2007 Romania Mission Trips Begin

Greetings from Braila,

Today is Sunday, May 27, and 5:25 PM in Romania. I have a few minutes to report from ServingHIM’s first dental team of the season. On Friday, ten of us met in Houston and flew on to Newark. There we met one more team member, rested for about an hour and flew on to Paris. Upon arrival there, we were joined by three more of our team and hurried through security and boarded for Bucharest. We arrived there around 5:00 PM and were joined by our team leader, Dr. Witt Wilkerson. The warm greetings we received from Dora, Alex, and Nick washed away our fatigue, and off we traveled to Braila, enjoying the countryside and learning more and more about ServingHIM, Holy Trinity Church, Romania, and each other.

Our team of 15 is composed of 5 dentists (Dr. Witt Wilkerson from St. Petersberg, FL; Dr. Mac McDonald from Plano, TX; Dr. Casey Willams of Bowling Springs, PA; Dr. Eric Townsend of Jacksonville, FL; and Dr. Michelle Johnson of Dallas, TX). We have three hygienists: Susan Moss of Dallas, Marianne Dryer of Dallas, and Susan Beitzel of Bowling Springs, PA. Marianne brought her daughter Lauren. Dr. Michelle brought her son Grant. Dr. Casey’s receptionist, Melissa Weber, is with us, as well as Dr. Witt’s dental assistant, Laurie Ambrosia (returning to Romania for the fourth time). Our team coordinator is Gene Duckro and our evangelism coordinator for this trip is ServingHIM’s executive director, Mike Redeker.

This morning everyone reported having had a good night’s sleep. We met for breakfast and devotions. Pure and simple, our devotional time was all about our very personal relationship with God, one on one, and developing a life focus on glorifying God. Dr. Witt blessed us with the first of a series of three foundational lessons based on Romans 3:23, 5:1 and 6:23. We went to Holy Trinity Church for the 10:30 AM worship service. There we were uplifted by a sincere and bountiful exchange of greetings and prayers. Dr. Witt and Gene Duckro spoke on behalf of ServingHIM with love for the Romanian people. Pastor Cristi Chivu preached from the Gospel of Matthew 18:9-17 about coming before God as children, in faith and humbleness, and the struggle for all- important humbleness in our daily lives. Church members translated for team members so we understood the lesson. I was struck by a concept Pastor Cristi expressed. We tend to think of spiritual gifts as individual things to reacher higher and higher to attain when we should think of them as things to reach deeper down to attain in great humbleness on our knees.

We enjoyed lunch in Church homes as small groups. Marcela Beclu, the Clinic’s nurse, and her son Alex, one of our translators, opened their home to four of us, and for the second time, I was impressed by their sincere friendship and care. (Marcela makes homemade ice cream from “real” cream. Two year’s ago, I enjoyed her cherry ice cream. This year, we were treated to vanilla and chocolate.) After lunch, we went to the clinic to unpack and set up. They continue to be very busy there, while Mike, Gene and I