It's been a good experience: I've been to
Transylvania, a wedding and a funeral. Although I didn't
meet the Count! - Richard
Thursday/Friday: Leaving, Arriving and First Impressions.
My Dad and I left on Thursday to take a lunch time flight.
The flight was good, and we arrived to change in Bucharest.
We had to rush to a nearby airport to catch an internal
flight. A taxi driver rushed us over (for $20, which was
steep in Romania!), and the roads were very busy. In some
ways they reminded me of Uganda with the big advertisement
signs over the roads, and there were stray dogs and people
were taking care of their animals on the side of the road
(chickens and cows etc). This was to become more apparent
when we moved to Transylvania (Northern Romania), where the
more rural district saw bulls and geese moved around. Most
of the housing looked reasonable compared to Uganda, but I
couldn't forget the few houses that were in a very poor
living condition. Romania has a population of 24 million,
and it is a huge country with a lot of areas of unpopulated
land. However, like many areas the centres are vastly
populated.
We had another good internal flight to Cluj, and Pastor John
shortly met us after our luggage was driven through from the
runway. Cluj was a very small airport! Pastor John welcomed
us into his house, and we met his family (pictured left),
and they helped us to settle in. Pastor John works with
different churches and people within the areas of Cluj and
another village, Jibou, which is an hour and a half's drive
away. His Christian work seems to even expand into other
areas of Transylvania. Since starting seven years ago, his
ministry consists of caring for 8 churches. We spent the
first morning (Friday) helping Pastor John to work his new
computer (a gift from England), and we devised a programme
for the conference. This was due to start at 5pm on Friday
in Jibou, and so we set off in the mid-afternoon from Cluj.
The journey to Jibou had very similar surroundings, as we
went through different small villages. The area consisted of
many beautiful hilly areas, which were very green and full
of trees. There were many fields and some huts used as
homes. In parts, the roads were very dangerous by being
narrow and windy and over steep hills. This differed from
the cities. They had busier roads, and there were
high-rising buildings everywhere, as people live in flats.
When I entered the conference, it was hard at first to get
used to the culture and how to relate to the people. People
seemed so English and serious, and they kept to themselves
at first, and so it was hard to introduce myself. One of the
barriers to this was language. I did not learn a word of
Romanian before I went, and many Romanians did not have
English as their second language, because of the other
European languages spoken (e.g. French). However, some of
the youth group that attended the conference spoke some
English, and one girl, Anka, especially spoke some very good
English, and so they welcomed me into the group. Anka and
her family were very welcoming to me.
My Dad began the conference at around 5.40pm. He spoke about
the importance of God's word, and gave a personal
introduction. He also introduced his themes for the
sessions: being the Church of Jesus Christ as body, bride,
temple and army of God. There was then a brief worship
session. I had a guitar with me, and I managed to play a
little bit along to one song I recognised in English (He Is
Lord). I was asked to bring a song with my guitar, and I
didn't feel that confident to play in front of people yet,
and so I chose to sing a song that my Dad could lead
(Father, We Adore You), and I followed. My Dad started his
theme with how to build a church using Matthew 16:13 and
Acts 19. After supper, the theme continued with Mark 11 with
teaching on prayer and making an impact as Jesus did,
building a "House of Prayer for the Nations". This was
followed by a lot of prayer for the different people, and
worship. There was a good presence of God, and the Holy
Spirit seemed to be ministering.
There were at least 60 people towards the end of the
evening, as people gradually crept in. The meeting finished
beyond midnight. The people were from different age groups,
and some had travelled many miles to get there.
The food was very good in Romania. We had a lot of cheese,
tomato and delicatessen-type sausages each day, and so they
treated us. We are very fortunate in our country though,
because we obviously have a lot more variety.
The Remaining Conference: Saturday-Sunday.
We had to get up very early on the Saturday morning to
continue the conference all day. Although the conference
programme was planned to start from 7am, we didn't start
until 10.20am! There were fewer people that day (around 40),
and this may have been due to the big wedding following. The
teaching began with the Church being an army. After this, we
looked into Ephesians 1-2. Later into the afternoon, I was
able to give a brief testimony telling people about how I
was assisting my father and my home church for the year.
Then my father and I presented the guitar, which I was
carrying, over to the church. It wasn't mine. My Mum is a
piano teacher, and she always goes to a music shop in
Worthing, and my Dad shared about how someone once gave away
a guitar in Poland to the owner. The owner mentioned how he
had some that could be repaired, and he offered to give us
one to take. It also had new strings and a capo. The church
was very happy, as they were in need of instruments. The
conference finished that day with Ephesians 3.
