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
OCTOBER, 2005
Tuesday, November 15,
2005
Dear Pastors and Churches:
“Grace
be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen”
(Ephesians 6:24).
My
prayer for you as I write is this: May you be well and doing well in all
things so that the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you.
New
E-mail Address: Please take note of our new e-mail address.
It is curtis@xnet.ro
Flood
Relief Funds: Aurel, Raul and I traveled to Denta, Timis County, and
distributed the last flood relief funds received. Details are shown
on the financial report. The national news here says that more than
2,000 families are facing the winter without houses. Those of you
were led to help financially should know that several families are already
in their homes because of your help, others have made substantial repairs,
and some, we have heard, will be able to be warm this winter as work is
being now completed on their houses.
Bocsa
Meeting: The preaching of the Word seems to have been especially
blessed of late. I have been preaching to the people a series on
Sunday mornings from the parables of our Lord regarding the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven. There seems to be good interest. Attendance
is steady with the occasional returning visitor.
Filiasi
Meeting: We continue to travel to the region of Oltenia almost
every Lord’s Day. There have been some returning visitors and the
people show genuine interest, I believe. There is strong opposition
to our work there, not from the Orthodox as you might suppose, but from
all sorts of Arminians. The Union Baptists, the Pentecostals and
a group of Plymouth Brethren named in Romania, “Christians After the Gospel”
are all against us. Lies seem to be the weapon of choice. One
Brother was able to purchase a garden plot and our enemies there have said,
“the Americans gave them money for the land.” This way they hope
to say that the people do not really believe the truth we preach, but have
been “bought.” But the Word of God is not bound and God is
working. Pray, please, for these young believers.
Literature:
We continue daily with translation work and the work of duplicating, collating,
folding and stapling, trimming, packaging and shipping of literature.
There is no glamour in this work, but interest in our materials continues
from many locations. Requests come in and in several places groups
are using our publications in their studies. Pastors are requesting
these things and circulating them among their associates. Some seminary
students are giving our materials to their fellow students. Seeds
of truth are being sown!
Opportunities:
One pastor from Texas and a Church in West Virginia have had the Berea
Baptist Bookstore, Mantachie, MS., ship us a total of 30 copies of J.T.
Christian’s A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS, Vol. 1. Almost all those English-reading
preachers on the waiting list wanting this book shall have received their
copies by the end of this week. Due to liberalism, this book, along
with the introductory TRAIL OF BLOOD, constitute the first sound Baptist
historical information available in Romania as far as we have been able
to learn. We are very happy to be able to make this scholarly book
available to interested men and believe God will use this for His glory.
THANK YOU for your help in this! Also we are happy to tell you that
the same Church in WV has also helped us greatly with finances to purchase
a new and up-to-date computer and a color drum for the Risograph.
These things will help us greatly, making production faster, and will save
funds as we will be able to order less colored paper for covers.
THANK YOU, again!
Janet’s
Realm: Finally the furnace company got our central unit working
and replaced their “loaner” with our own, so we are on our own again.
Frost has finished all the flowers as fall is really here. Two of
the three dresses I made for the granddaughters arrived safely. It
has been a month now, and one dress is still missing. One granddaughter
and one grandmother are very disappointed! Postal service is not
the most reliable here. This is life in Romania! Washer is
still working OK and we hope to purchase a dryer soon. What a luxury
that will be! We expect to buy a little firewood this week in case
of power or gas failure this winter.
Get
Acquainted with Romania: Funeral customs vary in Romania from
region to region. In some parts of the country graves are re-opened
again and again and as many as four people buried in the same spot.
Among many people loud wailing over the dead is expected, while in other
areas silence is the norm. The plentiful drinking of plum brandy
is customary in the home where the dead are prepared for burial.
Sometimes before taking the body out of the house, the coffin will be bumped
against all four walls – why we have not been able to ascertain.
Specially shaped bread is prepared and passed over the casket. Orthodox
priests charge high prices for their services and Orthodox funerals must
be held in the “church” and burial must be in sanctified ground – a cemetery
with a chapel built there. When the average Romanian dies, his family
must give away a table, a chair, a bed, dishes, cutlery, clothing, money,
etc., etc., so that the dead person will have these things in the afterlife.
Sometimes money is put in the coffin along with things dear to the person
– all so that eternity in the “green place” will be pleasant for the dead
person. Of course Catholic Romanians must deal with purgatory, but
the Orthodox Church denies the existence of such a place. Widows
almost never remarry and wear nothing but black the rest of their lives.
These pagan customs prevail among those who know not the Son of God!
We see believers rejecting these things as the truth changes them!
Thanksgiving:
We praise God for you who sustain us by your financial help and by your
prayers! Your “partnership” with us is not only necessary, but also
a great blessing and encouragement to us all here. Seeing God answer
prayers as needs are met, and most importantly of all, seeing lives changed
forever brings forth praise to God from us, and thanksgiving to each of
you who has a part in this work. THANK YOU!
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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