Spreading Hope with Hope Church /

Buna ziua (hello), si multumesc (and thank you)! I know you guys have been praying for me. How? Guys. I am FULLY HEALED from ‘rona and FREE to share the Gospel out on the streets of Craiova, Romania!! Praise God! We prayed for Him to act and trusted that He would! No surprise here, that He did!

When Paul was writing the book of Philippians in prison, he wrote, “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the Gospel” (Phil. 1:12 NIV). Wait. From inside prison???? God used this verse particularly to motivate me during quarantine. We intentionally spent many hours worshipping (ESPECIALLY when we didn’t have answers or felt discouraged) and praying for specific forms of spiritual breakthrough in Craiova. This forced rest and stillness was precious. Through it God taught me that He wants us to serve from a place of rest—as opposed to our own confidence and agenda. After our mind and body has been renewed by Him, THEN we can go out and let what He has freely gifted us overflow to those who are feeling dry and unfulfilled. Not the reverse. And oh, is Craiova gonna be loved and seen after the 20 of us who had ‘rona—fully rested, united, and saturated in God’s Word and presence–walk out of our ministry house’s gate!

Stepping Outside the Gate

My heart was EXTREMELY excited when I first got to step outside the gate on Aug. 31st. Jumping up and down occurred. My teammate gave me a hug, picking me up and twirling me around. After all this time, what did Craiova truly look like? Some stray dogs came up to me. I heard our neighbors speaking in a foreign tongue. We walked downtown. I made eye contact and smiled at everyone. No one looked at me as they passed by. Tough crowd? Maybe a symptom of ‘rona is invisibility? Wide-eyed and with my mouth slightly hanging open, I felt I couldn’t look around fast enough—couldn’t take in all the sights and sounds I so badly wanted to gaze at and understand fast enough, because deep down I felt I had to experience it all NOW, lest I be quarantined again at tomorrow’s sunrise.

The intricate carvings and designs on the European buildings and the towering Orthodox churches whispered of an extravagant history. One that through my cultural lens I would need to make a great–yet worth-while–effort to understand. I couldn’t wait to start asking questions, but I didn’t have to wait at all to appreciate everything around me that I didn’t understand. Forever, Romania will be the first country I’ve explored in Europe.

Hope Church & Cultural Context

This month we partnered with Hope Church, led by native Romanians, Raul and his wife Anna. Raul has led us by beginning each day with an hour of prayer followed by an hour of how to appropriately share God’s invitation to this culture—narrowed down to specific districts of Craiova.

Each person has belief in something, but here most people are members of Orthodox Christian churches or practice witchcraft. From what I’ve understood, the difference between Protestant and Orthodox Christianity is the belief in the ability/necessity of having a personal relationship with Jesus as well as access to understanding/reading the Bible apart from a priest. Witchcraft, while being a personal practice, can also used as a business in Romania. It is practiced in hopes of controlling their fate through fortune-telling (tarot reading and palmistry), the use of charms, healing and protection spells. Each person’s practice varies in dedication and form.

Another significant division, occurs between Romanian and Romani (also known as Roma or Gypsy) people groups. The Romani are a large minority group—from Northern India—who suffered systemic slavery during the Middle Ages. The stereotypes and prejudice from that time continues to fuel racism here today. Romani’s tend to stick to their own communities and are very proud of their traditions—to the extent of shutting out outsiders to protect their culture. Our mission house is located in a Romani neighborhood.

Sharing the Gospel on the Street

Raul has equipped us with blue New Testaments in Romanian, tracts that explain the THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD and how to accept Jesus as their savior, and posters that have an elaborate mural of the Gospel on it. Both have Hope Church’s address and social media on them, and when we handed them out… we also invited them to one of the 3 events we have been planning (Women’s/Muslim/Youth events). We pray during the morning for the specific district we will minister to and receive training specific to evangelizing to them. Then we pile into vans, and walk around that district from 4-7 PM praying and talking to the people God highlights to us. We have gotten to talk to Romanians, Romanis, and witches.

 

The first person I got to talk to was a woman named Maria and her daughter Francesca. She actually approached the 3 of us, telling us her story, and asking for help. She is a single mother with two children. While she first wanted money, we encouraged her that we wanted to offer something more eternal to her. She was not comfortable with us praying for her on the street, so she led us inside an Orthodox church and we prayed for her and her daughter there. We shared that though sin has separated us from our creator, God, He sent His son to die for our sins in our place, so that we could be reconciled to Him. He knows the real us, and desires for us to know Him back. He desires for us to live a life that is alive and free… one that lives up to our purpose found in Him. She replied that she knew that God loved her. My teammate Drew asked, “But do you believe it? Do you believe God has forgiven your sins and when He looks at you, He sees someone who looks like Jesus?” She thought about it. She said yes. We prayed over her anxieties. Afterwards, we wanted to bless her further, so we walked with them to the mall to buy her daughter an outfit.

