2250 Clark
Ave Long Beach, CA 90815 562.597.2411 Staff List
Hi everyone,
I wanted to send an update with a specific prayer request that you could be praying for.
Last Friday, in Orastie, I was driving a motorbike (in a dirt field) and in order to avoid a collision with someone, I swerved and fell. It was not too bad but I did get a serious 3rd degree burn on my ankle from the bike. It has been almost a week and it is still not healing up too well. This morning I went with a friend of the Cables (who is a doctor) to her hospital to be checked out. I would really appreciate prayer for healing, and that what they are recommending is really what is best for the burn. It is difficult being so far away from home and having to be treated for an injury, so I am feeling a little homesick at the moment. Please pray for both healing and comfort.
Apart from the crash, my time in Orastie was incredible. I was so blessed by God and had a fantastic time serving him with the Bethany team. They left yesterday morning, so they are all already home safe and sound. I am back in Sibiu with the Cables, and will be here for one more week.
Thank you for all your prayers. I truly have felt them. Please keep my burn in your prayers as well!
His,
Erin
Pace,
We are getting ready to leave Orastie .What a great last couple of days.
Sunday was awesome.
It was a bit sizzling outside. Travis and Andrew did a great job in the morning. I did the 4PM in Romosel. Mark closed us out at the 6PM Orasite. The entire team, even our translators and Daniel, did testimonies.
Andrew, Nichole, and Travis did a ton of worship. together with a bunch ofRomanians.It was followed by ice cream at the town square. Mark and I had a long bible chat with the head elder, frate Barna.
Monday we unloaded all the new windows for the church and had lunch with a family. The one Brian & Jeremy stayed with last time.
We had a few free hours after that. Some of the team hung out with youth at the sports park (with swimming) and some shopped. Terrence and I went with our host up to the mountains in a 4x4. It was awesome (and actually cool). A big thunderstorm started as we got to the top. It was like a scene out of the Sound of Music. Lots of green and wild flowers. We went down to Romosel and met a missionary from Belguim. He works with gypsies. It was great talking with him. He is hosting 15-30 people each week.
The night ended with the first worship service at the new church. Then a bunch of silly camp games with the youth, and many others. We had dessert at one of the families house.
Now we head to Sibiu and Bucharrest.
Thank you for all the prayers. They must have been numerous.
Serving Him,
Mike
Pace (blessings),
The trip continues to go fantastic.The team continues to exceed many of my expecatations. Other than a minor fall from a mo-ped and a few folks with upset stomaches, people are well.
Thursday we did VBS locally. Then we went to the country. A non-believing doctor invited us to his cabin for BBQ with the youth of the church. It was beautiful. Mark and I got our share of smoke, cooking some tasty meat on an indoor BBQ (like Argentine asado). We finished the night by listening to Andrew preach in Orastie. He did great! Along with 4 testimonies and worship.
Friday was our final day of VBS. We had well over 80 kids. We started with a skit describing the final days of Jesus' life before and on the cross. What a team! they did great. Mark (aka Joseph) carried Travis (aka Jesus) on his back to the tomb. I gave a gospel message followed by crafts and games. It was sad to see the kids go, but they heard the gospel daily for 5 days. Friday night we had more testimonies and a youth service, Travis was on fire (not just from the heat). Followed by a great night of ice cream at the city square.
Terrence and I were invited to our hosts bee farm, way back in the country. It was old fashioned Romania. With 300 hives. We even cut the grass by hand.
Today, Saturday we had a rest day and went to a castle from the 1300s. Then hung out with some church youth at Pastor Gabi's.
Sunday is a bit crazy. Andrew and Travis preach in the morning, I preach in the afternoon, Mark preaches in the evening. Everyone on our team, even our translators, will give testimonies at one of the four services.
Andrew, Nichole, Travis, and Maddy have been leading worship at each of the services and some other places. Terrence has been reading hymns at the services. Tisa, Hilary, Erin, and the team were awesome at the VBS and other places.
Monday we are helping with the clothes and food drive for Moldova (Region in NE Romania). They had great floods there, and hundreds died. Monday night we have a youth outreach at the new church (still under construction). We are doing pie eating. Might be a new sport in Romania.
The host families treat us like kings. There is little to ask for.
The head elder of the church, Fratele (brother) Barna, has had nightly theological discussions with Mark and I. What a kick!
Gabi, Ella, Mark, Jill, and Daniel have been plain awesome!
