So then, those who had received his word were baptized.  - Acts 2:41

7 people join the Cupcini Church

December 13th we had a celebration of God’s Grace in action, as seven new people joined the church and followed the Lord in water baptism.  Our joy was so full because that day our son, Paul Sanduleac, was also baptized and publicly testified of his faith in Jesus Christ. All seven people were from Cupcini and the Lord brought each one of them to the point where they trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior using different people and different pattern.

It was a process each of these people went through before they decided to be baptized and to join the church. For example, Maxim, Peter and Nicolai grew up in orphanage and throughout their childhood they heard the Word of God from Christians that were visiting at the orphanage and teaching the Word of God.  When they enrolled in the Technical School in Cupcini, our sister, Rodica Caraus, started teaching a Bible study and they came.

Paul Sanduleac is being baptized

They were so interested that they wanted to come to the church and see how other people were studying the Word. After a church service they came forward and gave their lives to Jesus Christ. God continued working in their hearts and they responded by dedicating themselves to God completely and joined the church, ready to serve Him wherever He leads.

Valentina is a medical doctor at a Cupcini clinic. Her office was visited by our sister, Lidia, who began telling of the Word of God. Valentina was so interested that she decided to attend church services at our church and a Bible study group. She was saved at an English Camp she attended last summer. In spite of a husband that does not approve of her attending church, she joined the church along with their daughter.

At the market, Olga heard the Gospel from her co-worker who invited her to our church and to a home Bible study. She came and enjoyed studying God’s Word and was saved at the end of a church service. Olga brought all her family to the church baptismal service, her husband and daughter.

Paul gives his testimony

Michael heard the Gospel in the central square of Cupcini when we held Evangelistic meetings and a free medical clinic for the whole city and for needy people. He decided to start attending our church, where later he was saved at a Sunday morning church service.. His baptism was attended by his family, his wife, his children and grandchildren.  They also began attending the church with him.

Paul, our son, was exposed to the Word of God from early childhood. After he was saved, he continued to study God’s Word at home and in Bible study groups, learning the Word in Russian, Romanian and English.

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, tothe breaking of bread and to prayer.   –    Acts 2:42

The church was filled and many new people who came to observe a New Testament baptism of their friends and relatives. After the baptism we had the Lord’s Supper for all church members. Everybody who was baptized that day received a bouquet of flowers, a card and Bible study book, called “A Surrendered Walk”, by Wayne Barber.

For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.   –  1st Timothy 3:13

Cupcini Church Congregation

God has blessed a special celebration at the Cupcini Christian Church.  Planted 15 years ago, the church is now over one hundred and ten church members, and ministers to over seven hundred people in schools, orphanages and prisons.  In spite of many people moving out of the country, missionaries that have moved to other cities to plant new churches, and a large number of students that move to bigger cities and join universities, the church is growing. Because of this, in addition to Victor Vasciuc, our first deacon, God has showed us the need to ordain a new deacon in our congregation.

Dumitru Rusnac was recently ordained as a deacon at the Cupcini Church.  He is a man whose testimony of turning to God continues to encourage many. During Soviet times, Dumitru was looking for a Bible to buy, but could not find one for sell. Finally he found a person that owned a Bible and let Dumitru borrow it for two weeks. Dumitru decided to read it and copy, by hand, just the most important parts. To his surprise, he could not leave out even one chapter.  Everything was very important.  Disappointed he could not copy the whole Bible, two weeks later he returned the Bible to the owner. But he rejoiced as he still got to read it for 2 weeks day and night. Several years later, he found a Bible for sell.  For the price of three months salary, he purchased it as soon as he could.

Years passed and nine years ago Dumitru’s family was saved. First his son, Vasile, second his wife, Lidia and finally his daughter, Oxana. Dumitru decided he would continue reading the Bible, but always was postponing his decision to trust Jesus personally.  He thought he  was religious enough. One day, as he was on the street, he spotted a Christian track on a side of a garbage truck. After asking permission from the driver, he got the track and read God’s simple plan of salvation. Next, right on the street, he stopped and prayed to God, asking forgiveness for being stubborn and for not trusting Jesus. At the next church service he trusted himself to Jesus and asked to be baptized.

Ordination certificate for new deacon

Since then, for nine years, Dumitru has proven himself trustworthy and faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He never missed a Bible study or a church service.  He has a good reputation at work, with neighbors and church members. Both he and his wife, Lidia, are always ready to help with anything needed at the church.  Through both both physical help and spiritual, they prove their spiritual maturity in Christ.

