Get Up and Shine

I praise the Lord for taking care of us and guiding us in a wonderful way during this month. At the beginning of the month the ladies from our church united with the other sisters in Christ from all over Ukraine in prayer and fasting for God’s ministry in the whole world. The topic of their prayer was called “Get up and shine”. During their meeting they understood how important united prayer is, and how powerful can it be. At the end of the meeting they donated money for God’s ministry in poorer countries. Later the same month, they attended a regional conference for women where the main topic was “The Relationships Between Young and Old Generation”. They learned that only the love of God can cover any difference between us.

This month our church celebrated the 20th anniversary since the opening of the current church building in our village. We held an outreach with this occasion with great preparations of programs by the children, the youth and the choir. We had preachers from Romania and guests from other churches in our district and unsaved people from our village. 

At the end of the month we went to Fagadau village and helped at a funeral service. There came a lot of unsaved people who heard the Gospel and for whom we pray to open their hearts for Christ. 

Thank you for supporting us financially and for your prayers. Your sacrifice makes us praise God as it is written in 2 Corinthians 9:13-14: “Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, we will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with us and with everyone else. And in our prayers for you our hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.” We wish God’s blessings follow you every day. 

Best regards, Mihai Gortopan

Watching Seeds Grow

I glorify God for taking care of us every day in any ministry we do. 

I want to share with you the joy we have at church as a wonderful result of the PIEI camp we had this summer in August. Two young boys, Andrey and Vadim, who repented at the PIEI youth camp this summer, come regularly to church and are keen to study the Bible. They are very active in the church ministry along with other youths of our church. We glorify God who has started His ministry in these youths’ lives too.  Let’s pray for them to be strong in their faith and to stay near God all their life so that the other people in our village could se Jesus in their lives. 

Precious Teachings

At the end of October all the Romanian churches in our district celebrated Thanksgiving in the town square of Novoselitsa. Our youth took an active part at that outreach. A lot of passers by stopped to hear the praise to God given by the youth through songs and the sermon. We pray for everybody who heard the Gospel to be touched by the Holy Spirit. 

The preachers of our church attended a seminar in Chernauti, held by a professor in Theology from Bucharest, Romania. We all received precious teachings. 

Thank you for supporting us in our ministry here. I wish our partnership never end so we could be workers in the Lord’s vineyard.

Best regards, Gortopan Mihai

The Future of the Church

I praise the Lord for letting us to live one more month in which He showed us His mercy and kindness. This month the youth had the opportunity to lead a whole service at church one Sunday. All the church was encouraged to pray for our youth because they are the new generation and the future of our church.

Missions Around the World

We were visited by a young missionary family from Kazakhstan. They presented their work and their vision for the future, to go to a poorer area and work with street children. We always pray for them, and were able to give them financial help to support them and their work (Elena and Sergei). On the last Sunday of September, we celebrated Thanksgiving when we praised and thanked God for the blessed harvest and for His care during this year. There were unsaved people at church too who could hear the Gospel. On the same afternoon our choir visited a smaller church in our district and we were a great encouragement and joy for brothers and sisters of that church.  

Thank you for the great support you give us. You are our help, encouragement, and reason of thanksgiving and praise to God. Pray with us for the work in Ukraine.

Best regards, Gortopan Mihai

Regional Ministry

August started with the PIEI youth camp which, was attended by 4 leaders and 10 youths from Tarasauts. Along with other youths of the region, they all spent a wonderful week studying the Bible. This camp is a great and fruitful ministry which brings repentance, blessing and joy. We thank wholeheartedly the American team who dedicated themselves completely to this ministry. 

On Monday after camp, all the PIEI missionaries met at our church with two brothers from Michigan USA, Brother Rob Cook and Brother Charlie. We shared our experiences from the ministry and learned how to schedule our work more efficiently.  

Our church hosted a regional conference for families with the participation of some brothers from Romania. We pray for families in our region to be strong enough to face the Devil’s temptations and stay healthy Christian families useful to their communities and their local churches. 

Glorify the Savior

At the end of the month our church had another guests from Romania, who preached the Gospel and sang to the Glory of God. There were unsaved people from community to the services. Our wish and prayer is that anything is done at church and in our community is to glorify our Savior, so that more unsaved people to find Jesus and the local church to grow spiritually. 

We thank the American team for their full dedication to the ministry in the camp. May the Lord reward your sacrifice! We thank you and pray for you: “That in everything you are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 1:5) We also thank the other PIEI brothers and sisters who didn’t visit us, but support our ministry. We pray for you and wish God’s blessings follow you every day!

Blessings Through VBS

I praise the Lord for the blessings in this month in which we felt His mercy and Grace. We started the month with a week of VBS for kids. It was a blessed time in which lots of unsaved kids as well as kids of our church had the opportunity to hear the Gospel and learn the Word of God. They also had lots of different contests and games. The youth of our church were involved in this ministry as the number of children reached 80 and that required more leaders. Also on Sunday after the VBS week we held a regional children’s meeting in our church. The meeting was full of songs, Bible contests, games and Bible study. All the children praised the Lord. We pray for the children who heard the Gospel to tell their parents about Jesus and their parents investigated by the Holy Spirit to be transformed. We also had a New Testimonial baptism in our church, where several people wanted to be baptized. It was a beautiful holiday for our church and lots of unsaved people could hear the Gospel. 

Sharing Experiences

At the end of the month the American team arrived and the ladies had a regional conference where sister Gabriela, Dr. Jackie and sister Patricia Grupp shared valuable teachings with the ladies from different churches of our district. At the same time the PIEI missionaries got together and shared their experiences from their ministry with brother Cornel Stef, the PIEI president, and brother Daniel Petruts, a pastor from Romania. We are very thankful for the American team who sacrifices their time for the ministry in Ukraine. We pray for the PIEI camp that God will prepare more hearts to receive the Word. 

Gortopan Mihai