Romania

In 1972 two young students who worshipped here at MBC (Paul Hicks and Jean Mackintosh, later became Mrs Jean Hicks) travelled to Romania on a mission to deliver books to a local pastor who had returned home after studying at Regent’s Park College in Oxford. The rest as they say is history.

In brief, between then and now members of what eventually became MRS G (The Moortown Romania Support Group) have made dozens of visits to numerous parts of Romania. During these trips they have, either with their own hands or by way of donation and fund raising helped to fund churches, pastor’s salaries, children’s summer camps and village building schemes as well as a whole host of other projects and plans.

However, in more recent times all this travelling hasn’t always been one way with members of several Romanian churches, their families and friends, often leaving their homeland for the very first time making visits to the UK.   

In one of the first groups to visit Leeds was a nine year old pastor’s daughter called Szuszi Soos. Fast forward to today and Szuszi and her husband Andor, alongside another minister are themselves co-pastors of a Hungarian Reform church in the town of Odorkeui Secuiesc, a fellowship that pre Covid-19 regularly attracted a Sunday morning congregation of over 400 people.

Recently Szuszi and Andor, who now have two children of their own and who only moved in to their present church in January sent us these charming pictures of a suitably socially distanced Confirmation Service. 

It’s lovely to look back over all those years and to see how such a seemingly simple gesture (although I’m sure nothing was that simple in 1972 in Communist Romania) as delivering some books to a newly ordained minister could have led to what has to be one on MBC’s longest, warmest and mutually rewarding initiatives.    

Shortly before Christmas we received the following greeting and letter from Manastur Baptist Church in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The comments in italics have been added by Howard Dews.

Dear members of the Romanian Support Group in Leeds,

We hope that this finds you all well and also that everything is well with your families.

With this letter, we want to inform you about the way we spend the money you sent to us this year. 

– We continue our collaboration with the Gypsies church in Floresti, we offer to brother Hoca Joseph (every month, a financial aid worth 500 lei equivalent of £ 100

(We provided £500 of the pastor’s salary the remainder coming from Manastur church)

– We support brother Nicu Reparuc and his work with the children.

(Nicu and his wife Rita have adopted a number of children and we provided them with £500)

– We offered 6 scholarships for students in financial need.

(We also received individual letters of thanks from the students. We provided £500 for students who from who attend Manastur church.)

– We were able to help 15 poor families in our church who were in need

(We provided £500 for this.)

– We prepared for Christmas and offered 375 food packs for needy families in Manastur church and other sister churches

–  We supported several summer camps (children, young people, young adult families)

(We contributed £500 for this.)

As a church, we want to thank you very much for your support this year. Because of your generosity, God used you to touch many lives.

We are looking forward to continue our partnership with you.

Yours in Christ,

The church board, through Pastor Daniel Lacatos

Many thanks to Karen Ross for forwarding this lovely picture from Romania of Szuszi and Andor’s children… Bence and new arrival Abigail Anna.  

On behalf of the church MRSG (Moortown Romania Support Group) are hoping to send financial help to the 4 churches we are now linked with in Romania.  These churches are quite different – i.e. 2 are Baptist Churches in the large city of Cluj; and 2 are small village churches in Transylvania (Northern Romania) which is Hungarian speaking.

These 2 village churches are pastored by Noami at Cerefalva and her daughter Szuszi at Bikafalva. All four churches have one thing in common in that they evangelise widely by the use of Summer Camps for young people who are led to faith in Jesus.

We wish to continue to support this evangelical outreach. At the same time we also give financial help to a Gypsy Church at Floresti and to the support of a Christian Home for abandoned children run by our friends Nicu and his wife Rita.

Any gifts, whether large or small, are welcome as this is the only means MRSG has in raising money to help this essential ministry in Romania.

Contributions can be made through the church and any cheques should indicate that the gift is for Romania. This will also attract a tax repayment of 20% as well. Other gifts should be made to MRSG direct to me and should be made payable to ‘MBC Romania Aid Fund.’

All gifts will be sent before Easter as an encouragement to our Christian friends in Romania.

