The end of Sunday

We started our day today with a breakfast that was typical Romanian. A plate of sliced lunch meats and a pepper and tomato beautifully displayed on a huge plate. Oh and a breadbasket for us to make a sandwich. Since we did not have to be at the church until evening, we spent the morning studying and praying and then took a walk in the park. If you scroll down a few posts you will see the beginning of our day and then you can finish up with this post which has pictures of the evening. Sorry it is backwards, I get confused sometimes when I try to post the pictures. I forget they build on top of each other. Oh wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. We heard Pastor Bill preached another fantastic sermon. Thanks Bro. Hope you all enjoy the day and feel like you are a part of the time here as you look at the pictures and read the commentary. Blessings to you all. Love, PW and Sherry


Florine and Liz

This young couple met with us, over pizza, after service tonight to talk about their upcoming marriage. They have been friends for 3 yrs now and Liz is from Louisiana and he is from Tirgoviste. They met while she was on a mission trip and have been building their relationship through email for quite some time. They are going to be heading up the Masters Commission school here at the church for the next 9 months. This school is for the purpose of preparing young people to minister. They are all about building the Kingdom of God. Please pray for them to have an easy adjustment period to married life so they can effectively minister.

Here Wayne and I are standing in front of the court house. It has recently been restored and was too beautiful not to take a picture for you jto see.

Sunday

PW with our Gaby Pastor Mihai
he is our translator
and dear friend.


Alexis, Nikki and her mom.
Nikki is the young mom who if you remember
was going through betrayal by her husband the
last time we were here. PTL she has peace now
and she and her daughter are doing very well. You
can see the joy on her face.


This is Adina. She is working with the young
people in the church here and had many questions
during our seminar the other night, She has asked to
start writing us so that she can ask questions and get
counsel as she continues this ministry.

Praying over a couple. The worship band.


This is the congregation of Hope and Life Church
in Tirgoviste Romania. The church is made up of
mostly young people and couples. They meet in
the school auditorium each Sunday at 6 p.m. If
click on the pictures you should see them waving
hello to all of you.
PW preached a message on hope to them. It was
quite powerful and when asked to respond almost
all said that they had come to a place of having no
hope that life would change for them. Even though
they have jobs, the salary is not enough to pay for
a place to live plus provide food. PW talked to them
about the need for an eternal perspective and not a
temporal one. PTL the message hit the mark and
God ministered to our brothers and sisters and
reminded them that hope is in Him not the world.

Sunday in the park. On the left gathering of old men playing checkers or
chess, view of the tower of the Orhodox church poking through the trees
and a father and son strolling down the walk. The parks are full of people on
Sunday afternoons. Lovers sitting on benches, families holding hands,
plus dogs in packs laying around. It is a very interesting way to spend a day.

Country of Contrasts

Our Hotel - brand new


The resturaunt down the street



Click to enlarge this and you will see the run down building
in the back. These are all surrounding the hotel and in use.

Young people

Tonight we ministered to this group of young people.
They varied in age and were very interested in building
good relationships with the opposite sex. They had tons of
questions and were very interactive as we shared with
them some principles from Gods word to help them.
Thanks for praying for us. Because of your giving and prayers
you also helped minister to them. Just think of how much fun
it will be when you finally go home to the Lord and get to meet
all of these people you helped inpact with the word.
Love, PW and Sherry

First day in Romania

Isn't she adorable? I could not help myself.

Juliana was one of the first young women we met in 1999 when we made our first trip to Romania. We attended her wedding and then lost touch. As God would have it, she was working at the our hotel and remembered us. What fun it was to reconnect and catch up on her life. She has become the mother of 2 children and is still walking closely with the Lord.

These are some of the young couples we met with this morning. We talked about Gods view of money and worked on making budgets and talked at length about their particular struggles with finances and counseled them from the word on how to overcome the challenges they face in this area. We had a wonderful time of fellowship over "Pizza", PW's favorite food. They ordered it in his honor.
God is good.

Last leg of our journey

Well we have arrived in Tirgoviste Romania. We got up at 3:30 a.m., left the school at 4:15 and spent the majority of the day in the air. We are tired but excited about the upcoming week. We start teaching in the morning at 10 when we will meet with the couples from the church and then at 6 we will meet with the young people. Sure would appreciate the prayers,
We will post pictures tomorrow or the next day when we are thinking more clearly.
Blessed weekend to you all. Preach em a good one Pastor Bill. :>))))
PW and Sherry

Last day in Latvia

Boys fprmed a socker team The students do work each
for some fun after classes day to pay for school.



