----- Original Message -----
From: Douglas A. Martin
Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2004 4:21 PM
Subject: May 2004 - Update
April and May kept us busy, but with wonderful results!!
(For those of you who like the bottom line):
10 students from Bahnea attended Doug's CMI 'Level One' course on "Personal
Evangelism".
The students set a goal of sharing the gospel with at least 50 individuals
between now and the end of the year.
Carmen, one of the CMI students, shared the gospel with her very first
person within 2 days of the completion of the course!!!
30 singles from our church in Bucharest drove 10hrs. to help facilitate
an evangelistic event for the church in Bahnea
140 attended the event in Bahnea (of which half were non-believers)
20 from the evangelistic meeting stayed after the film to talk personally
with someone about their relationship with God
15 from the Saturday Evangelistic meeting came to church on that following
Sunday morning
2 accepted Christ as Savior during the morning service: Claudia Bota
{18}(see photo below) & Silvia Rosca {30}. Please pray for these
young ladies - for their spiritual growth.
I (Doug) personally shared the gospel with 5 individuals during that
week in Targu Mures (April 25 - May 2)
-----
(For those who also like stories)
Our ministries took us to 3 countries Austria; Greece; Hungary and to
several cities in Romania during the past 2 months.
Sharon attended a teachers conference at the beginning of April in Vienna.
Doug traveled to Tg. Mures where he conducted 2 days of team meetings.
Doug also taught a course for the CMI on Personal Evangelism. The students
were helped to think through a complete presentation of the gospel and
on the last day of class each was required to share the entire gospel
with someone else from the class. The students were nervous, but it
really gave them some confidence that they could do it!!
Carmen, one of the CMI students who had just taken my course, met me
on Sunday afternoon [May 2] after I returned to the church in Bahnea
from preaching in a nearby village. Carmen's dad was taking me to the
train station that afternoon and she[Carmen] (along with her cousin
Elizabeta) wanted to ride along. Carmen started talking as soon as we
got in the car. ". . . Bro. Doug, I shared the gospel with my very
first person yesterday," she began to explain finding it difficult
to contain her joy! She continued to share with me how the course had
given her the tools and the confidence to share the gospel with her
friend. To put it bluntly, Carmen was on "cloud-9", all-smiles!!!
All the way to the train station we either talked about her experience
of sharing the gospel, we prayed, and the girls serenaded me with songs
& choruses glorifying our God - - I even joined in on occasion!!
What a car ride it was to the train station that day. I was tired -
I had been away from home for more than a week. I was exhausted from
the team meetings; preaching opportunities; teaching of the course;
meetings with pastors; evangelistic event, etc. But nothing could have
been sweeter that to ride in that hot car, being bounced around on rough
roads while listening to 2 girls rejoice in the love of their Heavenly
Father knowing that they had been obedient in being a witness - - even
to the ends of the earth - - and believe you me - Bahnea feels like
the "ends of the earth!"
We finally made it to the train station (after 2 stops due to overheating)
still singing and thrilled with all that God had done in Bahnea during
the previous week, only to see my train pulling away from the train
station as we pulled up. I can't even say that it bothered me. I purchased
a ticket for the next train to Bucharest and said good-bye to the girls
and Carmen's Dad. After an hour, the next train arrived. I boarded,
found my compartment and, feeling exhausted, I settled in for my 4.5
hr. train ride home. I greeted the elderly couple in my compartment
and popped in a film into my lap-top, thinking that my ministry for
the week was complete and wanted to just VEG!! After my film ended,
I was engaged in conversation with the couple who were returning to
Bucharest from a funeral in the city of Medias. They detected my accent
and wonder what part of Romania I was from (I love that when they don't
know that I'm not a Romanian!!!!!) Upon discovering that I was an American,
they wanted to know if my parents were Romanian? And, How had I learned
Romanian so well? All of this led into a 2 hour presentation of the
gospel. This Orthodox couple knew the scriptures and was searching for
answers. [Now I was beginning to understand why I needed to miss my
first train - - God had someone with whom he wanted me to share the
"good news" and I did - with pleasure.
Check out our upcoming June prayer letter where Sharon will have an
article about her recent discipleship meeting with 40 ladies from our
church.
Below are some pictures from the Evangelistic event in Bahnea. It was
an all day event with sports events; a picnic and a Christian film.
Take a look at what you missed!!
Claudia is 2nd girl from left [head down] at back on Sunday morning - she accepted Christ not long after the photo was taken
Marina (L) sharing Christ with Claudia the previous day at the film. / / Nori (r) answers questions from those who stayed after the Christian film.
