Q: Why should I support missions? "And I saw Heaven opened and behold a white horse and He sat upon him was called Faithful and True and in Righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were like a flame of fire and on His head were many crowns and He had a name written that no man knew, but he himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in Blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords."-Revelations 19:11-13,16
A: Do you want Jesus to come back?
The Bible says no one knows the time of Christ's return, and that He shall return like a thief in the night. Is there anything that we as Christians can do toward the goal of having Christ return? Yes! Evangelism here and abroad(missions). When the disciples asked Jesus when He was coming back and when the end of time would be, Jesus Christ said: "Take Heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliever you up to be afflicted and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold. But he that endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."Matthew 24:4-14
When every person has heard the gospel of Jesus, then the end shall come...That is why every Christian should be involved with missions.

Romanian Mission Trip 1

September 18- October 16th, 2000

After months of hard work and fundraising Magda and I boarded the plane for Romania. It was my sixth time flying to Romania, but this time would be different. This time Magda and I were the missionaries. We wouldn't be working for other organizations or people, just God and us. It was quite a responsibility for us as we brought over the money that we had raised from various churches. We had vowed ahead of time to make ourselves missionaries of Jesus, not of a certain denomination. We didn't want to return home and place a little flag in a map of Romania, and say "Another (whatever denominational) conquest." All of our work is for the Lord. We have worked with Congregational churches, Nazarenes, Baptists, Reformed, Wesleyans, Charismatic, and Pentecostal churches.
For this trip we were able to bring over $1,570.00, which went towards many worthy causes. We were constantly in prayer as to how we should use the money. The Holy Spirit seemed to lead us on a variety of paths. We helped fix up two churches in central Romania, one in Iacobeni and one in Vantor. We also helped out poor village families with food programs. Another large project we started was creating a Christian kindergarten/school in Iacobeni, Romania. We found Americans to sponsor two teachers, and we bought a building and supplies and as of November 1st, 2000, the kindergarten started. It has between 60-120 children depending on the week. The remainder of our funds went toward the sick. We saw a lot of the work of Satan in Romania, especially regarding wife abuse. Two women we got to know in this trip were being abused or had physical ailments from years of abuse. We paid for medical treatment for them.
One truly touching part of our trip came from a little girl named Oana Dragu. She is a 12 year old girl from Cris, Romania. While we were there she went to the hospital for pain in her side. Her mother thought it was her appendix. Doctors told the child they would not help her till she gave them money. The poor family had no money, and the child's condition became worse with fever and more pain. She sat in a hospital bed over night with still no help. The doctors came the next morning and asked her for money again, she gave them all the money she had, about $4.00 and finally they helped her. We helped her and her family and tried to bring some relief.
Our first solo missions trip went very well. The kindergarten, we hope with God's blessing will bring Jesus to the village of Iacobeni, while providing two jobs for poor Christian women. Our goal is to help Romania, not just with hand outs, but with pride and hard work. Thank you everyone who helped out with this trip, both with money, time, and prayers. Finally thank you Jesus Christ, who without Him there would be no mission.

