Thursday: Hope

The Hope Group was started by Otto and Elisabeth Kis to change the lives of the people with disabilities in the Sacele area. Their work has been something of a pioneer effort in the churches. In fact they had received some criticism for investing so much of their time in the lives of over twenty persons in the Sacele area. The Hope Group’s name fits it. Now they help Otto and Elisabeth in their church planting efforts.

Otto has some big dreams about providing for persons with disabilities in Romania--A conference to bring together those working with the disabled in the churches. He really wants to demonstrate that persons with disabilities can be a productive and integrated into church and community life.

Michael has a dream (young man that I am talking with in the picture). His dream is what Teleios Ministry is about but will be a challenging one for us. Michael, works at a local hospital, and is currently working on his Masters degree. He wants to build a workshop for people with disabilities. They would produce a specialty product in order to have a employment and support outreach to other disabled people. Michal had been searching the web and saw the workshops in the US. We spent a great deal of time talking about this. I need your help to assist in finding contacts for Michael. What is so exciting is that the innovation and bridging of barriers is taking place in the context of the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms lives and Otto and Michael have a big dream that will transform the whole life of the disabled, the church, and their community.

The Hope Group meeting was their quarterly celebration meeting. Honestly, the building we met in was cold. We are praying to find a place to serve as a ministry center for the children’s group, Hope Group, Young Couples, Mother’s club, and Sacele church. (Otto and I went looking at property—the good news is that the property value has dropped—well, good news for the ministry center.) We had pizza and two very delicious cakes.

To give you an idea of the investment of Otto and Elisabeth in the Hope Group. Otto went and picked up most of those who came in his small station wagon. He spent about two hours bringing and two hours taking home the members of the Hope Group.

In the evening, I preached at the Brasov Hungarian Baptist Church. This church has been a part of Teleios Ministry since it began. Gyula, Marta, Peter, David, and Kinga Borzasi (Kinga is David’s wife of almost eight months) have been a part of our lives and so many of our partners who have served in Romania. David played the keyboard, Kinga led the music, and Peter handled the projection of the words and scriptures. Also, we got to see our great friends, Peter and Ili Balint. After the worship service, we had a feast. Marta makes the best roast lamb anywhere. She had made a type of potato salad out of Brasov grown potatoes (best anywhere). I seriously put away some roast lamb.

The great news is that Marta invited me and Otto back for lunch to finish off the lamb. She added her roasted red peppers (Best again) and LAMB SOUP (what can I say, Best again). I really enjoyed myself. What can I say.

We had a great night together catchy up, talking old times, and making plans to get together again.