Lord willing, I will be flying to Florida today and be together with my family which I am looking forward to very much.  There will be a Romanian Basic Seminar being held in Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood area which my Dad will be translating/leading, as well as a Children's Program which my brother and I will be helping with there.  If you all could please be praying for our family, for the Lord's blessing on our time there and for His help and His strength.  Hope you guys have a great day.

"And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you.  He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed."   Deuteronomy 31:8

  A week ago, on Saturday evening during staff meeting, we watched a powerful message by Paul Washer which was very good.  It is close to an hour long, though I encourage you to watch it when you have some time. You can watch it here.

  This Thursday, I will be going to Atlanta, GA for almost two weeks and be helping out with a CI which I'm really looking forward to.  I know that many of you who are reading this will be there, and I'm just so thankful to be able to go and be there with all of you.  I am sure that it will be a great time and a great blessing.  Sorry for no pictures, hopefully I will have some another time.  God bless.

  Our family and our cousins, the Iorga's, took a trip to Colorado a little over a week ago, and we had a great time up there.  We enjoy going places together every now and then, and we usually would go up to a cabin in Big Bear for a few days.  This year we thought we'd do something different and go for a week to Colorado.  Some friends of ours from California were gracious and offered us to stay at their home in Clifton, which was a tremendous blessing.  We went snowboarding and skiing for three days at Powderhorn which was a lot of fun.  For a long time I had wanted to go snowboarding again, so this was really nice and Powderhorn has some amazing scenery.  It also snowed up on the mountains while we were there, so we got to experience and enjoy some fresh powder.  It was so good to have some time to spend together, talk, and just enjoy the mountains.

Driving along the way through Utah.

A canyon in Utah

Brian and I waiting at the lift.

Our family at Powderhorn

Johnny and I on the lift...

Brian ready to ride

This picture was actually taken through my goggles from the chair lift.  I wanted to see if I could take a picture of exactly how everything looked through the goggles, so I put the goggles in front of the camera.  It actually looked a little different than this, but it still adds a neat effect.

Jimmy at the bottom

Joshy after having reached the summit of....a pile of snow.

Brian and Jimmy on the chair lift

Christeen all bundled up.  Joshy took this picture which I thought was really cute.

Warming up with some hot chocolate...

Some aspens

Johnny after a ride down

It was Joshy's first time skiing and he did so good. He picked it up really quick.

Christeen was given a free ride down part of the mountain on a snowmobile. She was happy.

Here are the four of us on one of the runs.

Johnny riding the lift.

Me and Brian

   It was a great blessing to have been home during these past weeks in December and January.  I was able to spend a lot of time at home with my family, with friends, and get to do many different things which was really good and refreshing.  Tomorrow morning I will be leaving again to IBLP headquarters in Chicago for a few months to serve on staff there.  In a way, I know that it won't be easy to leave home again and go back, knowing how it was hard for me at times last year while I was there.  Yet the Lord really used that time for me to grow, and I know that it will definitely be good for me.  It seems clear that this is where the Lord wants me right now, and so I am looking forward to being there again, knowing that the Lord has a plan and a purpose in it. Hope you all have a great rest of the day and whenever you remember...please pray for me.

   Well, I'm back home now.  You know after traveling for almost two weeks, Headquarters is beginning to feel like home in some ways.

   During the past couple of weeks my Dad and I were with twelve Police Chiefs from Romania that came to visit IBLP Headquarters, and Police Departments in other states.  It was a great blessing for me to have been able to go on a trip like this, it really was.  I also was able to spend more time with my Dad, which was really good. We had a great time.  My Dad was the translator, and at times I helped to interpret as well.  It was a good oppurtunity for me to practice my Romanian and I enjoyed it.

   The group arrived at Headquarters on Saturday November 3rd.  Monday morning we went to staff meeting, and afterwards got a quick tour of the Production Center.  Before we left, Mr. Gothard was able to share the Gospel with these men, and when asked if they would like to pray and accept Christ, they agreed.  Whether they truly believed and whether it was sincere, only the Lord knows.  Nevertheless, a seed was planted, and we should pray that the Lord would continue to work in their hearts.

   On the trip we visited Police Departments in Chicago IL, Lexington, KY, Dorchester County, SC, and King's Mountain, NC.  The group then flew back to Romania on the 11th from Charlotte, NC.  On our way driving back to Chicago, we were able to stop and visit my Uncle, Aunt, and Cousins in Knoxville, TN for a few days.  It was so good to see them, and we had a wonderful time.  It definitely was a great trip, a great experience, and the Lord blessed.

Sunday morning we had a good meeting with Mr. Gothard and part of the staff.

We were given a special tour of the Chicago Police Headquarters.

When we arrived in Lexington, we had a meeting with the Chief of Police and his staff.  After everyone was introduced, there was a presentation followed by a good time of discussion.

We then went to the Lexington Police Firearms Training Facility where we met their Emergency Response Unit. The way one of the guys put it, "When people have a problem, they call the Police, when the Police have a problem,they call us".

They had a range there and we were able to shoot an M4 and MP5.

Lexington Police

On the road....

I was given one of the Institute's cameras to use on this trip which was really nice of them. It was a lot of fun.

In South Carolina we had a very good time with Sheriff Nash.  He is an amazing man, a good friend, and a believer in the Lord.

He put together a program called Police Dynamics, which he is teaching throughout the US, and that has given very good results.  He gave us a short presentation of the program and it went really well.

At Folly Beach, South Carolina.

Carriage ride through Old Charleston was neat.

This is Sheriff Nash's Charger; awesome car.

Visited Francis Beidler Forest and went for a nice walk.  There are many swamps and there are crocodiles, though we didn't see any.

Friday night, right after we arrived in King's Mountain, Chief Proctor and the Mayor took us to a basketball game.  It was Charlotte vs. Indiana and Charlotte won 96-87.

In King's Mountain with the Mayor and Chief Proctor, both of them are Christians.

On Veteran's Day they had a parade, and we were able to be apart of it.

The parade went to the King's Mountain Cemetery where the Mayor gave a speech honoring those who had given their life for our Country, and those who have served.

In the afternoon, we visited the King's Mountain Police Department and had a good conference call with Mr. Gothard.

Mr. Marinescu presenting Chief Proctor with a gift from Romania.

Timmy, Benny, and me.

On the way driving back, we spent a few days with my uncle, aunt, and cousins in Knoxville, TN which was really nice.