My team has been here in Craiova and Bals, Romania for a week now. So far, ministry has looked like going out each morning to do prayer walks and evangelizing each afternoon by talking to people we encounter, getting to know them, sharing about what we are doing here, and praying for them.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a spiritual heaviness here, many people are depressed and under spiritual warfare in this area. It may be due to the effects of recent communism in this nation, still lingering in the minds and hearts of the people. There seems to be a lot of dissension and disunity among people groups that has not yet subsided. In addition, the Romanian religious culture is based a lot on the Orthodox church, which can be very strict, religious, and non-accepting of new ideas and changes in society. This is not always a bad thing, but typically, the people we have talked to have a bad taste in their mouth from the church. They either have had other people’s ideas of religion shoved down their throats and now don’t want anything to do with it, or they were part of the church, but felt ridiculed or singled out at some time and walked away. You can see the depression on peoples’ faces as you walk down the sidewalk, saying hello and giving them a smile with only a blank stare to greet you in return. This is VERY different for us after being in Africa for four months, where often times people begin waving before you even glance their way, and children will take your hand and with a smile, walk with you a mile down the road. Romania needs Jesus just as much.
Last Wednesday, our first day going out to evangelize, we were blessed. We began walking to the outskirts of our small town to find a woman with whom our host had made a previous connection. On our way, as we talked joyfully down the street, an elderly woman came out to her gate and asked us what we were doing. She said she heard a different language and was curious. We began explaining who we were and why we were walking by when her adult son came home and joined our sidewalk conversation. They invited us to come sit in their courtyard and have a glass of water or coffee and we gratefully obliged. Over the next few hours, we simply devoted our time to relating to them, sharing the joy we have, and asking their stories. I was pleased when the son’s daughter of 10 came out to listen to our conversation and I made a point to specifically make a connection with her. She knew a little English from school but was shy to use it, so she pulled out her phone and showed me a translator app we could use and our conversation began.
This was just one of many encounters we’ve had with people as we evangelize and let our lights shine around town. Saturday, we had the opportunity to help give out eyeglasses to a Roma community (one of the poorest areas of town). We prayed with the families, played with the children, and gave out glasses and Bibles to everyone in need. It’s been a great first week in Romania!
Although there seems to be a lot of depression and warfare going on here, generally the people are so very sweet and hospitable once you get talking to them. I’ve met some very kind people here and I can’t wait to visit them again to continue building a friendship and sharing about the hope we have in Jesus.
Pray for Romania. Pray for more missionaries to be sent here. Pray about coming on a mission trip yourself!
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.“
~ Romans 10:14-17
