CURTIS PUGH
Missionary to Romania
Sponsored By The
GRACE
BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH
26080 Wax Road
Denham Springs, LA
70726
Elder Jerry Dodson,
Sr. - Pastor
jerrydodsonsr@wmconnect.com
PRAYER LETTER FOR
DECEMBER, 2005
Wednesday, January
11, 2006
Dear Pastors and Churches:
“Grace
be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen” (Eph.
6:24).
Grace
is what each of us needs. By grace God saves us and by grace He sustains
us in every area of our lives. May great grace be yours for the supply
of your every need! This is my prayer for you as I write.
Medical:
Janet’s right eye continues to be painful and her vision in that eye blurred.
The specialist has been on vacation from his clinic in Szeged, Hungary,
returning this past Monday. Due to car trouble, I have not been able
to take her to see him as planned, but we need to get her there soon.
Please pray about this!
Bocsa
Meeting: Attendance has been constant in Bocsa with good interest
shown. The fellowship is good also. While we could wish for
more in attendance, those coming are being helped spiritually and so we
continue to faithfully preach the Word here. Some others have said
they want to come, but fear of being excluded (for attending our meetings)
by the liberal, Arminian, Baptist Union pastor keeps them away.
Filiasi
Meeting: The Brethren continue faithful in Filiasi both in their
meetings and in their efforts at evangelism. They visit in Filisasi
and in various surrounding towns, distributing our literature and witnessing
to the people, most of whom have all their lives been connected with the
Romanian Orthodox Church. We have held services there when possible
since I last wrote, but have been hindered some by car problems.
It is a blessing to see the young men, especially, searching the Scriptures
and reaching out to others.
Literature:
While I cannot tell you how many miles we have driven or how many sermons
I have preached in the last year, we have tried to avail ourselves of every
opportunity. We do keep accurate records of the literature we distribute
and can report to you that in the year 2005, we have given away 44,201
tracts, booklets, books, CDs and Bibles. That is more than 13,000
items more than we distributed in 2004! We are such a small “operation”
that we marvel at what God has enabled us to do – you and us together –
in providing at no cost sound, sovereign grace, Baptist literature to Romanian-speaking
people. While we are often surprised as to where our literature shows
up, we know it has gone into the Republic of Moldova, the Ukraine, Bulgaria,
Serbia, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Germany, England, Sweden, Canada, the United
States and Austria as well as Romania – all to Romanian-speaking people
in those places. Let us praise the Lord together for what He has
done in setting forward His truth! Since our last report the color
cylinder for the Risograph finally made it to us and in good condition.
We are rejoicing to have it and to put it to use!
Opportunities:
Besides Janet’s medical problems, we have been beset with the need for
car repairs these last few days. First of all we had to put new brakes
on the back wheels and then to balance the tires and align the wheels.
Now we have need of a new constant velocity joint on the left front.
(The mechanic told us when this goes out it will be impossible to drive
so we are limiting our use of the car.) Also we need to buy at least
two new tires as the front ones especially are deformed and causing problems.
While the condition of the roads in Romania are improving as European Union
funds are designated for that purpose, they are still very bad in many
places and take their toll on vehicles. Until we are able to get
the car properly fixed, we have had to cut back on the amount of travel
we do. Please pray that we will soon be able to go and preach as
before!
Janet’s
Realm: The washing machine continues to work well and the new
dryer is great! It is really nice to have soft, sweet-smelling clothing
and towels for a change! We have had only two or three power outages
since our last letter to you and only one of them was serious enough that
we had to make a fire in the wood stove to keep warm. Janet has pruned
the rose bushes between the house and the well and also alongside the driveway
and is looking forward to spring. All the snow is gone in our area
for now, but we are having cold weather. At night it has been getting
down to the upper teens and low twenties Fahrenheit.
Get
Acquainted with Romania: As you know more than 90% of Romanians
are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church. “Saint Elijah” is important
to them with a special day in July to honor him. The popular idea
is that Saint Elijah often drinks too much. In fact he stays drunk
so much of the time that he cannot remember his own birthday. He
often asks Saint Peter about his birth date, but Saint Peter refuses to
tell him because he fears he would make a big party and cause trouble in
Heaven and bring storms and floods on the earth. So, only after the
July date passes does Saint Peter tell Saint Elijah that his birthday has
passed. Saint Elijah then throws a big drunken party, but not such
a big one as he would have if he had known it was his birthday. This
explains summer thunderstorms – Saint Elijah is partying!
Introducing:
I would like to introduce you this month and next to the young men who
labor with us. The first young man whom God raised up for the work
here is Brother Raul. His full name is Iosif Raul Enyedi and he is
23 years old. He has labored with us as a translator for some 6 years.
He is called to preach, has been licensed and preaches regularly in the
Bocsa meetings along with me. Presently he is the only student in
our English Language Bible Institute and besides being doctrinally sound
and strong in grace, is interested in history – especially in Baptist history.
He lives in Bocsa with his father and mother, 2 brothers, a sister and
his grandmother. He believes he is called to minister to his own
people here in Romania and is devoting his life to that work. He
is a willing worker and puts in many hours weekly in all the various aspects
of the work here. He assists in everything from helping with the
driving to correspondence with people who write us. Pray for Raul!
Thanksgiving:
How we thank God for you! As you faithfully pray for us and support
this work with your financial gifts we are able to preach the Gospel, discuss
biblical doctrine with pastors and young preachers and provide interested
people with biblical literature. Without your help we could not do
the work set before us – we could not enter the doors opened to us.
We realize more and more that you are indeed laborers together with us
in this missionary enterprise. THANK YOU for your help and may God bless
you for your faithfulness!
In the cause of God and truth,
Curtis and Janet Pugh
curtis@xnet.ro
Preaching Baptist
Baptism, the Blood, the Book, and the Blessed Hope
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