Rome & Romania 2006: Journal writings from Fred Goff while in the mission field 2006

Rome and Romania 2006 “The Trip”

Friday April 14 (in Rome, Italy)

We arrived safely around 9 am and worked our way through the Rome Airport security and claimed our bags and were met by Roberta, Christen, and Rado. We loaded our 8 bags and five people into a small car with some luggage riding on our laps. We arrived at the house where we are staying, (Rado and Michele’s flat) did some visiting and ate some lunch and settled in a bit. That evening Carl was one of four that shared (three Romanians and Carl) God’s word at a Pentecostal church for Romanian people. There was not a lot that happened there because of their unbelief. When we arrived back at the house Carl prayed for a pastor who had a brain infection and he was healed. We saw him Saturday morning and he said he had not been able to sleep for more than 1 or 2 hours at a time before he had been prayed for and that night he slept all night and the pain was gone.

Saturday April 15

We got up and ate and then had a wonderful day of sightseeing. We went to the downtown area where the ancient buildings of Rome are located and spent about 5 hours taking in all the history. That evening Carl shared God’s Word at a local Romanian Baptist church. There was love and believing there. An older man wearing an arm sling received healing in his arm, a young couple, who were barren, were prayed for and God revealed that she would have a baby girl in the next year. Others came for prayer but I can’t remember what all was done. Praise God above for His abundant love, mercy and grace. The pastor said that something like this had never happened in this church before and he expected this to be the start of great days ahead (we are staying with him and his family). We shared with him that he can do these same things after we are gone because it is the power of Christ in him. When we arrived back at the house Carl prayed for many of the family we are staying with. One received healing in the valves of his heart, curses were broken and blessings let loose. Michele was healed of a tumor; it disappeared while Carl prayed for her. Dana received deliverance and emotional healing.

 

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for

his wonderful works to the children of men! Psalm 107:8

 

Sunday April 16

We went to the Romanian market in Rome (somewhat like an American flea market) where Rado goes on Sunday mornings to evangelize. The local Romanian churches alternate Sundays doing an outdoor service and trying to reach out to the people there to get them to their churches. Carl was allowed to preach for about fifteen minutes and then he invited those who wanted to be saved to step forward. About fifteen or sixteen came forward to confess Jesus as lord. We were told that that was the most ever reached at one time there, before there were three or four. Later in the day five of the gypsies that Carl prayed for went to the church where Rado is a pastor. Some of the people in Rado’s church came to him Saturday morning to complain that they did not like the way that Carl prayed for people at the church. By the way those that got healing were not the ones complaining. Rado asked those who got healed at the church to come forward and testify and that silenced the naysayers. From the market we went to the Pentecostal church for communion with Roberta and Mariano. Carl was allowed to teach for about twenty minutes. This was a gathering of several Romanian Pentecostal churches together for Easter and there were around five or six hundred people there. From there we went to Mariano’s home and had dinner and then later had another large meal. There were many of the family and neighbors that asked for prayer and there was much healing, deliverance, curses broken, and many many tears of joy with thanksgiving to God for His blessing and goodness. The only way to respond to all that God has done here in Rome is to praise God. We arrived back at Rado’s flat around 10:45 and visited with his family, prayed together and shared God’s word with them for about an hour before retiring after a long day. Monday morning, before we left to go to the airport, Carl and I left the blessings of God with Rado’s family.

 

Tuesday April 18 (in Romania)

Monday was a travel day for Carl and me and so we did not do much when we arrived besides visit with our host Cornell and his family. Then we got caught up with what the rest of the team had been doing in the days while we were in Rome. Cornell is a wonderful man of God and takes such good care of us all. There are five on this trip, Carl, Lee, Ed, Denny, and Fred (also known as me). God has been gracious to allow us the privilege to be here and serve and bless and give, and He continues to fill us and bless us back. Tuesday we split up. Carl, Ed and I went to Roxana’s home and met with the team that goes out and helps the widows and families with need and then teaches them about Jesus and God who can help them. Ed, Lee and Denny have been out with them to see how they work and bless the people. Just Ed went with them today and visited two sisters 82 and 90 years old. They blessed them with food and God’s word. Costel and Christina who pastor around six churches in eastern Romania were here at the house when we returned. They had traveled 2 hours to visit with Carl while he is here. Carl, Lee and I went to a gypsy church across town. We went in and sat, (they had already started singing) and at the end of the song pastor Jon who drove us there, introduced us. We sang and prayed then they asked each of us to teach. I went first, then Lee, Martin, and Carl. Carl challenged them to believe and pray signs, miracles, and wonders to follow them, to get up and move with God. As we were outside to leave, a young man asked for prayer and was delivered and healed of some things that had affected him since his youth. Then a young lady asked for prayer. She had been stabbed in the back by her husband awhile back and received both physical healing and her soul was healed also. We arrived home around 10:30 and shared with each other the blessings of the day and went to bed around midnight.

