The fact that we are together again it is thanks to your prayers…Vio was busy,busy ,busy doing the weekly bible clubs in the villages ,plus working with the guys from church at the christian camp, and I am back from Switzerland ..in the way back home (had to drive 3 days with stops in Sibiu and Wien ) saw some cruels car accidents .To the one close home ,I had to stop longer and cry out of joy to be God’s protected child .Thank you for all your prayers …

Now we are back to normal?????!!!(wonder what is normal like??!!)

The other day went to the village of Mesteacan to do a bible lesson and craf tin the school. Talked to the principal on the telefon and she seemed very nice and open to have us help her . Getting there we found an interesting story .

Mesteacan –it is a well sized village ,but due to lack of funds and supplies only few kids attend the school .We expected around 200 kids to be in school ,but there were 10 kids in the kindergarten and 20 in the school, grade 1^st to 4^th ,all in one classroom-sort of classroom should I say .The number of teachers in this schools goes up to 2 –the principal and another teacher that travels about 30 miles , no car ,just hoping once in a while some one will stop and give her a ride .Poverty in this Romanian village touched our hearts ,kids from 2 years and a half up to 11 years ,all together hoping to learn something .

Since our Easter is coming(this week-end) we did a lesson on Easter and Jesus’s resurrection . Then we did the craft to remind them this truth and all the way we watched the principal, teacher and kids.

To them it was all a dream.. they were dreaming glue, foam ,scissors and a picture of Jesus on the cross .They have no access to such things there ,that’s why it was everything like a dream.. kids of all ages wanted to touch the glue ,the sticks, the crosses and all the other supplies we brought .

Had to explained the kids the crafts were bought by people that love God and kids of Romania …that made things more interested to them ..just little bit to hard to comprehend love, since their parents work the land so hard ,and have no time to give hugs or to tell their kids “ I love you”

We will go there about once a week ,when we are in the area..

Just thankful for this wonderful opportunity to teach about Jesus in the schools and kindergarten , especially in Mesteacan . We encourage you to pray for us in finding ways to help principal and teacher there to give a better education to kids .

Alina ( the principal-in the picture,)turned to me with the glue and said excited “ the only things we can afford to teach the kids is adding in math and some Romanian language" . We would love to help with some materials in science ,music, drawing, and why now with one or two miraculous computers ,English and of course Bible lessons .People are needed in these areas and therefore we bring this before God’s throne and before your eyes .

Part of their final products...He is Risen foam cross

Helping kids and people to trust Him and improve their lives

Estera & Vio

Rested and ready

Since you did not hear from us ,we are sure you figured out we are in vacation. Great time spent with great friends and a fresh sense of God’s presence in our lives .Now we are just ready for the work ahead .

Vio already started to go in the villages and teach the weekly bible lessons …all kids were excited to see us again ..He was supposed to join me for a training course in Switzerland next week, but needs to be here and handle some issues .So,here it goes a very first challenge after vacation –Vio by himself going to so many places, and to do so many other things ,and me having to drive to Switzerland –driving car is the cheapest way . There were 2 ladies joining me ,one from Tatiana from CEF and Doini from another mission. We give praises to he Lord for

· choosing us to go to the training-there are so many Christians out there all over Romania, but only 3 of us will go .

· choosing you to be great friends .

· giving us strength and wisdom to carry His task

As these week is going to be an extremely busy one ,we need your prayers for

· Vio ,to know what to do and what to left undone

· Estera –as I struggle with the idea of driving through different countries to get to Switzerland , no GPS , just bunch of fear

· Wisdom for both of us in using our time and our time with Him and for Him, as many activities lay ahead – a course we need to teach in Drobeta (teaching mission to kids, learning prayer –TCE 2)

- a camp course that will be held in Sibiu with Christians from all over Romania, we hope to be useful for all of them and give them good ideas and help.

- Weekly bible activities in villages, schools and orphanages

- Preparation for the summer and it’s ministries

Week-end camps

“ But the labors are few!”

We get used with God opening doors here ,changing hearts and now we are getting ready to see Him raising up workers and see them do something for Him ! And since we are the only workers in the area (except 2 more down south the county ) ,it was quite frustrating to see so much work that has to be done and no one willing to get involved .In fact the problem was to get involved since in the very few churches in the area are no youth .

