Hungary/Romania ~ 9/12-21/2005

The best mission trip I have ever taken was to Romania in 2005.  If you desire to take such a trip, I would encourage you to check their website at http://www.pimi.org  You will arrive at Partners In Missions International (PIMI), and their trips for the last 19 years are taken exclusively to Romania, where the Gospel has been shared with countless souls, and over 42 churches have been planted.  Each day is carefully prepared by the leaders of PIMI.  The day would usually commence with breakfast and a meeting, followed by one on one evangelism in the city or in a local neighborhood.  You will confront three types of people- Romanians, Hungarians and Gypsies.  College age interpreters will help you share the Gospel with these folks.  After lunch, the middle of the day would feature Backyard Bible Clubs, commonly hosted by a local church after canvassing the nearby neighborhoods.  Towards the end of the day, the farmers would come in late from the fields, and their families would attend church services, whereby we would share the Gospel with them all via interpreters.  During such a mission trip, some team members often take off on trips to perform construction for a church building in need.  It is a multi faceted ministry and dynamic to say the least.  If you feel His prompting to embark on such a venture, I would advise you to beware of the Turkish coffee.  It is served in small mugs, yet has a thick concentrated caffeine in it, and if you drink too much of it, you will be awake for days!  The Romanian people are among the friendliest folks I have ever met in my life.  They are hospitable, kind and humble.  One of the most difficult parts of the trip is leaving them.  They are appreciative of the staples in life that we often take for granted.  Yes, even toilet paper!  Towards the end of our trip, a common practice is to leave them most of our clothes that we used during the week.  We would often wash them and give them to the Romanian people.  (It also leaves more room in your luggage for souvenirs).  Be advised, Romania is the same latitude as northern Minnesota.  The winters are brutal, with a lot of snow and ice.  The summers are hot and humid.  The following is my speaking itinerary in Romania during our trip.  The pastors/preachers all preached week long revivals:

We were based at Bethel Baptist Church in Satu Mare, Romania.  We spoke at this larger church, and at all of the surrounding rural churches as well.  My messages were as follows:

1)September 14, 2005; Tatarasti, Romania; The Lamb Of God; Revelation 13:8b

2)September 15, 2005; Bethel Baptist Church, Satu Mare, Romania; The Lamb Of God, Revelation 13:8b (one profession of faith during this service)

3)September 16, 2005; Bethany Baptist Church, Ardud, Romania; My Testimony, II Corinthians 5:17

4)September 18, 2005; Baba Novac, Romania; My Testimony, II Corinthians 5:17

5)September 18, 2005; Bethel Baptist Church, Satu Mare, Romania; My Testimony, II Chronicles 7:14

6)September 19, 2005; Satu Mare Prison, Romania; My Testimony

(When speaking with an interpreter, the message must be very simple.  The speaker will find out which interpreters he/she matches up with the best.  We all have a certain chemistry).

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During the peak of the Roman Empire, Romania and Hungary were known as Dacia.  They held out the longest from being defeated and incorporated into the Roman Empire.  In battle they mauled the Roman army, yet the size, discipline and professionalism of the Romans eventually won the day.  Soldier-Emperor Trajan defeated Dacia in 106 A.D.  This was the zenith and largest extent to which the Roman Empire grew.

Romania always brings up thoughts of Count Dracula.  We were in Transylvania, but no where near his famous castle.  His real name is Count Vlad Dracul, known as Vlad the Impaler!  When the Ottoman Turks threatened to take over Romania, castles were built in the east to hold them off, and Count Dracul impaled them on stakes by the thousands!  This psychological warfare turned the Muslim hoards back.  The Ottoman Turks could have overrun Europe from the east, if not for the tenacity of Count Vlad Dracul.  Romanians laugh at our folklore and our ideas about “Count Dracula,” since he is a folk hero of sorts in Romania.  Many superstitious Romanians in rural areas do believe in vampires to this day.  We toured a couple of the castles in Romania.

The Turkish coffee caught up with me towards the end of the trip.  After collecting a few souvenirs, I was feeling ill and not able to tour Budapest, Hungary as we began our way home.  Praise the Lord I was healthy for the time that really counted!

