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NOVEMBER
15, 2007
Greetings
from Sibiu, Romania!
It is a joy to share with you how God is
blessing the work in Sibiu, Romania. A lot has happened
since our last E-newsletter. Allow me to briefly share some
of the highlights of what has taken place.
OVERVIEW OF SEPTEMBER WORK
I was in the states for a few
weeks in September to attend the Eastern European Mission
conference in Dallas where it was my privilege to speak on
the work in Sibiu, Romania. The following week we held a
mission interest luncheon at Sunset International Bible
Institute to promote interest in Romania as a mission field
with the hopes of having future graduates joining us in our
work in Sibiu, Romania. We had approximately twenty in
attendance for the luncheon. As a result we had two
individuals commit to coming to help with our first Gospel
meeting in Sibiu during October and at least one who is
making plans to join us for our summer VBS in 2008.
FIRST
GOSPEL MEETING
After months of planning and praying the
first known Gospel Meeting in the city of Sibiu was held in
October. After years of the church operating illegally and
secretly in Sibiu, as a result of current Romanian law, the
members agreed it was time to make our presence known. Both
congregations worked together for the first time in this
special evangelistic endeavor. Since this was our first
time in doing a joint project such as this we were testing
the waters to see how this could be done. We concentrated
our efforts by mainly inviting friends, neighbors, and work
colleagues. In addition to this we put up posters and
passed out fliers inviting people to our three day Gospel
meeting. We experienced some minor problems. The giant
poster we put up outside the building advertising the
meeting and the topics was torn down. That was fine we just
put up another one. We knew there would be those who would
look down upon what we do since the Romanian Orthodox church
views anyone outside their religion as a cult. I was very
pleased with the results of our first gospel meeting. We
had between ten to twenty people each night with a total of
six individuals who had never been in our fellowship
before. One of those who attended was a woman by the name
of Latitsa. She is in her late sixties and has been
attending faithfully since the meeting. Here is a woman who
has been looking for someone to teach the truth from the
scriptures for many years. She has been dissatisfied with
organized religion. She told me one Sunday after services,
“it brings my heart great joy to hear God’s word preached
and what it means to how I should live today.” Pray for the
ongoing study with Latisa. She has been to worship on
Sunday five times with us since our Gospel meeting. We plan
on trying to reach many more like Latisa over the next few
months through further evangelistic efforts which I will
detail in a future newsletter.
We were privileged to have Mary Green and
Richardo Reyas from Sunset International Bible Institute.
They were a big help in so many ways during the time they
were with us in Sibiu. On behalf of the church in Sibiu
thank you for your service!
ROMANIA
LECTURESHIP IN BUCHAREST
We had four from Sibiu attend the
national conference in Bucharest. Here Christians from all
over the country came together for study, to sing songs of
praise and encourage one another in the work that is taking
place for God throughout the country.
LEADERSHIP CLASS
One of the aspects of the work here in
Sibiu we are trying to emphasize is leadership training.
Training future men and women to take on the day to day
responsibilities of the work here in Sibiu. Using
curriculum from Sunset International Bible Institute and the
Romanian Bible Academy we are training the future Preachers,
Elders, deacons, and Bible class teachers. Please pray for
this continuing work.
GOSPEL MEETING IN VULCHA
Pavel Stinghe, who works with the other
congregation in Sibiu, and I traveled to Vulcha, Romania.
Our purpose was to study, research, and promote the Gospel
that was being preached there. Harvey Starling did an
excellent job in organizing this campaign that took place in
the early part of November. It was quite helpful for Pavel
and I as we plan a city wide Gospel campaign for Sibiu in
October 2008. More details on that in a future newsletter.
