Bill Grubs shares his impressions after working with Moldova For Christ ministry for several years, doing crusades in Soroca, Cupcini, Cahul, Comrat, Dondușeni, Edinet, Briceni, and Balti.

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.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”                         Romans 1:16-17

Evangelistic meeting at Comrat Culture Hall

From June 6-14, 2009, a Medical Clinic outreach was organized in the city of Comrat, the capital of the Gagauz district in South Moldova. We met with the Mayor of Comrat and leaders of the Gagauz district, and all of them expressed full support for our mission. This outreach was very important to dozens of people who study the Bible in more than 25 homes throughout the year. We have been praying that God will help us start Sunday Worship services for all of them.

Receiving free reading glasses

Our team combined 27 workers from 11 churches and worked for a week prior to the medical clinic project and shared 5,000 invitations door to door. People received us very well with thanks and words of blessings. Doctors from Chisinau prepared medicine and traveled to Comrat to treat patients. Our puppet show team members prepared shows and were ready to meet with the Comrat children and present the Gospel to them.

For this project, we partnered with the International Gospel Outreach Ministry from Dallas, TX, which was represented at Comrat Medical Clinic by David Groves and Marshall Link. Both men preached the Gospel and shared their testimonies. This year marked the 10^th year of our partnership with this organization, which was very fruitful for the Gospel as we worked in cities and villages conducting Evangelistic meetings and medical clinics as well as outreaches for school teachers and medical personnel.

David Groves and Alexandru Sanduleac preaching

People came to the Evangelistic meetings in the evening where we had worship music, personal testimonies, puppet shows for children, Precept Bible study materials presentations, a questions and answer session and preaching of the Gospel. Every evening we had from 120 to 170 people in the congregation. At the end of each evangelistic meeting, an invitation was given to trust Jesus as personal Savior and Lord, and young people and adults, both men and women, responded to the call every time.

Then, we had a word of encouragement for the ones who turned to God. We studied the text from the book of Acts, chapter two and verse 38-42 and discussed the importance of abiding in the Apostle Paul’s teaching by studying God’s Word with other believers and being in constant fellowship with other believers and in prayer with God the Father through the only mediator, God the Son, Jesus Christ. When the meeting was over everyone was given the opportunity to enlist for the next day visit to the preferred doctor at our medical clinic.

Mobile Doctor office

The medical clinic team set up portable booths to be used as doctor offices and a pharmacy. Everyone who came to the clinic went through 45-minute Precept Bible study and Gospel presentation before he or she could see the doctor. Many elderly people came to the clinic and participated in the very first Bible study in their lives! They were amazed of what they could see for themselves in the Bible text and expressed desire to continue to study God’s Word even when the project was over. A number of patients were saved right at the clinic while studying the Bible, listening to one-on-one Gospel presentations or in the doctor’s offices where they heard the Word of God read from the Bible again.

The regional TV station, Gagauz Radio and TV, sent their reporters to make a report that will be seen throughout the Gagauz district about Christians reaching out to needy and elderly people to help them both spiritually and physically. And, in God’s providence, the Gospel was proclaimed far beyond our expectations and plans, reaching into villages and cities we could not go into at this time.

By the end of the project there were at least 71 people who prayed to receive and trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord! Through God’s provision, we were able to rent a facility for regular Sunday church services where all of these people were invited. A team from our Chisinau church will be traveling every Sunday to conduct church services in Comrat. We pray God will build His church in this city, which is under a heavily Muslim influence from Turkey as we continue to follow up on all of our contacts from this project.

I will also make You a light of the nations, so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.                                                  Isaiah 49:6

On the Horse Cart

Many times, our God works in the ways that are different from what we expect and what we plan. One of the examples is how God has lead Moldova for Christ Ministry to start new work in the remote village of Chislea in Telenesti county.

It all started at a Youth Sports Evangelistic camp in Cupcini when a young guy came and joined the group. His name is Vasile, and when he came he did not know the Lord but decided to come in order to learn to fight and beat up several guys in his village. The Lord groped his heart when he heard the Gospel and surrendered to Jesus! Vasile came home a changed person and began witnessing about Jesus to his family and friends in the village.

Listening to the Word of God

On January 15, the Lord blessed us with opportunity of visiting Vasile’s village, the village of Chislea. People enlisted for this mission project and a van with six men went to the village to present God’s Word to Vasile’s family. The trip was not exactly what we expected it to be because as soon as we got into the village and tried to drive on the road with no pavement our van got completely stuck in the mud. We got out of the van and tried to push it out of the mud swamp, but we were unsuccessful. It took several village people more in to get our van on the road back.

We still had a distance to travel in order to get to the house where the meeting was to be held. With guitar and Bibles we traveled on a horse cart several more blocks almost getting stuck in the mud again. Finally, we got to Vasile’s house! We were so glad to finally see the family who waited for us half of the day! They fasted and did not eat until we got into their home and read the Bible together. The whole family gave up all their work and gathered around the Word of God.

Liviu, thinking about the Gospel

We started with songs and testimonies of how God changed us and gave us new hearts through faith in Jesus Christ. Then we read from the Gospel of John, chapter three, where Jesus speaks about new birth with Nicodemus:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3).

Everybody listened with such a hunger for the Word of God that we continued the meeting in a room filled with people who assisted at an evangelical meeting for the first time in their lives. After three hours of meeting in their home and in their village, they were ready to take a break and offered a meal with fresh, homemade pastry with cheese and potato right from the oven. We were also offered a national drink, called compot. But the spiritual food from the Word of God came first.

New congregation in Chislea village

The fellowship, songs and testimonies continued during late lunch when we were able to answer many questions about the Bible the family had. They invited us to come back at any time and continue to study the Word of God. Vasile’s sister and niece were saved and now they are planning to join the church. Please pray for the village of Chislea as we follow up on this new church plant in the village dominated by the Russian Orthodox Church, and the village that never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ presented before.

