The Family of Nicu and Victoria Aftanas

My name is Nicu Aftanas. I was born on 12/29/1989 in the city of Balti. My parents were Orthodox Christians. My father was a teacher at a learning institution and my mother still works as a pharmacist. In our family there are 4 children and our parents worked hard, so that we could grow up not lacking any material things and have a good future.

When I was 5 years old, my mother and older sister started to go to a Russian Baptist church. After a period of time, they became believers and started to take me along with them to church. Then my older brother also repented. And finally, after a few years, my father also turned to Christ.

I attended one of the best high schools in our city called “Mihai Eminescu” and after graduating, I learned the profession of bookkeeping at a vocational school. During my time at school, I enjoyed, and was involved in, many sporting competitions. My desire for the future during those days, was to buy a number of trucks and to be a truck driver.

As a young man, after I finished school, I was very busy with material things and had many plans for my life, and wasn’t very interested in serving God. However, one Wednesday evening at Emanuel Church, Pastor Costel gave a Bible study through which God spoke to me personally and touched my heart. This was the moment when I truly repented and I promised God with tears that from then on, I would serve Him with all my life.

I met my life partner, Victoria (born on 08/31/1996), at the youth group of Emanuel Church. God put a strong love for each other in our hearts and on the 2nd of August 2015 we got married. We don’t have children yet, but we believe that the Lord will soon give us some!

I started to get involved in the children’s ministry at Emanuel Church and also in ministry in my grandparents’ village, Alunis. Likewise, I enrolled in the courses of the center for Bible Instruction at Emanuel church.

In Alunis there is a small Baptist church, where two old Christian men used to preach the gospel, but eventually they passed away to be with the Lord. It was then that I saw the need for somebody new to come and preach the gospel in that small church, so I have taken up the baton of serving the gospel here.

This past summer, together with Emanuel church from Balti, we organized Christian camps for children and teenagers. From the villages, we brought 30 children and 20 teenagers to the camps. At the end of the camps, many of them received Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Furthermore, together with some of the young people from Emanuel church, we have started a children’s club on Saturdays in Alunis, where as many as 25 to 30 children come. A problem we face is that the children’s parents, being Orthodox, often don’t allow their children to come to the club or church. Pray for us concerning this problem!

This autumn, with the help of Emanuel church, we renovated the church building and after finishing the work, we had a thanksgiving celebration on November 8 th, 2015.

For the future, I want to work with teenagers, forming a group of them that I can lead to Christ and then help to mature in faith. As a method of evangelism, I am currently trying to form a team of boys to play soccer, so that we can prepare for next summer when we can participate in some soccer competitions for Christian youth.

Likewise, I have noticed that ministry with girls is also efficient both for children and teenagers, and I hope in the future to have longer camps for children and teenagers, so that they can come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I thank you for your support in ministry!