Osica de Jos

I realize that I didn't write much about Romania, other than that it was hard. Sometimes once we remove ourselves we find true purpose in our being. That was me with Romania. I realized how much I value the relationships we made over the past month, and that through trials, a friendship can be the saving grace. I want to tell you about some of the relationships we made during our time in Romania.

Everyday we had two hours of worship and prayer over Romania, specifically Draganesti Olt, and each day, after lunch, we would go out to the surrounding areas with our awesome translator, Marcel. Marcel would drive us in his van (which we named Sally) and most days we would drive at least an hour away. I'm sure being the only guy with a team of all girls was annoying at times, but Marcel treated us like sisters and it was fun to have him around.  This is part one.

Tuesday-Thursday we went to a small village called Osica de Jos. We did prayer walks with Marcel, but every week at least once we would go see Costell and Mariana, and Costell's mother, Alexandra. Alexandra is one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met. She always greeted us with a smile, hug and a kiss for each cheek. We asked her for a piece of wisdom and she told us "never let a day go by without prayer." Pretty good wisdom, if you ask me. Every time we would go to their house we had the opportunity to meet new people who needed encouragement and prayer. 

Ana is a sweet, sweet mother of four boys. We got to see her each week, she would tell us about the good things God did for her that week, ask for prayer requests, but she loved to encourage us as well. One day she invited us to her home to meet her sons and to have sweet biscuits (Mom, they tasted like banack!!!) and home made jam.  She told us that she went walking in the forest the day before and saw beautiful flowers everywhere. She picked a small bushel for each of us, she said Jesus told her to pick them for us because we needed the encouragement. Her obedience is true reflection of the blessing that she is! 

Jonell, his wife, and their son, Jonas ('J' sounds like 'Y', so Yonell and Yonas) were another family we became close with. We met this family early in the month and quickly realized they were a big part of the Christian community in Osica. They always seemed to be full of scripture and smiles of encouragement. Jonas came to meet us the second week we were there, he told us of how he struggles to know if God is real. We were able to encourage him and pray over him through the rest of the month. By the end of the month he was a different person, there was still some struggle, but there was a lightness to him; a seeking and finding, rather than a disbelief.