February 25, 2006
Dear Friends and Family,
I am sorry that I haven't written in a while, but I have had trouble
accessing the internet, or unable to get into my MSN account in order to send
this update. I don't have a lot of time right now, so I will give a quick
summary of what has happened.
Hungary: I had a great time with my many friends in Hungary. I met with local
pastors and with some missionary friends that I haven't seen in a couple of
years. It was so encouraging to be with them! We had lots of fun, food,
fellowship, and some wonderful prayer times. It was definitely a God thing for
me. It was very refreshing. Even though I had some kind of bug most of my time
there, by the time I was leaving it was almost gone.
One of my friends that came to Debrecen, Hungary was Jackie Ramsey. She works
with gypsies in Romania. She has four churches, a school for gypsy children, and
a feeding program for the elderly in many towns and villages around that part of
Romania (Arad). She invited me to go minister to her churches, so I went...
Romania: My time in Romania was very good. I stayed in a village called Sofronia
near the Hungarian border, and not too far from the city of Arad.
We took the train there on Wednesday. On Thursday I preached at one of Jackie's
churches in a village just on the outskirts of Arad. There were actually a
number of missionaries at that service from America and Holland.
We had a great service, and a couple of missionaries there told me that they
really needed that message. On Friday we were going to go to another church
3 1/2 hours away, but due to weather, road conditions, and distance we ended up
not going. (You wouldn't believe the roads! The ice, the mud, the ruts, the lack
of pavement!!)
Jackie had asked me if I would do the children's program that I had done in
Gevgelija, Macedonia, so we announced that on Saturday we would have a special
children's program at the gypsy school in Arad. Twenty five kids came out for
the program. It was so great! They really got involved in the lesson, and they
loved the game that we played. (Anything involving wrapping someone in toilet
paper is going to be a hit!) If you remember it was a relay race, and one child
on each team lays on the floor representing the beaten, robbed Jewish man. Then
a priest and a Levite run past him and back, and then the Samaritan goes wraps
him in bandages and brings him on home. Well, we had six small gypsy mummies
before it was all over. The room was so small that we were afraid that they
might run right over the poor kids lying in the floor. I told them, "Be careful!
Remember that he has already been beaten, he doesn't need to be trampled too! I
am happy to report that there were no injuries. After the lesson Jackie was
asking a five year old girl about the lesson, at first she said, "I really liked
the game!" Then Jackie asked what did she learn? The little girl not only was
able to tell the story of the good samaritan, but was also able to talk about
who her neighbor was, and how she should treat them. Jackie said, "Well, she
really got it! I'm surprised how much she understood since she is so young." So
many scriptural truths are so simple, and we must take every opportunity to
share them--even with the youngest.
On Sunday, I preached at another gypsy church in the town of Vinga. We again had
a wonderful service, and a great prayer time afterward. Before I left they
prayed for me, and then they gave me an offering. It reminded me of the church
in Macedonia that Paul wrote about in Philippians. They gave generously out of
their poverty. I pray that the Lord bless it back to them abundantly! After the
service they took me to the train station, and I caught a train back to
Debrecen, Hungary, and stayed a couple of days with my friends Ed and Syble
Courtney. Then on Tuesday I had to fly back to Skopje, Macedonia to see about my
visa.
Since then: Well, my visa still is not ready. They told me that it will be
another week or two. After two days in Skopje to check on my visa, I got ready
to go to Albania. For whatever reason, you cannot buy a ticket to Albania in
Skopje, so I had to bus to another city, Tetova, and buy the bus ticket there. I
ended up having to stay the night in Tetova, and yesterday
(Friday) morning I started the eight hour bus ride to Tirane, the capitol of
Albania. A Pastor Dan Smith from Debrecen had given me some contact information
in Albania, and armed with that I headed out. There was also an Albanian
minister that Hristalina in Bulgaria had told me stayed in my apartment once, so
I called him, and he met me at the Station when I arrived, and took me to a
Christian Guesthouse. Today I am going on to his city, Durres, that is about 40
minutes from here, and on the Adriatic Sea.
It is Albania's biggest seaport, and is over 2000 years old. Tomorrow I will be
ministering at a congregation that meets in a shelter for street kids that he
has started. I am looking forward to seeing what all he is doing. He works with
street kids, the elderly, and has planted two or three churches. Albania is 70%
Moslem, and we will be going on Wednesday to the strongest Moslem city in
Albania to minister in one of his churches, and minister to the elderly.
Keep praying for me as I am on this adventure with God! Hopefully my visa will
be ready next week. If not I may have to consider going home, and coming back in
three weeks. That was not my original plan, but that has already flown far out
the window!
I appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support. If you would like to
contribute to this ministry you can send your tax-exempt donation
to: Obedient Life Ministries, P.O. Box 267, Clarion, PA 16214. You may also
donate by credit card through our secure PayPal link on our webpage at
www.obedientlife.org.
Be blessed in Jesus' Name,
Martin Sutton