We pray God will bless and grow the church through Dumitru’s ministry.  We pray God will bring many to salvation through the ministry of this couple.  They are dedicated to the Lord in Studying the Word of God, teaching home Bible studies, witnessing door to door, and encouraging and ministering to many church members.

Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples!                                                                      Psalm 96:3

Blog-training class

On Dec. 5, with God’s help, we had our first blog-training seminar for people from our churches who are interested in this ministry field and ready to use the Internet for the proclamation of the Gospel. It is a great opportunity since over 1million people who live in Moldova have a computer connected to the Internet, and young people spend many hours a week in Internet cafes in cities and villages.

We felt God calling us to start a Web ministry to reach as many as God gives us over the Internet and outside Moldovan borders. Our vision is to build a team of bloggers that will provide a wide spectrum of spiritual materials online, but at the same time, be united in offering the Word of God both to unbelievers and believers.

Many people wanted to come, but based on the number of computers available and room size, we had to limit the number to 25 people from many churches that were registered for the training. We also had a young man, Anatolii from Ukraine, who wants to use this tool to proclaim the Word of God in the Ukrainian language.

We began by reading text from the book of Romans where Paul says: “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish” (Romans 1:14). We also studied a segment from Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians: “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some” (I Corinthians 9:22).

We understand that our responsibility in the Gospel is to serve people where they are and bring the Word of God to them so that they might be saved through faith in our Lord Jesus. This is the goal of this ministry. Also, we want to provide encouragement and instructions from the Word of God to the believers online.

Next, we studied blogging itself. We went through the basics of blogging terminology and techniques, and every participant started his blog right away!

“I have never dreamed of having my own personal blog,” said Cristina.

“I did not imagine before that the Internet can have such an impact on society!” shared Raisa.

The blogs that were started are in two different languages: Russian and Romanian. Some are for couples, some are for young people, some are for children, and some are for adults.

“This seminar opened a new door and new opportunity for me to serve God,” said Alla. “All the information I got at the training was new to me, but it was very interesting information as well.”

Ruslan decided to participate in this new ministry and to make maximum effort in offering quality and interesting material for people to read, and in this way, share the Gospel to people who do not know Jesus.

“It was very inspiring and encouraging,” he said.

Every participant was so excited to learn how to blog and encouraged to use it for furthering the Gospel. We decided to hold these trainings once a month in order to provide ongoing training for people who are involved in the blogging ministry. Please pray God will use this ministry to reach many with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Iurii is teaching "How to have a real realationship with God" study

On Nov. 14-15, a team of seven people from several churches in Northern Moldova went on a short Mission trip to Cahul in Southern Moldova. These men and women joined Vladlena and Iurii Semeniuc, our missionaries in Cahul, and with God’s help, were able to conduct street evangelism, visitations, and teach home Bible studies to families who had previously invited us to come, as well as in families they visited for the first time. As we were praying for this project, God put together a wonderful team of people!

A total number of 30 families opened their homes for our people who also visited dozens of other addresses, but nobody was at home to answer. In each home, our missionaries presented the Gospel using the Evangelism Explosion program by Dr. D. James Kennedy. We presented the gospel to 12 families on the Gospel of John (8:31-47). Eleven families invited us to come back and continue to study the Word of God! One person was saved as a result of this project!

Here what our team members had to say about the trip:

Nadejda with her first disciple

“I have been praying to God to show me what ministry He prepared for me in the church. When I heard about the mission trip to Cahul, I immediately knew I need to go. And as I needed to go to work and sell vegetables at the market, otherwise it will jus go bad and I will lose money, I decided to leave my vegetables at home in God’s hands and go to Cahul to proclaim Gospel of Jesus Christ to people there. I am so glad I went to Cahul! God has answered my prayer and showed me the ministry He prepared for me – to be an evangelist and preach the Gospel to people that do not know Jesus yet!” – Nadejda

“It was such a blessing to see our people come and support us not just from a distance but to be in our home, to pray with us, to study the Word with us and to visit all these addresses walking many miles per day! It was such a help for us in our work!” – Vladlena

“As we were coming out of an apartment building and nobody responded at the address we were looking for, several ladies asked us at the door who are we and what are we looking for… We told them that we are Christians and we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ! All three ladies asked us to tell them what we are telling everybody and this way God gave us three more people that heard the Gospel! Praise the Lord!” – Silvia

