Never in my life would I have imagined myself in Transylvania. Let alone spending a month of my life here ministering to Gypsies. I love Romania. No sightings of Dracula or Count Chocula thus far.
We flew in to Bucresti (Bucharest) from Dublin on the 2nd and reunited with all of P Squad for team changes. God has me remaining in a leadership position for this next season of my life. Team Reckless has now become Team Haven. Feel free to help me welcome and encourage the new additions to my team; Alexandra Reiner, Carrie Miranda, and Heidi Jahraus. Blake Rushing, William Diefenbach, and Krystel Kemper remain along the journey with me from Team Reckless. God gave me the word ‘Haven’ for our team because He told me we are entering a season where we not only need our team to serve as a haven for one another, but that we are going to enter the nations and show them what a haven is so they will be able to create and take refuge among themselves in worship and service to our Creator.
Team Leaders braving a Romanian travel day.
Team Haven is partnered with Team MOR3 (More) for the month of October in Targu Mures, a city in Eastern Transylvania. God blessed us with an old farm house we are able to share comfortably. A unique part of our ministry is that though we are in Romania, we are living and ministering in a Hungarian village. Our contact, Pastor Zsombor, is Hungarian and was raised here. Part of his ministry is a strong passion to see Hungarians and Romanians reconciled. Prior to World War II the section of Romania we are in used to be Hungary. Generations of Hungarians have been here and remain, most still with a bitter taste in their mouth that they are under Romanian authorities.
To avoid great offense we were cautioned not to speak Hungarian to Romanians and vice versa…which is real interesting for us since we do not have a strong concept of either language. The only distinguishable group are the Gypsies, identifiable by their elaborate dress – flowing, colorful skirts to the ankles women, and pants and vests for the men who usually have strong, bushy mustaches. Gypsies have their own language, which again, we haven’t quite put our finger on yet.
Our main focus is helping Pastor grow the congregation at his non-traditional, Christian church. There is a strong spirit of traditionalism here that drives young people from the church. We spend the days visiting local universities and parks looking to meet and invite youth to services Friday and Saturday nights at Pastor’s church. Our teams are in charge of organizing and running the Friday night services, a more relaxed, ‘get to know you’ feel. Besides focusing on the youth and Pastor’s services, we visit Gypsy villages on Wednesdays. This is time for us to get to know these amazing people and share the truth God has for them on an intimate level.
Looking forward to updating you all with pictures and stories of what God is doing in Targu Mures!
