Buna Ziua. Ce Mai Faci? (Hello. How are you?)
It’s been over 2 weeks in Romania now, our ministry is based in Craiova, which is located in the southern region of Romania. It’s considered the “Graveyard” for pastors and missionaries. Because they lose heart due to stress and sickness, and the apathy of Romanians towards the truth of the gospel. Romania comes from a communist background and the denomination here is Orthodox. They hold on to traditions and strongly believe in the works you have to do to go to heaven, it’s hard to explain about free salvation to them. It’s if I mess up I either need to make up for it or that’s it I’m done because I’m a bad person because of what I’ve done.
Ministry has been hard here these couple of weeks. When you walk past a person on the street and you greet them with a “Buna,” you don’t often get a response back. You can see the lack of joy on some of their faces, the heaviness is tangible. It’s doing life, going from point A to point B and then repeat.
Our Ministry days are Tuesday through Saturday. We start the day with prayer and worship, some teaching & equipping, and after lunch break we go out to the city doing street evangelism.
Hope Church Romania’s vision is to reach the young people around the city. The church is located within the city, very close to universities and high schools. We walk around the city trying to make conversation and build a relationship with the high school/college students that can speak English, and try to invite them to worship night, which is Tuesday-Saturday @5pm. We want to start building a sweet friendship that sparks their curiosity about what we’re doing in Romania and why we’re here? We want to tell them about the truth of the gospel, we want to tell them and the people of Romania that it’s Jesus+Nothing! There is no amount of work you can do to earn His validation. He has seen you even before you were created.
I knew what I signed up for when I decided to go on an 11 months mission trip with strangers. I’ve always been told that I have the gift of befriending whomever I meet. Well… I didn’t feel that gift in action at training camp in October or the first week in Romania. I had a breakdown the second night in Romania while everyone was sleeping. It all started to hit me that I’m on the other side of the world, I don’t have any of my friends I have back home, and I don’t feel I fit in at all with all these amazing people. The insecurities, the comparisons, and the doubts about if this is right or am I good enough to do this thing I signed up for?
This past July I went on a mission trip with my church to Guatemala, this is what Pastor Gregg said on our last night there he said “Don’t be selfish with what Jesus has given you, because He will always give you more when you give away more.”-Gregg Miller (A pastor from California got called to Guatemala, now building Churches and doing Mountain Ministries)
That’s why I signed up for this 11 months mission trip. I want to use the gifts and talents I don’t know that I have and give it all that I have to serve the Kingdom, those gifts are not for me. It’s for spreading that contiguous love of Christ. And no matter how much I’ll receive from the Lord there will always be MORE.
“With Your hand from men, O Lord, From men of the world who have their portion in this life, And whose belly You fill with Your hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children, And leave the rest of their possession for their babes. As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” –Psalms 17:14-15 NKJV
Satan hates it when our actions resemble Christ, he will pull you away from that direction as hard as he could using every tool he has, including what we know the best-The Word of God. That’s where you’ll find out how deeply rooted you are in the Word and the faith you have in Him that does the impossible. Faith is the size of a mustard seed.
“Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” –Matthew 13:31-32NLT
Let our faith and love be ever-growing in Him. And fight the good fight because the battle belongs to Him.
Love
Alice S.
