“Living Stones” in Romania
AFTER COMMUNISM FELL in 1989 and reports of conditions in the orphanages of Romania horrified the world the following year, World Missionary Press answered the call for children’s material by shipping a container to Romania filled with 200,000 Romanian copies of the salvation coloring book, He Is Risen!
In one orphanage, as the children were coloring the pictures, they heard a voice they did not recognize saying, “Jesus died for me!” Puzzled, they looked around to see who had said that. It turned out to be a small boy, who up to that time had not spoken one word. He was coloring the picture of Jesus dying on the cross – for him!
As we remember Jesus’ finished work on the cross and reflect on the power of His resurrection life in us, let us commit ourselves afresh to share this wonderful message with a world in desperate need of good news.
Jake and Jessie S. are two of many who responded to God’s call to minister in Romania. Jake received Christ in 1999 as a 19-year-old in Wisconsin while studying Aerospace Engineering. But he knew then that he was called to ministry. Ten years later, a missionary working in Romania visited the church where Jake served as youth pastor and announced, “If you ever want to visit Romania, come on out, for two weeks or two years – however long you want.” Jake and his wife Jessie both felt God’s prompting to respond. In 2011, Jake and Jessie’s call was confirmed during a visit to Romania. The following year found them in the capital city of Bucharest, learning Romanian, networking with local Christian ministries, and evangelizing with WMP Scripture booklets.
Within 2 1/2 years, God had used the Scripture booklets (and other modes of evangelism) to plant a church. They named the new church Piatra Vie, “Living Stone,” a metaphor Paul used of Jesus in 1 Peter 2:4-5, in which he described the scattered believers in Asia Minor as coming to Christ as to a living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God, and who were themselves, as living stones, “being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Jake writes, “We’re committed to evangelism, and God is sending us those with a similar heart, but the constant need is for materials.” Their ministry supports a full-time native missionary who is on the streets of Bucharest every day doing evangelism. In addition, they have a team of four full-time American missionaries who will be doing the same.
“I pray our testimony of what God has done in Romania through World Missionary Press will inspire people to keep giving. This ministry is vital, and people need to know that.”
“We’re ministering to a number of refugees from Muslim nations, and they’re really interested in the gospel. One young man, Ali, gave his heart to Jesus a year ago, got baptized, and has since changed his name to reflect his new identity in Christ. [He] is one of the boldest evangelists at our church, telling all the Africans he used to do drugs with that Jesus can change their lives.”
Jake emphasizes the importance of WMP Scripture booklets: “In the time we’ve been here in Romania, we’ve noticed that booklets are powerful. When we arrived, we couldn’t speak Romanian at all, so the only option was to hand out tracts. Now that we can speak Romanian, we still hand out tracts because of their effectiveness. People take them, they read them, and then they keep them to think about. A number of times, people have called us six months or a year later telling us, ‘I read the booklet you gave me, and at first I didn’t want to believe it, but I kept it just in case it was right. Now I see my need for God.'”
Jake and Jessie recently requested more than 4,000 Scripture booklets from WMP in Romanian and Tiganesti, the mother tongue of Bucharest’s considerable Gypsy population; plus a few in English to fuel their ongoing evangelism in Bucharest, promising, “If you can send us these booklets, we will use them. None of them will go to waste sitting on a shelf or forgotten somewhere. …Every one we get is precious. Thank you so much for anything you can do to help us get the gospel to the people of Romania.”
What a beautiful privilege it is to supply Christians – like the “living stones” of this small but growing church in Bucharest – with the tools they need to reach souls in their city!
Recently, The Bible Society of Moldova sent WMP a first-time request for a variety of Scripture booklets in Romanian and Russian for distribution over all of Moldova (next-door neighbor to Romania). Since their goal is to “make Scripture available for everyone,” they have turned to WMP on behalf of three main denominations which often ask about literature for free distribution. Their request for 75,000 booklets includes 10,000 copies of He Is Risen! in Russian and 20,000 in Romanian. What an amazing opportunity to touch a nation for Christ!
[You can be involved in sharing the Good News! Every $20 provides for 500 Scripture booklets on average; $25 will provide for more than 100 He Is Risen! coloring books.]
Grateful Quotes
Scripture booklets for Haiti
What an awesome God we serve!
“For our own Haiti mission trips and as a flight attendant for Missionary Flights International, I supply tracts to missionaries when they travel to Haiti. The English [copies] are for the missionaries and at home. Your booklets are ideal for evangelism and discipleship because they contain so much Scripture.
“I first learned about your booklets in a wonderful way. My friend and I were witnessing to people on the boardwalk in Vero Beach, Florida. We met a couple who had recently moved from North Carolina to Ft. Pierce, Florida. That day they decided to come up to Vero Beach and give out booklets there for a change. We handed them one of your booklets, and the man said to his wife, ‘See, I told you there was probably already someone else here.’ We asked them if they had booklets in other languages, because we were going on a mission trip to Haiti in about 10 days. They told us they did.
