Surprise Orthodox Church Service | Answered Prayers for Ukrainians- Romania Round 2

Hey everybody! Sorry for the delay on the blogs. Things got very busy this past month. That being said, I have a lot to fill you in on! 

 

Like I mentioned in my last blog, I went back to Craiova, Romania for a second month serving with the Pastor of Hope Church named Raul. This month focused on caring for Ukrainian refugees as they came across the border into Romania. Raul rented out four different houses to provide lodging for the Ukrainians, along with many who stayed in the regular mission house where my team was also housed. My team and I helped oversee these houses, making sure the Ukrainians got whatever food, supplies and transportation they needed. Through caring for these practical needs, I was able to build friendships with some of the families. 

 

Raul and I praying together to start a day of ministry.

 

My team and I were able to get close with one family in particular, a husband and wife with their three young daughters. They had fled their home in Odessa, Ukraine and were trying to immigrate to Canada. Since the father, who for sake of privacy I will call Victor, spoke a bit of English, I started to get to know him. Eventually, he asked me if I would help him fill out his immigration paperwork for entry into Canada because it was difficult for him to understand everything that was written in English. I obliged and dove with him into the arduous process of completing all the necessary documents for him and his family to be accepted into Canada. 

 

We sat in front of Victor’s laptop for hours, laboring through technical difficulties and extensive lists of personal questions. Finally, we finished and fearfully pressed the submit button. Victor thanked me for my help and gathered his things to leave. I could tell he was very nervous, and understandably so.  His family’s future rode on this application getting approved. Therefore, I asked him if I could pray for him. The question seemed to catch him off guard. 

 

He said I could pray for him, but continued walking out the door, so I had to explain that I wanted to pray for him in that moment. He understood, but asked if he should sit down. I said it would be fine to pray as we were standing and explained to him how the Bible says there is power in laying hands on the person you are praying for. He apologized for not knowing what to do, saying that he usually does not pray. I assured him that he had nothing to apologize for and put my hand on his shoulder. I asked God to guide and bless the immigration process for him and his family. After I said amen, Victor gave me a big hug and thanked me again.

 

Later in the month, Victor heard back from the Canadian border control that he and his wife needed to schedule appointments to get fingerprinted. He called me saying he needed my help because the website to make appointments was not working. I sat down with him, but I could not figure it out either. I pulled out my laptop to give it a try there, but as I did, I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to pray again. I invited Victor to pray with me that the website would work before we tried again. However, even after praying, we still had no success. The website was showing no available appointments for months in advance. We even tried calling the embassy, but were unable to get in touch with anyone. We gave up for the day and decided to reconvene the next morning. 

 

The following day I got a call from Victor. I answered and he excitedly told me, “God answered your prayers!” He said that he had tried again early that morning and the website worked perfectly! He was able to schedule the fingerprint appointments for later that week. It was a cool moment of seeing God’s reality and power set in for Victor. God used me to help him take a step on his faith journey. We were able to have a couple more good conversations about prayer and the issues he had seen with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church before the end of the month. He gave me a collector’s coin from Ukraine as a thank you gift for all my help, and I gave him one of my Texas t-shirts to remember me by.

 

We often would walk with Ukrainians to this park, so the kids could play and the parents could relax a bit. Sorry I don’t have pictures of faces in order to protect the privacy of the refugees.

 

Although our main focus was on Ukrainian refugees this month, I was still able to continue ministering to the Romanians I had met in Craiova the month before. I set up meetings with several guys, and I was able to get to know them a little better, while sharing the Gospel with them too. One meeting with my friend Alex stands out as I look back on the month. I met Alex the month before at one of the game nights we hosted at the church. He told me that he did not believe in God. He said he needed proof to show him that God is real. He also shared with me that he could not picture images in his mind. He had never been able to dream. It was just the way his mind worked. I felt led to pray for God to do a miracle and give him a dream or vision. Alex said that if God would do that, it might be the proof that he needs to believe God is real. So I prayed for him on the spot and committed to continue praying for God to give him a vision.

 

I made it a priority to meet up with Alex in my second month in Craiova, so that I could follow up on our conversations about God. So I asked him to meet me for lunch one day. When I saw him, I asked if God had given him a vision yet. He said no, but that he had started to realize his need for God. He elaborated that he had this realization because of listening to a psychologist named Jordan Peterson. Alex said that Peterson had made some strong arguments for humans’ need for a higher power that helped him understand that he does need God, or at least some sort of higher power in his life. While this was not the breakthrough I was praying for, I celebrated that God was working in Alex’s life, and he had made a step closer to full faith in Christ.

