When I returned home from Central Asia, I was asked if it was worth the effort and sacrifice I made to go for 4 weeks. This question challenged me to think about what I learned there and how I managed to be a blessing to those there.
I learned that no matter what you are going through, how much fear you have, you don’t have to stop doing what God asks of you. Many of the people I met there are constantly being followed and monitored by the secret police. Even while we were there some were called to be checked, but this was not a reason for them to stop working for God. One of the leaders who attended the seminar works among an unreached ethnic group of Hindus. Because he works there the secret police started to follow and threaten him. He had to face the fear he felt. He told me how he started having panic attacks and anxiety which he still struggles with, but then he told me what God is doing among the Hindu communities of that ethnic group and how God started to do a revival there. Right now they brought a group of 9 adults and 3 children from there to the DTS (discipleship school) that they started 2 weeks ago.
class picture with DTS students
He does not allow himself to be overwhelmed by fear, but through the power of God he focuses on what He says and not on what he feels. I managed to donate some money for the accommodation and meal expenses for these students at DTS and for the missionary trip they will make in the tribe after 3 months of being in the theoretical part of the school.
I realized again that the past, no matter how hard it was, does not have to tell me what I do in the present and the future. One of the girls who attended the seminar had a health problem and was bedridden for 10 years. She managed, after doing some surgeries, to be able to walk again and among the first things he started to do was to go and tell others about God. One day she was going to meet a friend to talk to her about God and she had an accident with a rickshaw. She suffered many injuries all over his body, but the worst was on his right palm, which was cut almost completely. She could not use her right hand at all for a while, it took several operations to be able to use it again with difficulty. She needs at least 2 more operations to be able to regain mobility on her palm in order to be able to write or use his hand for daily tasks.
But this experience did not stop her from dreaming with God and from working for Him. She continued sharing the Good News, right now she is staffing DTS. When we were there she told us that she felt God calling her to go to India as a missionary. How much strength and hope and faith in this girl, after everything she has suffered, she still believes in God, and not only that, but she is full of passion to work for Him. Together with my Romanian friend with whom I was there, we managed to help her financially in order to pay for the first operation she will have in April and possibly enough for part of the 2nd operation.
Another lady we met told us how a few years ago, together with a team, they went to an unreached tribe to bring them the good news. While they were there, they were arrested by the local police and handed over to the secret police, who held them illegally for 52 days. In the first days they beat and threatened everyone in the team, then they focused only on the leaders of the team, she and a boy. They tortured them physically and mentally the whole time and threatened to kill them. By a miracle they were freed and for at least a year they had to stay hidden and could not meet the others, but they did not give up. Both leaders are still working, they lead ministries and teams that work among the most radical people in the country, Ta-li_bani. Nothing stops them from bringing the Good News to the lost.
I learned that we should not consider ourselves worthy of the freedom we have, but to be grateful for it and to use it wisely and responsibly. In the discussion with one of the local pastors, who was a supervisor over several communities, I found out that there is a tendency, I would say normal, to hide or at least remain unnoticed as Christian communities. He told us that when they started the church, out of fear, they did not sing loudly and tried to be discreet, especially as they were located in the middle of a Muslim neighborhood. Over time, God spoke to them not to be afraid, but to let the praises to Him be heard by others. The result was that the neighbors began to hear about God and some to seek Him. But the pastor told us that this will not be reality forever. “Right now I am preparing a series of messages about the theology of suffering, because we are warned by God that things will change in the future,” he told us. I was surprised with how much faith and serenity he told us this, without fear or resentment. I saw in him the great responsibility he felt for himself and the community he leads.
I learned that if I can help someone, I should not hesitate to do it. I was talking above about a team that went to take the Good News to an unreached ethnic group and how they were arrested and deprived of their freedom for 52 days, during which they were also tortured. One of the team leaders, a boy, was the most severely tortured, both physically (beating on the feet, starvation, they gave him food that caused severe stomach pains, etc.) and mentally (death threats, pressure to give up his faith, they made him listen to religious messages for many hours, etc.), but he did not give up either Jesus or the work. But the effects of that experience have left traces on his health and he often feels overwhelmed by fear and anxiety, especially the fact that the threats and stalking continue. When I spoke with him, he told me that physically he is out of prison, but mentally he still feels prisoned. That’s why we started praying and looking for solutions to bring them to Romania for a period of recovery and rest (he is married now and has a 2.5-year-old daughter). We managed to give a sum of money for the visa process and to prepare some money for the plane tickets in case he gets the visa. Pray with us that we will be able to offer them a visa and that we will be able to bring them to Romania.
Certainly the time spent there helped me to understand what our brothers there are going through, to understand their troubles, their challenges but also the joys that the Lord makes them a part of. I have developed some relationships with some of them, relationships through which I want to bless God’s work there, financially, through my experience, through my prayers, through my future visits, through my encouragement.
We started to pray as a family every day at 9:37 what is written in Matthew 9:37. We want to be an answer to these prayers. How? To go to as many nations as possible in this area of the world and take as many as possible with us to help them start loving these nations and find a way to be a blessing to those there. The first nation we will go to will be Turkey, in April.
... faceți ucenici din toate neamurile ... 