20 March
We hope and pray that you are feeling and knowing the love of God more than ever. We pray that not even COVID and its restrictions can stop you from feeling the love of God and others. Why do we pray the love of God over you through this newsletter? The reason is that we feel like “God’s love” has been the key lesson and idea that we have seen this month. For this reason, we would like to encourage you with this verse found in Romans 8:38-39, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”
At the beginning of the month, a Romanian YWAM team to work alongside Hope Church. Their first day of ministry was handing out New Testaments with some of Hope Church’s missionaries. We were also able to take some of our youth. We saw that there is a spiritual hunger in some of them, for others to know the love of God, just as what they have received. We also had a creation workshop for Craiova Youth, where we made necklaces. The youth cut out words or pictures from some pieces of paper. One of the youth gave Rachel her necklace and the word was “Beloved.” The youth did not know what the word meant, but together, we were able to tell her more about the love of God.
On Valentine’s Day, Hope Church Craiova had their first baptism. This person was Diana, the American teenager that Rachel has talked about in these newsletters. Diana is originally from Chicago and God used Rachel’s English lessons, as a way for the 2 of them to meet. She decided to follow Christ in the summer 2020 and decided that she wanted to be baptized around December. God moved mountains and continues to do in her life. Through her testimony and the invitation of Raul Costea, Hope Church’s pastor, others came to the front to state that they also want to be baptized. Amongst these people was a man who is in his late 60’s. It is so awesome for us to see that God listens to our prayers and continues His work in the youth. God’s work hasn’t stopped at the youth; the youth are taking Jesus’ love even further to their friends and family members.
Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement and financial support! The Gospel is bearing fruit and the youth are being touched by it. We see this through changes in their lives! We can’t wait to see what God has planned in the following year!
