Sandu Deac serves in Ukraine as the pastor of a local church in the area of Pasat, Grisevca, and Molodia. This month, Sandu reports of the advancement of the gospel and the conversion of a 96 year old lady:
When I think about what is going on right now in the world, in our country and in my ministry area, I recall the Apostle Paul’s words that he was writing to the believers in Philippi while in prison in Rome, “… what has happened to me has actually served to advance the Gospel” (Philippians 1:12).
These are special times from several points of view. You can see panic and desperation everywhere. Ukraine declared a state of emergency at the beginning of March. We have restrictions and can’t gather as a church anymore.
In the first week of the month, we had the regular worship service at church. In the second week, we worshiped in home groups. Then the restrictions became more severe and we had to move online. I encouraged the believers to worship the Lord with their families. We meet online for worship three times a week. It’s interesting that we received requests from people outside the church to join our group (a sister of a believer living in Italy; one of my brothers in France and our daughter, Sara, in Romania). I talk to them every week as they are in this group of our online church.
Finally, I have a special testimony. We baptized a 96-year-old woman on March 28th. She had postponed her commitment for 30 years. She felt the call to repent at that time, but kept postponing it. But now, when we are forced to be isolated from other people, God gave her time to look into her heart and see her emptiness. She has such great joy now that she can’t describe. She prays that the Lord would allow her to live one more year so she can enjoy the church and her Christian life.
