“Through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13
God has called us for a second trip to Romania this year. I am happy to say that Gabi and I are able to travel and go together this time.
She was not able to go with me in July due to complications following a very difficult hip replacement surgery, and was in physical therapy most of this summer, with a lot of problems unable to sleep in a regular bed. She has improved although some issues remain, but with God, all things are possible! We hope that this time the trip will not be as demanding and she would be able to teach and visit with women and families with less demand for walking.
We are going to be joined by Alex and Rodica Popa, both members of the PIEI Romania partnership committee, who will be involved in administration and overall helping the ministry’s communication, function, and all the necessary aspects of a well working ministry involving national missionaries and support received from the U.S.
The Men
The highlight of this season’s ministry is for the men! We are honored to sponsor several Father-Son Conferences in October with Pastor, Author, Speaker and Educator, Norm Wakefield and Elijah Ministries. Since 1997, Norm and Spirit of Elijah Ministries has ministered in 22 countries around the globe, being utilized by our Lord, instructing on how to live to love and walk worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ! We are very excited that Norm has been called to Romania and pray our Lord’s blessing on these sessions. We are looking forward to being in Craiova (Southern region of Romania), Sibiu area (Cisnadie), and our own PIEI Center in Alba Iulia for 2-3 days of conferences all taking place in October.
Gabi and the Women
As the men will be meeting at these conferences, Gabi is planning to meet with women at the same time for a relaxing time of fellowship, encouragement and challenges from the Word of God, and hands-on projects. There are two new locations where she has not been so that she will meet these women for the very first time. It is always so exciting to expand our ministry and do outreach to more locations and reach out to more people. It is fascinating to see how the Lord plans our steps, if you are but willing to follow Him!
I, Cornel, as usually, will be Jack-Of-All-Trades, doing whatever is needed for everyone, from driving all the way down to the border with Bulgaria where we will be spending some time with one of our national missionary Gavril Cuc and his wife Vera and their ministry there, to administration role and everything in between!
The Girls!
As we will be traveling South we will stop on the way in Arges to see the orphan girls at the Tigveni Institution. They are always eager to see Gabi whom they call mommy and she is always ready to see them, as they communicate often via messenger. They are so precious, and we hope to encourage them and love on them, as they have been depleted of parental love and family all their lives.
Please pray for our safety in traveling and for wisdom as we have all these meetings and visits. Our desire is to share the love of Christ and be an encouragement everywhere we go, so that we would make a difference in people’s lives, as well as be an encouragement to our national team there in Romania.
PIEI Ukraine Missionaries coming to Romania
Lastly, we are looking forward to having several of our national missionaries from Ukraine travel to Romania and coming to meet with us. How exciting! They have been through so much, and this might just be a little break that they need to take their mind off this awful war, such a nightmare that they live with every day. This would be a definite highlight of our trip! Praying for them and for their safety as they will cross the border twice as they come and return back to Ukraine! Please continue to pray for all our PIEI Ukraine missionaries, their families, and the ministry in Ukraine. Pray that this war with Russia will end soon.
Our departure date is Thursday September 26. Tomorrow we are packing our bags.
Joyfully serving,
Cornel and Gabi Stef