It has been a new experience here in Romania. The entire H Squad is living on the same street for ministry this month. Five teams are living at John Fracker’s house. Two teams are living at another house and one team is by themselves. There are also another three teams from the J/K squads here. I joke about how the Americans have almost doubled the population of this small town, but in reality we are probably around 1/4th of the population! It has been amazing being here. It is gorgeous! Everything is so green. We are in a valley, so there are hills all around us which are amazing for climbing. Indelible had a picnic on the hillside at dinner time and watched the sunset, it was beautiful! I love the small town atmosphere, everyone knows everyone and if anything is happening the entire town is there watching! There is always something happening! For example, a couple of days after we arrived there was a fight in the middle of the street, people were throwing things and and axe was being flung around, and people were screaming at each other. Then, a couple of days after that, we were told that a man had been hit by a car and was thrown over a fence. It was a little less dramatic than that. A man was drunk and checking out some girls, he wandered into the road and a car came around the corner. It did hit him, but not hard enough to hurt him, just hard enough to throw him into the ditch. Whenever something does happen word goes out to everyone and they drop whatever they were doing and rush to the scene of the drama.
The other night more drama happened, but this time it was a little too close to home. Our translators had jumped into a car to go to an indoor soccer game. A little while later a group was walking down the road and said to start praying because there had been a bad car accident. A few minutes later we were told that Tony was in the car. I had seen the car driving away from the house and I knew that Danny was in the car as well. It seemed like forever as we waited to hear the news. Finally a report came back that Tony and Danny had been in the car but they were OK. Both had injuries and were taken to the hospital to be checked out. The worst part of the accident, though, was that the man who was driving had been drinking. The drivers around this area are crazy anyway and do not pay attention to speed limits, even though they know that people walk up and down these roads that barely have a shoulder to walk on. The man was swerving and driving really fast and hit a woman walking down the street. The car flipped and ended up sideways in the ditch. Danny told me later that the car used to look like a car, but now it looks like a bicycle because of how badly it was crushed! Depite the paramedics best efforts, the woman that was hit, died. Praise the Lord that everyone else was not badly injured. The man who was driving will go to prison for around seven years. It is a blessing that the accident happened where it did. If the accident had happened on the other side of town, the man driving could have been dragged out of his car and beaten. John told us a story of the same thing happening and how him and some others had to rescue the man by pulling him into a house and baracading the door. There is a definite spirit of violence surrounding this area.
Pray for these people. They are caught in legalism and religion. They have many rules that they follow, but they don’t have a relationship with the God who loves them and wants to pour down His blessings on them. They are very hypocritical and the younger generation see it and have rejected God because of it. I met a guy in Bistrita that told me that he hates church because the people dress up in there modest clothing but the moment they step out of the church they rip off their church clothes and dress scandalously. I asked him if he ever went to church and he said yes, occasionaly. I asked him if he dressed the part when going to church and he said yes. Then I asked him if he ripped off his church clothes as soon as he left and he, of course, said yes. I then asked him if he realized that he was one of the hypocrites that he hates…he just nodded his head yes. We went into a church and on the way out he did the Catholic cross sign. I told him that I wanted to tell him about who Jesus is, and he replied that he believes in Jesus. I said, “I don’t doubt that you believe in Jesus, but I want to tell you who he is and what he has done for you.” Unfortunately I did not get the opportunity to talk to him, my team had plans for the day and there were many distractions. I hope I get another chance. I regret not making it a priority right then and there to tell him, but I didn’t. Whether or not I see him again, Tony is his cousin, so I know how to get in touch with him. Pray that he will learn the truth about who Jesus is and how much God loves him. Pray that he will be able to see beyond the sins of the church to have a relationship with the God who loves him.
