On Sunday, we attended the second of our three Confessional Lutheran churches here in Romania. St. Mary Lutheran Church in Brasov had about 18 in attendence which included Jo Ann and me. The service was done in Romanian and English. The preacher for the day was Dr. David Preus who preached in Romanian for his very first time. Also, Dr. Sorin Trifa's youngest son Mattias, read the scripture readings in Romanian for his first time as well. I'm thinking dad is grooming him to consider becoming a pastor someday like his older brother. Below are some pictures of the church and service.
Our trip to northern Suceava began with a bus ride to the train station. Due to a series of unfortunate events, the train ride to Suceava took about three hours longer than it should have. At one of the stops we jumped onto a train that had a piece of paper taped to the window that said Bucharest / Suceava. We thought it was a train that started in Bucharest and was heading to Suceava. Once we were on the train, we finally found someone who spoke English who told us we were heading in the wrong direction. Long story short, we went arrived safely just before midnight. Praise the Lord for great friends like Traian who came to pick us up in his automobile and took us to our host friend had a full meal prepared for us knowing we hadn't eaten all day. We still enjoyed traveling by train. The trains were a great way to travel to see the country. We include a couple of train pictures below.
Our friend Jesse and his son Ciprian have taken us in to stay with them for the next few weeks. There is a lot of country to see here in the northern part of Romania which is in the region of Moldova or Moldovia as we pronounce it in English. Moldova is actually a country in itself bordering the northest area of Romania. However, before the communists came in and rearranged the borders, it included the majority of what is now the northern part of Romania which is why this region is called Moldova. Suceava is located right in the middle of this region.
We are here to continue to observe the three new active Confessional Lutheran mission congregations here in Romania. As we move through the week and the coming weekend, we will let you know what we are discovering about the new Lutheran Church here in Suceava.
Our connection here to Suceava and now to the entire Confessional Lutheran Church of Romania began through our relationship with Jesse and Lorisa Bangs, former members of my congregation Trinity Lutheran Church, Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Lorisa was born and raised here in Romania and Jesse in the Denver, Colorado area. They have been wanting us to visit ever since we reached out to them when they lost one of their two young boys in a freak swimming pool accident. Unfortunately, Lorisa could not be here because she is waiting on the long process of having her visa renewed. Jesse flew back to Suceava to host us while we are here AND so that his other son Ciprian can spend time with his grandparents and family back here in Romania. They fly back and forth between family and friends in the United States and here in Romania.
"Where's Pastor?!"
Luther Quote of the Day
"This grace of God is a very great, strong, mighty and active thing. It does not lie asleep in the soul."
We really enjoy the countryside pics! Learning much information re: Romania. What a country and a culture.
ReplyDeleteThey are doing all they can to revive tourism. The country's geography is beautiful. The communist rule really set them back and so they are trying to rebuild, but in some areas of their society it has been slow. Suceava appears to be the most modern and advanced of the three cities we visited. I'm also watching a seven episode Netflix documentary called Flavors of Romania that has been very informative.
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