In the evening, we had a meeting with about ten young
people. The teaching was brought, by my Dad, about the
difficulty of a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. We had
a good worship time, and then walked around Jibou with the
young people. The village was certainly culturally
different. There wasn't really a village centre, but there
were lots of small shops. There were lots of tall buildings,
and the village parks were like the size of a typical
English home garden (possibly about 30 sq ft). One young
person expressed how he was grateful for the guitar, because
he is a really good musician, and he needed something to
play.
The Sunday morning was a wedding, and so my Dad spoke about
the Bride of Christ. The church was full with over 100
people, and they came to offer their different talents
including poetry and singing. I was asked to offer a song,
but I had bad images that I wouldn't do it right, and so
blemish the wedding! Before the contributions of the people,
the bride and groom had come through together with a small
band of two accordions and an oboe. My Dad married the
couple, and we went on to the wedding feast, where there
were around 70 invited guests. There was a lot of food
provided, and we were very privileged to be there. There was
a band playing Christian music, and it was a great witness
to many non-Christians who were guests or family members. It
was in a hall near to the railway station of Jibou. Many of
the trains resembled those that are pictured from the war
times, and not the modern transport we have. In the evening,
the conference was finished with the remainder of Ephesians
6, and other bits uncovered from Ephesians. There was also
prayer and praise, and about 25-30 people. We returned to
Cluj that night so the Pastor's children could be ready to
go back to school.
Final Day: Monday.
We set off back to Jibou because the Pastor was taking a
Funeral. We arrived and were taken to the house where the
man had died. My Dad had already been the night before to
see the widow and the dead body that was left on the bed.
Outside the house, there were flowers, benches and a sound
system for the event. There was firstly a reading inside the
house with close friends and family and the Pastor and they
started singing. They eventually started to come outside for
the main service by singing. They brought out the coffin,
which was yet to be covered. They brought the coffin outside
by the street, and so passers-by could see the dead man.
My Dad and the Pastor preached for about an hour, and so the
Gospel was shared with those on-looking.
They eventually covered the coffin, and placed it in a
horse-drawn court. The pastor, my Dad and I were privileged
to take the front of a long march of singing towards the
place of burial 2 km away, with the horse at the back. Then
there was a final farewell given by my Dad, and the coffin
was buried. We then had a meal provided.
After this, we were driven to several different villages
where the Pastor is hoping to support projects. The first
was in a village called "Mirsid", where there was a house
the Pastor was looking to buy to use as a village church.
This would cost $2,500. In this place, there are 18 new
Christians that want to be baptised. The second village was
Bulgari, where we visited a family who had a small church in
their house (Free Pentecostal). This seemed more of a
pastoral visit for John. We finally drove to Ciuta (after
1.5 hrs driving), where there was a church being built by
the village. They had built the basic structure, which had
meant sacrificing villager's livestock to raise money. This
cost approximately $5,000 (100m Lei). They need at least
$1,400-1,500 (30m Lei) to finish the project. There are
currently 35 people meeting in a family home. Much work is
needed including plastering, and finishing the windows,
ceiling and floors as well as electricity costs, including
an approval.
Other Trip Observations.
The people were generally well dressed, and had more changes
of clothes compared to Eastern Africa. It seemed exciting to
be in a country with more species, including bears and
wolves. However, there was a strong smell of pollution
within areas of Jibou and Cluj, which needs to be addressed.
I didn't go to many shops, but the petrol prices are
certainly more reasonable (probably half the price). £1 is
equal to about 23,000 Lei. A loaf of bread is around 10,000
Lei. A lot of people here are in a lot of need, and it is
hard to know how to help these them, and so we need to pray.
It was good to see that the giving to the church of Jibou
has seen some benefits. The church was given some money from
England, and there are two brand new toilets and a new
kitchen for the church.
Before we left, we were able to leave a case of goods from
England. Pastor John was left with them to give out to
people in need in the area. Gifts included lots of woolly
jumpers, pairs of glasses and other things from churches in
England. We had a good flight home on the Tuesday morning,
although we had to get up at 5.30 (3.30 English time). We
managed to get a free taxi from the internal airport to the
major airport (Bucharest), after talking to a fellow
traveller that knew a driver. This was a contrast to getting
there, where a taxi driver charged us too much because we
needed to get to the airport quickly and we were ignorant of
prices. Pastor John works very hard, and the commuting to
Jibou is a big challenge. He has in mind a couple who need
Bible training and so any help to get these two prepared so
that they can take on responsibilities is good. Pastor John
has such a heart for church planting that he needs releasing
to do that. He like me is not great at delegating, so please
pray that God will help him and, of course, reveal who to
delegate too. There were some mature people at Jibou, but it
needs more discernment and prayer to discover who to give
things too.
So thank God for looking after us, and please pray for
wisdom in how Living Hope working with EPIC can help to give
support to Romania.
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