It’s hard to believe we are over halfway through our month in Romania. With only one more week in this place, I thought it was about time I wrote about what’s been happening. I had no idea what this country would be like or the ministry we’d be doing. I didn’t know much history of Romania and I didn’t have any close friends from this part of the world.
It was a surprise to hear that once again we would be all together as a squad. Technically, it was only our second all-squad month (the first being in Swaziland), but most of the teams had been together in Ireland as well. I was excited. I love when we get to be all together! We were told that we’d all have the same main contact, a man named Raul, the pastor of a local church in Draganesti-Olt (a decent bus trip away from Brasov, the city we had debrief). We would all live in one big mission house, yes, all 42 of us!
Once we arrived in Draganesti-Olt, each team was assigned a different missionary that worked under Raul. Most of the teams would work with their missionaries to spread the gospel to the local people. They would use different methods and have different approaches but the main thing was to speak to people about Jesus.
The morning we met our contact, he mentioned that two girls from our team would be needed to work with the pastor’s wife. He asked for volunteers and Jessica and I immediately expressed our desire for this to be our ministry. The woman’s name is Ana. We met with her and it was evident right away that she was a special woman. She made us feel super welcome as she asked questions to get to know us better.
After meeting Ana in the morning, I went home and spent the afternoon praying for her. The Lord began speaking to me about how precious this woman was. He whispered how proud of her He was and how she had overcome so many hard things in her life. I received such a deep appreciation and love for a woman I hardly knew.
I wanted to get to know her even more!
Throughout this month, Ana has shared her story with us and she’s let us in to her heart. She has shared some of the difficulties of her childhood and all that God has done in her life to bring her to Him. She’s welcomed us into her home and we have felt apart of her family. I have loved cooking with her and learning from her as we’ve sat around her kitchen table.
I have been so blessed to spend time with such a godly woman whose love for the Lord is deep and uncontainable. Her joy is radiant and her laughter is contagious. She makes time for each person that she meets and doesn’t overlook those who’d often be forgotten.
Most afternoons, we go out and do street evangelism. It involves us walking along the dusty roads in order to speak with the local residents, often sitting outside their homes. At times we are invited inside and we enjoy unknown, random Romanian delicacies.
Many times as we speak to people on the streets, they open up and share what’s on their heart. They let us into their world, if only just for a few minutes. Through Ana’s translation, we start to understand the barriers that have been put up between them and God. I can understand. I know countless times where I’ve done the same because I’ve felt unworthy to receive the love of God.
So many women we’ve sat with have opened up their hearts and told us about the many abortions that they’ve had well over 50 years ago. We’ve sat with them as they’ve cried over the children they never met and the memories that still cause them pain. They then tell us how they are still afraid of God and what He’ll do to them. They are scared that He will not forgive them and that He can’t look past what they’ve done. They’re lives have been swallowed up in guilt and shame.
It’s so sad. It breaks my heart. As many times as I have heard these stories of pain and sorrow, it’s also the same amount of times that I have been able to share the love of the Father in heaven. To share that He is a God of forgiveness and grace and through His son Jesus, there is a way to be washed clean. To be forgiven and have a relationship with Him.
We have the amazing opportunity to tell of God’s great, unfailing love.
And it’s interesting to see that as I get to speak this truth more often, it sinks into my heart a little more as well. I speak well known words from the Bible and see people hear them for the first time. I see how it shakes them. I’m reminded that passages like John 3:26-17 weren’t meant to be just good memory verses or be encouragements on the inside of a card, but life-giving truth.
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
So as much as I love Ana, my Romanian mother (and favourite Romanian), I am falling even more in love with God, the One who brought us both together. I’m so grateful for the way He has used Ana in my life and the friendship He’s allowed us to have. I’m thankful for this month and it’s simple beauty and the way the Lord has been drawing me closer to Himself.
