So we are just chilling out at Becky’s place (Casa Shalom) in Bucharest, Romania with no real plans because half of team Banah was out with Becky picking up a 17 year old Pavel and his mom from their village. We were supposed to go to “minister” at a local church, but they were running too late for that to happen. Sadly Missionary Jeff was not at all disappointed to miss a church service. I was content just hanging out with the kids Marius(12), Maria (11), Mahala(17), and Catalian(10) at the Casa. Maybe watch a movie. I was not even really “spiritual awake” when quiet Pavel and his rather stoic mom showed up. I just continued watching the other kids torture a poor cat. Then Becky told us that Pavel loves to sing and we should all do some worship with Pavel and his mom. We start with some slightly awkward English to Romanian praise tunes. We are not the greatest Romanian praise song singers and Pavel looked a little bored, mom looked slightly angry, and I was still “spiritually asleep.”
Then it happened… Becky asked Pavel to share a song or two with us because he really didn’t know any of the songs we were singing. The shy boy started singing a Romanian hymn with overwhelming passion and emotion, and I started to wake up. The next song his mom belts out another hymn during which a tearful Pavel joins in, and now I am “fully present.” Then Becky suggests that we wrap up by praying for Pavel because tomorrow is a big day for him. We gather around to pray over/on Pavel and it was awesome! Maria (11) and Marius (12) prayed with awesome faith, and Maria was rubbing Pavel’s mom’s back during the whole prayer. Pavel and his mom prayed with such passion and faith. In general, we had CHURCH up in here!
