Our entire squad is together again in Draganesti-Olt, Romania, for our last month in Europe. We are working with Hope Church in various concentrations, divided by teams. Their website states, “Our strategy is to utilize people, projects, and partners to fulfill the goal of glorifying God, with the ministry of Christ as our model. We focus on five areas, namely discipleship, worship, evangelism, service, and fellowship.” I’ve included a video below that highlights some of the work they do.
Month Eight began with team changes and will end with PVT (Parent Vision Trip). My new team, Team Meta, consists of Lucie as team leader, Emily, Carolyn, Anna, and Lindsey. In a couple weeks, some of our squadmates’ parents will partner with us in ministry. It will be fun to Meet the Parents and see how similar or different they are compared with their kids, who we’ve gotten to know oh so well.
Our host, Raul, led an orientation to teach us about the culture. A slight percentage of the population is Christian, while the majority practices Orthodoxy, witchcraft, and mysticism. Raul has faced police confrontations when building a church and spreading God’s Word. He also told us about the spiritual warfare he experiences in a culture obsessed with death and superstition.
Similar to Bulgaria, there is a large Roma (gypsy) community here. We pass women donned with skirts, head scarves, gold bangles, and hoop earrings. Their houses are characterized by turrets, Indian-influenced layered roofs, reflective windows, and ornamental stone lions and eagles surrounded by silver spiked fences. The extravagance seems like an overcompensation for the previous stigma of Romas as poor, traveling, dishonest thieves.
I’ve enjoyed the switch back to an alphabet that I can somewhat figure out. There are some extra squiggles over and under letters, but it is generally comprehensible. The language sometimes sounds Italian, with a prevalent “ch” sound.
Raul leads a daily two-hour meeting of worship, directed prayer, and teaching. He gives us homework assignments such as: define sin and salvation using only Scripture, create a missionary profile based on Paul’s sermons in Acts, and provide four pillars of evidence for why the Bible is a reliable source of truth. For ministry, we have passed out Bibles, washed carpets, picked up trash, and taught English.
During our adventure days, we visited Transylvania. Instead of hiking in the rain, I read Dracula. Lucie and I celebrated our joint birthday, which was super fun. We also share a birthday with one of the pastors, George, so they invited us over for cabbage rolls. We went to a festival with them where I participated in a traditional circle dance. I basically just bounced and giggled.
On the weekends, my team goes to a nearby village where a sister church is located. We lead kid’s activities, worship, and share testimonies of God’s faithfulness. We wake to fleas drowning in arm sweat, wafting manure melt, and a cacophony of braying donkeys, honking geese, barking dogs, whinnying horses, crowing roosters, and screeching cats. My dad told me farm life was peaceful, but I’m beginning to think otherwise.
I would love prayers for stamina in the heat, spiritual armor in the dark atmosphere, and preparation to engage in our last few months in Africa. Thanks!!
