On November 1st, we took a train from Chisnau, Moldova and headed to Bucharest, Romania. This was my first ever train ride (apart from Tweetsie), so I was really excited. It was an overnight ride, so we were four to a cab, with our own “bed” along with a pillow and blanket. As the squad piled into the train, the crew notified us that we all couldn’t fit. So, four of us would have to be in the adjacent car. Being one of the last people to get on, I was one of those people. Brad, Kirk and Julian were with me.
Even though we were separated, we were free to move between cars to visit our friends. Brad and Jules went into the other car to hang out while Kirk and myself stayed behind in our cabin. I hadn’t gotten much sleep the past day or so in all our transitioning, so I thought I would take a nap. Within a few minutes, I was out cold.
I don’t know how long I had been asleep, but I woke up in the dark and realized that the train had stopped. I sat up to look out the window, to see why we had stopped. We seemed to be at some small checkpoint, in the middle of nowhere. At this point, Kirk also woke up and we both were trying to figure out what was going on. Brad and Julian were nowhere to be found. Suddenly, a man carrying a large metal tube burst through our cabin door. He lifted the mat in our floor which revealed a deep hole. He then inserted the tube. I asked him why we had stopped, but he could only speak Romanian. He then ran out the door and was gone.
I looked outside and saw men running around and it looked like they were removing all the wheels from the train. Shortly after, military officers began walking up and down the halls with rifles. There were also what looked to be trained police dogs. A man wearing a uniform with a lot of badges and a rifle strapped to his back, came inside our cabin. He began speaking in Romanian, and became extremely agitated when he realized that we only spoke English. Annoyed, he muttered under his breath, and then walked out.
At this point, I was starting to get really nervous. I really wished we were in the car with the rest of our squad, so I decided to go stay in one of my friends rooms. I went to the back of the train to leave. I looked out the door window, only to discover that the other car had been separated from ours! The rest of the squad was at least a mile down the track! Ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it was too far for me! Workers were busy scrambling around all sides of the train now. The same crew member who put the four of us in the other car walked up to me. Ignoring all my questions, he sent me back to my room.
At this point, I was quietly starting to freak out. Scenario after scenario began to play out in my mind. Most of them ended with us being murdered. I explained everything I knew to Kirk, who had become visibly annoyed at this point. We sat in the dark in silence for what seemed like forever. I was praying nearly the whole time.
Eventually, three soldiers returned, including the man from before, and a female. The woman spoke a little English and was able to translate back and forth for us. They asked us what we had been doing in their country for a month. They also seemed to think that it was sketchy that we flew in from Asia. To my horror, Kirk began explaining how we had been working for Campus Crusade for Christ and were preaching the Gospel. The lady translated to the annoyed officer, “blah blah blah, Christian. Christian, Christian, blah blah, Christian.” They exchanged glances, spoke Romanian, and then left us.
I knew that we were gonna be gunned down or at best, be put in prison.
I’m not sure what happened with them, but the woman returned about fifteen minutes later and thanked us for teaching students in her country. She assured us that we were quite safe and the train was nearly serviced and ready to resume travel.
I was so relieved and thankful that everything was ok. I can honestly say, that this was the scariest moment on the race for me. The whole ordeal was well over an hour. Much of it, just sitting in the dark, in fear of what was about to happen. I’m thankful that it happened though, because it makes a great story! And once again, God had my back!
While looking for images of the train, I came across another traveler's experience where he explained what actually was going on that night.
"It is a relic of Soviet times when trains entering the USSR had to change their wheels to fit the different track size of the Soviet rail system, which would provide an obstacle to any potential invaders."
Source – http://iofwea.org/2013/05/28/documentary-photography-moldova-romania-border-crossing/