The founder of PIMI is Bob Ward.  His partner and Romanian liaison is Pastor Elijah Morar.  They make up an incredible team, and coordinate mission trips to Romania throughout the year.  Incredibly, Bob was called home by the Lord in April of 2014.  Below are letters by his wife Yvonne, and by Pastor Elijah Morar.  Elijah is now leading this amazing mission thrust in Romania.  By reading the following letters, you will capture the flavor of this ministry in Romania:

     April 17, 2014 Dear Friends, Writing this letter is one of the hardest things I have ever done. Most of you know that my husband, Bob Ward, went to be with the Lord on April 9, 2014. His short illness, Multiple Myeloma, was diagnosed on January 17 of this year. Those three months were a whirlwind of hospitals, doctors, trying to find answers, never thinking this was the way it would go, but God called him home. He fought a good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. To say my life has changed is an understatement. The emptiness in me and in of our children, grandchildren, friends, is great. This void is felt around the world, in his heart-country of Romania. The vision he had almost twenty years never faded. Until the end, Bob considered the Romanian people and the pastors there. In fact, one of the last things he said to me was that he gave me the responsibility to see that the work continued and they have what they needed. With every fiber of my being, I plan to see that happen. While life has changed, one thing hasn’t. Partners in Missions, Int’l will continue to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Romania. Bob had a three-step vision for the future in this work. We will be sharing this with you in the weeks and months ahead. These endeavors cannot be brought to fruition without the continued support from those of you who have been so gracious to give over the past years. Pastors still need to be supported; new projects need to be funded. Medical clinics, women’s ministry, kids klubs, kids camps, pastor training, prison and orphan ministries, church plants and church constructions are only a few of the things PIMI is involved in. The foundation Bob laid will be built upon. Elijah Morar, our Director in Romania, will be acting President of PIMI while we seek the Lord’s will about a permanent leader. I will continue to serve as Vice President, being actively involved in the ministry as always. We are adding to the Board of Directors and making plans under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Rest assured this ministry has only begun. I want to honor my sweet husband and glorify our God by moving forward with Bob’s vision for PIMI and Romania. We cannot do it without you. I’m asking you to pray about your part. Is God calling you to go on a mission project to Romania? There is still time for you to make plans to go. The dates are July 11-19. If you are a financial supporter of PIMI, please continue to give. If you haven’t given in a while, would you please pray about giving? For all you have meant to Bob and me, for the many ways you have supported us and Partners in Missions, Int’l, I thank you. Please pray for our family as we learn how to live without our husband and father. Please pray for PIMI and the precious people of Romania. Yours for Souls, Yvonne Ward.

