Today’s topic of the BEDM challenge is wanderlust/travel.
I thought it would be a nice opportunity to write about
Romania.
The first time that I visited Romania, was 16 years ago when
I went there on a mission trip as part of a team of five people. We traveled
for 5 days from Holland to Romania, sleeping in parking lots in a camper and a truck.
It was a whole adventure.
We had a huge truck of goods with us and our goal was to
bless people from the gypsy villages with goods and to minister to them through
singing, preaching and prayer and also to encourage the local church in
bringing the gospel to the gypsy’s as
well. It was a very special experience, standing on a big field with people,
preaching, being translated by a translator, experiencing the presence of God.
It was great to be used by God, seeing people get saved
and encouraging the youth in going out
to bring the gospel. Glory to God !! God filled me with a compassion for the
people of Romania and told me that I’d had to go back to work for Him.
I went on another mission trip to the same place the next year and felt
blessed to see brandnew churches in some places where we had preached the year before. One
girl had been miraculously healed during one of our services and as a result
her whole family had been saved. And that second year they were all getting
baptized.
The youth had been mobilized in a big way and they now had
their own mission team that went out and did outreaches to the gypsy villages regularly.
Halleluyah ! Glory to God !! We ministered a lot through prayer this time. And
God did miracles and wonders. Halleluyah ! A lot of people were sick because they
could not go to a doctor. But God saw their
need and touched them and healed them. At that time Romania mainly meant ‘mission
field’ to me….but it really had a big place in my heart.
I loved the Romanian song ‘Binecuvanteaza Doamne Romania' which means " Lord bless Romania".
I never went back to Romania until last year.. But I never
forgot the compassion that God had put in my heart for this country. I started
to learn the language and God started to put a desire in me to help the people
in Romania in a practical way and then through this to minister to the lost.
Last year, I finally went back. This time on a two week holiday
with my girls.
We had the most amazing time and it really surpassed my
expectations. And the girls loved it too.
Even after going there twice before, I never realized how beautiful Romania really is.
Where I went, there were beautiful mountains and I really fell in love with that place.
But I’ve also seen other pictures of other parts of Romania
that really take your breath away. Really so much more beautiful then what I have seen.
It almost annoys me then, that no one seems to know that.
And then to realize how much poverty there is in Romania. It is like most
people see Romania that way. A country with poor people, which is not
developed. If people hear that you went
on a holiday to Romania, they are really surprised.
I hope that one day more people will realize how beautiful the
nature in Romania is and that Romania will be able to build up their economy through
tourism as well.
I want to be used by God to do whatever He chooses to bless
this beautiful country and its people through His grace. I’m looking forward to
all God has in store regarding this !!
Glory to His name !!
Would you ever visit Romania ? I would love to hear from you.
Love and blessings,
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