 LADIES
DAY
The Lord's church in Sibiu is blessed
with many women who need encouragement as they strive to
follow in the footsteps of the Saviour. Stephanie has
planned a time of encouragement and outreach for the ladies
attending church in Sibiu, Romania during the early part of
January. She would like to have some Christian women from
the United States travel with her to Sibiu for a time of
strengthening the faith of the ladies. If you would be
interested in going on this trip contact Stephanie directly
at
stephanie_skelton2002@yahoo.com
COMMUNICATION
In addition to email you may send
communication to us through our overseeing congregation, the
Ovilla Church of Christ at:
Ovilla Church of Christ
3420 Ovilla Rd
Ovilla, Texas 75154-3302
(972) 617-7447
E-mail
addresses:
skeltonromania@gmail.com
skeltonromania@yahoo.com
SAYING GOODBYE TO A FRIEND
We have all lost people in our lives that
meant the world to us. It is hard to say good bye to those
that we love. I had the privilege of working side by side
with a man for many years who was a great soldier in God’s
spiritual army, Arnold Lee. He never wrote a book, amassed
a large fortune, or did what the world would classify as
becoming a huge success story. What he did was far greater,
he lived as a faithful servant for the cause of Christ.
Arnold served for years as an Elder to the church of Christ
in Hugoton, Kansas. That statement may not fully convey
what I want to say so let my try again. Arnold Lee had a
servant heart for the spiritual family of God. He prayed
for the members, he studied and counseled us to look at the
scriptures, he taught us the value of family, he made us
laugh, he loved his wife, he was an example of what a Godly
man should be. Did he have his faults, of course but the
guiding force in his life was to serve God and keep his
commandments. I want to take a moment to express my
condolences to the family of a man who impacted who I am as
a missionary and minister. Your loss is heaven's gain and a
reminder to us all that death is not the end of our lives.
As Christians death is only a reminder that a wonderful
eternity with God awaits those who belong to Him. I was
unable to say good bye at his funeral so instead I will put
my focus on joining Him in that eternal home with our
heavenly Father. The Christian understands that death means
victory not despair. My prayer is that all of us will
strive to live for that victory that Arnold now enjoys.
May God's riches blessings be
upon us all as we strive to serve in His kingdom!
In Christian love,
Lee Skelton
Then Jesus came to them and
said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age."
(Matthew 28:18-20)
AUGUST
9, 2007
Click on the small map image to see the larger version.
HISTORIC MEETING
We began a dialog last year with another
congregation of the Lord's church that meets in Sibiu at an
annual lectureship that is held in Bucharest. The two
congregations have had nothing to do with each other for
over a decade due to bad feelings and misunderstandings.
The issues that have kept the two congregations from having
an open fellowship with one another have been resolved.
Sibiu is one of only two cities in Romania that has two
congregations within the city. The other is Bucharest, the
capital city of Romania. After months of study and prayer
we had a combined services at our building with both
congregations meeting in our building. Their was much joy
and fellowship as both congregations pledged to renew their
ties and work together for evangelizing Sibiu. Both
congregations have pledged to do their part to reach the
lost in Sibiu and other parts of Romania. We had the
largest attendance in the history of the church for that
Sunday, 60.
MRN
It was a pleasure to have Phil
Jackson from Mission Resource Network and his family along
with his summer interns (total of nine people). They are in
the process of exploring mission work in Romania. We fed
and housed them at the building where my family is currently
located. We hope this will become an annual trip for MRN
to visit us here in Sibiu as young men and women consider
where they can best serve the Lord on the mission field.
VBS
We have had the privilege of 14 Americans
working with us in the local high school teaching in our
"Conversational English Institute" which is similar to
Vacation Bible School. We had sixty kids and adults in
attendance. For the 1st time we had graduation at the
church building where the children could bring their
parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. I stood
outside the door and watched as people came to the building
by bus, taxi, car, and on foot to come and watch their
children receive a diploma. We set a new attendance record
for people at the building, we had 95 in our auditorium.
We had five students between the ages of 16 -25 requesting
one-on-one bible studies with Stephanie and me.
RECORD ATTENDANCE
The Lord is truly blessing the work in
Sibiu. We had 21 visitors on Sunday from around Sibiu as a
direct result of VBS. This does not include the teachers
who came from the United States. This pushed our attendance
up to 61. One more than the week before when we had the
group from MRN and the other congregation with us.
NEW
YOUTH GROUP
We did not want to loose the momentum
with this group of young people who attended with us on
Sunday so we have set aside Wednesday evening as a time for
fellowship and study. We have had between 12- 17 Romanian
young people attending these evening services. For the past
two weeks. Please pray that this will continue as we follow
the scriptures in "training up a child in the way they
should go..." Pavel Stinghe and his wife Monica who work
with the other congregation in Sibiu have been helping us
work with these young people. One result is new children
have started to attend who were not part of the initial VBS
we had in July. Some of these students speak little or no
English. The Stinghe's have been an invaluable asset in
helping my wife Stephanie and I work with these precious
souls. Please pray for the seeds that are being planted for
the Lord in the lives of these children.
