FriendshipINTERNATIONALA Ministry In Chile, Great Britain, Hungary, Romania and the USA

UPDATEM o n t h l y . . . 2 0 1 8

Number 06.18 P.O. Box 50884, Colorado Springs, CO 80949-0884, USA • Tel. 719-386-8808 • Email: FRINT@aol.com • Website: www.friendshipintl. org June, 2018

Del HuffExecutive Director

Is there really value in children attending summer camp?

There are many factors that make Christian camping a positive and valuable experience. First, in Christian camps, there is extensive exposure to the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Bible is living and powerful. A typical day in a Christian camp will have some form of personal or group devotions, an evening chapel service, and a Scripture memorization program. There is also the opportunity for campers to observe and learn from godly mentors (counselors, staff, and speakers). Many campers come from broken homes or grow up with less-than-ideal role models be-cause one or both parents are unsaved or weak and immature in their faith. Another benefit is what is commonly absent at a Christian camp: TVs, cell-phones, mp3 players, computers, video games, etc. These distractions serve to busy the mind and keep young people from focusing on the deeper questions of life such as, “Why am I here?” “What will happen to me when I die?” “Is there really a God who loves me?” Once dis-tractions are removed, campers find them-selves surrounded by God’s creation, an en-vironment that turns their minds to Him, to the eternal and away from the world.God has greatly used Christian camping in calling out ones to be saved and to serve Him as Lord, whether as missionaries, pastors, or just as importantly, as “full-time Christians.”

Please pray with us for God’s working in the lives of many campers this sum-mer. And a BIG thank you to those who have already sponsored one or more children to attend camp this summer.

Yay, It’s Camp Time!

SPECIAL ROMANIA SUMMER 2018 REPORT -Concert & Ministry Tour With

Friendship International & Tavi Jinariuby Tavi Jinariu - Classical Guitarist

First of all, I want to express my gratitude for your prayer support while our family car-ried out ministry in the Western part of Romania. Many thanks to Del Huff for organizing this ministry trip on very short notice and to all those involved in organizing the concerts and ministry opportunities in various churches in and around Arad and Oradea.My home church in the Los Angeles area has allowed me to take a sabbatical this summer for spiritual refreshment and rest. Melissa and I have been praying for opportunities to do some work for God’s kingdom during this time that is different than our day to day min-istry in our local church. The Lord has answered that prayer and desire by bringing to us various opportunities. I have been able to teach, preach, and play concerts Melissa is offer-ing post-abortion counseling and training related to trauma, displacement and orphan care.

This is the best selfie of our family we could take. Two of the kids are happy, two are crying, but that’s just the way it goes with 4 little ones. Melissa was an amazing display of Christ-like and humble service by caring so well for our kids and being content to provide such wonderful support to me behind the scenes as I carried on with var-ious ministry responsibilities.

Ministry in AradWe arrived in Arad where we were welcomed warmly by Adi Muscan. After meeting so many people from all sorts of churches and backgrounds, we

can unashamedly say that Adi, who is a long-term Friendship International worker, is our favorite. He ministered to our fam-ily with such thoughtfulness and joy and made sure that we are adequately fed and able to get to whatever locations we needed to get to. After a couple of days in Arad, our kiddos began call-ing him “uncle” instead of “brother Adi.”

During the first few days in Arad our ministry was multifac-eted. I had the opportunity to play a mini- concert and preach at the Sega Baptist church in Arad. I also was able to share my testimony and play for the Bethel Adventist Church. The adven-tist denomination in the area organized an instrumental festival attended by numerous church orchestras. They played for each other and celebrated together their love of music and for Jesus Christ. It was a great joy to play several pieces during this festival and offer some encouragement to

play skillfully to the Lord.

In Arad I also had several radio interviews at Alt FM and Joy FM. The two interviews were quite different in energy and focus. The former one was a 2-hour live discussion/ perfor-mance on the topic of church music, secular music, and the intersection of personal faith with a classical music career.