Romanian Mission Trip 2

May 16th- June 13th, 2001

Once again after months of more hard work convincing people that missionary work is so important to God's plan and return, we set off, but this time we were not alone. My brother Stephen Pashaus came with us as a volunteer. This time we had about $1,200.00 and decided to focus this trip on two things: evangelism and the kindergarten/school in Iacobeni.
We loaded our suitcases with supplies for the school, including paints, decorations, and lesson plans and set off. We spent many long days in Iacobeni painting and fixing up the school building. The classes had been meeting there since November, but it needed a lot of work. Some splashes of color and cartoon paintings turned an old dingy building into a lively school for God. We started a new Bible based lesson plans. We worked with the teachers to create an educational, spirit enriching atmosphere. While observing the school we instantly became aware of some pressing needs. Many of the kids had to sit on the floors, many had to turn around and use their benches as tables during lessons. Many of these poor kids didn't even have shoes or descent clothes, and they were forced to work on the floor, so we went out and bought more tables, desks and chairs with some of the money. We want to thank David McGuire, a missionary to Romania from England. He has been a good friend to Magda for years and he was a huge blessing from God this trip for his contacts, support, and his truck.
The other focus of evangelism was played out in the many church services we participated in. While James says that taking care of the physical needs of people is important, how have we helped the person if we give them bread and they continue down the path of destruction? We decided to really make an effort to feed the souls of the people there. Any organization can throw money at a problem, but only the saving water of God and end man's thirst. I was able to preach in five services on the following topics:
  • Christian Maturity 2 Peter 1:5-12
  • Saving Your unsaved Children: A story of a son named Michael
  • 24 hour a day Christianity James 1:19-27, 2:14-26
  • Power of Prayer James 5:15-21
  • The Power of the Holy Spirit Acts 1:8, 2:17-21
With Magda translating I was able to preach some powerful messages. During the sermon about unsaved children I even had many people crying. Hopefully because what I was saying was touching their hearts, not because they were bored to tears. We also sponsored a evangelizing trip to Malancrav, and bought 100 Bibles and handed them out to People and placed them in hospitals. We helped fix up a church in Sighisoara, Romania, our home based church. We started a "Jesus" healing fund for sick people, extended our food program to 14 families, and helped support a Romanian pastor, Rudi Costea, who pastors seven churches and is not paid.
I felt our second trip was very successful. It was focused on evangelism, which we believe is the great commission from Christ from Matthew 24:4-14. Once we returned back to the states we were already looking forward to returning and continuing to do the work of Christ in Romania. Thank you everyone, once again for their support. Thank you Stephen for your help, I hope the trip was a spiritual blessing for you and an eye opening experience to the work to be done in Romania. If you're Christian and reading this we would ask for your prayers as our mission goes foward. Spiritual Romania is going through some low times. A once strong church in Apold, has closed its doors due to a lack of Christians in the village. Many young people are falling into the world of sin. Their love for God is growing cold. I pray that a spiritual revival might happen in central Romania, especially in the young people. Thank you and God's blessing be upon you.

Romanian Mission Trip 3

May 20th - June 19th, 2002

Once again Magda and I travelled to Romania during the summer of 2002. I can honestly say this was by far our most labor intensive trip. Working with Pastor Rudi Costea and members of his church in Sighisoara, Romania, we expanded his church which used to seat about 40 people to one that now seats about 75. It is a great problem when churches out grow their walls. We were happy to be faced with this problem and put much of our effort into this expansion project. Once again the Lord reminded us that work there is much different then work here in the States. One brick cost about 13,000 lei or about $0.30. An average Romanian worker will only earn about 6,000 lei an hour. Church offering in Pastor Costea's church is only about $3.00 a month, yet the expansion would require thousands of bricks. The total cost of the church expansion was estimated at $1,000. Over a two week period we torn down walls, rebuilt walls, and moved a lot bricks and sand. During the day we would go to the local river and fill up carts with sand for concrete and pull them back to the church. No one in the church has a vechile and all the work must be done by hand or with horses. It was very hard work, but it was joyful work to be helping build the Kingdom of God. Well also continued food programs, clothes programs, and working with our Christian school in Iacobeni. I also took on a more active role in the spiritual ministry preaching every Friday and Sunday night and led a young believers Bible study. The highlight of our trip was the "Table of Love" service where Pastor Rudi's eight churches came together for a large outdoor service in the village of Apus. It was an all day church service with music, preaching, and a dinner. I was able to preach that day to over 150 people on the two thieves on the crosses from Luke. It was a great revival service, but also God used the service that day to remind us of the need in Romania. That service was held outside because Apus has no church in the village. At point it started to rain and God reminded me that if it did rain we had no where to go. It has become one of our primary focuses while in the US to try to raise support, about $1,000, to buy a building in Apus for the people to worship in. God richly blessed our efforts and thank you to all of you who helped or prayed for us. We offer to God our few fish and five loaves and He gives the increase. May God be praised. Joshua 24:15

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