During the years of ministry God prepared the hearth of some kids that are now youth and we believe soon we will have some help in the ministry .Because the kids and teens we work with are so many and 2 of us can not cover all the villages ,schools and orphanages in the area ,we had chosen that beside regular ministry we need to do week-end camps ,to spend more time with some of the kids ,to invest more in others and develop relationship with most of them.

Therefore from the beginning of this year we already had 2 week-end camps and on 5-7 th February we will have another 3 days camp, since the kids will be in vacation then .

The first one was with youth .About half of them were ex-kids we knew years ago ,they started to attend weekly bible classes ,camps and other activities .They were encouraged to bring friends with them .It end up being a great time together .We enjoyed the snow ,Vio enjoyed playing in the snow and I sort of enjoyed cooking for 35 hungry teens.

Sliding ,skiing, making snow men and most of it sliding with plastic bags . After playing so much in the snow and since they have so much energy ,they continued playing inside the camp Of course Vio was right there challenging them ,playing with them ,while I was playing with the carrots ,onion, potatoes and other stuff in the kitchen .

Seeing teens having fun might not be so interesting ,but we were encouraged by their attitude at the Bible studies “Claim your victory “.God used those times to show us He can put the thirst for His Word in young hearts ! We give all the glory to the Lord for all attending ,Christians and non Christians .

The ones that started a relationship with Lord became part of our family in a way and now since they are disciples we spend more time with them and invest in them more .

Among these ones are Anca ,18 .She is already helping on Saturdays at 3 villages .And when the time permits she would help in the week-end camps !(yellow blouse in the picture)

Miri is 16 .She attended the week-end camp for younger teens .She made a decision to follow the Lord last year in the camp and since then she helps with whatever in her village were it is a weekly bible study and after that comes to our place once in a while to ask for more advice and support .She needs prayer as the environment she lives in discourages her so much .Can not say too much about it ,but I had to admit that if I was leaving in such a “family” I would have lost my mind .

One decision was made for the Lord in the first week of week-end camp .Roxana is 17 and all her life she thought God does not need her since she is not a beauty .We believe she is beautiful and our prayer is that her inside beauty will come out and many will see it .Continue to pray for Roxana as she is at the age of many decisions and also pray for us to have wisdom in involving the teens in all kind of programs according their gifts .

Thanks for praying and helping us God lead you in the last years ..as you can see results start to show up.This does not mean it is time to stop ,but it is time to take advantage of this and do a better ministry for the Lord ,so that others will benefit from it as well.

Looking forward for opportunities to serve Him and others

Estera & Vio

Our Christmas

In the previous e-mails we were asking prayers for shoe boxes situation .Finally they arrived ,little too late ,but they arrived .Thank you for your prayers and we are also thankful for the help given by some helpers .The church we started to attend 3 years ago, allowed us to use their building for storage and that helped a lot ,plus we did not pay any rent Due to this delayed our schedule became little crazy .

We had to beg principals from some schools to bring kids in school some how-they were already in vacation .In some schools was not possible so we still need to meet with kids after 10^th of January.

We got about 10,000 show boxes and are thankful we were not alone . When the truck arrived we got helpers 2 of them from Rucar orphanage .The hardest was for Vio as he had to lift up and carry boxes and then to call people from all over the county and give them some boxes to distribute in their own area .

In spite of all this crazyness , there were few testimonials we would love to share with you .

In Rucar – for the first time we went and talked to the principal of the two schools and we were allowed to share the Christmas story with kids alongside with shoe boxes .It was difficult since there were so many and we met them on the hall way .There were about 520 kids divided in 3 groups .At one point kids got little wild and the 9 teachers plus the principal could not make them quite .So we felt like we have to do something about it since our time was so precious and it was extremely cold there and were already sick due to some flu . I asked for a chair stood up and just looked at he kids .Within few seconds was quite and I could give my first message “ We need you to be Quite or else we will have to ask you out !” Well, it worked! The principal is the guy with mustache in the dark jacket and he could not believe it .He was so pleased that he is open for partnership. The other ones standing up are the teachers .We thank God for giving us ideas in making the kids quite and also for giving us the chance to share the truth about Christmas .After this the same school in a sport room ,had about 200 kids.

