This month we are located in Pitesti (Pit-esh-t), Romania with two other teams. Our teams have all changed, and so has our continent. Eastern Europe is very different from the past 3 months in Central America. It looks a lot like the States, but the history we have learned is far from.
This first week being here, we have gotten a lot of history about the country, which is great, because I honestly knew very little coming in. Romania is said to be the 2nd saddest country in the world, a title no country would like to carry. You can see it in many faces as you pass by them on the street. Between 1954-1989, Romania was run by communism. Many places around the country had torture centers used to brainwash the people of the country. Specifically in the city we are staying in this month, there was an experiment called the Pitesti Experiment, or “reeducation”. The primary goal of this movement was to torture people to the point of giving up their beliefs and submitting to the beliefs of those in power. People would be gathered up, unaware of where they were being taken, and would be taken to the bottom of a prison where they were tortured. These methods included, but were not limited to: standing on one foot with a 100lb weight on their backs for hours, standing in contorted positions to sleep without moving, etc. If they moved during any of these exercises, they were beaten, and made to do it again. They were also forced to listen for hours on end to “Communism is good, communism is good, communism is good…Christianity is stupid, Christianity is stupid, Christianity is stupid…” The main thing these people were being persecuted for was their faith.
As we walked around the old prison, my mind was racing. Our pastor here in Romania told of the days when the prison was a torture zone, now only to be seen as an office building where the levels that were used as torture centers are now filled with cement. The building stands in the center of the city, and life goes on around it like nothing happened at all, yet the fear that the past will repeat itself still lingers in the air.
The people who were in high positions during this time, who carried out these evil schemes, never got punished. They pushed their children up into higher power and their acts got over looked. A “don’t ask, don’t tell” mentality. If you were to ask how the country feels about communism, the response looks something like 51% are still for it, while 49% are against it. On paper, communism looks good to some, but when looked at closer, the reality of it is daunting.
The part that really had me attentive, was listening to the stories of the people who never backed down from their faith in Christ. We watched a movie the night we visited the prison to learn more, and got to hear stories about people like Richard Wurmbrand, a pastor who was victim to these tortures and yet he pressed harder into the Lord. He wrote the book Tortured For Christ and founded “Voice of the Martyrs.” Our pastor told me other stories about his faith and his obedience to the Lord. Hearing his story was profound.
Our pastor here in Romania went on to tell us about his own personal experience with the communist rulers. One day, his father was called into the prison, and being the oldest son, our pastor went with his father that day. When asked his beliefs, his father said that he believed in Christ, and that would not change. That day, his father was shot and killed. The man who shot his father is still alive, and is right around the corner from the church that he is pastoring today. He sees the face of the man who murdered his father for his beliefs, and chooses to walk forward in professing his faith and leading others into a relationship with the Lord.
We had a BBQ at his house, and got to spend time with his family and some key members of his church family. It was a sweet time of community with people who are filled with the joy of the Lord. At the end of the evening, we all gathered in the living room to pray. We prayed over a woman who not long ago was mad at God for the things that had happened in her life, but who recently accepted Him into her life. We prayed over a woman who is persecuted by her family for her beliefs, yet continues to walk them out with joy and fervor.
These people humble and inspire me. There was something extraordinarily beautiful about praying with and for this group of people who continues to pursue the Lord with all that they have despite potential persecution, and who’s heart’s desire is to lead others to do the same. I am blessed to be here. I am blessed to reach out to the next generation with them. I am blessed to help bring JOY to a nation that is deemed as “sad.” My prayer is that they no longer carry this curse. They have joy in Jesus’ name, and this group of people that we are spending the month with will bring it to their country. These people are not prisoners of their government, they are prisoners of hope.
