Pastor Raul took 5 of us, as well as his family to Slatina today. Slatina is a neighboring city that has 100,000 people in it and is much bigger than the village of Draganesti that I am staying in. The drive to Slatina was well spent. Raul decided he was going to play an atheist and we were to evangelize him. This lasted the whole 30 minute drive and it could have lasted even longer. I love the great use of time and the challenge that Raul is encouraging us in already. We got to Slatina and went to a great Romanian restaurant where Raul dove into questions like “what is your role in the kingdom?” and “how do you know where God is calling you to be?”. This is encouraging to me to see his desire to speak into us and to challenge us in our knowledge of ourselves and our relationship with God.
The time spent with Raul’s family was also a blessing. He has 2 sons named Samuel and Jonathon and he encouraged them to practice their English with us. They were quite shy today. Along with Samuel and Jonathon, I learned of many other children that Raul and his wife, Ana, have raised. They started an orphanage in Slatina years ago and some children they took directly into their home from the orphanage and some needed a home as a result of economic hardships in families. Raul and his family do this with such humbleness. I’m excited to learn more from them and their ministry partners, whom I’ve already had the privilege of getting-to-know a bit.
