I’m in Romania ya’all!!!!!
My entire squad of 26 people plus our 3 squad leaders are all together this month serving at Hope Church in Draganesti-Olt.
Home and Food
This has been such a sweet time of community for me. I have the opportunity of serving alongside my amazing friend from back home, Laney! We are officially roommates again just like in Arizona, except this time, I’m on the top bunk and she’s on the bottom bunk in a room with 4 other girls. All 29 of us are blessed to be staying at a house provided by Hope Church.
We are cooking our own food this month and every night I have the opportunity to eat a delicious home-cooked meal from a different team of our squad for dinner.
Ministry Host
Hope Church is a mission-minded church that is spreading the gospel throughout the Oltenian district of southern Romania. They have missionaries, ministries, and church plants all throughout the region.
Such a large network leads to many needs. Some projects I have been and will be involved in are street evangelism, handing out New Testament Bibles, eyeglass ministry, widows ministry, children’s ministry, and much more!
So what have I been doing?
I would love to share a story from my favorite experience in Romania so far. I went to a village and handed out New Testament Bibles door to door that contained an invitation to a church event the following week.
While doing this, my teammate was putting a Bible on someone’s front gate and an elderly woman came to greet him. She took the Bible and excitedly started saying things in Romanian while going back to her yard. This drew the entire team’s attention and we walked over to her gate. Our translator told us that the woman asked us to wait because she was going to show us something.
The woman excitedly returned holding a duplicate New Testament Bible to what we had just given to her. She said that she had just been reading the Bible when we walked up. She went on to explain that her name is Victoria and she was alone. Her 3 children had left her and she was sad. A friend of hers had told her about the gospel and had given her the Bible. The translator was able to pray for her. If you think of her, please pray that Victoria would come to know Jesus as her lord and savior and that her daily needs would be met.
This encounter with Victoria broke my heart. I longed to meet the needs of this widow.
That night we were assigning ministries for the following day and I volunteered to do a mystery assignment. That mystery assignment turned out to be helping deliver firewood to widows! This firewood is essential for them to survive the upcoming cold winter because it is their only heating source in their houses. I was so excited how God had given me the desire of my heart!
I was able to deliver 2 tons of firewood each to 3 different widows in another village. It was so sweet to see God providing the needs of these widows. This reminds me of one of my favorite verses that shows how amazing the heart of God is: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” (James 1:27)
This has been the most exciting experience for me so far and I’ve only just begun in Romania!!! I can’t wait to see all that God is going to do!
P.S. Hope Church is always looking for short term and long term missionaries to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Romania. If you are at all interested you can check out the ministry at http://www.hoperomania.org/
Fundraising update: I am currently at $14,658! Woo! Thank you for all of your support! I need the remaining balance of $3,942 by 11/30/18.
I invite you to make my journey, your journey. Here are three simple ways:
1. The most important, PRAY. Prayers are so needed and appreciated!
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