Please pray for our long day Sunday. Devine appointments. Safe travel, and cooler weather. Continued great bonding with our Romanian partners. It has been 90s, so some cooler weather would be nice.
We have been praying for the folks back home.
We are big fans of Romania.
See you next week.
Mike
Pace (blessings),
What a great first week. The team is unbelievable! They have bonded so well with each other and our Romanian and missionary partners.
The team is doing great so far. God has blessed us with very good health. Nothing more then a few sore folks, mosquito bites, and some very sweaty bodies.
The flights were awesome. They never asked any questions about the luggage on either side. Some of the bags were pretty heavy. We hit London on a day when it was over 90. We took a couple of Tube rides on the subway. Saw the center of town. A couple of our team started to fade so we headed back. Our search for fish and chips was a failure.
Mark and Erin were at the Bucharest airport waiting. Every flight got in early. We spent the night and headed for Sibiu. Stopped for meach (sausage) on the road. We spent the afternoon with Radu, Adi, and their families. We had a good prayer session for them.
Sunday we raced to Orastie. It was in the upper 90s. I did the sermon at their church. The inside was hotter than the outside. We had a couple of testimonies, worship, and hymn reading. It was a great start.
Monday we started the VBS. almost 50 kids showed up. We did this at the construction site for the new church. VBS went over 3 hours and was great. After lunch at Gabi's we went back and did about 5 hours of heavy labor cleaning up the construction site. Tues was the same. We erected a 25+ foot scaffold that Travis, Andrew, and I used to put on eaves and facia board.
Gabi was so excited to have kids and adults using the new church (which is many months away from being ready). He ran low on some supplies. A man in Sibiu said Gabi could have them for free because he felt led by God. This was many hundreds of dollars.
Wed we split the team. Half went to a small village for VBS, the other half stayed in Orastie. We met back later to do the service in the village. Travis preached for the first time. Daniel Cable translated a sermon for the first time. The entire team did great. Gabi and Mark were very excited.
We all have great families to stay with. We have been blessed more than we deserve. Gabi, Ella and their kids are a hoot. We had prayer sessions with the elders and other important folks.
A few of us can walk to the site. When the kids from the block (projects) see us they stream into the street and follow us there.
Our plans...
Thursday we have VBS and a church service at Orastie (Andrew preaching)
Friday VBS wrap-up and youth service (Travis preaching)
Saturday off day - headed to castle
Sunday.. (catch this==> We are conducting 4 church services 2 morning ones and 2 afternoon ones in Orastie and Romosel. (Travis, Andrew, and I will preach). Entire team will be doing testimonies.
We have two super Romanian interpreters. One staying with Maddy, one staying with Tisa.
Most of us our in homes with no knowledge of English. It is an adventure. My Romanian is growing fast as is Nico (head of house) english. Mostly we laugh and play games.
Prayer needs:
Mark is a bit sick
Our team can continue to work as one force for God
The remaining church services go well
Kids continue to attend the VBS (we get more each day). Many are gypsies
We are doing a bunch of traveling. Pray for safe travel
Devotions continue well (they have been great so far)
God would be glorified at VBS, church, and all that we do.
Thank you for all the prayers. It is working!
Multumesc and La revedare
Mike
From Pastor Scott - February 15, 2010
Greetings Bethany Family,
We left Sibiu this morning on a 6 hour drive to Bucharest. The weather has been really rough and we weren't sure what the road conditions would be like but thanks to Mark Cables Romanian driving skills we were able to navigate what looked like war torn Bosnian roads. We stopped half way to the city for "meech" a blood sausage that is famous in Romania. We arrived in Bucharest, a sad city of 3,000,000 people of which there is an estimated 10,000 believers in total. We spent some time going over our talks for the following day and ended the evening by having some pizza and praying before we headed to bed. Big day tomorrow, thanks for praying for the seminary training.
Tuesday 16Th
The alarm went off at 5:30 am this morning and we were out the door by 6:45 on the way to the Baptist Seminary in Bucharest. There are about 80 plus seminary students in this class and University students also take classes at the school throughout the year. Mark Cable teaches Biblical Hermeneutics, Greek and Theology classes to students and has also taught English classes. Today is the first day back for the semester and about half of the men who attend here live on campus and travel home on the weekends to their churches and wives. The entire day was schedules as guest lecturers and Mark had hoped we could each share some area of our specialty in the states, Mark kicked off the morning with a devotion for the students to push themselves to be learners for life especially in areas of faith. Greg then kicked off the seminars by talking about the heart of a pastor and how to prepare an expository message. Jeff followed up with a seminar on dealing with tough issues in the church and how to work with a church board. I finished the day off by teaching on building a youth ministry to impact culture. The seminars were so well received and the students had so many questions. It was great to be able to build an even better bridge with Mark who pointed out to the students was available to disciple and build into their lives for the long haul. We had lunch with the students and staff and talked with the Baptist director for Romania about the changing church and how churches can be more missional in a very traditional culture.
