Two weeks before we left Romania, my friend and I were evangelizing and we met some people in their early 20s and ended up talking with them for 45 minutes about things we could do in the city, food to eat and other things like hobbies that we all like to do, etc. One of them spoke great English and would translate for his two friends. We invited them to an event that we were having at the church and so we exchanged contact information.
Fast forward to the event. Out of the three I met the first time, two of them came and they brought a friend. Even though things were planned during the event, we did our own thing and talked about anything and everything. The event came to an end and they asked if they could come back to the adult event to hang out and of course, I said yes.
The next evening came, they showed up and brought another friend with them. Some of my teammates and I were able to continue to build friendships with them. The evening came to an end and that they wanted to show me around the city before I leave the country, so we made plans to do that. As I reflected on those nights, I believe they were drawn to the Lord’s presence and how we are “different” because of the relationship we have with our Savior.
One afternoon we walked to the botanical gardens. It was a hot day, so we stopped for drinks and or ice cream and they paid for my ice cream. We continued to walk and a man that was disabled needed help getting up and they helped him up. I was shocked that they are so kind, generous with their money and time. We even talked about how important a person‘s character is. We arrived at the botanical gardens, adventured around as they showed me different attractions. We had a good time as we continued our friendship. At the end of this day, they asked if we could hang out one more time before I leave.
Two days later we met in the center area not having a plan to do anything besides hanging out. I asked God to allow me to share about Him and that it wouldn’t be forced. I arrived and saw one of them sitting on the bench. We started talking and he shared about his life and struggles. He then asked me to share about my life. What a clear opportunity that God presented where I could share things in my life and bring glory to His name. I started to share about my life, some really hard things in my past and I started to tear up. I was able to share how the Lord has restored the brokenness in my life.
I could have kept talking but his girlfriend and their other friend showed up and we changed topics. The other friend that just arrived gave me a bracelet so I would never forget him. Again, I’m speechless with their generous hearts. We hung out at the benches for a while talking about life and eventually bought some snacks, met another friend of theirs and went to a park. We ton turns playing music on YouTube of different artists we like. We were having a good time and then without saying anything, one of them gets up, walks away and sits by himself. It was the same guy I was talking to earlier at the bench before everyone showed up. I asked the rest of them if they knew what’s wrong and they said sometimes that happens. He gets down about life and likes to be alone. They continued to chat and play music, but I knew this was another clear opportunity to be a light in his life.
So I went over to him and asked if I could pray for him and after I finished praying, he opened up about the pain in his life with his family, how he is happy to listen to other people’s problems but feels like a burden to share what is going on his life. Hearing the hurt he’s walking through made me sad, but it was an opportunity for me to speak truth over what God says about him and about the brokenness we go through in life. I was able to speak about how he is worth listening to, that God doesn’t want him to feel like a burden. God wants to take that weight off of his shoulders. His girlfriend came over and heard what I said, and I was able to speak truth over her. After this, we walked over to the group and it was about time for me to go. We took a group picture, said goodbye but that we would stay in contact.
I am forever grateful for these friendships, for the way God used me to be a light in people’s lives. I am reminded that God’s plan is better than mine, that vulnerability creates vulnerability where we can talk about our struggles that we go through in life and remember that we don’t need to go through things alone and that God will never leave us. I am truly blessed for the time I had in Romania.
