Creating Space in Draganesti-Olt

The Lord never ceases to amaze me with his goodness! My squad landed in Draganesti-Olt, Romania at the beginning of February. Such an honor to be here and partner with an amazing ministry called Hope Church Romania  (https://www.hoperomania.org/). Right from the start, Raul, our ministry leader asked my whole squad questions like “Who are you in the God’s kingdom”, “What is your 5-year plan?”, “What can Raul do for you?”, “What can you do for Raul?” It was so cool that each person answered and that Raul really wanted to know our giftings and how we can bless the ministry with what the Lord has given us. 

Every morning, we had the chance to serve in social media ministry. This is the first time on the world race where we had the opportunity to do this kind of ministry! The squad was divided into various roles to help support the ministry. We were responsible for designing and creating content that would inspire believers and non-believers alike to get them connected and hopefully experience the Father’s love. Creating space for the Lord to move was incredible. Talaya and I with another teammate took charge of posting on Facebook while others posted on instagram and TikTok. We posted various testimonies from our teammates, bible verses, ministry updates and creative content on these various platforms. A few days into starting the social media ministry, we found out that a TikTok video that we posted had 4373 views and someone actually came to church the following Sunday from watching the TikTok! Praise Jesus!

One day the squad was broken up into smaller groups to assist with trash pickup in the surrounding neighborhoods. Me and a couple others partnered with Pastor George (pictured back row farthest left). He shared his heart of the goals and vision he has for the church and how they are called to love the community well. He also expressed his passion to church plant in another area in the future. I then asked if he could share his testimony. He shared when he was 6 years old, his mom had cancer. Her body was in so much pain and not functioning well. George and his mom were invited to church. The pastor at that church had a word of knowledge that someone needed healing from cancer! So people surrounded his mom and prayed for her! The following day, his mom was able to stand on her own. The day after that, she was able to do a variety of activities that she was unable to do before! She was completely healed and still living today! George told us that was a defining Jesus moment for him and has been captivated by God ever since. I had the honor to pray for him to continue to be obedient to the Lord and what God is calling him to. Such a cool moment to hear Pastor George’s testimony and pray for him.

On another day, 4 of us went with a missionary name Nic to his house and evangelize with him. Going to his house was such a blessing. He is a bee keeper, so he has tons of honey in various jars. He offered us some and we tried them in tea, coffee and juice. Nic and his wife made us lunch which was so good! After lunch, we drove to a nearby neighborhood and started walking around to talk with people. Doing ministry with him was definitely one of my highlights in Draganesti-Olt. Nic told us to be free and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. I was super excited about that because I enjoy power evangelism and partnering with the Spirit. Nic shared the gospel with some and I prophesized over one of the ladies. As we walked, we encountered some Roma people. Roma, is the largest ethnic minority in Eastern Europe. They are the region’s most misunderstood, most persecuted, and maligned minority. I asked a Roma lady “If God could do a miracle in her life, what would it be?” She said healing in her right leg. Her ankle and foot were wrapped in a scarf. I offered to pray for her right then. As I prayed, I felt the Holy Spirit come. After praying, she told me that her leg felt so much better! Praise Jesus! We walked away afterwards, but then I felt in my heart to turn around because I haven’t asked her is she knew Jesus. When we made it back to her, I asked her if she knew Jesus. She said yes. I then asked her if she had Jesus in her heart. She said yes! I told her that what Jesus had done with healing her leg, he wants to continue to do in her heart. God then gave me a word of knowledge of dreams. She shared a couple of dreams that she had and wanted the interpretations. I shared an interpretation for one of the dreams which she was flying and told her that represents freedom with God. She shared another dream. Not hearing from the Lord for that interpretation, I told her I believed it would be best to ask God herself. So after doing a repeat-after-me prayer, God gave her the word “healing” about her dream. I told her that God sees her as whole and completely healthy. Yay God! Creating space for the Lord to move throughout that entire encounter was truly breathtaking. 

For 3 days, 7 of us did ministry with 2 missionary couples to serve their communities. The first day, we went to a woman’s house to chop wood for her and put them in a storage shed. That afternoon, we walked around a neighborhood passing out Christian newspapers and praying for people. The next day, we went to 3 public schools where we helped one of the missionary husbands hold up big colorful printed posters that illustrates the gospel story as he shared it with the students. After sharing, we passed out Christmas “Samaritan Purse” gifts to each student. It was amazing to see space being created to share the gospel so freely in the schools! I pray that the children were captivated by the good news and one day accept Jesus in their hearts. The third day we were with the missionaries, we had a chance to be involved with a kids ministry event by preparing songs to dance to with the kids. We also acted the Bible story of Noah and had the kids engaged by encouraging them to make animal sounds of their favorite animal before coming on the ark. Each day we were with the missionaries, we had lunch at Tatianna’s house. She is the sweetest lady and the mother-n-law of one of the missionaries. Tatianna made the best homemade food. She baked loaves of fresh bread and donuts. She also made soup, pasta, and a traditional Romanian dish called sarmale (pictured). The food was so tasty and very delicious. One of teammates got the recipes so we can try to make it. Tatianna loved us so well!

My recorded Testimony

https://youtu.be/vDMeJYh8D9A

Week 2 at church service, I had the honor to share my testimony. I planned to share my testimony of freedom that I experienced in dance (see Albania blog-God’s beauty and wonder), but I asked a former world racer who is now a full-time missionary here, if dancing in church was acceptable in Romania. She told me no. So I decided to share the one when I got hit by a truck while crossing the street and how God saved me and what I learned. It was such a cool experience. I prayed for the church members afterward and received multiple compliments. The pastors loved my testimony so much that they asked me if I could get my testimony recorded later so that they can put it on their church’s website and Facebook page. Thank you Jesus that I can use my testimony to bring breakthrough and freedom into people’s lives. It is such an honor to create space for people to be inspired and encouraged that God has called and chosen them to be alive for such a time as this. 

After church service where I shared my testimony, I went to a different missionary’s house to help with preparations for a wedding that was happening at the church 2 days later. I helped the missionary’s wife and bride with everything they needed to make the day special for the bride. I ironed some fabric and assisted with decorating the arch (pictured). Helping to decorate was so much fun. When we got done, we took pictures and I prayed for the bride about her upcoming wedding. I also prayed for the missionary’s wife because she was feeling sick with sinuses as well as her pregnancy. They were both grateful for the prayer. The bride even invited me to her wedding…I really enjoyed the wedding. They had worship in the beginning. Then their family and friends sang for them and recited a poem. The pastor preached then prayed over them. It was very cute!

My 2 weeks here in Draganesti-Olt was truly a great experience. I loved every moment of it. I saw the Lord move in so many powerful ways by creating space for Him!