The second interview was a morning show at Joy FM; it was fast-paced and the interviewers were absolutely hilarious. I was trying hard to keep up with them and their witty jokes and remarks. During this interview we were able to discuss and mention Friendship International’s impact in the area through the summer Academy of the Arts. It was great to see the ministry ripples this endeavor has created in Arad over the years.I had the chance to connect with several musicians in Arad one

of whom is Emanuel Caragea, the classical guitar instructor at the local arts school. He invited me to come and meet with him and the principal of the school. We were able to strategize some future partnership avenues between the Academy of the Arts and their institution for greater community impact. After this meeting I met with several other guitarists from Arad who put together a small gathering. I played for them and answered whatever questions they had about the guitar and its repertoire. These were non-believ-ers but I trust that the Lord used this sweet gathering time to bring them to Himself and I trust that the fragrance of Christ was spread in a way that will bring spiritual fruit in the future.

MINISTRY IN ORADEAAfter 4 days in Arad, we took the 3 hour trip to Oradea. We were able to get to Oradea a day earlier than expected and we are thankful for the gracious reception and com-fortable accommodations provided for our family. Our main coordinator for ministry in Oradea was Marius Cruceru, a well known evangelical leader and professor at the Emmanuel University in Oradea. Marius and his wife Natalia were gracious hosts to us and we enjoyed

the time of fellowship with them very much. Perhaps the time spent in conversation with Marius about ministry, parenting, cultural and church trends were some of the most cher-

ished aspects of this trip. Both Marius and I share a deep love for the classical guitar and espresso coffee. Marius did a great job organizing some great events during our time there. I had the chance to play a mini-recital for the Logos Music School Graduation. There were numerous opportunities that evening to celebrate with and encourage young musicians who played their respective instruments in year-end re-cital format.

We also had the chance to record some video clips for Credo TV, a Christian TV station in Cluj (about 2.5 hours from Oradea). While in Cluj I also recorded a show entitled “Between Scripture and Newspapers.” This is a show hosted weekly by Marius Cruceru and it deals with all kinds of subjects related to culture but discussed from a biblical perspective. In this show we were able to explore concepts such as performance excellence, church music, classical guitar trends, integration of classical guitar career and ministry, etc..

On a different evening I played a full concert at the Emmanuel University Chapel Hall and enjoyed interacting with many of the attenders afterwards. For those interested in seeing a part of the concert, you may view it here: https://www.facebook.com/tavi.jinariu/videos/ 10156423054379706/ In Oradea I enjoyed interacting and getting to hear some of the stories of students at the Emmanuel University. These were great opportunities for encouragement and prayer with the students.

The next morning I had the chance to teach a classical guitar master class in Oradea. Several students came to receive a les-son and some came from as far

as Cluj (2.5 hours away) for this Master Class. I think the students left encouraged and inspired to continue in their pursuit of musical excellence.On Sunday morning we attended the worship service of a church in Mierlau. This was a great worship service with warm fellowship where

I played several Christian Hymns and shared my testimony.In the evening we attended the largest Bap-tist church in Easter Europe, Emmanuel Baptist Church of Oradea. The senior pas-tor at Emmanuel Baptist Church is Paul Ne-grut, one of the premier bible teachers and theologians in Romania. The schedule was quite packet that evening but I was given enough time for 2-3 pieces and a short testi-mony. As the service progressed I ended up playing 5 Hymns and shared my testimony.

At Emmanuel Baptist Church we also had the chance to connect with some former A New Song members (Dina and Titus To-nea) and enjoyed talking with them and reminiscing about our former days in min-istry with Friendship International.In ConclusionWe wrapped up our ministry in Arad and Oradea exhausted after 10 days of full min-istry. We were tired but we returned to Sib-iu with our hearts full of joy that God used us to bless and encourage his people, and to shine the light of Christ before those who do not know him.Many thanks to Del Huff for hustling to make this ministry tour happen on such short notice.Soli Deo Gloria! Tavi, Melissa, Sophia, Elijah, Hunter and Luca JinariuEditor’s Note:

It is with gratitude we, the sponsoring min-istry of this tour and under the umbrella of our Academy of the Arts project, express our thanks and appreciation, first of all to Tavi Jinariu, his wife and family for sharing their lives and Tavi’s God-given heavenly music played on the guitar, with the people of his homeland. We pray and trust this is not the last time there will be an opportuni-ty to partner together with Tavi.

We also want to thank the churches which al-lowed us to share Tavi’s ministry with them.And finally, we want to thank the coordina-tors for planning the ministry in Arad, Adi Muscan, our missions director for Romania and Marius Cruceru, teacher and pastor connected with the Emanuel Baptist Church and University of Oradea, Romania.