Praise for SafeTrip Home

Just a quick update. We had a good flight home on Thursday, Sept. 23. We made all our connections and our luggage arrived on time. We thank God for his traveling mercies.

Buddy had a doctor's appointment on Mon., Sept. 27, about the knot on the top of his foot. The doctor said it was a cyst and would require surgery and referred us to an orthopedic doctor. That appointment is Oct. 7, 2010. We will update you when we know more.

Going Home on September 23, 2010.

We will be returning to the U.S. a little early this year. Buddy has some medical problems and has doctor's appointments on Sept. 27 & 30. Please pray that he will get the medical answers and solutions quickly with no complications. He has a knot on the top of his foot and we are not sure exactly what it is.

This may be the last post for a little while, but I will update as soon as I can.

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures of the places and people we visited and ministered to this year. We have had a blessed year. You can e-mail us @ braswellb@globaloutreach.org with your comments and questions.

Thank you for your love, prayers and support of our ministry.
God bless,
Buddy & Barbara

Bible Club in Vinga, Sept. 11, 2010

This is our last Bible Club for the year 2010 before going home on Sept. 23rd.
We had a small group, only 18 children but we had a good time.
Below are the children singing, smiling and laughing, and listening to the story.

Beni translated for me as I told the story of "Jesus Teaches us How To Pray".

Our Trip to the Oltenia Region - Bible Club in Ohaba

September 3-6, 2010 we visited the Oltenia Region of Romania. It has 5 counties in that region. We went to Gorj county to the village of Valea. Valea is where we stayed in the home of Emil and Mariana Goaie. We arrived on Friday afternoon, had lunch and then went to our 1st Bible Club in the village of Ohaba. While we were there for our visit we held 4 Bible Clubs from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. The pictures below are from Ohaba and the next few post are the other Bible Clubs in Bolbosi, Conace and Valea. We enjoyed our time there. The children were precious and very attentive. Some of the villages don't have Baptist Churches, only Orthodox or no church at all. It was a blessing to minister to these children. The youth from Valea are conducting Bible Clubs in these villages named above and 2 others on a bi-monthly basis. Please pray with us that they will see these children come to know Christ as their Saviour. The youth liked some of the things we did and the way we presented the story and then gave them questions afterwards to review what they learned. I gathered up some material to send to them to use in the Bible Clubs.

Pictured here are the children along with the youth leaders, Romina and Miller at the end on the right.
Bro. Iosif is pictured here with the children as they are singing. He lives in Arad but goes to this area 2 times a month to serve as the pastor for the church in Valea and the surrounding villages.

The children love to sing the songs!

Below they are being helped by Flavius, our translator, and Nicu (in the burgundy shirt), with their questions. Nicu is the youth leader in Valea and helps the young people to go to the surrounding villages for the Bible Clubs.

They enjoyed doing the cryptogram also.

Barbara and the younger children we gave Bible Story books to.

The children were happy to receive the Bible Story books!

Buddy with the school aged children who received a N.T. Bible.

Looking at the N.T. Bible.

Preparing to leave as the children still gather and talk. We had a great time with them.

Below, Buddy traded this lady a N.T. Bible for her stick. She was pleased to make the trade.

The picture above and the one below are other ladies who were at the Bible Club, curious as to what we were doing, who wanted a Bible also. I told them they had to promise me they would read them everyday.

The next few post that follow are of the other 3 Bible Clubs we held,pictures of babies we gave blankets to and our trip on on Sept. 6, through the mountains. It was a blessed trip. We hope to go back next year.

2nd set of Pictures of the Bible Club on Saturday morning in Bolbosi

I goofed up while posting the images and these pictures should have been with the others. Sorry, but hope you enjoy anyway.

Here the leaders which are both named Roxana are playing "Duck, Duck, Goose" with the younger children. Flavius, who was my translator, is passing out bracelets to the children.

The older children have their N.T. Bibles. Miller, the young man in the yellow jackets is also one of the leaders for this Bible Club.

Some of the older girls with Roxana G. and Roxana B. Both of these girls helped with the Bible Clubs and did a wonderful job. If you notice in the back on the right side, there were several mothers and grandmothers who came with their children to the Bible Club and stayed.

Working on the Cryptogram. They loved this, and caught on very quickly even though it was in English.

The smaller children finishing their coloring pictures.

Finishing up the questions and cryptograms.