“We were going to the family that asked us to continue Bible study at their home. On the way, we saw a group of ladies and decided the Lord wants them to hear the Gospel as well. We asked them if they would give us 5 minutes for true story to share. They agreed and we presented the Good News of Jesus Christ using Evangecube!” – Raisa

Vadim and Genadii are ready for new visits

“We went to visit an eleven-year-old boy who attended one of our Evangelistic meetings before. His grandmother met us at the gate and did not agree to let us into their house. She said that she can only believe Russian Orthodox priests and nobody else. God still used this meeting to further the Gospel, since for 30 minutes we were talking from the Word of God and two adults and two children heard a clear presentation of the Gospel in spite of the grandmother’s arguments!” – Genadii

“We went to visit a lady named Alla and presented our Bible study lesson to her. As we were finishing teaching, Alla’s husband came home. He had many questions from the Bible, so we gladly spent more time in their home answering those questions. At the end, both Alla and her husband decided to start a Bible study group in their home!” – Vadim

Please continue to pray for the city of Cahul where about 60,000 people live so that a church will be planted there. Pray for our missionaries, Vladlena and Iurii Semeniuc, who run a Christian radio station 24/7 and teach a dozen Bible study groups per week. Join us in praying for more missionaries to move to Cahul and assist them in accomplishing this task for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.   –  Matthew 28:19

Russian Orthodox Church building in the center of Comrat

We praise our Lord Jesus Christ for the opportunity He gave us to organize a mission trip in November 2009 to Comrat, South Moldova! It was an effort of several churches combined: a team of five went to Comrat from Northern Moldova churches and another team of five went from Chisinau, the capital of the country. They met with Ecaterina, our first convert from Comrat, that leads our visitation ministry in the area. The goal of the mission effort was to visit people that had previously visited our evangelistic meetings, those who had expressed the desire to learn more about God and start a home Bible study.

It was interesting to see how differently we were received from home to home. Some people were ready to start a Bible study right away, and others told us they did not have time. We were glad to see new converts from our churches joining the team with a great determination to tell others about Jesus Christ.

Lenin monument in the center of Comrat

Our teams, organized by two people, taught from the Gospel of John 3:1-21. People listened with great attention, and agreed with what they read, even forgetting that they had a limited time to spend with us. As a result, two ladies trusted Jesus and gave their lives to Him! Praise the Lord!

“One time, by mistake, we rang the bell at the wrong door. When the people answered we found that it was a family that also attended our programs in the past, but did not fill out the registration form at the end of the service. We began our discussion on the porch, but ended teaching an inductive Bible study in the kitchen. This lady graciously invited us into her home for a cup of tea. Her grandchildren also heard the Gospel. This lady had many questions from her previous contacts with different cults. She had many religious books on her shelf, but when I asked her to bring her Bible it took her a while to find it. When we were leaving, the lady invited us to come back and continue to study the Bible.” says Lidia, a missionary from Cupcini.

For Valentina, a new convert from Cupcini, it was her first mission trip. She worked many hours visiting families in Comrat. When someone would say that they do not have time for the Word of God, she mentioned that our team traveled 350 kilometers to tell them about Jesus! It usually changed people’s attitude and they agreed to do a Bible study lesson or listen to the Gospel presentation.

Vasile, our missionary and pastor in Chisinau went to the village of Feropontievka to do Church service with a Gypsy family.  He said, “When I arrived, seven adults and two children gathered to hear the Word of God. The words that I heard upon arrival were, “We were waiting for you!” We studied Ephesians 4 and as we were studying they were repeatedly saying, “It is exactly about us!”

Russian Orthodox Church Bell Tower

Rustam, our missionary from Briceni, shared with us about his experiences in Comrat as well. After looking for the address for several hours, he finally found right house. “After some time spent in a spiritual discussion, we learned that the lady we were talking to lost all of her family members in a short period of time. Our visit to this devastated soul was so important and timely, that only Our God could have orchestrated it all.”

As result of this mission effort, God blessed us with twenty meetings where the Gospel was presented and the Gospel of John was taught.  Two people were saved. Once again we saw how large a need there is for the Word of God to be taught and the Gospel to be presented to these people that are in great need of salvation. Please continue to pray for all of the people that received us into their homes so they will continue reading and studying the Bible, the true Word of God. Pray that they will come to a personal knowledge of the truth and be born again into God’s family.

Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. – Hebrews 13:3

For decades, Christians in Moldova faced severe persecution from the soviet government.  Our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ were harassed, fined, arrested, sentenced to prison, and even killed for their faith.  Believers from different denominations paid a price for following Jesus Christ and for bringing their children to church services.  Today we experience partial freedom in our country, but at the same time, we remember it was not always this way.  We also know brothers and sisters in other countries who are facing persecution.

