Romania has been amazing. I have loved living and working with our ministry host Raul, Ana and their family. In Romania, we partner with Hope Church Romania that Raul leads. What I love about ministry here is that we do a lot of different things and what has been refreshing is that I am not doing manual labor like I did in Hondorus.
The whole squad is living in the house with our ministry host family. We are in new teams and half the time we do ministry together as a squad and the other half of ministry we do with our teams. In the mornings, from 9-12 we have a time to worship and pray. We specifically pray for many things and each day we pray for different things, like financial support for Hope Church, as well as more staff to work at the church. We pray for Raul, Ana and their family as they navigate what life is like to lead a church here in Craiova. We pray for future missionaries and for missionaries that are already here in Romania. We pray for the connections that are made during evangelism and we pray for us as well. That we will be bold and hear what the Lord is telling us when doing ministry. We pray for the ministry partners that are already established with the church, that they will continue to grow and more staff to help with them. We pray for all the unbelievers in the city, that they will not only know the name of Jesus but have a relationship with Him. We take time and pray for America and our families and friends back home. I could go on, but I digress to say we take time each day to intentionally pray for a lot of things.
After worship and prayer, some days we are given homework where we discuss certain topics about the bible. After this we have a 5 minute break and after that we break into groups to do certain tasks to get us ready for the afternoon or to work on projects until 12.
We have a break from 12-4 and from 4-8 we have ministry. But ministry looks different then the mornings. One ministry opportunity we do is digital ministry. A group of people work on the social media aspect of what we do. They get the word out by sharing what we do on Hope Church Romania’s social media platforms. They share, comment on social media, edit videos of what Hope Church is about and the partners and programs they have. Many of us get in groups and with our translators and evangelize all over the city. We go to parks, neighborhoods, etc and talk to people. We have bags of free things we prepare in the morning with the church’s information on it to hand to people. We have other opportunities to go into the gypsy communities and we sing songs, play games and share a bible story with them. We also give them clothes and some food as well during these visits. Raul has connections in other cities where some teams will go and minster to people in different communities. We also help another church in the city of Craiova. We got to help them clean up and get ready for opening weekend at their church. There are more ministry opportunities that we get to do but this is to name some.
Like I said, I absolutely love being in Romania and doing ministry here. It has brought growth and challenge as I step out of my comfort zone to evangelize to people. I have learned more about the culture and religious backgrounds here. I have enjoyed all the good, cheap food and the beautiful buildings and living with people who want to bring people to Christ. Life is good and I find my joy in the Lord in the good and challenging times.
Check out Hope Church Romania on Instagram and Facebook to keep up with what we do.
Update: I will be leaving Romania on August 12 and headed to Albania!