 

This was my team for the month. They accepted me even though I was the only guy 🙂

 

Throughout the busyness of this past month, I tried to stay open to those random ministry moments, where the Spirit stops me on the street to speak with someone. There were many cool stories that sprung from God interrupting my walks to and from the church. One came on my last day in Craiova. I was actually walking to drop off my dirty clothes at the laundromat, when I noticed two women walking through the plaza on my left. The Holy Spirit highlighted to them, and I felt his nudge to go speak to them.

 

I thought that they probably would not speak english, and nothing would really come of it, but I walked towards them anyways. As I got closer, I could see that one woman was elderly and the other probably had some sort of mental handicap. I said hello to the older woman in Romanian, but I was shocked when she responded in perfect English, asking me how I was doing. She told me her name was Ana, and the special needs woman next to her was her daughter. 

 

As the conversation went along, she started telling me her family’s story. Ana described to me how the mafia had forced her family out of their apartment because they were unable to pay them off. Then, her husband walked up. He was missing a couple fingers on each hand and was severely burned on his arms. Plus, his wife explained that he had a serious problem with his blood circulation. Ana assured me that they still had a place to sleep, but by the looks of their dirty and tattered clothes, I suspected that might be out on the streets somewhere. 

 

The amount of suffering this family had been through broke my heart. Yet, with all of their stories of hardships, they spoke to me with the biggest smiles. Although they were part of the Orthodox church, they seemed to have a deep and genuine faith in Jesus, that he would provide for them and protect them. God was moving my heart to bless them in some way. I asked to pray for them, and they gratefully accepted. I prayed for healing and provision, yet I felt like God wanted me to do more. I offered them all the cash in my wallet, which was not much, but Ana refused to take it. She said that I needed it for my mission, so I could go tell more people about Jesus. Sometimes it is hard to tell if giving money is a wise move with people on the street, but Ana’s humble response confirmed that I needed to bless them financially.

 

I explained to Ana that she should not feel bad about accepting money from me because it was actually money God had blessed me with, so that I could bless others with it. I told her to wait there, and that I would be back soon with a gift for her and her family. I hurriedly walked to the ATM and pulled out the amount of cash that I felt like God wanted me to give them. I returned and found Ana and her daughter standing in front of the nearby Orthodox church. I gave them the cash, and they were overjoyed and so grateful. Ana thanked me profusely, and invited me to come into the Orthodox church service with them.

 

This is the Orthodox Church that Ana invited me into.

 

I followed them into the beautiful, historic church feeling a bit out of place. I tried to hang out in the back, but they insisted that I come to the front with them. As there were no chairs, I awkwardly knelt on the carpet beside them in front of the whole congregation. A woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and kindly told me to remove my hat. Oops. However, I slowly started to feel more comfortable and look around.

 

What I saw was a beautiful expression of the Kingdom of God. Rather than a band of trendy musicians leading the worship, the congregants themselves created the music by singing out acapella. The churchgoers themselves were as diverse as the different voices I heard making the melodies. Dirty and ragged homeless people worshipped beside sharp-dressed businessmen. Some stood, some knelt. Some closed their eyes in quiet contemplation, others sang out loudly. I glanced behind me and saw tables filled with a variety of food: a free feast for whoever needed to fill their stomach.

 

I had to get to another meeting on time, so I thanked Ana for inviting me in and slipped out the back. The whole experience left a mark on me. I was pleasantly surprised by the Orthodox Church, since Romanian evangelicals had been telling me for two months all the problems with the Orthodox and how the majority do not have true faith. Kneeling down in that church was a “how am I here right now?” kind of moment, one of many that I have had on this trip. Once again, the Spirit led me out of my comfort zone and into such a sweet and powerful moment that I will always remember.

 

Some traditional Romanian singers I met in downtown Craiova.

 

While I may not have seen the fruit of much of my labor this past month, God encouraged me one day after stopping to pray for a man on the street. He told me, “you never know what you are setting in motion.” This encouraged me to continue being obedient in the “little” things. I truly do not know how God uses the moments when I speak or pray with people to impact their eternities. What seems like an insignificant encounter to me, might be an important link in the chain of their journey towards God.

 

One day we got to do kids ministry at one of the Roma (gypsie) communities

 

I have actually already travelled to Africa and completed another month of ministry in the mountain nation of Lesotho (pronounced “le-soo-too”). I am working on a video chronicling the trek we did to take the Gospel to an unreached village, so expect to see that in the next couple weeks.

 

Thank you for your support! God bless you!