God moving beautifully in Alba Iulia: Part 2

Redemption for Vasilena and encounter with Iulia and Robbie

One morning, I met with Vasilena, to share more about the Lord and how to grow closer with him. It was a very sweet moment. She asked questions. I shared a lot of truth of who God is and His heart for her. She told me that connecting with new people is out of her comfort zone and the things she said may be stupid or she gets choked up in what to say. I encouraged her that in those situations, to really rely on Jesus and his heart for them. That we are called to only love-to encourage, build up and empower the people in front of us.  And how important it is to learn how to hear his voice. She was scared that if she doesn’t hear God’s voice that she is a less-than Christian or not a Christian at all (esp if she didn’t get baptized). I told her no. You are a Christian once you say yes to Jesus, to ask him in your heart. And that baptism is just a public declaration to show people that you follow Jesus. And that I know of people who follow Jesus who may not hear his voice much, but that it is such a more enjoyable experience to hear his voice and be guided by him. She felt encouraged by that. We talked about being discipline by the Lord. I said it is good, but also know that God loves having fun and that it is ok to mix things up so that you would want to spend time with Him, instead of always dreading having to do certain things in order to be a “good” Christian. She told me she follows a reading plan. I said to continue to do that each day. A few days later I gave her tips of questions to ask God while she reads the scriptures such as, God, what are you highlighting to me in this passage, how does this passage apply to my life-what are you asking me to do, show me more of yourself in this passage…and I gave suggestions of if she has free time throughout her day to do different things to grow closer with God like worship, prayer or writing encouraging note to family members or friends. Before I met up with Iulia for a one on one, I asked Vasilena if she wants to practice hearing God’s voice again. Since the day before she couldn’t hear Him . She said yes. I told her this time is that I want her to encourage me from what God tells her. I shared my experience of the first time I heard God’s voice by encouraging someone else. After I encouraged Vasilena, I prayed for her and gave her space to hear from God to encourage me. And you know what, everything she told me was spot on! Saying things like, I walk with patience and kindness and how I am such an encourager and how much the Lord has used me… I told her that she did it! She heard God’s voice! She immediately started crying and was super excited! She was able to listen to God’s sweet voice! Thank you Holy Spirit for speaking to and through her so beautifully!

I had a one on one with a girl I met name Iulia. Iulia brought her friend Robbie. This was the first time Vasilena met them. I invited Vasilena (and the rest of the youth from the church) to come to this one on one because be intentional to start the process of connection and building relationships. Vasilena decided to stay and talk with Iulia and her friend Robbie. I told her that she can talk as much or as little as she wants especially since this is her first time. She actually stayed the whole time! It was an amazing conversation! It started off by receiving a cup of hot tea from Iulia which she bought for me. I was not expecting to talk much about God at all but we ended  up talking about faith the majority of the time!! Such a cool encounter! Iulia asked me what genre of music I listen to and I told her I mostly listen to worship music. And I shared how it made me feel and about God’s love. I encouraged her. She told me how I am so sweet and kind. And she told me that she thought I would be super intimidated by her because of the piercings and tattoos and how her hair is (Romanian girl with colorful dreadlocks). I told her I don’t care about that stuff that I am here to love and only love. I didn’t want to judge them or hurt them in any way. They got so touched by it! And I had the amazing opportunity to interpret a couple of Robbie’s tatoos which meant a lot to him and it was cool hearing him being open with me and talking. Because Iulia said that he told her that he wasn’t planning on sharing much. Iulia’s family is in the faith-orthodox or Christian beliefs but she is still discovering for herself what faith looks like for her. I apologized to the both of them because they shared how Romanian Christians would judge them and especially Robbie because of what he wears and his tatoos that people would automatically assume he is a satanist. But he told me that he is not a satanist. As I shared words about his tattoos, my testimony and about God, he did seemed open to hear it and didn’t feel judged in any way. Iulia even told me that she really appreciate it how I didn’t judge them and was so kind and patient with them. I constantly just shared truth, love and encouragement over them. Iulia wanted to know the kinds of ministry we do as part of the world race. So I shared specific stories from Guatemala of encounters where people encountered God’s love through home visits and beauty for ashes, manual labor in Honduras, the youth program in Costa Rica and House of Hope in Nicaragua. Iulia was impressed. It was so cool to be able to love them both and not be afraid to share my heart. It was amazing to share how God changed my life and how I felt His presence. It was also cool to learn more about who they are and what they are going through-their faith journeys. Praise God! Thank you so much for that encounter and loving them through me! I pray that they experience your love in such a tangible way than ever before and that they know without a doubt that it is you and your love and nothing else. God, you are so powerful, full of love, and work in beautiful ways. I pray for their hearts and ears to be open and I pray that the encouragement I shared with them would penetrate their hearts because I know you want to pursue them. I surrender them both to you in Jesus name. I also debrief the session with Vasilena. I told her that I was so proud of her. She told me that she wished she could had said more and she thought she didn’t do much. But I told her that this is her first one on one, it’s totally ok and that she was part of the conversation-she asked some questions. I encouraged her and then we went on our separate ways… such a great morning, early afternoon. Thank you Jesus!

