Dearest Friends,
PRISONS
I struggle to find the right words to describe my feelings as I stood in Piesti in front of a monument to those who were imprisoned and tortured by the Communists. At that very spot, a prison had stood that was famous for inventing new methods of torture. Richard Wurmbrand, author of “Tortured for Christ”, suffered in this place. We stood on holy ground, drenched with the blood of many martyrs, made dear by the faithful witness of those who would not deny Jesus.
On the wall of the monument was a map of Romania and Moldova showing the sites of prisons, deportation centers, extermination centers, psychiatric hospitals for experiments, and concentration camps. There were so many sites that their locations crowded out everything else on the map. I was horrified, broken, and driven to prayer. I am so grateful for the example of these dear brothers and sisters.
LAUGHING AND DANCING
Today, we did 2 shows at a public school. The children loved the entire program. They listened well and on the last song when the big bear was singing, they started dancing. The Director of the school said, “Your program was like manna from heaven.” Though she was not a believer, she had been exposed to Bible teaching. More, she invited our new team that we are training to come and do more shows for them. Praise God!
We had some problems because we were not allowed to pray with the children. However, they did allow me to tell the children how I asked Jesus to be my Savior as a little girl. More, I was able to walk the children through a simple prayer so that they understood how to ask Jesus to be their King. Please keep praying! Your prayers are opening doors!
SAM AND SILVANA
On Sunday night, Silvana sang a Portuguese praise song for the students evening worship service. My favorite lines of the song were when she sang as a prayer, “I need you. I want you. Come into my life. Change me.”
Sam preached on the book of Ruth and talked about how God is our redeemer as Boaz redeemed Ruth. It was awesome to listen as he explained how the Father takes all of the ordinary things in our everyday lives and redeems them for His glory.
A PUPPET SHOW!!
Yesterday, we did a puppet show upstairs while a church met below. This presented a challenge because we were encouraged not to be so loud. It is difficult to have a roomful of children watching a puppet show and be quiet. More, this was a Romanian Brethren church and they required all girls and women to cover their heads. Of course, no jewelry was allowed.
I am telling you all of these things because I want you to understand how hard we try to respect others we are serving. The rules change from place to place. Please ask the Father to continue to make us sensitive and wise. We desire to be a blessing.
AN AMAZING PLACE
We are working in the best place! It is a Bible institute that is training young Romanians to be missionaries in their own country. They also already work in Turkey , Greece and Bulgaria, places that I would dearly love to see children targeted more for the Gospel. This is a perfect match for our ministry and we are thrilled to be here.
In Jesus, Linda for
Sam Shaw – Assistant Director
Silvana Shaw
Calah Sager
Toby Simmons
Naomi Armstrong