September 2016 News from Efrata
In April of this year, a team of eight people traveled to Romania from Morrill, ME to visit and work at Morrill Baptist Church’s sister church, Efrata Baptist. Pastor Beni Indru and his family welcomed the team by putting them to work the very next day after arriving. Team members shared their testimonies during the Sunday services and one of the team members preached both Sundays.
One of the purposes of visiting was for the team to begin taking down Beni’s parents’ home to make room for parking at Efrata. Many of the home’s building materials were salvaged. Most of the roof tiles were saved and a few thousand bricks were to be repurposed and were stacked nearby. The team also visited Precept Ministries and Ion Vatran’s home where he runs a ministry for youth and young adults.
Being involved in Beni’s family life impressed team members first hand of some of the big needs of the ministry in Lugoj. A short visit to the orphanage at Jdioara also touched team members’ hearts. Folks in Morrill and a nearby business donated items to fill three humanitarian bags with many items that delighted the children of the Beraca Orphanage and Beni’s children. Team members purchased a basketball hoop for Beraca and scooters from Beni’s two eldest children. All team members would like to return to Romania again for another work session.
More information regarding events since April was recently received via a telephone call from Pastor Beni, who expressed much appreciation for the prayer and financial support received from MBC and a few individuals.
Pastor Beni has been experiencing significant back issues, necessitating an operation a few months ago, and a period of convalescing. A subsequent infection was experienced, post surgery, but healing is underway. More treatment for the back issues is planned, with the outlook being promising at this point.
Construction work at Efrata has slowed during the past few months, due mostly to lack of funding. Some progress has been made, though. An apartment planned for Beni’s parents within the church needs to be completed before winter weather sets in, as their house was torn down, as noted in this newsletter.
Ministry work continues – with some outreach work occurring with Grace Baptist Church, located within Lugoj, as well, a city of some 54,000 people. That particular work is focused on helping establish a permanent church work in a relatively nearby village. Right now, the plan is to hold open-air meetings twice a month until the weather is too cold to do so.
Along with ministry work, Pastor Beni also is a beekeeper, and income from the sale of honey helps provide for his family.
Again, Beni is very grateful for the prayer and financial support received for his family and the Efrata ministry work. The Lord meets needs just at the right time – HIS time!