Wednesday April 19

As we were eating breakfast, Vasily arrived by bus from the lake church. Floods and storms have caused much damage to his village and I encourage you all to pray for him and his family and church that they receive the things they need to restore their homes and church.

Thursday April 20

Carl and Ed went in the afternoon to meet with Roxana and work on the plans for the work with the families and widows. Lee was feeling a little under the weather so Denny and I stayed home with him and had a quiet afternoon. Carl, Denny, and I went to a home church about a mile from where we are staying. The pastor walked to where we are staying and walked us back to his house. I shared God’s word for about 15 minutes then more singing and then Carl taught. He shared how the religious ones here in Bucharest are teaching that there are no more apostles, that there are no more miracles. That they want to cut Mark 16 and Ephesians 4 out of the bible. People have to make up their minds and stand on God’s word or else just throw it out the door. It was a wonderful fellowship. The young man playing the portable keyboard was having his 17th birthday and Carl prayed for him and blessed him in the name of Jesus Christ. Every where we go we are happy to give God the glory and praise Him for all He is doing, and we tell those we pray for to praise God and thank Him for all He is doing in their lives. What I am seeing here is that the middle class Romanians here in Bucharest live below the level of people on welfare in the USA. The Christians here really love God and the Lord Jesus with a pure heart. They are blessed and thankful for God’s blessings and eternal life and having Jesus as lord in their lives.

Friday April 21

Sylvia came by to share some small gifts and we visited and prayed for her. The afternoon was time for some shopping and relaxing walk through the downtown area. The evening was the start of an all night prayer meeting at Jon’s local church. Carl, Denny, and Lee went. The president of the gypsies who also is a member of the Romanian parliament was there and talked to them. He spoke about the Pentecostal gypsies getting their churches recognized by the government. This is a huge thing that has been a prayer request for many years. If he will do what he said last night it will be a wonderful day for all of the Gypsy Pentecostal Christians throughout all Romania. He said the Catholics and Orthodox came first and they are like adults who no longer obey the father, God. The Evangelicals are like teenagers who think they know what is best, but sometimes obey The Father when they have too. He and obey The Father. He asked that they not change but continue to love and obey God. After he spoke Denny and Lee each shared for about 25 minutes. Then there was more music, singing and prayer. Carl taught and afterwards six gypsies came forward and accepted salvation. During Carl’s teaching he prophesied over the people and God challenged the gypsies and blessed them. Afterwards many came forward for prayer and the team arrived home about 3:30 am. It was a tremendous day for God’s people. All glory and praise to God the Father through Jesus the son.

Saturday April 22

Ed, Denny, and Lee went to a school and showed a movie about Noah on the outside wall and then talked to the kids about Noah. We prayed for a few individuals and spent some time with Roxana.

Sunday April 23

This morning we went to Vasili’s area. We started out at a village northwest of the town Vasili’s church is in I think it was Silistea. There I taught for a little while a then we prayed for the four to be baptized. We could have walked 100 yards to the water but instead we walked up and down the streets singing and giving glory to God and by the time we got to the water there were three to four times as many people there to witness the baptisms. From there we went to Manastirea. This is the village where Vasili’s church is located. Here Carl taught for a short time and then he prayed for the six to be baptized. As he was praying for a young man it turned into an ordination for him. Carl asked him if he knew he had a calling on his life and he said that he did. Carl finished praying for the others to be baptized and we headed out behind the church to the lake. The water was nasty with three dead dogs and lots of trash and pollution. Carl and I prayed for those who would be in the water to not get sick. After the baptism we went back to the church for another ordination, which was planned. After that Vasili’s grandchild was dedicated. Then we did communion, which ended the service at the church. We took Cornel and Juliana Darigiu, with whom we are staying, out for a nice dinner to finish off our day. Ed, Denny, and Lee went to Bethesdia church in the morning. Ed taught for a while and then they returned home. At five they went to Glina to a local church there. There was much singing and loud prayers. Mario taught as well as Ed, Denny, and Lee. They also did communion at this church. There was a testimony of a man’s grandson who Carl healed several years ago. They arrived home around nine this evening.

Monday April 24

Denny, Lee, Roxanna, Christina, Cloude, Vale, and I went to Bran Castle. It was a two and a half hour train ride, then forty-five minute bus ride. It was a lot of fun and very interesting day. We arrived home about 10:30pm. Carl and Ed went on a family outing as it was a free day here in Bucharest (we would call it a holiday), a day of rest and fellowship (with family and friends) for us all.