Thank you.

Norman Hiley – Treasurer MRSG

The pictures on this part of the page were taken at a Sunday evening youth service by Rod Russell on a recent visit to Stegeris ( Cerefalva in Hungarian).

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In addition Rod has just sent this in which not only says a little bit more about where our gifts go but also gives some wonderful examples of exactly how much difference they make.

As well as helping needy families and funding an annual youth camp (this has been happening for 20 years now and in that time four people (two male and two female) from the village have become Pastors) MBC’s financial support also goes into a Bursary Fund which helps poorer students purchase text books for their university studies. This fund is administered by a small committee who we have found to be very reliable. Here are a few messages we have recently received from some of the students we help to support. Rod.

Dear brothers in Christ. We thank you for your prayers and for your financial support that you sent us in 2016. God bless you! Together with your financial participation, thirty two needy families were helped and six young students received scholarships. In the following lines you some thoughts from these young people who were blessed through you. Here are the messages that our students wrote to thank you for the money they received.

Thank you and we pray for your blessing. 2 Corinthians 9:11

Hi. I’m Laura Siminiciuc and i’m studying for a master degree in molecular Biotechnology. I just moved to Cluj Napoca this year and I’m one of the many that received a blessing coming through you. Thank you for being the ones that God can use to help otheres. Thank you for your great example of love and caring for your brothers and sisters around the world. May God bless you and help you in every way.My name is Ilinof Rebeca and I am a student in first year of college in Cluj and I study Marketing at Babes Bolyai University. I am from a little town 350 kilometers from Cluj. I want to thank you for the financial support you have given to me. It is both a blessing and a proof that God takes care of His children in His own wonderful ways. May God bless you and I’m sure He will reward your beautiful gesture of kindness.

I want to thank you that, although you don`t know yet who I am, you wanted to make me part of a blessing. My name is Ramona Pop, and I come from Arad, a city in western Romania, hear Hungary. I learned to play the piano at age of 5, so my parents decided for me to stady at a music school in my town. In high school I also studied the music theory, and in 2013 I decided to come to Cluj-Napocato continue my musical studies on the theoretical part, named Musicology.

So, with God help, today I am in the final year at “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca and I will finish this college next year. Also, I am in second year at the Faculty of Economics in Cluj, where I study Accountings by a „distance learning ” program.

One of the greatest blessing that I have recevied here at Cluj was the Church in Manastur. Here I sing in the choir and in a worship group, and sometimes, with the help of brother Ken Tucker I am directing the choir.

I thank you for your love an I want to greet you with Psalm 36, verse 5 and 6: “Your love, Lord, Reaches to the Heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.  You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.”

 May God bless you and keep you in His love. With gratitude, Ramona Pop.

Hello, my name is David Costea. I have forteen years  and i was born from a family with hear dizability. My parents and my brother and sister are deaf and I am the only from my family who cand hear, and i take this like a blessing because I help my family, I am as a translator for them in different situations related with people who hear and speak. I love my family even they don`t hear, because for me how is family now, is perfect, and they are perfect how they are.

Me and my family are very thankful for your support. I hope these donations will help more people needfull, Thank you very much! Peace!

I really want to thank you for believing  that you could invest in people like me, God bless you! My name is Sebastian Muresan and I am 22 years old. I come from a christian femily here in Cluj and since i was little i was fascinated by music and tehnology, and that`s why I decided to build a career as an engineer and work with the music group from church. I love playng the drums and I had many people suporting me here at Manastur church.

I would like to thank you once more and I hope that everyone appreciates your support. God bless, Muresan Sebastian

From Maria Jantea. I am writing this note, in order to express my gratefulness for your financial support. I pray that Lord God bless you abundantly and reward you. I am a conducting student in the senior year of College. As it can be easily seen, music is my primary passion among reading and foreign languages. I love conducting orchestras, this being my speciality. I also practice choir conducting in church Manastur nr. 1.

I’m very grateful for your kindness. God bless you.

Yours sincerely, Maria Jantea”