in individual’s lives. Pastor Noah’s message was on spiritual lessons to be learned from Jesus’ first miracle in Cana. He spoke about the importance of being able to bring all of our problems before Christ, & being ready to obey His response immediately. One of the deaf leaders also approached Pastor Noah about a problem in their church with the deaf congregation not paying attention to the pastor when he preaches. So, Pastor Noah also spoke on 1st Corinthians chapter 11 relating the importance of focusing on Jesus & paying close attention not only during the Lord’s Supper but also when the pastor is teaching God’s Word.

In addition, we were able to meet the pastor of the church. The deaf in Ploesti don’t have a deaf church as much as they have a deaf group with a few leaders since they don’t actually have a deaf pastor. However, there is a pastor who comes every Sunday to preach to the deaf with what little sign language he knows. While we were having our worship service, the hearing pastor wanted to talk for a little bit, & we could see that the deaf were having an extremely hard time understanding him. His signing skills were very poor & he had a limited vocabulary. This brought up an interesting dinner discussion later that evening. A few people with us noted how the deaf in Romania are treated as if they are children who don’t know what they are doing; sadly, this may be true for the most part. But the reason they aren’t capable of leading right now is because they have never been given proper training & education. The reason they don’t have these essential tools is because the hearing people think they are children who don’t know anything, & they don’t allow them to get a proper education. It’s a vicious cycle of misunderstanding, so please pray for these misconceptions & the future of deaf education around the world.

The good news about the meting with the hearing pastor though, is that he really loved our program. In fact, he was so excited we were there that he kept coming up to the front to thank God that were were able to come preach at his church. He even allowed us to stay at the church until 6:30pm, well after the time they had previously said we needed to be out no matter what. We also had quite an interesting experience, when towards the end of the service, the hearing pastor had us come forward one by one to write our names on the board. He then asked us to go around the entire room & shake each person’s hand. We have no idea why he wanted us to do this, but praise the Lord for their excitement for missionaries. Just please pray that they will be able to grow spiritually through the teaching they receive at their church despite communication problems between the pastor & the congregation.

(Quick note: We apologize that so many of our stories have no names attached. When we learn people’s names we often just learn their sign names, so although we could sign their names to you, we don’t know how to spell them out.) The main deaf leader at this deaf church has come to every service so far that we’ve had in Bucharest & also accompanied us to the deaf club where we evangelized (that means Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday.) The two cities are about an hour & fifteen minutes away by car. Yesterday we found out that he is joining us for the entire week that we are spending in Cluj, which is eight hours away!

After the service as we were walking to the train station to head back to Bucharest, the deaf people asked if they could see our schedule. It was in English, but they had a fun time looking it over. We didn’t realize it at the time, but the only words they could read were the names of Romanian cities we had included on it. There was one day while we were in Cluj that we plan to invite the deaf people from Oradea & Timisoara. Then there were notes we made on the squares for July 26th & 27th (we’ll be gone by then) about meeting with a video production center in Timisoara. Some of the deaf came up to us to tell us they were going to go to our services in Timisoara on the 26th & 27th, & others were excited for our visit to Oradea. We had to explain to them that we weren’t actually going to those cities. It was really inspiring to see how hungry they were for the Word of God. They’re willing to travel anywhere just so they can have more teaching on God’s message.

To leave you with some food for thought, today we learned that one of the Romanian signs for a hearing person can also mean a “normal person.”

Prayer Requests:

1. That we can make the most out of our final days in Bucharest to connect with the deaf people & help them in their spiritual journeys.

2. Today we will attend the deaf church in Bucharest in the morning & then a hearing church in the afternoon where some of our close contacts attend. Please pray that our team will be able to be fed spiritually during these times of worship so we can be rejuvenated for the remainder of our ministry.

3. Pray for the deaf of Ploesti. We really had a good time with them, & they are a people with passion & excitement for the Lord. Pray that our most holy Lord will be able to draw them closer to Him.

