Sojourning Pilgrim

trying again

Back from the mountains.

Sorry that the last post didn’t work so well. Blogger isn’t letting me post an entire thought from here – probably something to do with the settings on this computer. I am going to try to post from Word, so here goes.

Back to Sunday. I preached to three churches on Sunday – a small mission church for early service (about 30 in attendance), then at Timotei’s church for the late service (he estimated that there were 1000 in attendance). That evening, I drove to Hunedoara, and preached to about 120 in their evening service. At that service, I found myself just a little weepy – I suspect the jet lag was catching up a little, but I had the strangest feeling of homesickness – not so much for Enid or the States, but for Sunday nights like I remember them from 20 and 30 years ago.

The spirit of these people is amazing – they have so very little in terms of possessions, but they have wonderful family life, and their dedication to their faith is inspiring. I think perhaps because they have so little, they rely on their faith more than those of us who possess so very much.

Monday morning we traveled up into the mountains for the pastor’s retreat. It was an idyllic retreat setting – small, intimate cabins, with a small meeting area for the group. Larry and I both commented about how wonderful their fellowship is – these pastors love one another, and enjoy spending time with one another – I think they don’t get to do so very often. We were also quite amazed at how well our different teaching areas related to the other – I talked about using spiritual gifts in building the church, and he spoke on the pastor’s devotional life. We had a wonderful two days, and are now back in Deva, waiting for evening service. I think both of us are slated to preach – short sermons – this evening.

Here’s hoping this works.

posted by the sojourning pilgrim @ 6:48 AM