We ended the night by grabbing some Schwarma at a stand and letting the guys look for some gifts for their families, Jeff started feeling sick, please pray for him.
Wednesday 17th
Heading for the airport today, Jeff is really sick and we need some prayer, will try to update from Germany where we have a layover. I am almost home :)
We love you all
From Pastor Greg - February 12, 2010
Hello again from Romania! We wanted to give you an update on our trip before the weekend hits. It's 10:37 Friday night and we just returned from an all day trip to Orastie. Here's an overview of some areas of interest:
Weather: The temperature hasn't been that bad: we've had really cold days (with on and off snow) and somewhat warmer days (high 30's with rain) and today's absolutely balmy 42-45 degrees (producing the third weather result on the ground: massive Romanian mud!).
Encouragement: One of our goals has been to bring the encouragement of Christ to the pastors and missionaries we have come in contact with. We feel that has gone well. At the end of the Pastors conference the other night one of the young pastors stood and said that the time was so important that the younger pastors in the area needed to begin meeting quarterly in a pastor's fellowship. This was birthed out of the encouragement that they received through the conference and was something Mark and Jill have wanted for some time. Part of our time in Orastie was focused on Pastor Gabi Vitionescu and his wife Ela as they hosted us with a traditional Romanian meal of sausages and cabbage rolls. We also have been able to encourage missionaries in the area- we have had great time with one of the nationals we support- Adi Bretosin, along with the other couple that is part of the World Venture team with the Cables- Jim and Janice Dahl. Most important I am thankful for the time we have had with Mark, Jill and Daniel Cable. Mark and I have had some great discussions on life and they are doing well.
Ministry Opportunity: This afternoon we met with the ministry leaders of the Orastie church to encourage their development of small groups in the church. Dan McQuoid presented a great overview of the importance and benefit of small groups and each of us shared our experiences and answered the leaders questions. We finished our time standing with arms together praying for the
ministries of both our churches. Tonight Pastor Scott did an excellent job speaking at a youth evangelistic meeting. He talked about the importance of having our name connected with the name of Christ. It was a strong challenge with a clear Gospel challenge.Prayer Requests: Please pray for Pastor Scott as he preaches at Betanae on Sunday Evening. Pray too as we wrap up our time in Sebiu the next few days and travel to Bucharest. Pray for our time Tuesday with the seminary students in Bucharest. We will be teaching three seminars and need prayer that what we share is what God has for these men of God. Pray also for our trip home as the East Coast of the US has been bogged down with huge snow storms.
Health:We are all well, though somewhat tired. We are having a great time and are really enjoying the privilege of representing you in Romania.
Picture updates are available on Scott Foster's Facebook page. Click here for a sample.
Much Love,
Pastor Greg
There were about 40 total pastors and wives at the conference, most all were in their mid 20s through mid 30s. When I spoke today I commented that I was the oldest guy in the room. It felt like a crusade staff conference! It went very very well! It exceeded Mark and Jill's expectations. What was amazing was how deep things went so quickly. There was a lot of shifting of what we did and the theme the Lord developed was one of spiritual health, depth and maturity.
One of the most important things I did to help the conference succeed was to get really sick yesterday. It started around 10 am, and it was miserable, really bad. I was stuck in a tiny room (my room at the camp-very claustraphobic) with the child care next to me, so I heard kids screaming and I was sick as a dog. One of the attenders was a doctor and got me some medicine but it didn't help. What was significant was that my illness forced Dan McQuiod to fill in and he did his talk on the father wounds. Pastor Ben (the big time guy from Betanae) came and opened up, the guys started opening up and it was an amazing time (that's what I am told, I was back in my room recovering). What's amazing is that I started feeling better around 5:45, the lesson started at 7 but I was so weak I couldn't do it. Dan came back to my room at 10 and said- "Im convinced you will be well tommorrow-God had a plan and thrwarted satan's attempts". Sure enough today I am better. I am weak, but no more nausea and I've been eating okay today!
