Hello everyone I hope this update finds you well. We have finished our ministry in Romania and we are now in Chisinau, Moldova now for our debrief and we leave tomorrow for ministry in Vulcanesti, Moldova. I will update you all about Moldova as soon as I can, but I wanted to focus on a time we spent with a few of the Gypsies of Romania.
Whenever we would even mention the name Gypsy to a Romanian they would give us a bad look as if they had just tasted something bitter. I personally did not know much about Gypsies I came in with the existing stereotype or misconception that they were mainly women that prostitute themselves. Although that is the life that many of them have taken I was very wrong on two accounts. First is that the women that have taken that path did not chose it, and that Gypsies are really a whole culture it is not just women that are Gypsies.
Ever wonder where the term i got “gyped” comes from? Well that is a derogatory word meaning “to cheat,” derived from the word Gypsy and it shows just how the Romanian people feel about this ethnic group. Gypsies are a band of nomadic society found in populations throughout the world, but mainly in Europe. They were most often set up in small camps, speaking their own language and holding their own customs. The Gypsies were sometimes erroneously considered con men and thieves and persecuted for practicing their own culture. Gypsies are ostracized as a people group and they are not even considered citizens. After learning about them I got to see first hand how this ethnic group looks and lives.
Gypsy House
Our main contact Zoli took us to a local Gypsy village and gave us a quick briefing about them. He told us mainly that they are looked down upon in every country that they inhabit. We wondered why the government does not do anything to help them, but our contact told us that they tried. The government gave them apartments to live in to try to help them and the Gypsies sold everything in the apartment and moved back to their village.
The Romanians have a certain stereotype of them that they chose to live the way they live. I can not speak for all Gypsies, but the ones that we encountered seemed to chose to live the way they did, or they are not trying to improve their way of life.
One of the families we spent some time with
The hardest part for me to see was that the children had to grow up in these conditions and they really do not have a choice. We made a bunch of sandwiches and brought fruit to hand out to each family, but I wish we could of done so much more. Thankfully we got a chance to pray with the family that is pictured above us and they told us that it means a lot to them. It was a very hard experience for me personally, but I pray that the Lord will bring more people to show them the love of Christ.
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Please pray for this people group. As you can see below the children have to be brought up in these conditions, and whether it is the parents choice or not to live this way God does not see them as outcast.
I just want to pray this verse over this people group this a prophetic word from Isaiah that because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross we can be free from the prisons that the devil can have us in. The He that is referred to in this verse is Jesus Christ, but Christ lives in me so I am speaking it over this people “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor” Isaiah 61.
For those that are reading this I do not know what you may be going through in your lives, but know that the love that Jesus Christ has for you has the power to set you free from whatever is holding you captive. Whatever addiction or struggle that you may be facing the Lord says in His word that He wants to clothe you with a crown of beauty instead of ashes, and a garment of praise instead of despair. All we have to do is accept the free gift of Salvation and chose life, instead of death, chose Christ as our Savior, and experience a love relationship with God that no high, no amount of money, no earthly relationship, no amount of entertainment could ever compare to. Do not stay a captive in the prison that the devil has you in, but experience true love, peace, joy and a filling of that hole in your life that has left you empty and unfulfilled. God’s strong love for you that surpasses all understanding because it is like an endless ocean…….