Helping Ukrainians

Behind the scenes: Over the course of the past few weeks, my team and I had the privilege to serve with a lot of behind the scenes work to help Ukraine. One way was going to OAC (an organization that some of the church members work for, that provides resources to the local community, and hosts events for kids and teenagers). With a teammate, we helped unload a huge truck that came to the OAC from Germany of huge boxes of clothes, shoes, household items and kids’ toys. I also met a Ukrainian refugee family living at the OAC and prayed for peace and protection over them because the grandfather was on his way back to Ukraine to help others in the war. They were very grateful for the prayer! The next day, my team sorted everything within the boxes into 3 categories-less-privileged Romanian families, Ukrainian refugees and the local church. The second way was cleaning a home to be eventually used to house a Ukraine refugee family of 9! We actually had the honor to spend time with family during a picnic lunch and bible study! Before the family came, my team worked together to clean the counter spaces, floors, and appliances. After cleaning, locals and members from the church donated mattresses and couches so we cleaned and vacuumed them, then we brought the furniture and mattresses into the house. We had such a great time serving. 

For 2 afternoons, my team served with the local Red Cross! We spent our time at a huge warehouse packing boxes with different kinds of can veggies, meat, fish, fish, soup and other items to be shipped into Ukraine to help the families and individuals in need. It was such a joy to help. Working together with my teammates and youth from the highschools was a blast. 

Picnic Lunch

After church one Sunday, we talked with the pastor. He asked us what our plan was for tomorrow. We told him that we were planning to have a team picnic. Asking us where, we just mentioned on the grass somewhere in town. I also asked if we could spend time with the Ukrainian family at some point that week. Taking all of this into consideration, he called us that night and invited us to a picnic at his home with the Ukrainian siblings! What!?!? This was such a sweet moment spending time with the siblings from the family of 9. We got to know each one of the siblings…Oleg, Polina, Dina, Yulia=12,15,18,20 years old. It was fun hearing about what they love to do….Oleg loves to play soccer, volleyball and computer games. Polina likes to do makeup and nails, Dina loves to sing and draw. Yulia loves to travel. Yulia was actually going to college school for multiple languages. They are all very sweet. We shared about our time traveling with the world race and shared some things we did in each country. They loved it. We also talked about books, favorite food, artists, music and played uno (we taught them how to play) and jenga. When it was time for the food, we were all so excited! The food was amazing! We had traditional Romanian sausage, another type of sausage, mashed potatoes and cole slaw type dish. I had a blackberry syrup mixed with water which was so good. We talked and had a great time around the table and then we played with a soccer ball for a bit then Marcel (the pastor) brought out blankets for us to take a nap, we were all so full that we ended up getting very sleepy! It was such a great morning/afternoon. I could tell the brother and sisters felt so much love. Thank you Jesus for setting this whole thing up! And putting it on the pastor and his wife’s heart to make this happen for us! They both are so kind. 

My team was able to meet up with the sisters a  couple of times later in the week to spend more time with them. Such cool moments to encourage and love on each of them. God moved so beautifully to get the family here safely and I know He is working behind the scenes to help them continue to their journeys moving forward!

Wow God, you have moved so beautifully in Alba Iulia! So many people touched by your love and grace. Now, on to Africa!