Why I Went To College & Romania Update

Our ministry has been probably my favorite so far. It has been very open to what we make it. We have been going to two local college campuses (Sapientia College – A Hungarian College and a College of Medicine) to reach out to students right where they are. We make relationships and invite them to a service we put on, on Fridays and Saturdays. The focus is to reconcile the Hungarians with the Romanians and have Jesus as the common bond that holds them together. I love the people here. They are so friendly and open. We have been spending many hours at the college just hanging out and getting to know each other. I think what I love most is that it is the first time so far in our ministry on The World Race that we get to pour into people our age. I think that college students are the group that I like to work with the most. I love the challenging questions and how my testimony is specific to their age.

 

Thanks for all of your support and prayers. God is so so so Good!!  God Bless You All!! Jesus is Lord!!!

 

This is a blog re-post by a friend and squad mate, Blake Rushing.

We’re still here in Targu Mures, trying our best to build a church of young adults who are living for the Lord. It is not easy. In fact, this is without a doubt the most difficult ministry for me thus far. Making friends and developing relationships is fun and fairly elementary, but taking it to the next level and keeping the conversations focused on why we are here and what we’re attempting to accomplish is the challenge – and as previously mentioned, the church isn’t exactly overflowing with people (six people attended this Friday as opposed to two people on the first Friday). It takes no time at all for conversations to get side-tracked and stumble on inappropriate topics, but we’re trying to be real with everyone and it’s how things work.

As difficult as it has been, it has also been one of my favorite ministries because we get to hang out with college students all day – we literally show up at one of two university campuses (Sapientia or UMF) in the morning and hang out until the late afternoon/evening. For me, Sapientia is where it’s at – we’ve made some awesome friends there, specifically Dani, Helga, Laszlo, Levi, Reni, Susan, Zoli and Zozo. Sapientia is a Hungarian University in Romania and all of these kids are Hungarians who grew up in Transilvania. It’s really awesome because I’m learning new stuff every day from these guys – everything from the truth about gypsies to Palinka to the history of Transilvania. Unfortunately, they’re choosing to skip classes to hang out with us and learn more about the United States. Questions I’ve addressed include; “Do universities really have those crazy fraternity parties we see in the movies?” (Yes. I’d love to take them down to Charlottesville to show them Rugby Road.Yikes.) and “What’s with people waiting in lines to get in to bars and clubs?” (I loathe waiting in lines, but sometimes you must due to fire hazard occupancy laws and other times just because the place wants you to think it’s really elite and a privilege to enter.). Pal Schmitt, the President of Hungary, was actually at Sapientia on Tuesday morning lobbying for Romanian funding. Thus far, I’ve sat in on both an English and a Danish (or Dansk) class – both professors were confused as to why I was there and the Danish professor prohibited me from videotaping him.

I’ve had a fantastic time getting to know Dani, Helga, Laszlo, Levi, Reni, Susan, Zoli and Zozo and I feel so blessed that God put us at Sapientia, but I just hope and pray they all recognize why we’re there and what we’re doing in Targu Mures. Walking with Christ always presents trials and tribulations and it’s never easy taking the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14), but I would argue it is most difficult during the college years – I know it was for me and I am ashamed to admit I was certainly not the best representative of Jesus Christ despite calling myself a Christian. It seems that pretty much all the Hungarian students grew up in reformed Christian churches and schools, but it’s not currently something that is high on their priority list. I understand where they are coming from, but I still want to change it.

Julian, Phil and Will talking with Levi and Reni on the patio.

The Sapientia University mascot, Bolhaz (not sure about the spelling, but it sounds like “bowl-haash” and means, “the one with fleas.”)

Here is a breakdown of what has happened over the past week:

Friday 10/15 – We had our second Friday evening “youth” service at 5pm and it was encouraging to see some new faces (four new ones) in addition to Arnold and Helga. I preached the sermon and I thought it went quite well. After church, Phil and I discovered this pretzel place, “Petru“, before heading back to Acatari for the village’s youth group. Bogi is the leader of the pack in Acatari and she is pumped up for Jesus – it’s exciting. Alexandra, Phil, Sara and I attended the meeting and each one of us shared a kind of mini-testimony/autobiography. For dinner we enjoyed the delicious traditional dish of sarmale (basically cabbage leaves stuffed with ground meat and rice simmering in a crock-pot for hours).

Saturday 10/16 – Phil and I moseyed around the city and finally found the Mures River and the bridge. It’s not exactly Dublin’s Liffey, but it’s pretty cool. We had another church service (not focused on the youth) and it was good.

Sunday 10/17 – I attended church in our village in the morning with Phil, Sara and Will and afterward we didn’t really do much at all because of inclement weather.

Monday 10/18 – Will and I hitchhiked in to the city because Helga invited us to go to the zoo. I learned that Romanian zoos are much less restrictive than American zoos. If you reallllly want to, you could probably pet/touch just about any animal. I’m not kidding. I didn’t see anyone do it and I obviously wouldn’t recommend it, but it can be done. Quite a few of the animals weren’t around due to the cold weather, but I enjoyed it otherwise. There is also a killer park/playground next to the zoo with outdoor table tennis, miniature basketball court and kid-size zip lines. It’s the most awesome playground I’ve ever seen. Will and I met up with Julian and Phil for a man dinner in the city center before heading over to UMF for some nighttime pickup soccer. I’d say at least a dozen countries were represented on the field and the Americans were by far the least impressive (I’m sorry guys). I didn’t have athletic clothes with me, so I chose to videotape rather than embarrass myself.

At the park/playground. Helga, little girl, Will and me.

Tuesday 10/19 – We spent the morning at UMF before heading to Sapientia in the afternoon. It was an awesome day of kickin’ it with our friends around the campuses. After dinner, Julian, Phil, Will and myself went out to a bar/nightclub/pub called Jazz & Blues Club to meet up with our friends. Apparently Tuesday nights are the new Thursday nights in Targu Mures. Wow. It was pretty ridiculous. It was our first Hungarian/Romanian nightlife experience and it did not disappoint.

Phil, Julian and Thomas on the dancefloor. Thomas is a medical student and he likes to wear scarves. Julian, Valdosta Georgia’s finest, like to dance and smile, but hates to shave.

The dancefloor was packed and cigarette smoke was plentiful.

Julian, Will and Phil.

Me with Susan. (Note the classic purple Phoenix Suns Penny Hardaway #1 jersey I’m wearing as an undershirt. It’s a gem.)

Wednesday 10/20 – Julian and I spent four hours at Sapientia kickin’ it with Lazslo and Reni – just hanging out, shootin’ the bull. We showed them our blogs/pictures/videos from the mission thus far. We got home about 7pm for a chili dinner and then Phil, Will and I went over to Bogi’s house to play “Saboteur” with some of the youth group and two Dutch missionaries.

Lazslo, Julian, me and Reni in the Sapientia cafe.

Please be in prayer for our friends at the universities, specifically that they will see the light of Christ in us and will come to our church service to hear and see the awesomeness of Jesus Christ. Also be praying for us as we prepare to fly to South Africa next week. Finally, please pray for the folks in the Transilvania region. Pray for healing and reconciliation because relations between the two nationalities is still very fractured. I spend more time with Hungarians, so I probably have more sympathy for them, but I know it goes both ways. One student was explaining to me that when he was studying in Budapest, many would view him as Romanian and in Romania he’s considered Hungarian – Hungarians in Transilvania are kind of in a “no-man’s land” and it’s unfortunate.