Daniel and Damarias Natasha - school secretary
Director of School

Well today was our last day of teaching. We spent 7 hours in the classroom and then spent another hour answering questions at the end of the day. It was a great day. We actually finished our outlines. Hallelujah. We were not sure if we would get finished. Today we gave the practical application stuff plus made up the test. The students assured us that they learned a lot and that their hearts were challenged. One Pastors son said that the Lord really dealt with him during the teachings. PTL for His conviction. Two students asked for our email so they could stay in touch. Remember we had asked the Lord to give us at least two and He did.
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We are packing our bags now because we have to be up and leave by 4:30 a.m. to drive to Riga and then we fly out at 7 a.m. Please keep us in prayer tomorrow as we travel. We are having to go way out of our way to get to Bucharest due to the cancelled flight. So we will visit Brussels airport and then fly to Romania. After we arrive we will have a 2 hour drive to Tirgoviste, the city where we will be ministering for the next week. We will try to post when we get a connection, but if you do not hear from us, please keep praying.
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Blessings to you all,
PW and Sherry

Wednesday

Our students love to leave us little pictures when we are not looking as you can see. This class of young people have wonderful senses of humor and are really starting to engage us during class by asking questions. Today Wayne finished up the foundational truths for counseling and then he taught the process of change. We laughed so much as they opened up and shared their particular struggles etc.
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Sherry was privileged to speak in the chapel service today and exhorted the students on being pregnant with the Lords seed and how over the next 9 months they are to give themselves to God and seek Him so that when they leave this place they can fulfill the call of God on their lives.
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Tonight we will have dinner with Daniel and then come back to get ready for tomorrows lessons. Since it will be our last day here we want to be sure to be well prepared so we don't leave anything out of our teachings.
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Please continue to pray for us to hear clearly and also for our translator to feel better. She is still battling sickness.
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Love,
PW and Sherry

Tuesday

Our interpreter Marina


Fun loving students as you can see most of them
are in their 20's and full of promise.


You may not be able to see this clearly without clicking on it
to enlarge it, but was an illustration of a well which some fun
loving student decided to embellish and turn into a car during
our break.......
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Today was quite busy with teaching. Our time here is flying by and we are enjoying it thoroughly. These young students have their whole lives ahead of them. It blesses to know that they have chosen to give 9 months of their lives to dedicate themselves to the study of the word. Most of them have no idea what God wants to do with them but they are seeking direction from Him. It is such an honor to be allowed by Him to influence them in some small way. Please pray for them, they are future leaders in the body of Christ.
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We miss you all and can't wait to come home and see you all.
Love, PW and Sherry

Problem solved

Well as I told you in the last post ,while you were fast asleep, our Friday flight had been cancelled and that we needed prayer. I called the airline and we have been re booked to an earlier flight on Friday but will have to fly through Brussels. Thankfully Daniel is able to change the class schedule to work around our change in plans. Please continue to pray that no other changes will have to be made and that we can make all of our flights on time. Traveling is no picnic that is for sure. But God is the one who orders our steps and in His wisdom He has changed our plans so we will rest in that.
Thank you so much for praying.
PW and S

Immediate Prayer Need

OK Saints, we need you to hit your knees once again and start praying. We just received word from our travel agent that our friday flight to Romania has been cancelled. This would not be a problem if we were on vacation, but since others are waiting on us to come it complicates more than just our lives. The funny part of all this is that you are all sleeping peacefully and by the time you read this we will most likely have resolved the issue, but it sure makes us feel better asking for prayer. We will let you know how it turns out after we call the airline in a few minutes.
Blessings, PW and S

Day one

Latvia Bible School where we are teaching.
Our 40 students

Today was our first day of teaching at the school. It went very well and the students seemed to be interested and we enjoyed them.
It will take us a day to get used to working with our new translator Marina. She is a precious young woman who started translating last year. We are so used to our Ukranian translators that we forget this young girl does not know us at all. So please pray for us all as we transition with her. After class we sat with some of the students while they ate borsch. One young man Sasha had lots of questions. We are praying that God will give us a real connection with at least 2 students so that we can build relationship and continue to mentor them in the years to come. This evening after class we went to dinner with the director of the School, Daniel Pedraza. He is a misisonary from Argentina. He is a delightful brother who has such a sweet spirit and a real pastors heart for the students. It was nice getting to know him. So that was our first day. Thank you to all of you who are praying, we could not do what we do without the prayer support that you give us. God Bless You all. Wayne and Sherry

Sunday in Riga

Russian Pentecostal Church in Jgalvia

Wayne and Sherry in Riga
Delightful little surprise
garden in an alley way in Riga.
Ancient statues and buildings in Riga.