Cupcini Day of Prayer for Persecuted Church

Our family was one of many who went through persecution during these times.  One instance, the soviet government brought my uncle to the center of the city and intentionally ran over him with a truck killing him.  Another time, schoolteachers came to our home and yelled at my parents for hours just because they took my two brothers and me to church.  Another time, doctors at the hospital would not provide treatment for me because I was a child of a preacher.

This past Sunday, joining with churches worldwide, all of our churches dedicated our Sunday morning service to pray for the persecuted churches in today’s world.  We began all of our church services with worship songs and prayer.  After reporting on the persecution in other countries, everyone formed teams of three to four people and prayed for each country where our brothers and sisters are currently undergoing persecution for the beliefs in Jesus Christ.

World map presentation at the Day of prayer for persecuted church

As suggested by the World Evangelical Alliance, we also prayed for other religions in countries where Christians are currently suffering religious persecution.  We prayed for the Muslim world in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Algeria, and for communist countries such as China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Turkmenistan.  We included Buddhist countries, Burma and Sri Lanka and Hindu countries, Nepal and India.  We also prayed for countries such as Ethiopia, The Philippines, Columbia, and Mexico, where Christians are persecuted for reasons other than religious beliefs.  It was an eye opening experience to actually hear personal testimonies from our church members who been to many of these countries.

We also prayed for the part of Moldova called Transnistria.  The Russian 14^th Army currently controls this area and has attempted to declare a separate new state, but has not been successful.  No other country officially recognizes this area as independent from Moldova.  However, the communist regime is in power there and Christians are not free to share their faith with others.  Please pray with us for this small area of our country that needs the Gospel proclaimed.

Day of Prayer for persecuted Church, Balti City Church of Hope

Most people listened to the report with a notebook and pen in hand.  Now, with people in their home Bible study groups, they will share and pray for persecuted believers around the world.  Therefore, prayer does not stop at the end of Sunday church service, but it continues.  It was a day filled with more prayer than usual during our Sunday morning church services, but it was a great blessing and was very helpful to everybody who attended.

We pray for those all around the world who are suffering persecution.  These are God’s precious children.  We ask that God touches every one of them in a very special way and will pour His peace into their hearts.

This small, landlocked nation sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, is among the poorest in Europe. About 80 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Once ruled by Romania, it was added to the Soviet Union at the close of World War II. Russian troops remained in Moldova even though it proclaimed its independence in 1991. The soldiers are there to support a Slavic minority, many of them Ukrainians and Russians, who are attempting to establish a “Transnistria” republic along the Ukrainian border.

In 2001, Moldova became the first former Soviet state to elect a communist as its president. In a surprising election, communists were swept back into office after they won 71 of the 101 seats in the country’s Parliament. The communist government has continued with plans for privatizing several state-owned industries.

Moldova occupies what was once known as Bessarabia, a land that provided an historic passageway between Asia and southern Europe. Romans, Greeks, Huns and Bulgars all invaded the area. It was an independent state briefly in the 14^th century, but later fall under the Ottoman Empire in the 16^th century.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.                                     1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Studying the book of 1 Corinthians

We believe that one of the characteristics that describe a healthy church is a church whose members know their spiritual gifts and serve one another with the gifts God has entrusted to them. This is why we believe it is vital for every church member to know all that God’s Word has to say about spiritual gifts.

October 22-24, we organized a training conference with “Spiritual Gifts” as the subject. We studied the Precept’s “Spiritual Gifts” study book written by Kay Arthur, with Bill Grubbs from Gainesville, GA and Neal Walls from Memphis, TN as speakers. The main Bible text we studied was the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle to Corinthians. Before we got to chapters 12, 13 and 14, we did an overview on the whole book to set the context these chapters.

Brothers and Sisters from different cities

As soon as the conference was announced, people from different cities from all over Moldova began to enlist. We had dozens of churches and cities represented at the Conference. Everybody got so excited studying about Spiritual Gifts! The most common request we received was to have a two-week study, not just 3 days! As we were studying chapter by chapter, God continued to speak into the hearts of participants, and as result, a young couple understood they were not using their gifts and decided to go into full-time mission ministry. Another young man decided to get involved in the Radio ministry and preach the Gospel through radio programs.

