Reverence and Awe

After nine days of traveling, we get a respite here in London. I have to say that I was looking forward to this stop. Back in 1998, on my first trip into Africa, the team (18 men from Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita) had an eight-hour layover at Gatwick Airport, some 30 miles outside of London. Our team leader, Pastor Gary Kusunoki, loaded us all on the Gatwick Express to London for one reason, to eat dinner at the Golden Dragon Restaurant. Kevin, Frank Rabinovitch, my partner in the ministry at Sowing Circle, and I were part of that team. And I can say that since that time, any time I have a layover here, we go to the Golden Dragon. Kevin and I have had Peking duck in China together, but without equivocation, we have voted the Golden Dragon's Peking duck the world's best! So if you are ever in London make your way to Chinatown to the Golden Dragon at 28-29 Gerrard Street.

This is Ruth's first time in London, well actually this trip was her first time on an airplance. So we spent some time at a couple of tourist sites, while Kevin was preparing for Sunday's message. It was a nice end to a fabulous trip. We pray that Christ was glorified throughout the trip.

Here are a few additional pictures of the team that wanted to post, but didn't get in elsewhere.

Ruth with some kids at Betana Orphanage in Petrosani.
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Joshua and Andrei
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Joshua and Marios
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Tasha and Jonathan in Bucharest
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Joshua, Rebekah and Ruth in London (cold).
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Luggage for the Milligan's and Ruth
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Peking Duck

Postscript: The duck was soooo goooood we had it for dinner right after landing in London on Tuesday night and then again for lunch on Thursday. It's that food thing again!

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On Saturday morning we started the three hour trip from Petrosani to Valcea. If you've looked at the maps we posted here, you may be asking is it Vilcea or Valcea. Well we asked it many times, since we saw signs with it spelled two different ways. It seems that a few years ago the spelling was changed to Valcea, and thus our confusion.

Pastor Kevin has known Tim and Krista Hahne for about 20 years. Kevin and Time co-taught the youth ministry at a local Calvary Chapel for many years, before Tim was called to Romania and Kevin to Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita. Pastor Tim has served as the Senior Pastor of a local church here in Valcea. Tim's and Krista's son, Joey, serves as one of the assistant pastors.

Pastor Tim and Krista Hahne
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We were welcomed by the church at a pot-luck dinner Saturday night at the Hahne's house. Christians and food, it seems they go together! Along with the food came a church table tennis tournament. It seems that they are aware of the competitive nature of our Senior Pastor. Two young ladies soundly beat the two teams of Kevin and Ovideu and Jim and Ovideu. Kevin and I would like to blame Ovideu, but we were just clearly outmatched. Luckily no one took pictures of the beating, so I don't have to post them here!

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Friday was our last day in Petrosani. We started out the day visiting with the Andries family to pray with them and encourage them in their ministry efforts. This was the primary point of our trip was to spend time with those in the field, encouraging and exhorting them with the Word and in prayer. Our brothers and sisters in Christ need the strength of the Lord to fulfill the work to which they have been called. God has also in His Word admonished us to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ (Ephesians 6:18, James 5:16). So we ask that as you read these blog entries, if the Lord puts on your heart to pray for the Andries family or the Hahne family, to please commit to do so. And if you desire to financially support them, you can contact us at the church.

Andrei and Kelle Andries
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Tasha Otsuji, Aryana and Kelle Andries
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The Lord has blessed Kelle and Andrei, through an stateside donor, with a large house in the midst of the city of Petrosani to convert to a Family Centre. The Family Centre will be used to house and minister to orphans and unwanted children of Petrosani. They hope to tak possession of the building in the very near future as the purchase transaction is completed.

Family Centre
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We are so sorry! We got so involved in the ministry work on the trip, along with lack of computer and internet access, that we suffered blog bogged. So even though we are back we want to continue to share with you pictures and commentary on the ministry that went on. Read more >>

Today we had the opportunity to visit with a couple of awesome ministries. First, we spent the morning with our friends, Kelle and Andrei Andries, directors of Sufficient Bread Ministry here in Petrosani, Romania. The Lord has blessed tremendously the work being done here in the name of the Lord. They are working with the local church, street kids, orphans, and with the Betana Orphanage here in Petrosani.

We had the opportunity this evening to visit the Betana Orphanage. It was a blessed time for all of us to visit with the 26 children. We all played games together and had the opportunituy to break bread and have supper together. Following are some pictures of our visit. Joshua had an absolutely fabulous time and the kids were enamored with him and Jonathan. While the orphanage gets, from time-to-time, visiting teams from foreign countries, they generally are always adults and not children.

Ruth Armstong, Nicholas, Audi, Joshua Milligan, Kelle Andries, Anna
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Nicholas, Jasmine, Ruth Armstong, Rebekah Milligan
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Kelle Andries, Aleen, Joshua Milligan, Anna
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Dinner Time at Betania
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Almost Everybody!
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We began the day early in the morning by leaving Bucharest for Petrosani. We were blessed by a lunch break in Valcea (the half way point between Bucharest and Petrosani)--this is where Joey and Mihaela serve with Tim and Krista Hahne at the church in Valcea. We spent about four hours with the Hahnes and we were blessed to hear of all that God is doing in the church. The fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ half way around the world is always a joyful time. We enjoyed hearing about the growth of the saints that we have known for years. We also received news of those who are struggling and who are in need of prayer. At times like these, I always think of how the apostle Paul makes mention of the various saints that he remembers and he writes a testimony of God's grace upon their lives.

After a beautiful drive through the Transylvania Alps, we arrived in Petrosani. We enjoyed seeing Andrei, Kelle and Aryana in their new house. God blessed us with a magnificent thunder storm that we seldom see in Southern California. We are excited to have sweet fellowship with our missionaries and join in on their daily ministry activities. Pray that Christ is glorified and for our missionaries to be encouraged.

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We made it to Romania, finally! The plane left an hour late on Monday night and then an hour late from London to Bucharest. We got in about 12:15 a.m., early, Wednesday morning. One piece of luggage It was the baby stroller) didn't make it (it got stuck in London somehow).

All said and told, we got into the hotel in Bucharest at 2:00 Wednesday morning, about 18 hours after boarding the plane at LAX. And then up early to leave for Petrosani. Here's a map of the areas we will be in the next few days. We are going from Bucharest to Petrosani with a short stop in Vilcea to have lunch with the Hahne family. More details on that later. Here is a map of Romania with our expected visitation spots.

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