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: 011 40 255 555 136
E-mail: curtis@xnet.ro

PRAYER LETTER FOR MAY, 2008

Thursday, June 12, 2008
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).

    May God’s rich blessings be upon each of you is our prayer!
    Meetings, Conferences: Due to expenses, I did not go to Cluj-Napoca for the meetings in May. Brothers Raul and Aurel made the trip, staying with Aurel’s sister. Meetings lasted 4 or 5 hours and they were held for 5 consecutive evenings. They also had personal discussions on the Bible with others each day they were there. Attendance was not as we had hoped, but the Brothers met with 10 interested people. They ranged from university-aged young people to one couple in their 70’s. The Brothers were requested to return, and one couple there stated their desire to come to Bocsa to study further with us. He stated that our literature and meetings had confirmed his belief in grace, but devastated his church ideas. He wants to be a part of “our kind” of Baptist Church to be established in his city.
    Medical: Janet and I are about the same, health-wise. My hemoglobin remains pretty stable, but I am going to have to go to Budapest, Hungary and see a dermatologist about another medical problem soon.
    Summer Projects: Today we begin painting the window frames and doors on the sides of the house and garage. These have been scraped, sanded and prepared. We ask you to pray about the following 5 things that need to be done. (1) We are obligated to install a fence all along the lower side of the mission property. We have gotten a quote of $3,000.00 for materials and labor for this fence. (We can paint it ourselves.) (2) Typical of mud-brick houses, the mission property has developed some cracks. These are not structural problems but if rain enters them then the mud brick will “melt” and the walls fall down. Repairs, & insulating them outside as they do here (which will save on heating expenses) and paint will cost at least $1,800.00. (3) Two old wooden windows with roll-down shutters are on the front of the house. These let in cold in the winter. If we make these repairs to the outside of the house, then this would also be the time to install pvc thermopane windows which cost $475.00 complete. There are two things we believe we must do before Fall. (4) We need tires for the Nissan. Today’s price for 4 new ones is $950.00. (5) And our central heating unit is kaput. We finished out the cool spring weather by burning wood and now have little of that left. The repairman says the motherboard is burned out and that to install just that new part will cost as much as a new unit. A new central heating unit at today’s exchange rate will cost $1,500.00. This is a huge total amount of money amounting to $7,725.00. We are not begging for this money, but we do ask that you pray with us about these things, please. These are things that we are facing and are of concern to us.
    Bearing the Cost: We realize that during such an economic time as we are in, everyone is feeling the pinch. We want you to know that we are doing all we can to continue here. I do not believe that I should leave the field! Raul and Aurel are willing to take secular employment, but they are needed full-time in the work! We have cut back on groceries as best we can. We have cut back on trips to the city, combining things that need to be done into one trip every-other month. On alternate months we buy needed food and supplies locally rather than make the hour’s drive to Timisoara. We have had to cut back on the number of preaching trips to Filiasi, going there only once every three weeks now. We are donating to the work from our personal funds, though we think we need some reserve funds of a personal nature. Recently we have not taken our “salary” so that the work will have needed funds. Things are very expensive here. If you noticed on our financial report, the cheapest place we have found to purchase filters and oil for the car cost $170.83 this last time. We are even driving half-again as many miles as we ought to before we change the oil. Pray with us, please, that we will be as wise as serpents in finding bargains and getting by on as little as possible. While many oppose us, even to recently writing against us in one of the national denominational papers, some people are hungry for the Word of God and want to follow the Lord. We are confident that God is working in them!
    Mission Trips: I have taught the people both here in Bocsa and in Filiasi to tithe and give to the Lord’s work. The folk in Filiasi are poor, but do what they can. The tithes and offerings here in Bocsa met the cost of the last mission trip to Cluj-Napoca. The cost of the fuel alone was $212.15. We have decided already that we can meet the cost of the next short mission trip in the south of the country in this same way. This trip will be 1/3 longer than the previous one and so will cost at least 1/3 more. This is in addition to the $25 each month they give to the literature work. I rejoice at the sacrificial giving and faithful tithing of the people here. They want the truth to be proclaimed far and wide! One Brother in Filiasi who has a job in construction work, besides his regular tithe and giving to the work there, gave us 200 Lei – almost $85.00 – to help defray the cost of the next mission trip. This was a big amount for him to give! So the Romanian believers here are meeting the cost of the upcoming shorter mission trip. But we also need to go and teach the 8 Brothers in Braila County far to the east. While there, meetings need to be held in Cahul, in the neighboring Republic of Moldova (a Romanian-speaking country). Such a trip would bring us to the part of Romania called Moldova. We have long-standing requests to come to three cities in the region – Suceava, Botosani, and Bacau. Such a trip is long, expensive, and the meetings will require two weeks to complete. Pray, please!
    Russian Translation: T.P. Simmons outline has been translated into Russian. We await receiving it. We will make the final installment on this translation project when we receive it. Praise the Lord!
    I must close! Thank you for your various cards and letters and for your earnest prayers on behalf of this work. We are very appreciative of your generous financial giving which enables us to remain here. Please continue to pray for us all and those to whom we preach. May God bless you all as you serve Him!
    In the cause of God and truth with you,
    Curtis and Janet Pugh
    curtis@xnet.ro

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