BUILDING PROJECTS
John, Ioana, Carmen, and I have been
doing some research in regards to the Laws in Romania. We
have been in contact with a local official called a Notar to
find out the answers to the following questions: 1. Can
the Church be officially recognized and own property
outright? 2. Can we build a parsonage on the current
church property? Currently my family is living in the
church building. Finding some place to rent for a large
family is proving to be hard to come by. Existing
properties that are for sell can be found for 130,000 -
220,000 euros with major renovations still needed after
that. If a parsonage can be built on the property it can be
used for classrooms, house people who visit the church in
Sibiu after my family leaves, or the local preacher for the
church. I have met with an architect while waiting to hear
back from the Notar. He places the initial estimate
for building on the current church property at over 100,000
euros.
My daughter Hannah and I assisted local
member John Buckle in replacing 21 roof tiles on the church
building. Roofs tiles are different in Romania compared to
the shingles that are placed on houses in America. They are
made of a baked clay and slip out individually for easy
replacement. What is not so easy is getting on parts of the
steep roof. Luckily the churches roof is not as steep as
some of the older buildings in Romania.
NEW
OPPORTUNITY
In the past I have taken library books to
the children's library in Sibiu. After a recent visit with
contacts at the library I have been asked to consider
teaching an English class in the local library. One of the
librarian assistants, Romona, believes that they can provide
us with a class of 40 to 50 students. Please be praying for
this that the details can be worked out and we can begin
this class sometime in the winter.
EVANGELISM CLASS
Our class has had some welcome
interruptions and has evolved somewhat to cope with visiting
groups at our building and the enormous amount of visitors
we have had over the past several weeks. The members have
had assignments asking evangelistic questions of their
friends and neighbors as well as handing out invitations to
the VBS we have completed. This past week we focused on not
only bringing our friends in contact with the
Gospel but widening the relationships of
new contacts by having them in members homes for meals and
really getting to know each other. The members have been
underlining key passages in their Bibles and learning a new
approach to presenting the Gospel. Please continue to pray
for the Church as it trains to become effective soul winners
for the Lord.
MEMBERS
Stephanie and I have been keeping busy
with the ongoing work in Sibiu. She is continuing to teach a
weekly Ladies class and I am keeping busy with the ongoing
work of Preaching and teaching our weekly classes with the
members as well as our youth gathering on Wednesday.
Maria's health seems to be improving and she has started
attending services once more. John had a small diabetic
episode two Sunday's ago during worship but is okay. A baby
shower was held for Baby Sarah, daughter of young Maria, I
believe Mother and Father were overwhelmed with the results.
Please keep them and the rest of the congregation in your
prayers.
COMMUNICATION
In addition to email you may send any
communication to us through our overseeing congregation, the
Ovilla Church of Christ at:
Ovilla Church of Christ
3420 Ovilla Rd
Ovilla, Texas 75154-3302
(972) 617-7447
New email addresses:
skeltonromania@gmail.com
skeltonromania@yahoo.com
LADIES DAY
Pray for the planning and funding of this
event to come to fruition if it is God's will. We hope this
can be a possible outreach for the Christian ladies of Sibiu
to invite their friends to learn and to grow. It is hoped
that this event can be conducted in late December or early
January.
CLOSING
THOUGHTS
Sibiu is a very busy place since it is
the European Cultural Capital for Europe in 2007. We have
not begun to see or experience it all. We are all tired but
it is the good kind of tired as a result of God blessing
this work that so many have bathed in prayer. God is
causing the seed that has been planted to show signs of
growth in the hearts of the Romanian people. Thank you for
your prayers. We will soon post some pictures on what is
mentioned above on this website.
May
God's riches blessings be upon us all as we strive to serve
in His kingdom!
In Christian love,
Lee Skelton
Then Jesus came to them and
said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age."
(Matthew 28:18-20)
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AUGUST
14, 2008
THANK
YOU
THE
FAMILY, NEW BEGINNINGS 
WAYS
YOU CAN HELP
JUNE
8, 2008