Our time in Stoborasti was so rewarding. I have learned so much from Alex. We worked in the cemetery that is shared between the Baptist and the Orthodox churches. The Baptists own a very small portion of the cemetery and that is the area we cleaned up. Using some tools (new to me) we cut tall grass surrounding the 6 graves, chopped down a bunch of brush in the corner of the plot, cleared the plot of garbage (people like to put their garbage in their section because there is no regular trash pick-up), cleared the graves of grass and placed stones and flowers where they belong around and on top of the graves. We were so gentle at first, not really sure of ourselves when it came to hoeing and clearing the weeds off of the graves. We used tools such as a scythe or sickle, hoe, pitch fork, and little hatchet. We feel pretty confident now as cemetery landscapers.
As we were walking back from the cemetery, Alex showed us the Orthodox church of the village. He pointed out that the front of all Orthodox churches have the same picture. A picture of Jesus in the center top, above the main door. A picture of the 12 disciples beside him, 6 on each side. People below them are being judged. Fire on the right of the door that represents hell, and something like angels on the left of the door that represents heaven…the picture representing heaven was rubbed off so it was not completely visible as to what it was.
We also worked with two different children programs. One was in the neighboring village of Tufeni, that was a 1 hr and 15 walk to get to the Baptist church there. I’m getting my exercise in here and there because we walked that whole 1hr and 15 min there and back. While in Tufeni, we ministered to 30 kids. First were a couple of songs like “Father Abraham” and an African song that Jenny learned during her time in Africa called “Oh Leyley” (you can imagine that this was a fun song to do with the kids), followed by a Bible story, a super fun game that is part of the Awana program for kids (a program that is used all over the world), a short testimony, and more songs.
On the way back Emily got shot up by a drive-by pellet gun masquerade. Alex looks back and says, “I think Emily just got shot.” I didn’t understand because she wasn’t limping or anything. She just continued walking. It was true though. Emily had a mark on her forearm from the pellet. She’s okay though.
We spent a good amount of time with the youth of the church in Stoborasti. Saturday night we had a bonfire out by the lake with Alex and some youth from the church. I have never seen so many stars! There are no lights to pollute the night sky and it was so amazing to stare up at the stars while singing worship songs, both in English and Romanian simultaneously.
We did a Bible study with the teenagers and saw how they stepped up and took responsibility to help with the children’s programs not only in Tufeni but also in Stoborasti. With the teen’s Bible study, I gave part of my testimony (I love how giving testimonies is a high priority for churches, from my experiences in Serbia and in Romania). So far I’ve given my testimony twice since being on this mission trip (both times in Romania) and it has opened up doors for locals to approach me and talk about part of their testimony with me and relate with me in some way. I love this because I see God working in it. Satan wants us to keep struggles in our lives inside and not talk about them, not feel like others relate to us, and this causes us to not experience freedom in Christ’s healing and the power of other’s prayers. I’m gaining a greater understanding of what ministry looks like by just telling my testimony.
During these 5 days in Stoborasti, Alex poured into our lives. We did devotionals in the morning together (where we each talked about what God had been teaching us lately) and we sang songs. He opened his home to us and allowed us to come and go freely. He invited us into his family and allowed us to feel apart of it. This is so important to us because it not only makes us feel at home, but it also helps us better see the life of a person who has committed themselves to spreading God’s truths in a place where no one else is.
