HALLELUJAH, NEVERTHELESS.

The blog site has been having some technical difficulties! So sorry for the delay in hearing from me. I wrote the following blog on Christmas Eve. 

If you know anything about Romania, it’s more than I knew when I landed here. But I’ve come a long way in the last several weeks. Here are a few things I’ve learned in my time here:

It’s cold!

Romanians care A LOT about shoes and will make up their mind about you based on the shoes you’re wearing.

They love eating bread, in every form, especially if it’s in a circle (and so do I).

Although the communist era has passed, the regime still deeply affects how Romanians live and think.

Young people speak English, older people do not.

Sadly enough, vampires are not real.

As Americans, we are celebrities here. Romanians think America is Hollywood: plastic and wealthy.

The Romanian Orthodox church is rooted and trapped in traditions that make religion cold and rigid. Tradition is authoritative over all.

Romanians do not trust each other.

What I’ve learned, however, that is far more important than any of these things is that Romanians need the gospel! Just as much as everyone else! The people here, while they may be hostile and isolated, were created in the image of God and knitted together in their mothers’ wombs. They desperately need the warmth and light and intimacy found in God alone. It’s an honor to be a vessel used by the Lord to spread the true Gospel here; a gospel that is living and active, a gospel that raises dead to life, a gospel that guides us in everything we do. And this is essentially our ministry here in Craiova, Romania. We have spent our time in Craiova partnering with Hope Church. Our ministry for them has consisted of youth gatherings, English classes, spending time loving on Ukrainian refugees and distributing food to them, and a lot of street evangelism (walking around in the bitter cold having hard conversations about the King of the World). We face a lot of rejection and we’ve come to have peace about it. In the words of my favorite band, “hallelujah nevertheless.” Just the blessing of being in a country where we can say the name of Jesus out loud on the streets without fear, is something for which I am abundantly thankful. Starting gospel conversations with strangers is hard! But it has been so growing and stretching. One day, the pastor of Hope Church encouraged us with the analogy of evangelism being like putting a pebble in someone’s shoe. Something small, something slightly uncomfortable, something that makes them think as they walk around for the rest of the day. Evangelism rarely looks like winning the masses for Christ. Most of the time, it looks like placing a small pebble in  someone’s shoe. Being a part of these conversations has humbled me and reminded me once again how blessed I am to have a family that loves Jesus Christ and not religious tradition.

The most impactful day of ministry here for me was loading, unloading, and distributing food to Ukrainian refugees. I was able to go by myself with a lady from our church here to a safehouse that is harboring five families from the Ukraine. There was barely room in her little car for us to even sit. We packed it full of food donated by people from all over the world and carefully divided it for the five families. The lady I went with, Laura, is also an American who has been living as a missionary around Europe for over 10 years. When we pulled up to the safehouse, the families came out eagerly to help us unload the food. After about an hour of us not speaking any Ukrainian and them not speaking any English, we were frozen solid. But by the grace of God, we got the right food to the right people and made sure every member of each family was taken care of. Hauling huge sacks of potatoes and onions in the cold wasn’t what I was expecting to do that day. But I’m so thankful I did. Without understanding what they were saying, I knew the families were so thankful for the food and for us. After we finally unloaded every last box and bag from Laura’s car, I asked if I could pray for them. I laid hands on those I could and prayed loud in English. Although there was no translation to Ukrainian, they knew who I was praying to. And they joined me in their own language, praying to our Faithful Father. We had no idea what each other were saying, but I said hallelujah nevertheless.

Today is Christmas Eve! This is the first Christmas I’ve ever spent away from my family. But living in a house with 30 people who are in the same boat as me, and who are sold out for Jesus, is something really special. We are having our own World Race style, makeshift Christmas celebrations together. Thank you God for redefining home and family to mean places and people where you’re dwelling. This is my home and my family for this season of my life and I’m grateful; grateful for my squad and grateful in a brand new way for my family at home. It’s not the easiest place to be right now, but hallelujah nevertheless. Please pray for us as we’re missing home.

I have 12 more days with my team of four, the Chameleons. Please pray that as we end our time together as a team, that we will edify, build up each other, and prepare our hearts to move to a new country and join new teams. I am so thankful for these three women and the ways we’ve grown and pushed each other closer to Christ. I couldn’t have asked for a better first team.

Thank you so much for supporting me and getting me here! Please leave a Merry Christmas or a prayer in the comments. I’d love to hear from you and be encouraged by you!

Merry Christmas, with love, your sister in Christ,

Caroline