To start well we used the same “ challenge” “ We need you to be Quite or else we will have to ask you out” .At the end of the program one of the teachers came and confess “ Kids for sure learned something new ,but I want to tell you that I learned new ways in approaching them from you” We give praises to the Lord that teachers see potential in Christian teaching and methods in working with kids .

With the boxes there was the “ Most precious gift “book .Some kids almost forgot about the box itself ,they were so captivated by the book ,its message and pictures. Praises to our Lord for all the ones helping so that the books could be given away for free and our prayers will be lifted up so that the message of the book will get their hearts.

One of the things we enjoy the most beside sharing the story of Christmas is watching kids opening their boxes .To see how anxious they are .Some of them opened them while we were still there and asked so many questions of things they never seen before and did not know what are for .Others we got them opening their boxes on the street ,in the middle of road even .

In Podul Dambovitei we were for the first time .There are about 5 Christians in the whole village .Leonid is one of them and he gathered some kids .Hard to expect some knowing how hardened the people in that area are .However 35 kids showed up and we promised Leonid form 12 to start a weekly bible study in that village .Beside the surprise of having 35 kids we had another surprise : Fernando ,he grew up in the orphanage ,we had him over in our home living with us for a while some years ago and all of the sudden some one wanted him, for he was good to work .Now he is 12 and we met him in this village The twinkle in his eyes brought to our minds so many memories . The world is small ,but it is good to find some of the kids that we thought we never see again.

In Micesti it is known that not many kids come to weekly bible studies .Vio had the idea of giving out some invitation in the hope to gather some more kids .And it did happen .About 72 kids showed up at the program ,so praises to the God of impossible for this miracle .

Thank you for being part of our team in 2007 and we pray 2008 will bring you fulfillment and a deeper joy of being part of the team working in Romania

Still spending Christmas and giving out boxes

Vio & Estera

Please see more pictures from distribution of shoe boxes on

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=211274250/a=91878311_91878311/t_=91878311
It is free to register and you could see many other pictures from the ministry

School ministry

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes “ Isaiah 54 :2

We know that majority of missionaries got to a point of asking God to enlarge their area of ministry .We did the very same thing and after many prayers God did the miracle .

Even though in our country it is forbidden to talk about God in public Institution (in fact we were used to this from communism ),God opened up a door so that we can proclaim His truth in school system . and the opening gets wider and wider.

Recently went to one of the kindergarten and there was a teacher from another school just visiting She was trilled with the Christian program and insisted that we go to her class as well and do the same thing.

Another day we got a phone call .At the other end was a 4^th grade teacher : “ Heard from one of my friends you do kids programs .Can you put my class on your list too? And the opening gets wider and wider without us having to run and get contacts .

What we do in fact? Our ministry involves bible crafts. Under communism we were not allowed to be creative and also we were not allowed to find ways to develop creativity .Now we want to use crafts to share the truth with the kids and on the other hand to help them be creative .Anytime we are there we do a bible craft ,but before doing it we need to give a Bible explanation of what the craft means .

God proved us that this is useful for children, parents and teaches as well.

Last week’s bible lesson was about God’s power of making miracles and how He multiplied bread and fish . Usually we ask the kids right before we get out of the class ,”what do we want the craft to remind us of?”

One of the boys from the class said “about the boy that fed God “

Many times parents stopped us on the street and thank us ,some said “the only reason my child is willing to come to kindergarten is your program”.

We give glory to the Lord for many lives already changed..

However in the last 3 days Satan started to attack this ministry and there is a possibility of stopping the ministry in the whole county .The ex principal from the kindergarten in Grui wants bad to come back as a principal and the way she uses to be up on the top again is by attacking the present principal for allowing children to learn about God .Three days ago there was a sort of Christmas celebration and kids had couple of songs .There is no way to skip God’s name on this time ,you do not even have to have a relationship with Him to say Christmas is somehow linked to Jesus .Mares Gabi –the ex principal looks like she used that and made a huge deal out of it .Local Tv was present and a talk show started soon .We were socked and are still shocked .All parents that have kids in these kindergarten were asked in the talk show to take position and stop this in school system . They encouraged parents to ,take steps in stopping this and also authorities were asked to do something about it .

