Madison-Craiova Partnership

We’ve now spent a day and a half in the city of our host church, the Biserica Eveanghelica Libera (Evangelical Free Church of Craiova). While we did not spend too much time in Bucharest, I believe that Craiova is a city that is much easier to love as it was less visibly impacted by the staunch architectural vision of Nicolai Ceausescu (Romanian dictator for 30+ years). We’ve learned that he felt it was important to strip Romania of its culture and identity by tearing down old buildings and neighborhoods and building huge ugly cement apartment buildings to house the masses. We saw many of these buildings in Bucharest. Craiova, on the other hand, for the most part has been much more preserved and remains a beautiful Eastern-European city with a lot of character.

On the three hour trip from Bucharest, I rode with Daniel Vieru, the youth pastor we are working with. He spoke to me about the history of Romania, growing up as a teen during the revolution, and the repercussions for a Christian church in both communist and post-communist Romania. He told me about how 45 years of communist rule had specifically affected children and teens in Romania. Even after the revolution in 1989 and the fall of Ceausescu and communism, major problems persisted. For the first time in decades, the poor majority was able to escape Romania more easily and many left behind their children in hopes to make a living wage in the West. Abandonment had already been a major issue in Romania, but this only heightened once the borders were open. As a youth pastor for the past 10 years, Daniel has experienced this first hand, as many of his students are orphans themselves. He has also started a non-profit organization called Humanitas Pro Deus (People for God) which assists older orphans who are ready to live in their own apartment, move into one with little or no costs (at first). They teach them basic life skills (cooking, budgeting, getting and keeping a job) as they slowly transition them into a self-sufficient lifestyle. This is an amazing ministry that has impacted so many orphans (some we have met since coming to town - some are now leaders in the church). And there is the potential for so much more to be done. I couldn’t help but wonder how our Blackhawk church community could be part of this particular ministry in the future, offering both physical and financial support with the possibility of adult teams being involved as well. We also talked about the possibility of having Daniel and his leadership visit our church in the US with a similar vision as our own trip here. He is excited about this possibility and what kind of impact that might have on his leadership team (a group of 10 older HS students and young adults who are passionate about ministry in Romania). I am excited to see how their leadership team might impact our ministry and our lives during this “reversed” short-term trip.

Since coming to Craiova we have learned a lot about our camp experience next week. We will be traveling to the mountains with about 80 people total. This includes our own 20, Daniel’s 10 leaders and 25 students, and 25 completely new students, most of whom are orphans from the city that have shown interest and have been supported to come to camp with us. We met many of these students tonight as we played games (Ultimate Frisbee & “Energy”- a Romanian game) in the city park. It was so great to start to get to know them so early. They are a lovable bunch and we had a great time. I can’t wait to see how camp might impact both their lives and the faith journeys of us all as we are challenged to grow together at camp next week. What an amazing opportunity we have here in Craiova. Many of these kids have been rejected and abandoned their whole lives, with no parent around to raise them, love them, care for them. You can easily see how ministry specifically to youth in this country is so contextually imperative - that these students would know about a God who not only accepts them, but knows every thing about them, who loves and pursues each of them deeply. I think we are all starting to realize a little bit about why we came here, and why we should continue to come to and receive teams from Romania. What an awesome thing we’ve found ourselves a part of. Praise God.

Thanks for your prayers and love. It’s making a huge difference over here. We’ll hopefully put up a bunch of pictures in the morning when we get the camera (I put up a few pics from Paul's camera and a video in the meantime). Until then – noapte buna! Goodnight!

-Lief