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Dear Friends and ministry partners, Greetings from Romania. Last several weeks were confusing and hard here in Romania and I am sure that it wasn’t easy for you in USA. Ever since Bob’s passing away, I was trying to see how we can plan the ministry in Romania, as well as keeping you posted about what is going on here. Whenever one of these giants are leaving this world, they leave a great space, and it takes several people to fill it. First thing that I want to share with you is that PIMI will continue to bring the good news of the Gospel of Jesus to Romania, in the churches where we worked as well as starting new churches and getting involved in other places that we did not work before. For the time being, I am acting as the president of PIMI and together with Mrs. Yvonne Ward and PIMI board we will continue to plan the ministry here according to the wisdom and leadership that we receive from the Holy Spirit. Before sharing with you several future projects please let me make a very short retrospective of what God has done through people that partnered with PIMI in the past 17 years that I work with/for PIMI. Again, these numbers are not given to you to impress you or to boast with them, it is just what God did in our lives and how God blessed Romania and USA. In the last 17 years God blessed us in building or helping build 42 churches and Bob’s last desire was to build a Church in Oradea from where we could base all the missions in Romania. Throughout the years we have been working with over 100 pastors and supported over 100 pastors and missionaries all across Romania. The most Nordic point of working in Romania was a village called Halmeu and Sighetul Marmatiei. The most southern place was the city of Constanta (Corbu). The most westerner point was Timisoara and the most easterner point was Buzau. The city that PIMI teams most visited was Oradea and Beius. The village that PIMI teams most visited was Batar. We visited 140 churches with the teams that visited Romania, and by God’s grace PIMI brought into Romania over 3500 people. A man that had almost no money (Bob) with God’s help and your love, invested in Romania over $1,5 million… But with all of these statistics, in all of these years, Bob/PIMI wanted to see Jesus lifted up and people being saved, and we did have scores of people… thousands upon thousands of people praying to receive Christ as Lord and Saviour. The work that Bob/PIMI was able to do in Romania was blessed by God and we had the churches in Romania and USA growing numerically and spiritually. Many team members were so impressed by the Holy Spirit while in Romania that when they got back home started to witness in their own towns and the churches in US were blessed as well. Let me pinpoint some of the areas that Bob/PIMI was able to work: – teaching the pastors in Romania through pastors conferences and retreats, – preaching and witnessing to the lost – disciple the new converts – starting churches and building church buildings – supporting local pastors – encouraging Romanian and American churches to get involved into missions – medical team – kids clubs VBS and camps – prison ministry – pastors family retreat – youth ministry / conferences and camps And so much more… There are several projects that we had planned in Romania and I will share this with you, but before I do that, let me thank you for all of your prayers support for the past years, as well as for your financial support. We are still working/supporting the pastors and missionaries in Romania, we are still working in all of the areas that I mentioned before, and without your faithful support we could not do this. The projects that we are working on are somehow large projects, and they are important projects as well. The first one I will mention is this: we are about $20,000.00 away from starting a Christian school in Oradea (grades 1-4, ages 6-10). We do have the building and the money the $20,000.00 represent the cost for the materials that we have to buy to remodel and finish the classrooms. The labor will be done at no charge. This project has to start on September the 1st of 2014, so there is not much time, and I would encourage your to pray for us and if the Lord puts it on your heart to give towards this project you can contact Mrs. Yvonne Ward and she will give you all of the details. As far as I know the donations are tax deductible… We can use all of the prayers and encouragement that we can get on this. We have already petitioned the Romanian Educational Department and they gave us the green light to start this. The reason we wanted to start this school is because most parents and kids that are coming to our Christian schools/day care/ kindergartens are not saved and this is the best tools to evangelize them. We have parents in our day care/kindergarten that would never set foot into a Baptist Church but they want the best education for their kids and they have to come to their kids school/day care celebration. This is the time that I have the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus with them… and we had many of the kids as well as the parents getting saved. The great thing about the school is that after the first year it is self supportive and it is not a black hole that we keep putting money into. The second project is starting and eventually building a church in Oradea, and having this church as a base for all of the future mission trips in Bihor county as well as all over Romania. We became more and more aware of this need when we have seen that many parents in our daycare/kindergarten as well as people from Oradea that we came in contact with were getting saved, but we did not have the means for disciple them. This is a big project and it will require several changes in my life but I am willing to do it if this is what God wants me/us do. A third large project is to build a camp for kids and teens but also for adults. Our plan is to build it in such a way that it would be used year round. We own the land, and our vision is to build a camp in 5 years phases… starting in the first year with the kitchen and bathrooms, second year the girls building, third year the boys building, forth year the administrative/cancellers building, and in the fifth year building the landscape. As you probably know by now, the best times for witnessing to kids/teens and the best results are while they are in camp. We had hundreds of kids in camp in the last years and many of them received Christ as Lord and Savior in camp. All of these three projects are very important, and if there is anything I could ask for is please pray for these projects, pray for the people involved in planning and please share this vision with your friends/churches and we will glorify God for everything that He will do in us and through us. If you feel that God wants you to be part of one of these projects whether working or giving or sending someone, please do so. Also we have the blessing of leading the July trip to Romania. If you want to come, there is still time. It looks like it will be quite a big group. If you have questions or comments, please contact us. Thank you again for everything that you are doing for the Kingdom! May God Bless you! In Christ Jesus our King, — Pastor Ilie (Elijah) Morar +40722272787