Sorin and Trish Prodan would appreciate prayer at this time as they are encountering a number of trials. Sorin reportrs:
The Lord is gracious. In the middle of many things we do, we experience God’s grace abundandly. Our time of ministry was mainly focused on the continuation of the construction work at the Conference Center in Brasov City. We advanced in many ways. There is a lot of time that we need to invest in getting the paper work from various institutions. Then, we need to supervise the workers closly, as there is this sinful tendency to do a poor job. We struggle with men that are not committed to do a good job, and be trustworthy. Sometimes, three or four of our team members have to keep a close eye on the various companies that send their workers to not steal expensive materials, or damage some good equipment that we have on the construction site.We are happy to see that we reached the level of the interiors, but we also have to keep working on the parking, stairs, and fences. The building is all done outside including the paint. Now, we are about to connect the building to the water supply, and natural gas. All these require tons of paperwork and much patience.
The spiritual work with the church is in a stage of transition. We have gone through some changes concerning the location. We had to leave from our hall that we rented for two years, and we meet in the hall of a church, every Sunday from 2 pm. This is a very indadequate hour, but it is the only alternative we have until we fininsh the ground floor at our church building.
In spite of all the changes, we see the unity of the church body. We do our prayer meetings in the houses of some of the church members, and that is such a unique time. We are affected with not being able to do our Bible studies, as our church meeting is in the middle of the day on Sunday.
We celebrated a baptism of two brothers who were saved. Alin is a policemen, and he came to know the Lord through his wife, who was saved a few years ago in our church. After her baptism, Alin visited the church each time she came to attend our services. The Lord worked powerfully in Alin’s life and although he has a job where is hard to live as a Christian, he made his decision to follow Christ, and testify of his faith in baptism. Alin was not quick to make moves in his spiritual journey, but I noticed his stadfastness, and consistency in seeking the Lord. I was happy to see him in this new step of faith he took, and I am thankful to see a serious man who wants to follow Christ. The other brother is a young man, the son of a missionary, who came for the Internship Training before getting on the mission field for long term.
Another special event of the month was the wheel chair distribution we organized along other churches in the city of Brasov in a partnership with Joni & Friends. Each year for the last six years, we conducted this event and experienced great blesssings. For three days, we offered free mobility equipment for disabled persons (wheel chairs, cratches, and various walking equipments). After helping them to find the best equipment they need, we shared with each one of them, and their family members, the message of the Gospel. We had three rooms where our church took the responsibility of showing them the way to salvation. What a blessing to share with a few hundred people each day in this project the Good News of salvation!
We also had the Street Evangelistic Outreach with our HeartCry teams. Each month we do this outreach when for two days we just go to help a missionary family, or a team that works with HeartCry in doing evangelism. This is a wonderful ministry that we have done for years now. In August it was our turn to host the HeartCry teams reunited in this massive outreach.
Right in the middle of the work, I got a very sad news: my brother called and told me that my mother had passed away! She had a heart attack and died during her sleep. She was only 64, and nobody thought she would die so soon. It was such a hard experience, as my mother was probably not saved. She kept postponing her final step of faith in following Christ. She attended the church in her last years, but she kept postponing her decision for the Lord. I kept praying for her, and many time fasted to see her saved. She spoke many times that she was willing to be baptized, but there was alaways something that hidered her. The funeral was a great opportunity to share the Gospel. My mother was not evangelical. Therefore, we decided to organize the funeral with the Baptist Church. We faced major problems with the Orthodox priest who refused to accept to bury her in the cemetery beside my father who passed away in 2008, claiming the ownership of the cemetery, which obviously was a lie. We went to serious struggles in the days prior to the funeral, having to appeal to the major of the city of Zalau to get the permission that we had by law. Anyways, in the end the problem was solved and we went on with the decision of honoring the memory of my mother by having two pastors preach the Gospel. I pray that many of my relatives and her neighbours were touched at the funeral.
Pray for us as we go through this difficult time of adjusting to my mother not being with us anymore. It was a sudden death that affected all of us.
Thank you for your faithfulness in sustainig us.
In Christ,
Sorin