I spoke this morning on the heart of a pastor. I shared my story of driveness and panic attacks and then gave them some passages to think about. Mark said it went well. Scott ended the conference by doing the Spiritual Health Assessment with the Romanian pastors. Do you remember Audi(sp) the former crusade guy? He had translated it into Romanian over the last several months so this was the breakout presentation (decided on last night!) so we got copies made and went through it with the pastors and made it available for them to use. It was really cool!!! I felt like the conference was an overflow of our churches commitment to greater spiritual health, now affecting the world.
It's been a deeply touching trip for Dan and Jeff too. Jeff met a young man who is undergoing chemotherapy for the same cancer that Jeff had and it's worse, so they were able to make a great connection. Dan met with a young psychologist who translated his talks and was encouraged by Dan's expertise and spiritual focus. And I met a pastor named Benny who was voted out of a church he helped found and pastored the last 12 years. Mark said he was the real deal and treated in an evil way by his church- I spent a great deal of time with him and felt I was able to really encourage him.
The trip has been great so far. we navigated the flights and avoided the raging snow storms on the East Coast and in Bucharest. We arrived Saturday pm and after dinner at the Cables we prepped for Sun am and then crashed. Yesterday (Sunday) we attended a large (by Romanian size) church that Betanae (the home church here that we work most with) is helping move through a difficult transition time. Dan brought a greeting that was outstanding (based on Isaiah 61); Jeff did his testimony and talked about how his cancer brought him a deeper appreciation of the church (Mark said it was very impactful to the Romanians). Pastor Scott preached on Acts 9 with Annanias and Saul - it was very well recieved. We had lunch with Radu and his new bride Emma and after a brief afternoon of rest were off to Betanae for the evening service (One of the biggest evangelical churches in Romania). Dan brought the greeting and I preached Mark 5 on the Gerizene Demoniac. We got very encouraging feedback. Jill said she observed several Romanians weeping. Mark said that he had a real sense of The Holy Spirit working, especially in the area where we were talking about the need to choose Jesus and the consequences if we don't. It was a rich time. We met with some of the missionaries that Mark and Jill work with over burgers at McDonalds - no Carls Jrs in Romania-yet :(
Today we are leaving for the camp - tonight there will be a time of worship and then Scott will bring the first message followed by a session led by Dan on Balance in Ministry. Tomorrow(Tuesday) it's Dan on Christian Counseling; Jeff with two messages- the 1st on The Spiritual life of a leader and the 2nd Elder Matters; In the evening I will be doing a session on Preaching Expositionally. Wednesday I will be speaking on shepherding and then Scott will end with the Missional church.
So we have a lot coming up the next few days. Please pray for wisdom as we teach through translators and in a different culture. Please pray too for sensitivity and flexibility. There is snow falling now and some of who were supposed to come can't get out of their villages. This has been a wonderful visit so far. Jeff was under the weather but is fine now- the rest of us are in various stages of sleep deprivation based upon how the night went- but it is no big deal and we are well.
We thought of you all at Bethany and were in prayer for Sunday services and were excited for Keith to be able to preach- we're sure it was amazing. Better sign off now- we leave for the conference in a few minutes.
Our love to all . . . Pastor Greg
Greetings everyone,
This morning we went to Zion Church, a partner with Bethany in Sibiu. Dan brought the formal greeting, Jeff shared his testimony and I preached. Greg preaches tonight at Bethany and we could use some home church prayer. The guys did a great job this morning adjusting to Romanian church 2 plus hours, 45 minutes of prayer was a first for a worship service but it was a blessed time. We ended church and went to Radu's house for a Romanian lunch. They treated us like kings and served us their very best food, it was a real honor. We are back at our hosts houses prepping for the evening service, by the way I am glad we cancelled our Bethany service I am tired by 6 pm :) The service tonight will be telecasted, www.betania.ro should get you to a video link. You will see me bring a greeting and Greg preach.
Jeff is pretty sick, feverish and doesn't look very good. He did a great testimony despite his sickness but pray for him specifically and for protection for the rest of us. Illness takes a lot of joy out of missions. We prayed for you this morning and you are probably getting ready to kick off the services. We are thankful for Bethany and all the support and prayer for all the misisonaries and field workers. Mark and Jill feel especially humbled. Love from our group, it's about 31 and windy so almost shorts weather for Romania :)
We love you guys . . . Scott
