I heard about the horrendous execution of Kim Sun Il on the news. I was saddened, as most of the world, to hear him plead for his life. There is nothing that any government could do at that point.

What I didn't know was that he was a professing Christian, who studied theology. He specifically had learned Arabic, and pursued work in Iraq, as a bridge to missions.

Kim was fluent in Arabic, holding a graduate degree in that language from Seoul's Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in February 2003. He also had degrees in English and theology, and had hoped to become a Christian missionary in the Middle East.

Well we made it!

We left on Friday 06/04 and hada long, but good flight to Munich. From Munich, we flew to Budapest, Hungary where we stayed for two nights. Saturday and Sunday evenings we were able to spend time with friends from Monty Taylor's church sight-seeing.

It was wonderful to experience the Sunday service at Monty Taylor's church. Pastor Monty spoke on the responsibilities of younger and older men and women out of Titus 2. Worship in song as beautiful, and we recognized two songs, "There is a Redeemer" and "Near to the heart of God". Marika translated for us on the balcony, without using the headphone equipment because there were too many of us. There were two baby dedications, extremely cute babies, and encouraging words from Monty. The Ambassadors, our short term missions team, was a bit surprised to hear from Monty during the service that President Ronald Reagan had passed away on Saturday. Monty used him as an example of a older person, well past his retirement age, that never stopped giving to others. Instead of saying "I have done enough, I can rest now" he entered the presidency at age 69 and served his country well. Some of the ambassadors were in tears, as they had much respect for Reagan as a president.

In the Summer of 2002, my wife and I were priviledged to go on a Short Term Missions Trip with our church, Hope Bible Church, to Moldova. Moldova is a former Soviet Republic which became an independent nation in 1991. Moldova is located in the northeastern corner of the Balkan region. It is bordered by Ukraine on the north, east and south and Romania on the west.

• Picture Gallery from the trip
• PowerPoint Presentation of the trip (70 MB - don't attempt on dialup)
• Moldova information from the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia

We had three primary purposes for the trip

1. Build up our sister church in developing town of Rascaieti

Moldova is one of the poorest countries in eastern Europe, and the small village of Rascaieti is one of the poorer areas in Moldova. Hope Church, of Rascaieti has about 30 adult members, and is pastored by the ever-faithful Jon Cernat. The warm people of this church greeted us with a kiss on the cheek and the Moldovan word “Pache”, which means peace. We conducted several services at the church, our own men preaching, leading worship, and giving testimony.

2. Reach the lost by bearing witness to the saving work of Jesus Christ

We had several opportunities to testify of the grace that is freely offered to all who believe that Jesus died for their sins. We held evangelistic meetings at homes in the village, where neighbors would come by and ask questions of us. We also spent time going door to door visiting some of the poor farmers, who were distraught because it hadn't rained. They thought that God didn't care for them, because times were so bad. We did a week of vacation bible school for the children of the village, and had about 50 kids join us by the last day. We were also invited to spend an afternoon with a large pre-school, where Melissa was able to teach them a bible lesson. The last night, we had an evangelistic meeting in front of the church, our pastor Rich Malcolm preached the gospel message. Afterward about 30 people from the village came forward to accept Christ, many of them were gypsy's which are sadly looked down upon by unbelievers in that region.

3. Encourage our brother's and sister's who labor for the gospel in Moldova

Melissa and I were able to form relationships with many in the village of Rascaieti, as well as with the people in the village of Antonesti where we stayed with the pastor of the church there, Alexander Melancea. His eldest son, Roman Melancea, was our translator and is now pastoring a small church in the village of Tudora. He and his new bride have started a social program for children with alcoholic parents, alcohol being a big problem with men there. It has been great to continue relationship with Roman via the Internet.

Moldova 2004

This summer, Lord willing, we will be going back to Moldova with a team of nine. We look forward to seeing our dear friends there, and furthering the cause of Christ in the region.