On a different walk, God asked me to start a conversation with an elderly man who was nicely dressed and wearing a fedora. He was very warm and friendly, and said he was a retired Orthodox priest. I asked him why he chose to be a priest. He said his grandfather and father was a priest, and that he would not have had peace choosing a different career. But he said he retired because his job made him feel depressed. He saw the New Testament Bible in my hand, and asked for it. He began to explain many things to me about the scriptures, but my translator could not keep up (even though Jonathan, Raul’s son, does his best)! I decided to get to the point. “Do you believe God loves you? That Jesus died for your sins so you could be reconciled with God?” He said, yes. That he loves God and His Word. This was before I understood the difference between Orthodox and Protestant beliefs, otherwise I would have asked if he had a personal relationship with God. But I did ask to pray for him, and he joyfully agreed. I prayed that he and his family would know God. That he would be aware of his need for God and that God would make Himself known to him through scripture. Our group was being rushed to get back to the van, so he gave me a hug and we left. *I pray that I will get to see him again. We go to that district often.

On the same walk, God asked me to talk to two teenage girls who were sitting on a bench. I invited them to our youth event at the church this Thursday. They seemed somewhat interested in attending. I prayed God would further the conversation in their heart when we left. We walked away, and some time afterwards, one of the girls called out to us. She had ran after us. She wanted to be sure she had the right information to attend, and asked for our number. I pray she will attend!

Once more, when walking and talking with an elderly Romanian man, we came upon an Orthodox church and he invited us to go in and pray with him. The priest was standing at the door talking to people, and the man introduced us. The priest was overjoyed, shook all of our hands grinning, and guided us inside. I’m not exaggerating when I say the inside of the church was entirely covered in paintings so realistic that Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Mural comes to my mind. I’ve never seen a sight so beautiful. Looking at it and the shiny arches and cupware was enough to make me speechless… enough to even bring tears to my eyes at the beauty. The priest explained the paintings. I remember the center one, also the largest, was of Mary cradling baby Jesus. The priest showed us that no matter whether we stood to the left in the room or to the right, it appeared Mary’s eyes were looking straight at you. My teammate, Chris, his joy was so evident that the priest took particular interest in him, and guided him to the altar at the front to talk more (remember I was speechless and marveling at my sudden desire to cry about beauty)! I don’t know what they talked about. But afterwards the priest prayed for us, and wrote down our names. He decided my name was Katalina—lol, I think I like that even better! He promised to continue to pray for us. His smile was so warm and he was so gentle. He was wearing reader’s that sat low on his nose, and a black robe. After he said goodbye to us, as we walked down the street away from the church, we heard his voice resound in prayer from the churches’ speakers. It was prayer time.

I’ll close with a couple short stories ; ):

A teenage couple we talked with, explained they were Christian and had been looking for a church to attend. They were excited when we invited them to the youth event.

We were getting ready to cross a street when right before we crossed, an elderly Romani woman walked from behind a parked car to our right. Chris saw her, and although the locals usually don’t make eye contact, it was like time froze when she saw him. Chris walked toward her and she didn’t take her eyes off of his at all. So we all stopped and prayed silently. I don’t remember what Chris said to her, but I do remember he asked if he could set his hand on her shoulder to pray for her. She nodded. I don’t think she spoke English. When the prayer was finished, she continued to look at him with gratitude/adoration, as he spoke truths over her that she didn’t understand such as “precious daughter of God” and “quiet, gentle spirit that God treasures.” Our translator felt led to help her financially. She smiled and nodded at us, and when we parted, she walked away slowly carrying her grocery bag. 

While we were checking out at a grocery market, an American woman approached us. She had just moved to Romania 2 weeks ago, but since she didn’t know anyone else, had basically stayed inside her apartment the entire time. We explained we were with Hope Church, and she said she had wanted to find a church to start attending! So! Cool encounter! : )

Prayer Requests:

+Youth Event Thursday

+Muslim Event Friday

+Women’s Event Saturday

+Preparing people’s hearts to receive the Gospel

+Provision for me to continue with WR à deadline to be fully funded is Sept. 24^th. I’m about $3,000 away! My fundraising bar above is accurate.

Thank you so much for your prayers! Before you go, please leave a comment below! I love hearing from you guys. Ask my teammates, I’m literally giddy when I get a comment and treasure it in my heart that whole day!!