Tuesday April 25

The morning there were meetings and business of the ministry, a Christian brother came with a need that we are praying about. We took all the shoes and clothes that we had brought to Roxanna’s after lunch. She will use them as she meets with families and children that have a need. I had asked Carl and Ed to pray for me together before Ed left and we did that outside on the nice patio area. Ed prayed for me first then Carl. As Carl was praying for me God had him ordain me as a pastor for God’s people. He and Ed and I gave glory to God and were very thankful for each other’s friendship, fellowship, and hearts of service. The evening was a time of packing to return home for Ed and Denny. Lee and I hung out with them and went with them on their last walk down to the corner market. It was a time of quite thankfulness for all they were able to do while they were here. Carl went to a meeting of the board for the prison outreach ministry that CFIM supports. Well, he thought it was a board meeting. It was a church meeting where Carl taught and shared that the church is the people and that they needed to start getting outside the walls of the building. When they see each other on the street, (where ever two or more are gathered in Jesus name there he is in the midst), that is church. Then he prayed for around sixty people. THEN there was a board meeting for the prison outreach. When he returned home he was blessed and thankful for the work. There are one hundred fifty volunteers who have each pledged 100,000 lei a month. Seventy-five who do volunteer work and seventy-five who pray. It is a wonderful work that is doing lots of good. CFIM also made a monthly pledge to further the work even more.

Wednesday April 26

In the morning we helped a Christian Brother Petru. He was robbed of $20,000 and beaten and stabbed a little over a year ago when he came here from Detroit, MI to help his mother. After he healed up from the wounds he was not able to work and make enough money to help his mother and feed himself and save to return to the USA of which he is a citizen. The US Embassy was of no help and he has been praying for God to provide a solution. God provided us a way to purchase a ticket for him to return to the states where he will begin working and repay the money. A Christian Brother Martin, an American who moves God’s word and lives here with his wife, a Romanian, drove us around to help take care of the details for Petru. Then we had lunch with Martin and returned home where he played guitar and sang some gospel songs for us. It was a special blessing to here songs about Jesus and our God in our own language. Wednesday evening is church in the home like we have at my house. Carl taught on faith and afterwards made prayer available. Carl, Lee and I each prayed for individuals with an interpreter. First Carl prayed for an older lady who came in all bent over and barely able to walk even with a cane. She straightened up and walked around the room with no cane and no pain. It was a great boost to the believing in the room. All who asked for prayer were healed and/or delivered. After everyone left there was a lady and her fourteen-year-old son who had stayed. She asked if we could help her son to speak in tongues. Carl needed to go to another meeting so Lee and I opened the scriptures to him regarding the manifestations and within ten or fifteen minutes the young man was speaking in tongues. The four of us spoke in tongues together praising God in the spirit and with our understanding for God’s gift being manifested for the first time in the young man’s life. All in all eight of the nine manifestations were manifested in the home church this evening. Glory to God. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. II Cor. 9:15

Thursday April 27, 2006

Carl and I went with Cornel in the morning to meet with some of the men on the prison board at a building that they are working on to become a home for older folks and those with physical needs. They had started and had big vision for the place and were showing us what they wanted to do. All of which will cost a lot of money and they were hoping Carl would give them some. The answer is to pray for God to provide just like we do in our personal lives. There is great need everywhere you look and go, just as in all places. In the US we have plenty of material abundance but the true worship of God and the making of Jesus Lord in our daily lives causes me to see there is great need every where I look there too, just more in the spiritual realm. After lunch we drove for two hours to the country church. We met outside on wooden benches. Thank God for the sunny day, a little windy and it got a bit cool as the sun was waning. Dust blowing in our faces, horses whinnying in the pasture on the other side of the fence, dogs running around, and the Word of God being preached. What a great day to God’s glory! Shared God’s word, then Lee, and then Carl finished building their faith so that they were ready to get healing and deliverance. About half needed to catch a train so we split that group into thirds and we each prayed for individuals. Lee and I prayed for people without an interpreter and God was able to heal them without them knowing what we were praying for. You could see it in their faces and eyes as God was healing them and they would be so blessed and try to thank us in Romanian and we would point to the sky and say thank God, praise God, and they would. Those that didn’t need to catch the train we continued to pray for, mostly Carl. There was again as we have seen this whole trip, many, many, signs, miracles, and wonders. Afterwards we followed the pastor to his home in a nearby town where his mother in law had prepared a feast for us. We ate together and fellowshipped around the love of God that we share. The trip home was quite as it was the end of the day and dark out, so nothing to look at. We got home around 10:45pm visited a while and then went to bed.

