This week’s shoutout goes to Dr. Jay Miller, the chiropractor who gave up time with his daughter to give me a hand (a knee actually), who selflessly declined every offer I made to compensate him for his services (granted I’m sure the beer I offered to buy him was considerably less than his usual rate). But thanks again Doc!
So I wanted to write a little about last month’s mission in Pitesti, Romania. Our job was to love the people living in this gypsy communities in town.
From my experience with European gypsies thus far, I know they’re often trying to sell you stuff in the market, they live very simply, often ride in horse-drawn carriages, and reside in tight-knit communities. Frankly, the stereotype holds up, but the facts of that life are much darker and saddening.
The harshest reality that I faced was that abuse not only occurred, but persisted as the cultural norm. Children can be the products of abusive relationships. In fact a majority of the children we interacted with we could assume were being abused, whether it had been psychological, physical, or sexual. I saw a three year old girl with a black eye. I played with a little boy about six years old always wanting to touch us, the Americans, inappropriately. We knew there was only one way he had learned that behavior. I saw one 12 year old with cigarette burns. Developmental issues as a result of interfamilial relationships also occur. Lawlessness, unemployment, drug use, alcoholism, and poverty run rampant. Many kid’s have no shoes that fit, or cannot even afford toothpaste. Self-inflicted wounds are visible. The list goes on. I would encourage everyone to read my teammate Grace’s blog (http://gracebuxman.theworldrace.org/post/new-wine) for a better idea of just how heartbreaking and emotionally shattering the experience was for some of us.
And that was just one part of the ministry. One day during homeless ministry, we were asked to come visit the home of a couple in the church. We were going to help them clean their home, which was in an abandoned building. Now I assumed by abandoned building they meant an old apartment building scheduled for demolition somewhere down the road. Instead they lived in an adobe shack, with collapsing roofs, mere feet from a burned out two-story building filled from corner to corner with trash piled up somewhere around eight feet high. They had no ventilation, no running water, no toilet. In fact the sidewalk outside their front door was their toilet. And the yard was covered in trash, mold, animal carcasses, etc. Some of this trash was theirs, but it turns out there were several families claiming squatter’s rights in other shacks next door using this little courtyard area to dispose of their waste as well. AND THIS IS IN THE MIDDLE OF A MODERN CITY!! We were only a couple blocks from a giant supermarket!
People reading this need to understand, the situation in which these people live easily rivals if not surpasses in some aspects what we see on American TV series’ like Hoarders, or Obsessed. Except this has no entertainment value.
Now if you know me, you can probably imagine how I would narrate this blog, and the incredulous anger in my voice as I did so. The abundant darkness enraged me. I’m an action oriented guy, who likes seeing tangible, before-and-after, black-and-white results. I would have much rather physically addressed the abuse, pulled these people from their homes into more sanitary conditions, and put every one of these children into protective custody, but I couldn’t. The fact is, whether I liked it or not, this was their culture, this is all they’ve known, and frankly many of them would remain in this darkness even if given an alternative. I mean our ministry host had been at it for twenty years, and still such evil abounded, still these people lived this way. I could only wonder how God was at work in these people.
We have this phrase we use a lot on The World Race here; “planting seeds.” It means often times we are introducing someone to the love of Christ but don’t get to watch his whole growing process from introduction, to salvation, to discipleship. But this month made it clear to me how crucial planting the seed is . . .
Our love for these people may be that one second of light in their lives that draws them toward Jesus, and prepares them for the gospel. John 4:36-38 says:
“And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true. One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored, others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
Just as John the Baptist came before Christ, and gave the people that glimpse of the light so that they might receive Jesus, so we have done in Pitesti. I have faith in Christ’s plan, and take comfort in the fact that he groans in our sufferings (Romans 8:26), that the meek shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5) and that He is Good (Psalm 119:68).
I also take comfort in the fact that Jesus Christ is the only thing worth pursuing. No physical action I can take will remedy the problems of this world. Only Jesus can do that. He once asked the disciples if they would leave Him when the road got tough, or if they would press into Him all the more, to which Peter responded,
“Lord where shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” John 6:68-69
Keep the city of Pitesti in your prayers, our ministry host Cristi, and our team as we begin this next month in Bulgaria. Thanks and God Bless,
-Matt
