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
MARCH, 2006
Wednesday, April 12,
2006
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).
“So
be it” is the definition I learned for “amen.” And so it is as I
write that we all here desire for you that the wonderful grace of our sovereign
God be with each of you individually and corporately as Churches.
Bocsa
Meeting: Those who attend regularly the services here in Bocsa
have been giving each Lord’s Day. From these funds help has
been given to some needy families. For example last fall one family
in another place needed money for firewood and a gift large enough to cover
this need was taken to them. The people here are poor and not a lot
of money comes in, but it has been decided by the members to give up to
25% of what comes in to the work here – especially towards the literature
and other needs as they arise. This we are glad to see! We
never want to promote “welfare-ism” here or anywhere else and we think
this is a good step towards Romanians beginning to do as much as they can
for themselves in the work of the Lord among them.
Filiasi
Meeting: Since our last writing we have been able to travel to
Filiasi regularly, though the roads are deplorable! In some places
in towns and on the open highway you must slow down and crawl through holes
in 1st gear! Of course there are no warning signs about such rough
places – you are left to fend for yourself. But the Word of God continues
to be well received by the baptized men there as well as the “regulars.”
Recently one man who distributes our literature in another place traveled
by train some distance to be with us in the service there in Filiasi.
He is a coal miner. He understands free grace and is coming to see
Church truth. His location is difficult to get to because of mountains
and bad roads, but he wants us to visit him soon and preach there.
Literature:
I wrote last month that we were running out of literature. That seems
to be a continual “problem” now. We have printed two new gospel tracts
(and are almost ready with another) and these are going like hotcakes.
We are glad, of course, that so many of these are being distributed and
are working to keep up with the demand. We usually print 2,000 at
a time, but have increased the quantity of these items considerably.
It is time to reprint THE TRAIL OF BLOOD. We have in the past had
this done by a printer because the size of the booklet is too large for
our equipment. It will cost somewhere between $1500 and $2000 to
print 5,000 of these. If any Church or Churches wish to help us with
this, please mark your checks TRAIL OF BLOOD. Whether the Lord leads
you to help with this or not, please be much in prayer about this and all
the literature needs! So far, in this year of 2006, we have produced
and distributed almost 20,000 pieces of literature. Brother Aurel
and Brother Raul are exceedingly busy with this work and Cristi (Raul’s
brother) comes after school to help us with the collating and operating
the folder-stapler. We do what we can.
Natural
things: In the midst of the “spiritual” work, there are always those
ordinary, mundane things that come along to occupy our time. I know
this is true for all the Lord’s people and especially those called to pastor,
etc. As you know, we have been waiting about 2 months for needed
car parts. They have finally arrived – yesterday! So Thursday
and Friday will be taken up in Timisoara getting the car finally fixed!
Lord willing! New tires are also supposed to arrive and I can get
them put on also Friday – I hope! We have funds to pay for these
things and are thankful to God and grateful to you who were led to help
us in the finances for the car. We would also hope to get the air
conditioner going as the roads are so dirty here and we do expect visitors
this summer. On top of this, we now learn that two parts of the roof
of the mission property must be replaced. Almost all roofs here are
red clay tiles. Some older ones are really good. Some made
during the communist era are a very poor quality. Some of ours are
the latter and are literally crumbling. We have had one serious leak
in the garage (which is used for storage). We MUST repair these roofs
and as new tiles are very expensive, we think to put metal up instead.
This means purchasing new lumber to support the metal. Yesterday
Raul and I spent almost half a day scouring our area to find such boards
as are needed. (Nothing is simple or easy here!) God gave us
good success and the place will deliver the lumber, believe it or not!
Now we must order the metal, get it here, and wait for the rain to stop
so that the old roof can be removed and the lumber and metal put up.
Pray for us as this is a big job to us, and an urgent one.
Janet’s
Realm: Janet’s tulips are coming along nicely and she has had
some time to dig around them. It looks like her roses are going to
do well again this year. She did part of the month’s shopping at
the new German store in Timisoara recently. Prices are OK, and the
variety and quality are really good. She even found sauerkraut so
we had sauerkraut with wieners – though they are called “cremvurst” here.
Staying busy mainly with the housework, cooking a noon meal for us men
five days a week, she also helps out by serving as “cashier” and keeping
records of cash expenditures – and as everything is a cash transaction
here, she stays busy. Janet also teaches conversational English to
two high school boys for two hours on Fridays. They are intelligent,
though shy young men, and seriously interested in learning English.
“Everybody” here wants to learn English, but few are really interested
in working at it, so it is better to limit her teaching in this area to
those who seem to mean business. Please pray for this part of the
work and Janet’s witness to these young men.
Get
Acquainted with Romania: It is almost “Easter” and the Orthodox people
observe two Easters, a week apart. The common greeting on the street
during this season is “Christ is risen” and the expected reply is “truly
Christ is risen.” For this time of year, no more “good day” or “hi”
or “hello.” Of course there are the bunnies and the eggs – and do
you know why Romanians have brightly colored eggs? It is to remember
Saint Veronica (or was it Mary Magdalene?) who while going to market to
sell her eggs, stopped by the cross where some of the blood of Christ spilled
down on her basket of eggs and colored them red! Special breads are
baked (with a “cross” or “T” on them – remember Tammuz?) and the
leftover crumbs from these and the shells of the eggs are cast into rivers
so the mythical forest creatures will bless the people for the year.
The Orthodox Church regards Easter as the most important celebration of
the year! Cemeteries, streets, and houses must be cleaned and new
clothes worn. Saturday night at midnight before first Easter the
people gather in large numbers in and around the churches where they march
around the building, sometimes carrying an empty coffin to portray Christ
being alive. Finally the priest takes a candle “whose light came
from the sky and fell in Jerusalem.” He lights the candles of those
around him and they in turn pass the light on to others. This is
the most important thing – to get the light! These candles are taken
home to light the houses. Such are some of the fertility rites of
Romanian Easter!
Our most sincere “Thank You” to all of you who care about us, this work,
and God’s elect people here in Romania! We are grateful for your
financial support and most of all for your faithful prayers concerning
us, and the work here. Please remember to pray often for us, for
Brother Raul and Brother Aurel who labor with us, and for all our efforts
to preach the Gospel and see New Testament Churches organized among Romanian-speaking
people. You are the means God uses to sustain this work!
In the cause of God and truth with you,
Curtis and Janet Pugh
curtis@xnet.ro
Preaching Baptist
Baptism, the Blood, the Book, and the Blessed Hope
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