SWAT REPORT  # 34    09-01-05

WE GOT THE VAN…PRAISE THE LORD

See photo # 4996…it is a honey…really good deal…thanks to all who gave towards this…we will keep you posted as to the use of it…better yet, come over and visit and we will give you a ride.  Believe me, this van will suit our needs for many years to come.  We had a special prayer of thanks for it last night in church.  For those who care…it is a 2001 Ford Transit…diesel…front wheel drive…9 passenger…long bed…high top…and it is in very great shape.  We cannot express enough gratitude for your help on acquiring this van.

VISITATION IN EASTERN EUROPE

I promised in the last report that I would tell you what it is like to go on door to door visitation over here.  Okay, I have a visitor’s card and I have to return the visit…the address is # 9 Strada Lunga (see photo # 4944)…so my translator and I locate # 9…I knock and no one answers…is that the end of the visit?  It normally would be in the states…but here you try the door, or rather gate, it opens and behind that numbered gate is a whole community (see photo # 4945)…folks coming and going…many doors and mail boxes…a terrace upstairs with more apartments (see photo # 4947)…keep going and you will come out to a little home with kids playing (see photo # 4946)…now where, oh where does the visitor live…there is a bay of disheveled mail boxes…some with numbers…most without…you must start asking for the person you are looking for…the locals hear the name…ask for a repeat…and then point on toward the back or upstairs…an English speaking American visitor can cause quite a stir in this little community with everyone curiously looking or coming out of their apartments and/or following you to the right person and hanging around to find out just what all this is about.  This would NEVER happen in the states and that is why I have written about this and sent photos so you might soak up some of the local culture.  It can be rather quaint or you can let it get the better of you and get mad at how these people are…the latter is a waste of time…you chose to come to them…so when in Romania…do as the Romanians do.   This slogan can only be practiced to a certain measure.

OUR FIRST GYPSY PREACHER

Our Gypsy families are coming along very well and growing in the things of the Lord.  They have learned faithfulness even beyond what some of our Romanian member who live very near the church have learned.  Last week Mihai told me that on the next street meeting that he was going to preach.  This is without any prompt from any of us.  We thought it might be a bit too much for us to expect for them to engage in this offensive manner.  After all, the average citizen on the street is already prejudiced when they take the first glance at our Gypsies.  It is a strange thing to the folk on the street to have a Gypsy try to give them something (a tract) instead of trying to take something or beg something from them.  Well, the very next street meeting we prayed, sang, and Mihai started right out reading scripture…since this is my passion anyway, you can imagine how I responded.  We have five regular men in our church who are eager and willing to preach on the street meetings…what a blessing.

Dug-in for the war on the eastern front

Gerald Sutek

And the SWAT TEAM for Christ