Elder Curtis Pugh - Sovereign Grace Landmark Baptist Missionary To Romania

Curtis Pugh
Missionary to Romania
Sponsored by the Grace Bible Baptist Church
26080 Wax Road
Denham Springs, LA, 70726
Elder Jerry Dodson Sr. - Pastor
(225) 664 – 3223
jerrydodsonsr@wmconnect.com
www.geocities.com/heartland/grove/3718
Field address: Curtis Pugh, str. Izvor nr. 3, Bocsa, C-S, 325300, Romania
Telephone: 40 255 555 136
E-mail: curtis@abaptistvoice.com
http://www.abaptistvoice.com

PRAYER LETTER FOR NOVEMBER, 2009

Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Dear Pastors and Churches:

“All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen” (Titus 3:15).

    This is a prayer letter that I never expected to have to write and one that I write with mixed emotions. May I say at the first that our Church is in agreement and standing with us in this matter and also that our pastor will be including a letter to you along with next month’s prayer letter. I ask you to please read this letter and those others yet to come carefully and prayerfully. Thank you for doing this!
    The Present Situation: As readers of our prayer letters know, both Janet and I have very serious and limiting health problems. Janet’s dizziness and vision seem to worsen and she has some other health issues that would be very expensive to deal with here in Europe. While my leukemia, if that is an accurate diagnosis, seems stabilized, I am not able to travel much. My anemia is so bad that I cannot walk very far at all. Because the anemia has caused me to loose upper body strength, I cannot push my self about in a wheelchair very much. In order to take care of shopping and other business affairs I must have someone else push me. Janet is NOT able to do this for me. Brothers Raul and Aurel are faithful to do much for Janet and me and assist us in every way needed.
    Two things have become apparent. One, I have “worked myself out of a job.” This is every missionary’s goal! Brother Raul is a capable and faithful preacher of the Word and faithfully labors in the mission work here daily as well as pastoring the new Church. Bro. Aurel labors daily in the print shop and bindery, producing free literature that is distributed by more than 450 “collaborators” – persons who request our literature and distribute it worldwide. He is also a good communicator of the Gospel!
Janet and I are now burdens to the work here. First, because the Brothers must take time away from more important projects to help us. Second, because our medical expenses, salary, etc., reduce the funds available for preaching tours and additional literature that could be produced. It is time for us to step aside and allow Romanians to work. We believe that is as it should be.
    Proposed Changes: Last month, Janet and I both turned 65 years old. Now we get Social Security and Janet has Medicare (which does not pay in Europe). The amount of S.S. is small, but we think we can survive on it if we rent an Independent Elderly Housing unit provided for Tribal elders by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. If we live in the Service Area of my tribe, my medical needs will be looked after at Choctaw-owned clinics and hospital. So, moving to S.E. Oklahoma looks like an open door. We expect to leave Romania in or around June, 2010 as it will take us that long to settle things here and in Oklahoma. Once in Oklahoma, we will receive no support given to the Romania Missions work. In S.E. Oklahoma I will be also involved in teaching and preaching as God gives opportunities with Scriptural Church-planting in view. If you want to call this home mission work, you may. As we are taught to say and think, we propose these changes “If the Lord wills.”
    Things That Will Remain the Same: I will continue to labor daily in translation work with Brother Raul. He and I can work together by means of computer-to-computer (free) phone calls as well as file sharing. I will still be involved in supervision and other aspects of the Romania Mission work, such as keeping you all informed as to what is going on there.
Our Church, Grace Bible Baptist Church, will continue to serve as a clearing-house for finances given for the Romania work. Financial accountability will be insured and monthly financial reports and prayer letters will continue as before. The house and lot here in Bocsa, as well as the printing and binding equipment, are held in trust for the Romanian work and cannot be sold for the profit of any individual. So these things remain to be used for the Romania Mission work.
    Additionally you should know that the Sovereign Grace Baptist Assembly (Adunarea Baptista Harul Suveran) here in Bocsa, has NOT and does NOT receive any finances from the mission support that you send. They will continue as an independent, autonomous Baptist Church.
    Things That Are Needed: First and most important of all, your continued prayers and support of the Romania Mission work are absolute necessities. If the Churches do not continue to support this work in both prayer and finances, the translation and printing of literature and the mission preaching trips will cease. It has always been thus. So I urge and plead with you all to continue the good work begun here by continuing in interested and earnest prayer and giving. If you do not hold the rope, the work will cease, but if you continue, under the capable hands of Bro. Raul and Bro. Aurel, the work will go on.
    In addition, “Transition Funds” are needed in order to get the Pughs moved back to the United States and set up so as to be able to function. We (the Pughs) have a few thousand dollars in savings – money that we have saved from personal income. This is NOT nearly enough to meet necessary expenses. So we ask you to pray about these needs and help us if you are so led. We have set up a “Transition Fund” shown on the financial report. To give to this fund, mark you checks for the Pughs.
    In addition to regular funds for the Romania work, Janet and I will need the following major items: a computer and peripherals; used furniture for a tiny one-bedroom cottage (appliances are furnished); a used full-sized van with heavy-duty wheelchair lift; a strong electric wheelchair; the cost of shipping clothing and personal items back to Louisiana; and we will need airfare for three or four persons as Janet and I cannot travel alone. Estimated costs of these items will be forthcoming in future prayer letters.
    Being about out of space, I must close. If you desire more information, please contact my pastor or me. Contact information is given above. Thanks go out this month for your cards, birthday gifts, e-mails, and a box of wonderful books from Berea Baptist Church Bookstore, Mantachie, MS. We want to express our appreciation to the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church (Elder Tom Ross, pastor) for the generous special love offering. Most of all, we thank you all for your earnest prayers on our behalf as well as your loving financial support.
    Pray, please, for all of us here and all that must be done in the days ahead!
    In the cause of God and truth.
    Curtis & Janet Pugh
    curtis@abaptistvoice.com

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