The Team

I’ve mentioned ‘The Team' in my earlier blogs, so now a bit more about them.

Back in 1999, Ron Hellyer, from the Bognor Regis area of West Sussex started visiting this part of Transilvania and along the way met Mircea Pestean.  At that time there was great need in the very poor rural villages, but little in the way of help.  Along with another visitor from the USA, Ron encouraged Mircea to start Maranatha Missions using the town of Zalau as a base to reach out.  Ron himself, who Mircea describes to me as a gifted evangelist, was involved in the establishment of a couple of churches in the villages.  Ron would bring other friends with his to help in the work.

L to R: Gilbert, Peter,
Denise, Jess, Joan, me

Joan, Ron’s wife, joined Ron in visiting Romania a few years later.  After Ron’s death a few years ago, Joan and other team members continued visiting the churches of Maranatha Mission, and a couple of years ago, at the prompting of some of the long standing team members, The Ron Hellyer Foundation was established and registered as a UK Charity to enable gifts to support the work of the Mission to be channelled through the trust, to provide opportunities for folk form the UK to experience short term mission opportunities, and to provide funds for the relief of financial needs among some of the villages that the churches serve in this part of Romania.

The team (members vary from visit to visit) generally visit Romania twice a year, in the Autumn & Spring, timing arranged to avoid the busier summer season when many people in the villages are farming their small plots of land.