These days ,until Friday some decisions will be made regarding this and on Thursday or Friday we did not get an exact day ,an open talk show will be on at local TV .The man that does the show it is known as very against Christians .His name is Adi Popa .We beg for your prayers during these days .

Please pray for Mares Gabi-ex principal , David Luminita –the new principal -we pray for wisdom for her as she will have to be accountable in front of a whole county and her boss ,and may she have the right words and God will give her favor in front of all listening and watching .We also ask prayers for minister of education for our county and all authorities to realize the importance of christian programs in kindergartens and prayers for the parents to take good attitude about this .So far they were ok with the program and excited ,but because mass media put it in a bad light ,some of them started to change their opinion .

Satan is using another thing this days to destroy our word and favor as Christians .We were supposed to receive the shoe boxes about 2 weeks ago .So far they did not show up ,thought in most of the counties they were already distributed .

We are expected to do a Christmas rallies in some schools and institutions ,but the bad news is they take vacation in couple of days and there is no gift .The devil uses this to destroy our reputation .

It is Sunday and by Friday we were supposed to distribute about 4500 boxes and do a Christmas rally in some villages.

I (Estera) fight with God for few days already ,thinking that He knows the impact of this on the ministry and on us as Christians and still nothing happens .Please pray for our attitude in this trials and for God’s wonders to continue in this area…

Looking forward for more miracles

Vio&Estera

Learning from poor kids in villages

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Luke 18:17

Do you still have moments when you stop and think of what a Bible verse might mean ? The verse in Luke tell us so much of things we forgot to do or are not willing to do ,thought we say “we are His followers” .

Like ,how many of you are willing to walk in a muddy day miles and miles ,with your only pair of boots that you try to save for school ,but still you will not miss a weekly bible study .

This evening Vio got the chance to take some of the kids home and we were humbled how far this kids would walk up the hill to come and her about God and His love .Therefore we are determine to learn more and more from the children we are supposed to teach to. For we choose His kingdom ,but in our ways.

Also how many of us take things for granted …crafts in Romania it is a big deal ,and to us it is a great tool in the ministry ,for it reminds kids what they have learned and also they could show their parents what they have learned and share with their household the truth of God ,and not to mention it helps them be creative .Not only that kids here are not used to do craft ,but this evening in Bughea de Jos ,(a village that we started to teach Bible only few weeks ago for the first time ,there are 13-17 kids coming every week) they did not care for not having room and did the craft ,on the table, under the table ,on the floor and wherever ,but they all wanted to do it, including 13 years boys .Thanks to all people that gave craft supplies or school supplies ,so precious in this ministry and we encourage all of you to consider if this is a part of ministry where you want to get involve ,by providing crafts supplies and ideas . In this village one of the boys confessed to Vio that other kids and teachers at school laugh on them because they come to learn from Bible and they meet with “born again ones” ,but what he replied it really got our attention “ I rather be with them at a Bible lesson and go to heaven than kiss icons ,curse with you and go to hell”.

In Pauleasca- Micesti the poverty of the children became like routine to us ,but every week God with His sense of humor brings something new to this club as to others as well. Romanians in the villages and country side ,do not allow animals in the house .Well, couple days ago in Pauleasca the family’s cat was allowed to attend the bible club for” all creatures have to hear it” . So ,there are about 44 kids and cat attending the bible lessons now.

Every Saturday Vio goes to 3 villages to teach children there from the Bible .Badesti is one of these 3 villages where kids of different ages come .There are about 40 attending .Soon kids will have to be divided in age groups ,but no workers available .Please bring this up to the Lord ,as well as safety for Vio since he drives in 7 villages every week .

We thank God for giving us the chance to minister among such wonderful children ,so honest and eager to know the truth and hear of love ,for we get the chance not only to teach them ,but learn from them as well .Also we thank the ones that are part of ministry by praying or giving ,for thanks to their generosity hundreds of children here learn the truth and the way to Heaven in Jesus.

Teaching children and learning from them

Vio&Estera