Friday April 28, 2006

This afternoon we went downtown and Carl met with a Christian man about the work of moving God’s word here in Romania. Lee and I finished up our shopping, you know, I had to buy trinkets for the natives back home. This evening Lee and I went to a church he had shared God’s word in a week and a half ago, so they asked me to share the scriptures. It was a charismatic church and I taught on what God’s word says about its self and how we need the scriptures in addition to the spirit. Carl was at Jon’s church and taught on truth verses tradition. Another day where Jesus was Lord and God was magnified. Mark 16 talks about how signs, miracles, and wonders follow them that believe. If we are moving with God and believing His word, we may not see all the things God does in people’s lives because they follow. I don’t have time nor do I want to live looking back to see if God’s doing anything or not. God has blessed our lives with so much. Praise and thanks to God and His son Jesus Christ for all they do for us day after day.

Saturday April 29, 2006

There was nothing planned in the morning so we went out to the local mall where we were able to eat some American food “so called”. We also had some “American coffee”, that was at best bad. We arrived back at the house and got all dressed up for a wedding. I was warned that Romanian weddings lasted a long time. We left the house at 3pm and it was about a thirty-minute drive. When we arrived back at the house at 9:30pm I was told that that was a short wedding. There was a live gypsy band that was very loud. There were around seven or eight ministers and their wives from churches near and far, friends and family and Lee and I. The bride and groom were somewhere over forty and Carl had baptized the woman around four years ago after her husband had died. He had also prayed for her to find a husband because she didn’t want to live out her life alone. She was very blessed to have Carl there to share God’s word and bless their marriage in the name of Jesus Christ. The home they live in is in a neighbor hood where they are the only Christians and they are looking forward to starting a church in their home by bringing their neighbors to Christ. There was one other pastor who shared on the wedding in Cana where Jesus turned the water to wine. Usually five or six pastors teach at a wedding here and then prayers, then blessings, then a hugh meal. It was a blessed event. One of the pastors and his wife were there from the country church we had visited earlier. Right as Carl was getting up to share form God’s word from Ephesians five she starting feeling bad and shaking rather hard. Both her husband and I started ministering to her. I didn’t know what he was saying and he didn’t know what I was saying. She got much better and when Carl finished I asked him to pray for her. She said she thought she was going to die. All in all she received healing and we cast some demons out. When she and her husband left she was smiling and thanking and praising God for her healing and deliverance. Timothy tells us to be instant in season and out of season, in other words be ready. Always be ready to help, bless, pray, minister, deliver, preach, teach, or whatever the Lord would have us to do!

Sunday April 30, 2006

Up early to get ready to go to another local church. Carl taught on believing God’s word and having faith. The timing had not worked out before and this was the first time Carl had visited this church. Carl challenged them to believe God’s word and to believe for God to provide the funds needed to finish the church building where we meet, as it was not completed. The people were wonderful believers who really loved God and received the word, which Carl spoke with love and they seemed very blessed as we were leaving. We went to lunch with Roxanna and another Christian lady who had interpreted for Carl in years past. It was a fun time and relaxing. They both spoke English so it was easy to communicate and visit. The late afternoon and evening Carl and I spent packing and preparing to begin our trip home.

The Conclusion

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Anytime I think about a conclusion, this verse immediately comes to mind. The whole trip our thinking was “What does God want me to do right now?” Am I doing what God wants and am I doing my best to help and bless God’s people? As Carl and I traveled home we discussed the trip. The time in Rome, Italy was good. We were able to really do a lot for the pastor we stayed with and his church. His church believed God’s word and Radu asked us to return, we told him if God said to go we would. The time in Romania was filled with everything I was expecting and much more. The needs there are great, varied, and many. We could have stayed another month and still would have had plenty to do. Please continue to pray for Christian Faith International Ministries to have the resources to do all the things God would have them to do. Also pray for the Romanian Christians, that they can grow in their faith and believing to see God meet their physical needs and that their churches continue to multiply. For me personally the trip was a time to believe what God says about me. To have the faith that when I laid hands on someone that I would receive the revelation and have the faith that God would answer the prayer. After a while of seeing God heal and deliver time after time the challenge became to continue to trust God and not in my ability. Carl and Ed were very encouraging and a great blessing. Waking up each day and asking Jesus to be my Lord and direct me is a habit I have been working on and this trip did a lot to better establish this thinking and action in my life. For those of you, who prayed for the success of this trip, I can honestly say that your prayers were greatly needed, appreciated and answered. God’s love, grace, mercy, peace, power, and awesome glory, were manifested each day. The weather was better than perfect. May God continue to open His word to you, and bless you all according to His holy word and may the peace of Jesus Christ our lord be with you all, Amen

Thank You Fred for sharing your journal with us!

 

Teaching and ministering faith, healing, deliverance and salvation around the world.