Romania: Month 8
Better late than never! I wanted to fill you guys in on what life and ministry looked like when we were in Romania. We stayed in a city called Pitesti which is north west of the country’s capital city, Bucharest. We partnered with a local church that has been hosting World Race teams for almost 12 years now. We became really close with our host family, Christi and Cami and their kids, during our time there. We gave each other a hard time, broke bread together, slaughtered pigs with them, challenged them to tons of foot tennis and table tennis rounds, and best of all worshipped and served the Lord alongside them. Their heart for the city of Pitesti, especiallly the marginalized people group from this area, is remarkable. This ministry truly exemplifies what it looks like to be the church and not just attend the church and it’s inspired me to bring it back with me to America.
On Mondays we hosted the homeless community of Pitesti at the church for an afternoon of fellowship, table tennis, a devotional and word of encouragement, prayer, and a hot meal. They also had the opportunity to wash clothes in the church’s washing machine, take showers and shave in the bathrooms, and charge their phones in the outlets. Because Christi and his leadership team had been doing this ministry so consistently for so many years, this community had become like family to them, and as a result to us as well. The men and women included in this community face alcoholism, addiction, lonlieness, violence, poverty, and oppression from the rest of the community that look for ways to judge and degrade them rather than to help and love on them. Christi’s ministry, however, flipped the perspective and decided loving on them and giving them a helping hand would lead to relationships, and relationships could lead to offering hope out of their situation and into the helper of all situations, Jesus. What was incredible to see was that these people who had very little, were still obedient to God with theiir finances. They took up an offering for a child they as a group sponsor in Africa, which they do frequently. Their desire to follow the Lord and trust in his provision was incredible to see.
On Tuesdays we would do a manual labor project of some kind that would benefit either the church itself or a member of the church. One day we chopped and stacked wood for seven hours for a family that has a heart for the orphans in Romania. The next day we cleaned and organized the basement of the church so it can be used for future fellowship events to build up their community. The final two days in Pitesti, we did yard work in the backyard of the church where kids from the church will play during vacation bible school this summer. It felt good to get my hands dirty again, since I hadn’t done manual labor for ministry since South Africa, month three!
Wednesday was our off/adventure day which we filled with running errands, visiting historic castles in Transylvania, touring a very historic prison in Pitesti and hitting up the countless second hand shops to update our closets, or should I say packing cubes, haha.
Thursdays and Saturdays we visited the ghetto. I don’t use this term to be insensitive or disrespectful, it’s just what the lower income areas of Romania are called. The ministry has established a great relationship with the kids living in the ghetto, some of them weren’t even born when Christi and his team first started doing outreach there. Outreach in the ghetto looked like playing foot tennis (a game where soccer, volleyball, and tennis is combined) in the parking lot of one of the apartment buildings, home visits with families and praying with them, prayer walks around the community, and small group meetings in the trailers the city government allowed for Chrisit and his team to place in the parking lot with use of the electricity for FREE (which in Christi’s words is a miracle and a clear sign from God that He wants them there to love on this community and He’s willing to open any doors in order for that to happen.) We had so much fun talking with the kids and playing with them and praying with the families. They were as much of a blessing to us as we were trying to be to them.
Fridays we hosted the kids from the ghetto at the church for youth fellowship which included upbeat worship where we danced around in circles with them, gave a message on a topic from the bible that they can relate to, made crafts or played a game, and sharing of testimonies. This was probably my favorite ministry we did. I loved being silly with the kids and then seeing them bow their heads and sing a worship song with all their heart and soul. These kids especially need to know the love of Jesus because often their home life is unhealthy and unstable. They are also at a high risk of being trafficked. We heard so many stories and even met a few survivors of human trafficking attempts in the ghetto, the city of Pitesti, and in this part of the world. It was heartbreaking to look down at a little girl who’s swinging your arm back and forth to the beat of a worship song, with a huge smile on her face and joy in her eyes as she looks up at your attempt to sing along in Romanian and imagining her experiencing anything to do with what traffickers intend to happen with the children they abduct. We also heard that often times trafficking and prostitution becomes a family business as the family’s only way to support themselves. Children are trained young by a parent or older sibling and as soon as they are old enough (~12/13) they are most likely sold to bring in income.
It’s sad and horrible in our eyes, and we can’t imagine how any parent could put their child through that and think it’s okay. However, this is what brokenness and lack of truth does. There is desperation, hopelessness, heartache, and pain. This is why it’s so important to share the hope we have in Jesus with those we encounter. Especially to the marginalized people groups in our communities that are vulnerable for seeking out paths that lead to death and pain. We can offer them a better a solution, a better path, a better way. That way is Jesus. We can make an impact and influence change by teaching kids to live with higher moral standards, encouraging them to continue to pursue education to attain a job that supports themselves and their families well, and to put their security and hope in the person of Jesus and not in the things of this world.
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'” Romans 10:14-15
To my friends, family and supporters: Thank you for sending me. It’s truly been an honor serving the Lord on this World Race journey. Even though my feet have been sandy, muddy, sweaty and everything in between over the past 9 months. Marked with blisters, cracks from dry skin, and tan lines from chacos, the bible calls them beautiful. What good news that is.
To my friends, family and supporters, remember, your feet can be considered beautiful too. Even if they are slipped into high heels that enter an office everyday, or into steel toe boots on a construction site, or even into flip flops on your vacation in Florida. They can still bring the good news to the people you walk past in your everyday routine. They too need hope, life, joy, freedom and peace that can only sufficiently be found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
