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Evangelism and Church Growth<br />
His Grace, Bishop Tikhon, blesses missionary<br />
Christina Semon during the Commission Service.<br />
Notes from a Missionary<br />
Notes from Romania:<br />
Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!<br />
Hirstos a inviat! Adevarat a inviat!<br />
Living in Cluj, Romania is a neat<br />
experience. I live with a widow and her<br />
name is Anica. We live in the <strong>Eastern</strong><br />
part <strong>of</strong> the city in a 6 th floor Romanian<br />
apartment. She and I get along very well<br />
although she doesn’t know English, but<br />
we are finding ways to communicate. It<br />
has not been hard to adjust to the food<br />
here because it is really good. If I had to<br />
point something out about the food, it<br />
would be the large amount <strong>of</strong> bread that<br />
I consume. Cluj has a population <strong>of</strong><br />
approximately 317,000 people and the<br />
mass transportation system works well.<br />
Daily I use the buses to travel around<br />
the city and walk all over the place. My<br />
primary work at this time is to learn the<br />
Romanian language and culture. Many<br />
people here are able to speak some level<br />
<strong>of</strong> English, so it is hard sometimes to<br />
speak Romanian with people. In spite <strong>of</strong><br />
this I am striving to respond to them in<br />
Romanian even though it is badly<br />
spoken. I am taking lessons with a tutor<br />
five days a week for 3 hours each lesson.<br />
Floyd and Ancuta, OCMC missionaries<br />
here, have showed me around and<br />
introduced me to the staff at the St.<br />
Dimitrie Program and the Protection <strong>of</strong><br />
the Theotokos Family Center.<br />
It was a great blessing and joy to<br />
celebrate Pascha in Romania. The parish<br />
I attend is St. John the Theologian<br />
Romanian Orthodox Church and it is the<br />
same parish where Floyd and Ancuta<br />
attend services. It is a small wooden<br />
temporary church with many people<br />
coming to worship. The majority <strong>of</strong><br />
people have to be outside because that<br />
is how small the church is. There were<br />
probably over 500 people where only 120<br />
<strong>of</strong> those people were packed in the<br />
church. The Paschal Divine Liturgy was<br />
filled with jubilation for Christ and love<br />
for each other.<br />
Glory to God for all things!<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Christina Semon<br />
www.doepa.org<br />
Alive in Christ<br />
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