“We met up later. His wife opened the trunk of their car, and there were two unopened boxes of your booklets – one in French and one in Kreyol! She said that when they received these boxes, her husband said, ‘I’m not sure why I got these; I sure wish I knew someone going to Haiti.’ So cool! What an awesome God we serve! His provision is beyond our imagination. God bless you!” -Cynthia, Florida
[The Haitian Bible Society has requested another shipment of Kreyol materials, as interest in God’s Word has increased since the earthquake in 2010.]
Meet the Team
Angelee Y.
Secretary to the President
I first heard about World Missionary Press through the church I attended in Wisconsin. They showed the DVD from WMP about Wesley Smith taking Scripture booklets into China. I had grown up aware of and praying for the persecuted Church, especially in China. When I found out that WMP printed Chinese Scripture booklets that were getting into China, I was thrilled! Later I came and volunteered for a week and was able to see the ministry firsthand.
I served in the pre-press department from 2000 to 2003. I attended a technical college and earned an associate degree to prepare me to be an administrative assistant with computer skills. After serving at a ministry in Singapore, I returned to WMP, where I have been secretary to the president since 2010. I like the fact that my “job” is working towards 
building the Kingdom. I may be doing general secretarial tasks, but they have an eternal purpose. I love Helen’s chapels
as she shares stories of people coming to know the Lord through the Scripture booklets.
My hobbies include collecting and reading books, listening to and playing classical music, attending concerts, and playing musical instruments. I also enjoy traveling and visiting new places. Now that I’m married (to the kindest, most loving and patient man on earth), I do all things related to keeping house!
Nolan Y., Production Assistant
As a teen, I learned about WMP through my church volunteering and field reps visiting my church. I have worked for printing ministries all my adult life. Upon returning to Goshen, Indiana, from ministry in Canada, I wanted to continue working in missions locally. I’ve been on staff at WMP since May of 2007.
I bundle the booklet insides (signatures) as they come off the web press for future assembly on the binderies. I also share the janitorial duties. I enjoy getting to handle so many pieces of God’s Word, and I am encouraged by accounts of God’s Spirit working worldwide.
Geography and singing are some of my hobbies. I am currently enjoying singing tenor in a local choir and glorifying God that way. I’m also privileged to have a beautiful wife of nearly three years who also works here at WMP.
WMP Partners Around the World
Our Backlog of Urgent Requests
The 80+ volunteer national coordinators and dozens more major distributors, who help orchestrate the distribution of WMP literature within their countries, look to World Missionary Press for a continuing supply of Scripture booklets, Bibles studies, salvation coloring books, and New Testaments. This presents an ongoing challenge to our production team to keep material flowing to every part of the globe.
From the 40 languages we supply for India, to the various languages spoken in the Philippines, to an ever-growing demand for WMP material in Spanish for Central and South America, as well as the numerous unique and diverse languages of Africa – our vision is to keep making Scripture portions available as quickly as possible.
When planning our monthly production budget for this fiscal year (October, 2014 through September, 2015) we took a step of faith – trusting God for the income to support producing an average of 7.5 million per month (equivalency) in-plant, and an additional one million per month equivalency as contract printings (e.g., in countries such as India, Indonesia, etc.). Through the first five months of the fiscal year we are under our projected income budget by nearly $200,000. We are therefore facing the need to decrease our monthly in-plant production target, from 7.5 million to 6.5 million per month, and to restrict further contract printings. We praise the Lord for every dollar given, for every booklet produced. Yet the NEED is for so much more!
Will you please pray earnestly with us for provision from the Lord, to not only meet our income and production budgets, but to increase production to 9 million per month and more!
There is a great sense of urgency communicated by those who send their requests, as they see first-hand the faces of those who are trapped in the bondage of sin, needing a Savior.
The 9 million booklets listed for India in the following table represent the needs of just one ministry. The message was, “The need is huge. I am not sure when and how you will be able to supply us with this enormous amount of gospel literature. We shall be praying for God’s provision. We are grateful to the Lord for WMP and its strategic partnership with us and with other ministries in India. Things are becoming harder for our missionaries. Persecutions have increased.”
As an answer to prayer, a new opportunity opened to provide material in Botswana: “I am glad to receive an email from you. How refreshed I am that this process is now beginning. Thank you in advance for all the effort you and your team will put in, making sure that we receive this much-needed literature. That is a gesture that will go a long way in changing the Christian landscape here in Botswana. Botswana definitely needs the literature like yesterday.”
An additional $45,000 per month above budget would allow us to increase production from 7.5 million to 9 million per month. We believe God has prepared the facilities, the equipment, and the staff to consistently produce 9 million or more per month, to better meet the many needs on hand. Workers abroad are waiting to receive the seed. Will you join us in stepping up to answer these urgent calls for Scripture materials?
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