Targoviste - Târgoviste, Romania is located north of Bucharest with a population of about 100,000. Mission Connection missionaries, Allan and Linda Taylor, and Romanian pastor,Mihai Tarneveschi ,recently started this church primarily to reach the younger generation (ages 15-30) in Targoviste. Read the following stories from Allan about how lives are being changed:
	A young teenager, Ramona, was one of the first to accept Christ. Although she has been persecuted by her family for her faith, her desire to be a witness for Christ only grows. She very quickly showed herself to be extremely bright and enthusiastic soaking up everything we shared with her. In one of our first new Christian’s classes I presented the Romans road through some visual aids I adapted and then asked if someone felt confident enough to summarize the lesson back to me using the visual aids we had studied. Ramona volunteered and then proceeded to present the Romans road even better than I had during the class. I was dumb founded. Things haven’t always been easy for Ramona though, one night she came to church with a black eye and bruises all over her face because her step-father came home drunk and beat her up. A week later both Ramona and her little sister Mirella came to church crying because their mother had just beaten both of them up and their grandmother as well. Though it’s heartbreaking to see them go through this sort of thing, it only seems to make them all the more determined to follow Jesus. It is so wonderful to see the other young people immediately gather around them to pray and encourage them to remain true to the Lord whenever things like that happen."
	Catalin was one of the new Christians who collided with the love of our heavenly Father this last summer too. Picture a young man with a tank top and baggy trousers, Van sneakers and blond bleached hair standing at the edge of the crowd looking on curiously with his arms folded to see what this group of Americans were doing in the middle of a downtown park in Romania. On the outside, his bulging arms and stone face indicated not to stop and bother him, but on the inside his heart was awash with loneliness and emptiness longing for something real to challenge the world. And challenge him God did. Night after night as he would take up his place at the edge of the crowd, he hoped that somehow he could get a little closer to someone without compromising his image of intimidating self-confidence. Finally someone came over to Catalin one night and began a friendship with him, accepting him just as he appeared to be. Towards the end of the nightly meetings in the park, Catalin's new friend invited him to join us back at the church for further discussions and some music. Catalin had never met so many people who accepted him just as he was. As these new friends, "Christians," began to sing their songs to God he realized that they really believed in what they were singing about. Then something completely foreign happened to Catalin as these Christians continued to sing, he felt an overwhelming feeling of love descend on him like a blanket. Never had he felt something like this before. (Later we explained it to him that it was God's loving presence.) Soon Catalin forgot about the people around him and closed his eyes and just soaked in this new feeling of love and acceptance. As he tried to quantify this wonderful new experience, all of a sudden he realized that what he was feeling was from God, and for the first time Catalin knew he didn't have to be someone he was not. The tears began to well up in his eyes and he could no longer hold them back. It seemed like all the hurt and feelings of insignificance all gushed out of him at once. Catalin cried like a baby as the God songs continued to rise seemingly over the top of him before they left for heaven. Catalin has never been the same since. Catlin attends every meeting we have now, even traveling with us when we travel to other villages to lead Bible studies. On the occasions that he gets to share his testimony of how he came to the Lord he can hardly get through it without his voice breaking up and tears welling up in his eyes. Catalin is like the many of us who have collided with a love that we could never describe. He also is in a Leadership Training class to become a pastor and is an immense encouragement to everyone he talks to infecting them with the new found tenderness that has taken over his life.
	Finally Nicu (pronounced nic-koo) is a young man who was one of the earliest converts when the church was first opened in Pucioasa three and a half years ago. He could hardly talk to anyone without being overwhelmed with feelings insecurity and self-doubt. Speaking in front of the church was definitely out of the question for Nicu. Three years later after being mentored he now preaches in church, plays the guitar and is about to take on leading one of our new bible studies. Nicu can always be found praying for people at altar calls. He has such a sensitive heart and will hardly let a chance go by when people are invited to give testimonies for the Lord. I will never forget the day when he realized that God wanted to use him. We were driving down the road together having one of our mentor times when he almost came unglued and burst through the roof of the car as the reality hit him, God wanted to use "him" as His ambassador. He made such a genuine commitment to let God do whatever He wanted with him and you can sure tell. Nicu would have to be one of the most wonderful and sincerely humble people I now know. These are a few of the lives who have been unmistakably altered by the wonderful person of Jesus Christ. If your team would like to help Allan and Linda and this church make a difference in Targovisti, see our Mission teams page for how you can become more involved. For more information on how you can particpate in church planting or if you would like to send a missions team to help with a church plant, please send an email indicating your interest to info@missionconnection.org
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