Pastor Grigore and Parascovia Rastasanu, with his Romanian copy of The Disciple-Making Minister

Today we started our journey from Moldova back to Romania. We made, however, several stops on our way, including one at the home of pastor Grigore Rastasanu and his wife, Parascovia, who fixed us a bountiful Moldovan lunch. For most of their lives, both were atheists and communists, but after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, they both came to the Lord because of the faithful witness of Baptist believers. Since then, they’ve suffered their share of persecution, in particular from one of Grigore’s brothers who is a high-ranking Romanian Orthodox priest.

I first met Grigore in July of 2003 when I hosted my first pastors’ conference in Moldova. A pastor who attended that conference translated a few chapters of one of my books, The Great Gospel Deception, into Russian, and those chapters were printed and distributed at another conference the following year. Eventually The Disciple-Making Minister was translated into Romanian, and we’ve since printed 2,000 copies. These books have been distributed to pastors and Christian leaders all over Romania, Moldova and Transnistria, as well as to Romanian-speaking Christian leaders in Austria and Germany.

Grigore is one who has been influenced by our conferences and books, which helped inspire him to start a church in his house in 2004. Since then he has planted three other churches in nearby villages. I’d like to tell you Grigore and Parascovia’s entire story, but I suspect we’ll feature it in a future magazine article or mini-update.

We’ve traveled about 800 miles over the past six days through Romania, Moldova and Transnistria, and I’ve only shared a few of the trip highlights with you as we’ve checked up on some of Heaven’s Family’s projects in this part of the world. Thanks for joining me on my journey and for making so many of those projects possible. Below are a few of my favorite photos from the trip that I haven’t already shared with you. — David

Two beautiful children at the Cornesti Children’s Tuberculosis Sanatarium

Another cutie at Cornesti

80-year old widow and saint of whom the world is not worthy, Vera Pavlov, who is hardly able to walk to get outside her house. We’ll be funding a wheelchair for her.

Bob Collins takes a good look at an ancient Soviet tractor at the Ribnita Drug Rehab

Nicolae Ilues, at the Meleseni Home of Hope

Veronica Mocan, at the Meleseni Home of Hope

HF staff members from Texas, Bob and Carole Collins

Myself and HF staff member David Warnock