Hello everyone! I have been in Romania for a week and it’s been incredible! God has already moved in amazing ways! I am BEYOND excited to be here! It was a very long but fulfilling week of telling the Romanian youth about Jesus.
It started off with me and my squad being exhausted after travelling for 36 hours and for most of us with very little to no sleep on the plane. After we landed in Bucharest, we hopped into 2 vans and drove to our destination, Craiova. Someone once warned me that Romanians drive crazy before I got to Romania but it still didn’t stop me from being surprised when we were roaring down the road in a blue van. When we got to the place that we are staying, which is called the Mission House, we went from being all excited and giddy to be in Romania to being dead to the world in our bunkbeds. I woke up at 12:45pm the next day.
After taking a day of rest, I was very happy to meet our host Raul, who looks very Romanian by the way. We met him at Hope Church and had an orientation day where he asked us questions to get to know us. Then he told us a little about himself, the history of Romania and how it was communist until they received freedom in 1989. I was shocked to find out that we are spreading the gospel in a region they call the Graveyard because only 0.2% of the population is Christian. For example, Craiova is a city of 300,000 people but only 600 are believers. Pray for us as we stay here that we can be a great light in this dark place. But this is why Raul is here in Craiova, where he has faithfully been a missionary since 2003.
Ministry started with Raul giving us his church’s vision and the goals they have in reaching people in the city, in Romania and even in bordering countries. Everyone morning we worship and then Raul says,”Okay people of God” and teaches and equips us for ministry. Then we go out in the city, mainly downtown and evangelize.
On the first day of ministry, the church team took us to a park where we handed out “Where do you think you’re going when you die” tracts. My buddy Nathan and I walked around the park and I prayed as I went. Then the Holy Spirit gave me boldness as I approached a man and gave him a tract. Then I said,”Isus te iubeste!” which means Jesus loves you in Romanian. His name was Albert and he went to the University of Craiova. Nathan and I found it cool that he was 21 years old like us. After telling him where we were from, his face lit up when I said we were from America and I said we were excited about being in Romania. God granted us a great conversation. I asked him where he thought he was going after this life and he didn’t know in the slightest so I began telling him that heaven and hell is real and that God is real. I told Albert that God cares about him and how God has shown up in my life by giving him my testimony. I was able to share with this guy what God has delivered me from and tell him the only hope is Jesus. It was amazing! Then we invited him to Hope Church and shook hands. I pray for his salvation.
This first week was focused on reaching the youth of Craiova because we were inviting them to worship nights that my friends Matt, Elizabeth and Travis led and youth meetings. The Romanian youth love America so it didn’t take long for me and my fellow World Racers to make friends. I met two 15 year old boys in a park who were skateboarding and invited them to worship night. It didn’t seem like they were going to come but that night they came! Praise God! They even posted stories on instagram saying how much fun they had.
In the middle of the week my team and I, except for Brian and Corban, did children’s ministry with 2 ladies from the church. We visited a house in a Roma gypsy community. The neighborhood was very poor so I was glad to bring the hope of Jesus there. When we got to the house we greeted the children and one of the mothers. Later, we found out that 3 families were living in that small house. I had so much fun with the kids! I colored pictures with them, laughed and played with them. They were also very wild so they were jumping all over me. I was probably giving piggyback rides for half an hour. It was as if they were thinking,’Ooh look! A tall person! Let’s climb on him like a tree!’ They were smiling the whole time and I was too despite getting clobbered. Before we left, my team prayed for the kids and the mother, a translator was present. My team plans on visiting them again soon!
What an awesome week it was all glory to my mighty God! I could tell he was already pushing away the darkness and is working in the teenagers we were ministering to. Jesus was my confidence and this verse was my motivation this week as spread the gospel.
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” 2 Timothy 1:7
We will conitue to disciple and tell the youth about Jesus next week and until we leave Romania.
Pray that the teenagers who came to the worship nights, youth meetings and Bible studies would continue to come and that Jesus would become their Savior. Also, witchcraft is prevalent in Romania and the youth like to meddle in it. Pray that God would rescue them from this dark practice and be saved from Satan’s clutches. Pray that God would continue to give me words to speak and that I can make friends to disciple. Pray that my squad and I would get the rest we need. Praise God the rest of my squad arrived here last night after having to stay back in America because of covid. Pray that whatever I do be done in the love of Jesus.
Isus te iubeste Romania!!!!!!
Barret (on the left) and I meeting the 2 skater guys at the park.
View from my room!
Hanging with team!
Downtown Craiova!