At the end of the Bible story, I shared with the children how to be saved. I noticed several of the older children smiling and laughing so I asked if they understood. Only one child said he understood, and he seemed very positive about understanding. So I explained a little more detail and then asked if any of them wanted to ask Jesus into their hearts. Flavius led them in a prayer after I explained what you need to pray and ask God for to be saved. I'm not sure how many really meant it that day but several prayed the prayer. I asked Flavius as we were leaving the Bible Club did he think they understood what I was talking about. He said no, not at first, because these children were from Orthodox homes and had never heard the gospel presented. This was only the second time this Bible Club had met. But he seemed to think after I explained more they better understood. We pray that the seeds planted that day will be nurtured and grow.

Bible Club in Bolbosi Sat. am. Sept. 4, 2010

This Bible Club was the 2nd of 4 we did while visiting in the Oltenia Region. Here the children started out with playing a game. The leader called a number and they had to gather into groups of that number. At the end the ones left not in a group were out. Getting ready to sing some songs.

Don't you just love the expression on this little girl's face, The one in the pink with her hands on her hips. I wonder what she was thinking!

Sharing the Bible story in the next 2 pictures below.

The older children are answering the questions from the Bible story and the younger ones are coloring a picture.

Here the younger children have received their Bible Story Book.

Sites you don't see in the Arad area much anymore!

Since Romania has entered the European Union in 2005, a lot of changes have taken place. Some of those changes include animals not running loose and not being kept in the back yards anymore. This is enforced more in the cities and larger villages. But in the Oltenia Region out in the rural areas you can still find the turkeys running around free as a bird. And the oxen and cattle walking down the middle of the road!

And donkeys in the pastures!

Below: This is something rarely seen much anymore also. A Gypsy camp set up in a village. They had been there for over a month. You can't see it in the picture but under the tent is a gas stove and a small refrigerator. This camp was set up in the village of Valea. This picture was made on Saturday. They packed up and left the next day.

Bible Club in the village of Conace on Saturday afternoon 9/4/2010

This was our 3rd Bible club in the Gorj County area of the Oltenia Region in Romania. This group of children was precious. They were overall the youngest group we had. Buddy is showing them his "pretend" puppy. I'm not sure if they thought it was funny or he was just a crazy American. Anyway they all were laughing. Here they are laughing and playing as we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. We had 18 total to attend.

Below: Now it's time to be serious and listen to the Bible story. We shared about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and how he did not give into Satan's temptations. Costel, one of the youth from the church in Valea, is seated with the children. He is one of the youth who goes to this village to conduct the Bible Clubs each week.

The 2 girls are both named Roxana and they are singing with the children the song "Be careful little eyes what you see". They are also on the team of youth who conduct the Bible Clubs here with this group. The children love to sing.

The younger ones in the group are showing off their Bible story books.

The rest of the group get a N.T. Bible. Here Roxana is helping to pass out the bracelets. Each child received one.

Blankets donated will help to keep the babies warm this winter.

Last year when we were home we had some blankets donated for the babies in Romania. The Ladies Sewing group from Trinity Lutheran Church made these beautiful blankets with lots of love sewn in. When we went to Valea, we carried some to give to the babies in that area. It is in the mountains and is very cold there in the winter, so we know the blankets will be very much appreciated for the babies.
Below this grandmother accepts a blanket for her grandson who lives in another village close by and her granddaughter gets a bear for herself and her sister. This baby girl is only a couple of months old.

Here is another little girl and her mother, who was given a blanket.

Below Mariana accepts a blanket for a neighbor's child who was not home. We stayed in Mariana and Emil's home while in Valea. She is a good cook and a gracious hostess!

This young lady and her husband work in Spain to make money to build a house. They, unlike many couples, do take their child with them. They were in Valea visiting his parents. The little boy seems happy with his blanket.

Bible Club in Valea on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 5, 2010

These children are from the village of Valea. This was the last of 4 Bibles we held while on our trip to the Oltenia Region of Romania. In this photo the children are singing. They love to sing!

The children are intensely listening to the Bible Story. Our story here was "Jesus teaches us how to pray". We studied about the Lord's prayer, which is our model prayer. Most people in Romania know the Lord's prayer but don't truly understand it or the power of this prayer and how using it as a model of how to pray can change and affect our daily lives.

The children are getting an ice cream cone as they go outside.

We had 41 children at this Bible Club. Here they are eating the ice cream and playing in the church yard.

I think this little boy is enjoying his ice cream!!

The girls are sitting down and eating their ice cream.

The boys showing off for the camera!

These are the younger children after they received their Bible story book.

The older children with the N.T. Bibles.

Thank you to the churches and teams who have purchased Bibles and Bible story books to be distributed to the children!! They are a blessing to them.