As we were leaving the village we took the horse cart first, and we were able to drive our van on the edge of the village. As we were leaving, many people were on the road, trying to find out who visited the village. With some of them we were able to stop and shake hands and to other we just waved. But all of them are in our hearts now, as people who are precious in God’s eyes and for whom Jesus died on the cross in order to bring them back into His family.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.  (Matthew 28:19-20)

From October 7 to 15, a group of 25 people from several of our churches joined the effort in starting church planting work in the city of Comrat, which is the capital of the Gagauz Autonomy, South Moldova.  Gagauzia is the area where about 200,000 former Turkish people live. Hundreds of years ago they were converted to Orthodox Christianity from Islam. God laid on our heart to start an evangelical congregation there with Bill Grubbs and Neal Walls, two preachers from the United States who traveled to Moldova to assist us in this effort and whom we thank our God for.

We visited about 4,000 homes door to door, inviting them to come to our evening Crusade programs. Our people walked miles and miles on the streets of the city since just one main street is 6.5 miles long. Our youth conducted Puppet Show programs right on the main square of the city, and 50 to 70 children attended with their parents daily. Many people brought camcorders to tape the program for their children to able to show it again at home. Sixty-five adults visited our Crusade programs at the central Culture Hall and two people were saved.

In the first part of each day we shared Jesus on the streets. We met several Muslims and a number of people were telling us that they sympathized with Muslims since this area is under heavy influence of Turkey. Amidst the divided population God blessed our discussions and we were able to share Jesus with 150 people on the streets. Everyone filled out a survey on his or her spiritual point of view and 98 people gave their phone numbers and addresses so we could invite them to visit us and tell them more about God.

Please pray God will help us start home Bible studies with new people in Comrat as we keep in touch with them through telephone and mail and as we visit them and start Bible studies with them and their families.

In partnership with Little Rock Church, AR evangelistic outreach was organized in the Northern Moldova. It is always a great joy to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with people that come to the programs we organize and receive the Word of God with the whole their hearts and stay strong even in the face of persecution.

September 25-28, we formed 2 teams that for 4 days in the evenings, went to 2 villages and conducted crusade type evangelistic meetings. Whole villages were invited and we had adults and children at our programs. Every evening we presented Precept Study materials we are using for home Bible studies and for other events. Many people approached us afterwards and asked more questions about the study materials on how they can start a bible study in their homes.

At last evening a young lady with the name of Felicia that we were working with for several years telling her about God, finally decided to give her heart to Jesus and was saved. Aster that she began attending Bible study in her village, Fetesti. Also, she traveled all the way to Cupcini to attend our church service. This village is considered the capital of Jehovah’s Witnesses of Moldova, since majority of this big village belongs to this organization and they have 2 huge kingdom halls – Jehovah’s witnesses churches.

In the second village, the village of Gordinesti, was a lady, called Galina, that had to fight with her husband every evening for the right to attend the Crusade. One evening her husband decided to call us and tell us that she is not coming. But during this discussion, in the background we could hear Galina’s voice, screaming: Brothers, I will not deny Jesus! He has even beaten hear but she still came to the Crusade every evening with a big smile on her face.

The culture Hall we rented for the programs was filled with many adults and children. Everybody enjoyed singing our songs with the worship team and children had motions for every song we sang.

Vasile and Nadejda Rusnac, our missionaries to Chisinau

His first visit to our church service was because he needed a job and Cupcini church offered a job and a meal a day for the construction work at the church building. Several months later, Vasile was saved through the Word he heard at the church and joined the church through baptism.  Soon after that, he understood that God was calling him into full time ministry, and after prayer he was sure God was calling him to plant a new church from scratch in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, where a quarter of the entire country’s population live.

For six months, we made the trip every Sunday morning as a team to Chisinau to start the church, traveling about 250 miles. It was a great time of travel, discussion and training on the field. Several home Bible studies were started in Chisinau, and even in the city of Tiraspol, in both Russian and Romanian languages. We taught two Precept Bible studies: “God, are You there? Do You care? Do You know about me?” based on the Gospel of John, and “Lord, I want to know You,” a study on God’s names from the Bible, both written by Kay Arthur.

As result, one by one, people began to join our Bible study groups and several received the Word through faith and were saved. Some of these people had never studied the Bible before and never thought they could study it.

Silviu and Rodica, a young couple, were the first family to receive salvation in Chisinau. They decided to join the church, and we organized our first baptismal service in the capital. As we were praying for the baptismal service and for other people who were involved in home Bible study groups, the Lord moved in the heart of another lady, Natasha, who declared she was also ready to follow Jesus and be baptized. Another man named Igor also decided to obey God’s Word and be baptized. The Lord began moving in powerful way in the hearts of people, and we were so glad to be part of it!

For the baptismal service we rented a sauna that had an indoor swimming pool. We had several other families that came to observe the ceremony. After we held a church service in the rented sauna, which included praise songs, prayers and reading of the Word of God, we went into the water and the first people from the Chisinau church were baptized as a testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior! The baptism was followed by the Lord’s Supper, which we did next to the swimming pool and jacuzzi.

Silviu and Rodica were looking for a church where they will be able to serve the Lord and God responded to their prayer in this unexpected way, by sending Vasile all the way from Cupcini to start the work and plant a new church, that will be dedicated to teaching people the Word of God in a world, that does not know Him!

Soon after that, Vasile moves from Cupcini to Chisinau and now he can spend more time with his disciples and train them in studying the Bible as well as train them in preaching the Word of God to others. Chisinau is a city of one million people, and it is the least evangelized group of people in the country.