Just Bee Cause (A Message from Pastor Ovidiu)

I asked our dear friend and brother Ovidiu Patrick if he would be so kind to guest blog this week to give his thoughts on the recent Pioneer Drive Baptist Church trip to his village. Here are his thougths.

Last year I sold my bees. A pastor friend of mine came to me and asked me to help him and I said I cannot because I am busy with the bees. He said “People are more important than bugs”. Those words followed me until I put people first. Last week something small but miraculous happened to me. In the last four years I was the one sharing the honey from my bees with people from America. This year the team that came from Abilene had no clue that I used to raise bees. Guess what happened? Two separate people in the group offered me a bear full of honey. It was unbelievable.

When you put God first and people as a high priority, God honors you. He honored me in little things, through that small gift of honey and He also honored me in big things through people like those in Abilene, Texas, that impacted the Romanian local community in several places. Lots of children from the orphanage in Gavojdia village were blessed because of their work, more children in the VBS from the Susani surrounding villages were touched with the Gospel and those that served on the House of Joy construction site shocked everybody by how fast Americans build. As a result, on Saturday we had around 250 people that came to touch the walls (people were actually sitting on bricks, little walls on the House of Joy building).

What a great testimony for all the people that saw and heard about what happened to Susani, Romania last week because some people from Abilene were ready to put God first and His priorities for their lives. All they did was indeed a real success spiritually, relationally, materially. The leaders of the group from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church are courageous, hard working people. It was a blessing to be around them, to see how they encourage each other, how they motivate their team. I believe with all of my heart this is the beginning of a huge partnership that we will build one bit at a time.

The vision that God has for this partnership is bright and powerful, it is a saving vision, a joyful vision. The House of Joy wants to bring the joy of salvation to as many people as possible in our generation. Last week, together with our brothers and sisters from Abilene we were able to make a huge step in reaching this goal. The abundant joy will flow.

What a joy it is to hear first hand the impact our mission trip had. Thank you Ovidiu for sharing from your heart. (By the way, I still miss that wonderful honey you and your bees made!) Also, another thank you to our wonderful team for the impact you had and the seeds you planted. Have a blessed week. Aspire to new heights.