Ekklesia Concert In Arad

We were very fortunate to be able to attend this inspiring concert. They had about 100 people in the choir and 40 in the orchestra. We got to go with a great group of young people from Betel Baptist. One of the young ladies, Doro, was in the choir 🙂. She did a great job!

Our group
(Thanks Jathan for being our selfie guy)

Bonding Time

We had a great weekend preparing for the upcoming trip to Romania! The team talked, laughed, prayed, sang, and generally got to know each other. 

We are all truly excited to see what God will do this year. Each year is such a unique and special trip and we expect this year to be no exception.

Please continue to pray as the time draws near!

BBQ with the Young Adults

Great weather, great friends, great food, great fun! We had an incredible time on Saturday with the youth from Bethel Baptist. We had a beautiful country setting for our BBQ. This gave our team lots of time to visit and get to know more of the young adults from Bethel. Enjoy the pictures!

Great Group! Fun Day!

Fun Times

A Universal Language

Sunglasses!

Making Coleslaw

Delicious Meal!

Friends

Stephanie Giving Lessons

Group Singing

Ninja

Șiria Fortress And Cookout With Friends

Team at the top of an arch in the ruins

The team was invited to a great day of adventure and fellowship.  We drove out into Arad County near the ruins of the Șiria Fortress and then we had a wonderful cookout with some of our friends from Betel Baptist in Arad.

The picture above is of our team on top of an arch in the ruins.  It is amazing to be that close to a building that is that old.  If you continue with this post you will see some stunning pictures of the hike up - and I mean UP!  As well as more of our time with our friends.

This is the wonderful group of friends
that have kept us well fed.  We love you!

We want to thank George and Aurelia for their hospitality at their wonderful cabin and for George’s great cooking.  We also thank Florica and Florica for being so faithful in helping to cook and serve us so many wonderful meals.

This is probably also a really good place to thank our hosts and friends the Zaharia family.  Pastor John and his wife Mariana and Cristian and Alina!  We are so happy God has brought us all together.




Here are a few pictures from our hike, exploration and visitation!

Tabitha finds a friend

George answering plant questions

Painted Monasteries

Our team had the opportunity to see three of the many “Painted Monasteries”: Voronet, Putna, and Sucevita.  It was a long drive with very beautiful scenery.  I am including just a few of the monastery photos here.  We will post scenery/travel pictures soon.

These monasteries are said to be built on the sites of Stephen the Great’s military victories over the Tartars in the 1400’s and 1500’s. They are painted on the inside and many, like the one immediately below, on the outside as well.  The paintings are of saints, Biblical and historical events.

Burial Place of Stephen the Great

We had a very helpful Orthodox Priest give us a tour in English!
He did a wonderful job.  Thanks Gherasim!

We were told that this is the oldest church building in Romania 
and the oldest wooden church in Europe. 
It looked like it was in pretty good shape to us.

This is the cave of Daniel the Hermit who was a contemporary 
to Stephen the Great and Stephen’s spiritual mentor.  
The following pictures are our tour of the cave.
Daniel lived in this cave for at least twenty years!

Daniel’s bed.  They are not sure if he had padding of any kind.

We really appreciated Gherasim’s time.

Oliver showing his agility in exiting a very short doorway.