One of the reasons why
I was so excited about ministering in Romania was because I knew that at some
point we would encounter gypsies… and we did! I had seen the movie The
Hunchback of Notre dame countless times since I was a child…. So believe me, I
knew what to expect whenever my team pulled up to the gypsy village. I imagined
beautiful women all named Esmeralda, dressed in beautiful dresses with ornate
gold hoop earrings and bangles around her dainty wrists as she danced around a
fire playing the tambourine… and men laughing and singing along as she is
dancing. When you hear of the word GYPSY you think of this too, right?
(All of the Gypsy men of the village)
Well I was in for a
rude awakening. Here in Romania, the gypsies have the worst reputation, to the
point where they are not even considered citizens of Romania. They live in make
shift shacks on a dirty, muddy plot of land. In order to survive, they dig
through trash hoping to salvage any plastic bottles or glass jars that they can
find in order to sell to make money. Also, in order to survive, they resort to
pick pocketing and stealing.. and this is where the term gypped
comes from.. because
they are known for cheating and stealing from people in order to make a quick
buck. But after seeing how these forgotten people live, I can understand why
they have to resort to such measures.
These peopled have
been exiled, they do not receive any support from the government and they do
not trust anyone. Their kids do not receive an education because they do not
trust the school systems, so they do not enroll them in school… so they grow up
uneducated, without a chance in the world for a better future. Please pray for
these people. After walking around and talking to the families that live in the
village, we saw so much joy and hope in them. They just wanted to be loved and
feel like they matter, and that they have a place in society. Everyone that we
encountered were so friendly and gratefully accepted the food that we brought
for their families, and then smiled as we took pictures with them. It was
wonderful to visit the ones that are often forgotten, and sit and talk with the
ones that do not feel like they belong.
(This is what most of their homes look like)
Please pray that the
Lord with continue to provide for these people, that someday they will come to know
the Lord and He will change their hearts to hearts that trust in Him and trust
in the people that He has surrounded them with. A teammate of mine has a pretty
sweet beard, and as soon as one gypsy man from the village saw it.. he immediately
wanted to take a picture with him because he looked like Jesus. So they know
the name of Jesus, just pray that they will accept Him as their Lord and
Savior!
Thanks for praying
everybody! I could not do this without the love of Jesus and your continued
prayers! Moldova in a few days.. I’ll keep ya posted!
Blessings and Love!
(Family that we were able to talk to and pray for)
(Me and an adorable gypsy boy)
