Tamyra Crossley's
Romanian Report
November 2002
As I look out my window I am amazed at the beauty before me.
We have had a steady two day snow and everything is covered in a blanket of
white! Undaunted by the cold, the children have bundled up and are
using whatever they can find to slide down the hill in front of the house.
This week is a holiday (school) and they have been busy making paper chains
(to decorate the house for Christmas) .
We have had the children each draw a name of one of their brothers
and sisters and they are required to make something for that person for Christmas.
We not only want to encourage them to be creative but have found that when you
make someone a gift you are much more excited about giving that gift than
receiving one yourself. They have been looking through craft
books and most have selected the perfect gift they want to make. Of course,
all of them will need "some assistance" so mom and dad will be a bit busy "helping"
.
It appears to be "HARVEST TIME" with so many of the different
ministries we are doing. It started with Mica Turma (Little Flock) the
street kids ministry. Many of these children we met the first time we
came to Romania
and we developed a love and heart for them. Casa Plina (Full House)
was originally designed for them but when the majority of people coming were
older we decided to do a separate ministry for "kids only". Three weeks
ago, while Brian was giving the evangelistic message we were shocked when George
raised his hand and said he wanted to do that (get saved). George is 15
and used to be a pretty "tough" kid. We have watched him change over the
last year and were thrilled when he made a decision for Christ! The following
week Robert and Alexandra asked Christ to save them and last week Alin and Ramon
were saved.
I was able to go to Harmon with Brian last week as he taught
the children. They are meeting in the apartment of a lady who’s daughter
Brejita, stayed with us for one week this last summer. While Brejita
was with us she refused to even try to memorize her books of the Bible.
What is thrilling, is that she is now the "shining star" and was the first to
get to Proverbs and to date 9 children can quote the books to Proverbs.
The room was very small but that didn’t seem to deter anyone and even
though the program is aimed more at children there are about 6 teens and several
adults who stand at the door and even participate some. The week before
last, after the meeting two children came up to Brian saying they wanted to
be saved. Florin led them to
Christ.
We have been blessed to have Brother Monroe Mercer (our Pastor) and Greg Spurlock
come and stay with us for about a week. Because of their short visit
we were on the run most of the time they were here. I don’t think
either of them were able to fully adjust to our time schedule and with the full
schedule (and Bro. Monroe preaching everywhere he went) it was anything but
a vacation for them  .
We do appreciate the sacrifices they made and the encouragement they were to
us while here. The children loved them and are already asking "When are
they coming back?".
I know I should probably wait till next month to report this,
but I just can’t wait! As most of you know the people at Casa Plina (Full
House) are a very difficult group to work with. Each week they get
the gospel and in a year just a few have accepted Christ. We have asked
(and even Bro. Monroe asked) over and over "why wait?". They will
just shrug their shoulders and not respond. This last week
however, was different. After the evangelistic message they were given
the opportunity to pray. The majority bowed their heads and seemed to
be in deep prayer. After the last Amen, we asked, how many of you just
asked Christ to save you? One hand went up, then another, then another
with a total of 13 accepting Christ!!!!!!!!!! I can honestly say my heart
was doing flip flops and I was smiling from ear to ear. Several
started to laugh at me as I was bounching up and down saying yes, yes, yes you
are now part of GOD’s ARMY!!!!!!!
I write this to encourage all of you. So many years seeds have been planted
and many times we have been discoraged, but keep on, there will be a harvest
time and a time of rejoicing, PRAISE GOD 20 new souls are now in God’s Kingdom!
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