|
|
About Us History: It started, perhaps, back in 1957, when Michael and his family moved to Peru, South America. Michael’s parents were missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators. They lived and worked deep in the Amazon rainforest, 450 miles east of Lima. As Michael relates it, he experienced a fantastic “Huck Finn/ Tom Sawyer” jungle life, wearing cut-offs and t-shirt 24/7 and hunting alligators for normal recreation. In 1962 the family returned to the United States. Michael has a sister in Georgia, and a brother who is a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
In 1973, Michael married JoAnn, the daughter of Wycliffe missionaries. In 1982 he joined a short-term mission team that went to Ecuador to do a land survey for a native tribe. The adventure lasted a month, living on what the jungle would give up, and sleeping in an army surplus jungle hammock.
The next mission trip would be shared by both Michael and JoAnn. In 1989, the two of them joined a team from their church, Church At Charlotte, that went to Chichicastenango, Guatemala for two weeks. The primary target of that trip was to help refurbish a clinic and install some donated medical equipment.
In the spring of 1999, Charlotte radio station 91.9 WRCM, aired spots asking for help in raising money to send Bibles to Romania, located in eastern Europe. Michael told JoAnn that he thought they should send some money to buy some of the Bibles. JoAnn's response was, “…why don’t you just TAKE the Bibles.” So Michael joined the radio station team and went to Romania in July 1999. The trip was hosted by Christian Ministries International based in Columbia, South Carolina. CMI is a non-profit organization that ships belongings to foreign countries for missionaries. It is managed by John and Margie Simmons. During the 1999 trip to Romania, the group held mini vacation Bible schools, visited hospitals, orphanages, city parks and prisons sharing God’s love. On that first trip to Romania, Michael performed puppet ministry along with balloon sculpture.
On trip number two to Romania, in 2000, Michael shared truths from the Scriptures using Gospel magic and illusions. He became a member of Fellowship of Christian Magicians International in 1999, is an active member of International Brotherhood of Magicians and is currently the treasurer of the Charlotte based United Magicians Association.
In 2002, Michael accompanied a short-term mission team from his church for two weeks down in Cuiaba, Brazil. Michael and JoAnn are members of Church At Charlotte, an EFCA associate church.
The next short-term mission trip to Roman was in 2003. Again, Michael shared God’s love through his use of magic. Proficient translators always accompanied the team.
In 2005, JoAnn joined Michael on a mission trip to Romania. This was her first to that part of the world. While JoAnn assisted the doctor, conducting free clinics in many poor gypsy villages, Michael again kept the children, and many of the curious adults, occupied with Bible stories utilizing magic. All of the Romania trips were hosted by Christian Ministries International. All of the travel and lodging expenses were covered by tax-deductible donations. None of the mission trip participants were paid for their time or talents.
Michael and JoAnn returned to Romania in July 2007. While there , JoAnn headed up the free clinics and Michael continued sharing the Gospel with his illusions. Hundreds of very poor gypsys were treated for a wide variety of ailments. Many were given reading glasses too. The majority of them are in no way able to afford eye exams or glasses. Visit the "SITE MAP" page to learn more about the Reading Glasses Project.
July 2008 saw us in Romania again. It was real blessing to be able to share personal time with gypsy pastor Husar and his wonderful family. The US dollar has radically lost strength in Europe. The day we arrived the exchange rate was $1.58 USD to one Euro. Two weeks later at the airport it was $2.00 USD to the Euro. Americans are complaining bitterly about paying $3.90 for gasoline in the US. The lowest grade gas in Romania is about $8.00 per gallon. It was our priviledge on this trip to share multiple times the love of God through mini VBS's. We usually had Bob Mellbye introducing the colors of the Wordless book using one of his puppets, Rosie or Jack. Occassionally Michael would use his puppet Dizzy to do the colors. One of the team would then share a Bible story, then Jimmy Morse would give a detailed presentation of the Wordless book, and an invitation. Michael would always do a presentation of Gospel magic.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the short-term mission trips to foreign countries is to share God’s Word with people groups who may not have had a chance to hear before. As Michael is self-employed , he has the freedom to arrange his work schedule to accommodate mission trips. Sasnetts do, however, rely on some financial assistance from interested contributors, to help defray the cost of travel and lodging. All donations toward the trips are fully tax-deductible.
WHAT'S THE WEATHER IN ROMANIA?
Cluj-Napoca, ROU
Updated Wednesday, December 03, 2008 12:00 AM
Clear | 36°F | High: 51°F
Low: 44°F
Wind: 7 mph
Humidity: 93%
|
Thursday
54° / 49° | 
Friday
54° / 45° |
Saturday
53° / 38° |
Sunday
46° / 35° |
|
|
|
NEED A GOSPEL MAGICIAN FOR AN EVENT OR SPECIAL PROGRAM AT YOUR CHURCH OR SCHOOL? CONTACT MICHAEL AT THE EMAIL ADDRESS ON THE "CONTACTS" PAGE. | | |
|