Diversity

We both had trouble sleeping last night so we would appreciate prayer concerning our sleep. the jet lag is very bad this time.
This morning we had the privilege of worshiping with our brother and sisters in the Russian Pentecostal Church. The service was very interesting. The women in this church wear head coverings, the people are very restrained and do not smile much and the worship is not expressive, buttttttttttttttttttttttt they love God and when they prayed they went on and on for 15 to 20 mins at a time with everyone praying at once. The worship lasted 30 mins then a man got up and preahced for 40 mins on the Blood of Christ and what it means to us. His text was from Hebrews 12. When he finished there were several special solos sung and then another brother got up and preached for 40 mins and then there was another song. The pastor then got up and preached for 15 mins on communion and then the choir sang chants while the communion was passed. First bread and then a common cup of wine. When that was over 4 different men came up and prayed for different areas of concern in the body and then testimonies were given and finally at 1;30 we were released. The pastor invited us to come to a meal prepared for us downstairs and so we joined the guest speakers and the pastor for a delicious meal and fellowship. We are home for 10 mins and will leave here to go to Riga to see the old city and then have pizza, which makes Wayne very happy, and then we will come back to get ready for tomorrow. All in all it has been a very intersting day. Praying for all of our church family at CCF that God will meet with you today and touch your hearts in a special way.
Love, Wayne and Sherry

Saturday

Well as you read yesterday we have arrived safe and sound. Our flights were good and we had nice seats with enough room not to feel like sardines in a can. Traveling in this day and age is no fun believe me.

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Wayne wore a tee shirt that says I love my wife on the front and it was so much fun to hear the comments from the airline workers and passengers. Almost every worker commented on how much they liked his shirt and some of the men asked him if I made him wear the shirt, what an open door that was to witness to the power of love in a Christian marriage and Wayne was able to tell no I had nothing to do with him wearing it. It was a great witnessing tool. Some of the stewardess even looked like they were going to cry when they told him they "really" liked his shirt. I felt like a queen because they all looked at me like I was the most fortunate woman in the world, of course I am being married to Wayne. :>) And then we had that added benefit of Wayne showing them how much he loved me by the way he treated me all day.
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We just heard that Waynes luggage has been found in Paris and will be delivered today sometime. We will pack differently next time since the new pattern seems to be Waynes luggage going to a different destination each time. :>))))
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Latvia is beautiful and clean. The sun has been shining since we arrived and the fore cast is for sunshine all week. It is amazing how good sunshine makes you feel.
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The school here is part of the Pentecostal Union of Latvia and is called the Baltic School of Ministry. There are 37 students ranging in age from 19 -47. Many will go on to further their preparation for full time ministry when they leave here in May. We are looking forward to meeting them all and getting to know them better. Hopefully our jet lag will not last past tomorrow so we can be alert and interact with them all.
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A young couple who live at the school here, Vlad and Ilona, picked us up at the airport and have
done an excellent job of making us feel at home. We have decided to stay home and rest today instead of sightseeing, we may take a walk around the town here later on. Tomorrow after service they will take us to see Old Riga. The city is over 800 years old and they seemed excited to show us the area especially since the weather is going to be nice. We usually do not get to do any sightseeing when we travel like this so it will be a treat for us. Pictures will be posted as soon as we get them.

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Please pray specifically that we will be able to get through all our teaching material this week. There are two translators for each class. One will translate into Russian and the other will translate from Russian into Latvian so this will take longer than usual. We have never worked with two at a time so it is a new experience for us. We want to be able to give these students meat from the word this week. This is only the third week of classes and so far they have had one week of foundations to the Christian faith taught by Pastor Al Stevenson from our home town and last week a brother from New Jersey taught on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Our assignment will be to teach them how to counsel biblically. Of course it cannot be done effectively without the help of the Holy Spirit so it is obvious that the Lord laid the foundation for our week of teaching.
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Have a blessed Lord's day tomorrow. Thank you again to the CCF family for allowing us to come here and minister this week. You are very much a part of what we do.

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We love you all, Wayne and Sherry

Friday - Arrival. Sort of.

Mom and Dad arrived in Latvia safe and sound. Dad's bag did not make it to their destination. (We are sensing a pattern here...) Unlike last time, the airline seems to have no idea where the bag might be. As a matter of fact, they are not even sure it made it onto the plane. A lesson was learned last time and Dad does have a set of clothes in Mom's bag (she has one in his as well). However, the electrical stuff is in his lost bag along with his dress shoes. It sounds like unless the bag is returned, Dad will be an unshaven, tennis shoe wearing preacher in dress clothes.
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The Lord knows where this bag has landed and we are trusting Him to get it into Dad's hands soon. Will you pray with us?