Spring 2014 update

"Hristos inviat", it's a common greeting you hear all the time in the spring. It's a tradition that for the next 40 days you greet everyone from the lady at the store checking out your groceries to your next door neighbor. It means "Christ is risen," if you are greeted this way you would respond "Adevarat Inviat", "indeed he is risen." I love the spring, for so many reasons, everything that once appeared dead. Starts showing signs of life. Neighbors start working in their vegetable and flower gardens. You can hear and see the deep cleaning that signifies change in the season. The warm weather draws people out to enjoy the sunshine and the warmth. it also presents great opportunities for sharing gospel tracts and invitations to the church. My son was asking why some people will listen and ask questions about the gospel tract and others will either ignore you or walk away. This is the first time he has been able to participate in street outreaches and It was a great opportunity to share with him, the parable about the different soil types. In every group you are going to have those who are open, some that are simply interested in what you have to say, and those who want nothing to do with it. That is why we share with everyone because we never know who those people are going to be. It has been a blessing this year to watch our older 3 children help the team from the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Hungary with translation and handing out invitations and gospel tracts. The team was a great help with after school program working with the Roma children, playing with the orphanage children, and sharing at the conversational English class. 

Weather permitting every evening we have been sharing tracts, And talking with anyone who has questions about why we celebrate Easter, or Paste in Romanian. Pronounced pashte. Romania, has a rich history filled with lots of traditions that can be fun for the kids like coloring eggs with friends, and then smacking two eggs together to see who has the stronger egg shell. But I am also reminded all of the time that while people may know about the death and resurrection of Jesus, they miss out on the personal significance to their individual lives. How the gospel is the good news and why it's to be celebrated, not just because of church tradition but because it offers true spiritual freedom, from sin, shame and death. In talking with one young person during this season, they were talking about what their priest had told them. That while faith in Christ is good, the easier way for salvation was through doing good deeds and having your good deeds outweigh your bad. Which led to a great conversation about why our good deeds are never good enough.

Our Easter program was fantastic, and we even had a few people come from the tracts that we handed out. We are continuing to pray and ask God to give us divine appointments as we share the gospel with those within the community. 

Earlier, this month, Brian traveled to the south of country to participate and at a pastor's conference. Hosted by some good friends. We had a speaker from Calvary Chapel Hanover, in Germany come and share. It was a great time of fellowship, the word, and prayer. 

Over the last 6 months we have started video recording our Sunday messages and uploading them to YouTube and our church Facebook account. With the Hope of using as much technology and social media as we can to reach into our local community and Romania in general. Please pray that God would use these tools to reach people in this country.

The Lord has provided for our plane tickets this summer. So we are really excited to be able to come back and visit with family, and our church family all that God has been doing the last 4 years. We are looking forward to a time of refreshment, and being rejuvenated. 1/2 of our time we be spent in Oregon and from June 21- July 25th and the other half in Idaho. With our return trip back Sept 2.

If you interested in keeping up on our day to day activities, pictures, family life:

Our blog:

http://romaniafouts.blogspot.ro

Facebook:

Brian Fouts

Calvary Chapel Bistrita page

Twitter:

@FoutsBrian

@FoutsCynthia

Instagram:

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Prayer Requests:

Prayer for those who received gospel tracts and invitations. Pray that the Holy Spirit would draw them to Jesus and that they would have open hearts to want to know more.

Pray for young men who desire to be used by God to change their country.

Prayer for a Awakening in Bistrita and the surrounding communities.

Prayer for our trip home for a visit. That God would provide places to stay, vehicles that are needed. All of the logistics of sharing at churches.

Prayer for the church while we are gone visiting the states. For the pastors who will be teaching in Brian absence.

Pray for fruitful time in the states and a much needed rest for the family.