God bless,

Jacob – Phil. 4:19

Dear family & friends,

I hope everyone likes the new blog schedule & that you all are having a peaceful sleep as we write this.

Thank you for all of your prayers; we feel that last night’s worship service was a great success. There were more people there than last time, so pray that God’s Good News can bring forth crowds. Also over the last few days we’ve noticed that we’ve become extremely skilled at Russian Sign Language. However, it’s a little too late because it’s not doing us much good in Romania! It’s been difficult at times making the transition from Russian to Romanian. It’s so easy to slip into Russian, but no one understands us. The first night Pastor Noah preached it seemed every sign was Russian & then he would correct himself to sign Romanian. If the Moldavians & Romanians were both at that church service, they would all be able to understand the message. Please continue to pray for our language skills. May everything we say be inspired by the Holy Spirit who can freely give us words.

The church service last night was focused on freedom from worry. We felt like this was a good sermon topic to also do in Romania, especially after visiting the deaf club. We can’t count the number of conversations we have had with deaf people that are centered on how hard their life is. They share with us their struggles to work, to have enough money to get food & take care of their families, & to just be seen as normal human beings. They are often too frustrated at how limited they are because the hearing people & governments in their country do not hink they are capable of anything. As a result, we wanted to share the Good News that Jesus Christ frees us from having to worry. When we are children of God, we can have full faith that He will provide for us in any situation. We have a big God, & we can expect Him to do big things. He hears our cries for help, & we want deaf people to know that they can cry out for God & He will reach out with comfort.

Jacob had a conversation with a deaf couple in Moldova. They were so shocked when he told them that deaf people in America are allowed to be anything they want to be, such as: doctors, lawyers, & detectives. They thought that the deaf could only do construction or drive trucks. They were also surprised when Jacob told them that America has laws that ensure the deaf receive equal treatment in all spheres of life.

Also, Pastor Noah had the opportunity to talk with a young man from the Bucharest deaf church. He shared how several years ago an American missionary came to work with the deaf community. This man & several of his friends accepted Christ & were excited about their faith; when the missionary left though, they were lost & had no spiritual guidance & no idea of how to grow in their relationship with Christ. Since then all of his friends have gone back to their old lives, & only he remains a Christian. He says he’s weary of missionaries because he’s scared that they’ll come, preach a little, & then leave with no one being discipled afterwards. It really convicted Pastor Noah about the importance of  establishing the deaf Christian associations. Having a network of deaf Christians will allow people to respond to each other’s needs & allow for financial support that will ensure evangelism can occur year-round, not just when there is a missionary present. There are deaf leaders in each country who have the desire & calling to do God’s work through evangelism in their own countries, but they have trouble finding the resources to make it possible. This network will ensure that those resources exist.

Today we will travel by train to a deaf congregation in Ploesti. We will visit them for the day & then come back to Bucharest at night. Please pray for safe travel, good teamwork, & that our program can be directed by the Holy Spirit & God-focused. Our team devotion yesterday morning was on Biblical prayers that emphasize how we worship the one true God. As Hannah says in 1st Samuel chapter two, “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides You, there is no Rock like our God.” Truly, we worship the only God who can part the sea to rescue the Israelites from the Egyptians, who can feed His people in the desert with manna from heaven, & who can send His Son in the flesh to die for the sins of man. We can boast, but we need to boast of the greatness of our God. Pray that the deaf here can get a taste of His glory.

God bless,

The Romanian Team – 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 & Isaiah 40:31

Hello again everyone!

We were really blessed in Chisinau with being near an internet cafe that we could go to everynight. We don’t have the same accomodations here in Bucharest, so we’ve been trying to find an internet connection that would fit into our ministry schedule. Thankfully a lot of people have been helpful so that we wouldn’t break our pledge to update you everyday! But, Praise the Lord, because we know now how we are going to be able to best update our blog. Instead of posting each night, we’ll be posting in the afternoon with our plans for the day and letting everyone know the details of what happened the night before. When we post everyone back home will still be in bed, but check in during the day to know what’s going on.