Another nice thing was that everyone received a work book that will continue the study for four months after the conference. Here is what some participants have said after the conference:

-          This conference was another opportunity to stop on the way and see the importance of using my spiritual gifts to the maximum and the importance of helping others discover their spiritual gifts. -Vasile

- During the study of First Corinthians, I understood how important it is for everyone in the church to accomplish his role, serving with his gift that the Holy Spirit gave him. My prayer is that every believer in our church will understand how we are depending on one another in one body of believers. -Nadejda

- It was like reading First Corinthians for the first time in my life! I decided to fill in the study book till the end after the conference. -Yurii

-          I was deeply impressed by the truths I learned at the conference! I have learned that there are many different gifts. The Holy Spirit distributes them and we cannot earn them. -Paul

-          I want this study to be taught in my church. It is very important. -Tatiana

-          It is such an encouragement to see how our brothers and sisters are applying the truths they just learned in respect to others around them! -Olga

-          The work of Spiritual gifts provides functionality of the church. It will provide a healthy growth for the church. It will save the church from many divisions and misunderstanding. Through the ministry with your gifts you are proving love for God and for brothers and sisters. When you are serving with your gifts it will bring joy, peace, and rest in the body of Christ. -Dmitriy

We thank God for the time we spent in studying His Word, and we thank Him for moving in the hearts of brothers and sisters who are hungry for the Word of God and ready to sacrifice their time and work for spiritual things and for strengthening their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!

Moldova for Christ Team in Cahul

In October 2008, God opened a door for Moldova for Christ ministry to start new radio ministry in South Moldova. Yuriy and Vlada Semeniuc moved from Balti to Cahul to lead this new ministry. As result of the effort in Cahul, not only did thousands of people hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also a door was opened and the hearts of the people were prepared to start a new church in the same city.

First, we organized a prayer chain for 32 hours: 64 people from all over Moldova and our church members signed the list of prayer, each taking 30 minutes to pray for the city of Cahul and the new church plant.

Many children came to our Puppet Shows

Second, we fasted for the people who live in Cahul – for the Lord to call people from our churches to join us in the effort of setting up an evangelistic campaign. We prayed for 30 people to answer the call and go on a short-term mission to Cahul. Little did we know what God was about to do!

God began calling one after another of church members, and the first five people were enlisted. Then, more and more people joined the team until we had 46 people from all over Moldova! The team was ready to go and start working.

Travel took almost the whole day and invitations were printed.  Since we did not have places to house our people, we had to pray for a place for everybody to stay. God provided six homes of people who were glad to receive our people without knowing us. Thus, our team went door-to-door and shared 10,000 invitations to evangelistic meetings that the mayor of Cahul let us conduct in the City Culture Hall. To our surprise, while sharing the invitations, 11 families invited us to come back and start home Bible study groups in their homes! And we had not even started the meetings yet!

Precept materials presentation at Culture Hall, Cahul

The weather was not favorable – the temperature dropped and it was constantly raining. On top of that, when we started the evangelistic meetings we had to face another major problem – the city stopped providing running water for three days…but it did not stop the work! Our guys carried water in buckets and plastic bottles of water from the nearest public well that was about 2 km away, making four trips daily to the well. The Lord was at work and we saw more than 110 people at our evening programs, plus dozens of children.

We thank God for Bill Grubbs, (Gainesville, GA) and Neal Walls (Memphis, TN) who shared the Word of God and their personal testimonies with everybody during the meetings. Twenty-seven men and women trusted Jesus and were saved. Children enjoyed watching the Agape Puppet Show team presentations every night and became close friends with our children’s ministry leaders. We were glad to serve children’s ministry leaders from other churches in the area who came every evening to take notes during our Puppet Show programs and Gospel presentation for children. Gospel songs, personal testimonies and Precept Bible Study materials were presented as part of the everyday program at the Culture Hall.

Many got very interested in Precept Bible Study Materials

The whole mission project lasted nine days. We spent the last four days surveying the population on spiritual beliefs. We asked questions about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, church and the devil. 470 discussions occurred and the Gospel was presented right on the streets during these meetings. We prayed for each person and asked if they would like to learn more. 270 people said, “Yes,” and they wanted us to visit them at home and teach them the Bible, and gave their addresses and phone numbers.

We were also blessed to hear so many people thanking us for the radio station we have in Cahul and for Christian music and Bible study we offer live on the radio 24/7. Other people said our radio station is the only radio station they listen to.

Please pray for Yuri and Vlada as they do follow-up work in Cahul as well as continue the radio ministry. Pray God will call more missionaries to Cahul and that we will be able to involve all these people in home Bible Studies.