Tuesday, May 22, 2001
Dear Pastors and Churches:
    May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!  Our hope is that this letter finds each of you doing well and finding all you need in Jesus Christ.
    As I write this we are doing pretty well.  Janet is still weak and has the dizziness, loss of vision and
hearing – all a result of her surgery, and is just recovering from some kind of infection – staph, we think.
I believe we have a problem with the well water here at our house.  We do not drink the water, but bathe
in it and use it for washing and cooking.  I am having a problem with what seems to be an allergic
reaction, but we are keeping going, although we are not able to do as much as we would like.
    We are rejoicing in some natural things and in some spiritual things.  As to the natural, we rejoice to tell
you that God has answered prayer and we now have the permanent Romanian license plates AND
documents for the car!  After more than a month of going and trying and talking to the dealer, finally I felt
led of the Lord to phone the U.S. Embassy in Bucures’ti (Bucharest).  A few phone calls from them to
the authorities and our county police office was ready and willing to issue me the plates!  However, while
I was able to go to Res’it’a (our “county seat” town) on Friday and pick up the plates, the documents
were not ready until yesterday (Monday) so I had to make another trip for them!
    While our language study is ongoing, I have been preaching two or three times each Lord’s Day and
once or twice on week-nights since last writing.  But we rejoice to tell you of our first “preaching tour” to
Oltenia.  Oltenia is a region in the south of Romania which is very strongly Romanian Orthodox.  It is
mostly a poorer region than where we live – houses are smaller, very, very few cars seen in the villages,
even worse roads than usual – a place that needs to hear the Gospel!  A Romanian Brother, Marcel, has
been sent by the Bocs’a Romana church and is supported by Romanian Baptists living in Australia.  He
was our “host” and “guide.”  Janet was not able to make such an all day-and-into-the-night trip so she
stayed home and prayed for us.  Four young men from Bocs’a who sing close harmony went along to
sing and speak a bit.  Raul, my translator, and I made up the total of 7 – so the Nissan was packed!  As
there are no places to buy food in the villages, we took food with us. I left Berzovia at about 5:30 AM,
picked up the Brothers in Boc’sa and we traveled for about four hours through the mountains and then
southward to the Danube River.  Then we turned northeast off the main highway into the hills and villages of the region.  To advertise the morning meeting, the quartet stood in the principal street of the village and sang for about half an hour.  After an hour of preliminaries and singing I preached to more than 35 people for about an hour on Jesus and the woman at the well.  In the afternoon we were in another village – the one where the Sister sold her corn, bought land, and started construction on a meeting-house.  About 25-30 people gathered in her courtyard and after another hour of preliminaries and singing, I preached for an hour from John 6 on the 4 characteristics of those whom Jesus will resurrect. (In the villages such long sermons are expected and needed - the people have heard nothing or very little of the Gospel.)
    Then in the evening I preached somewhat more briefly in the city of Drobeta Turnu-Severin to an
estimated 100 people.  After visiting an older Sister (the grandmother of one of the quartet) we started the
long drive back home, arriving there before midnight.  At each place there was earnest and continued
attention during the preaching.  Tears were in some eyes.  Surely God was working in the hearts of
some.  Praise the Lord! And God kept us from any visible opposition and violence from the Orthodox and
we had no breakdowns or flat tires!  Please pray for the people of this region – a stronghold of the devil.
    I have been having some trouble with the floppy drive in my laptop computer and have not been able to find anyone, so far, who will repair it.  Please make this a matter of prayer.  Also, we have investigated
the cost of a Risograph  (digital duplicator) and the smallest one – suitable for printing tracts and booklets will cost about $3,800.  Please make this a matter of prayer also.  We can use such a machine to produce badly needed literature quickly and at a lower cost.  Another matter for prayer is this, the cult religion of William Branham, American Jesus-only Pentecostal healer who died in 1965, has bared it’s ugly head in Romania and is gaining converts.  Raul’s parents and sister are involved.  Please pray!
    Being out of space, I close with much appreciation and thankfulness to you and to God for your faithful support in finances and in prayer!
    Pray For The Pughs. please
    In the cause of God with you
    Curtis and Janet Pugh
     curtis@rdslink.ro
    CURTIS PUGH
    str. Tudor Vladimirescu nr. 376
    1742 Berzovia, jud. Caras-Severin
    Romania