We are currently in Bucharest and will be here until Tuesday before going to Cluj. There is a deaf church in Bucharest where we will be hosting worship services. We were able to have our first one on Wednesday night, and will have more tonight (Friday), Sunday, and again on Monday. Our plans for Saturday are to travel to Ploiesti to meet with a deaf congregation there. Yesterday a deaf man from Ploiesti asked us if we wanted to move our program for the day ahead so that it could last longer. We currently have it scheduled for 2:00, and he wanted to know if we could start at 10:00 instead! We’re excited for all of the ministry opportunities that we’ll have in Romania, and we know how hungry the deaf Christians are to be fed. Pray that our services will help them to grow spiritually and in turn be able to spread the Gospel.

Last night we went to the deaf club in Bucharest. Deaf clubs around the world are notorious for being wordly places. The people smoke, drink, cuss, and talk very dirtily. Anything related to Jesus is usually not welcome in these deaf clubs. The atmosphere of the deaf club in Bucharest was no different. Right when we went into the club we could see that the conversations were not very glorifying.

We didn’t have anything planned for the deaf club except to talk to people and invite them to our worship services. But through God’s Divine Plan, one of the deaf who had been at our worship service the night before stood up and got everyone’s attention and told them that we were going to do a drama. We were a bit taken aback, and everyone was watching us, so we went ahead and did a drama centered on being more observant of God working in our lives and being willing to accept his blessings. All of the deaf intently watched our drama, and then didn’t mind when Noah explained afterwards how the drama related to the Good News of Jesus. They cheered both after our drama, and after Noah’s explanation. Then, they asked if we could do another one! So, we did another drama, this one explaining how our lifestyles shouldn’t be focused on trying to become like other people in the world, but instead focused on trying to become like Jesus. We got the same positive response. Deaf people are just so hungry for drama, that they didn’t mind if the dramas were about Jesus. Our impromtu ministry last night was so divinely led and successful because of the history of how closed deaf clubs are to the Gospel.

Unfortunately though, it’s not just that deaf clubs are unique. Deaf clubs don’t just attract the really “bad” people. Deaf clubs are reflective of the community as a whole because 99% of the deaf population is unreached spiritually! If you really want to know how true and staggering of a statistic this is, then just go to deaf club where you can see a large group of deaf people gathered outside of church.

We invited a lot of people from the deaf club to the worship service. The flyers we had to hand out went very quickly. Towards the end there was a group of young men that were somewhat hostile to our presence, but we had already seen God’s power at work there, and weren’t going to let satan discourage us. Pray that many of the people we invited will be at the services tonight and touched by God’s Word.

Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for meetings with church leaders that we’ll be having after the worship services. Pray that we’ll be able to talk to the right people at the right time about the right subjects. Pray that they’ll be passionate about seeing God’s work done in Romania.
2. Pray for the unity of the deaf church here. Many deaf leaders in different cities are unwilling to work together, and many of the leaders in each church often get unhappy with their own church. This has really hindered any substantial progress being made on Bible Translation in the past. Pray that leaders will be willing to lay aside their differences so that Bible Translation work can be done that all parties are happy with. It’s about people being able to read the Bible in their own language.
3. Pray for our worship services, that the Holy Spirit will be working through us to speak Truth.
4. Pray for all of the deaf people we met at the Deaf Club.

 God Bless,

 The Romania Team – Exodus 15:11

Hi – The team is in the process of getting an internet connection, and has asked me to send their post for now.        Janet Filley  (Stacie’s mom)

Today we bought supplies.  We met about  200 deaf people – at the deaf club and invited them to worship services we will be having daily until we go to Cluj.

Please pray for acquisition of the Romanian language and for the community worship services  that we will be having.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers.

Please keep checking back, as we will be updating.