Romania, Day 3

I've never seen such oppression in a single place before today. I've also not seen the grace of God in such a full and unique way as I saw today.

This morning we headed out to a village about an hour's drive away from Braila. I don't recall the name. We're going back tomorrow so I'll try to get it. We learned last night in a debrief that Romanian Evangelical Christians, especially in the smaller villages can sometimes have it pretty hard. You see the Eastern Orthodox church is the church of Romania. About 95% are Orthodox. The church has a strong arm in the government as well, especially in villages. In fact, we weren't even able to go to the village we had originally planned to serve in today because the priest said he didn't want us there. In our meeting last night we learned that many Romanians are taught that Evangelicals are anything from just simply weird to a cultish group of people that drink one another's blood and steal bodily organs from your children. The people do not want to associate with them for fear from these stories but also fear of threats that the orthodox priest will not bury them when they die, so their soul will never make it to heaven. Well, it was one thing to hear the stories and another to see them in action.

With 3 doctors, 2 nurses, a respitory thearapist, and many help staff, we saw a grand total of 54 patients today. When we have groups this size, we normally see 200-250 and have to tell many to come back tomorrow. A vast majority of these were widows that go to the local Baptist church where we set up clinic. It got so slow at one point that several of us stood out in the street and tried to catch the attention of passers by to invite them in. Some would stop to talk but some would hurry along the road. It wasn't too hard to catch their attention and at least share a word of love with them. Their modes of transportation were mostly foot, bicycle, or horse cart. Here a picture of Sunni and Pepper taking one for a spin:

As you can see, some people did stop to at least talk to us. The couple on this cart were coming in from a hard day in the fields. They stopped for the photo op and a brief meeting with Americans, but when invited inside, they started moving quickly again and called back that they were not sick.

Others stopped but said they were embarrassed to come inside because they were dirty from working in the fields all day, so Sunni started making "horse calls". Here she is with Leslie, one of the missionaries, taking care of an old couple:

Wayne and John Ervin went out this morning and tried hanging signs on light poles around the surrounding blocks. About 4 bars down from where we were (we're told alcoholism is prevalent in the village. In fact many of the ladies that came to the clinic were widows and several said their husbands died from alcohol related deaths), a drunk man came out and started cursing Wayne in Romanian. He tore down the sign. So, Wayne just smiled and moved on. A little bit later that day the same man rode by on his bicycle, stopped in the street in front of the church, pulled out his knife and yelled "I hate you" at Wayne and those outside at the time. He had learned this phrase in English by that time. At least 2 other times that day, the same man rode by the church shouting out Romanian curses and "I hate you" in English.

Across the street and a couple of houses down was a for-pay clinic. We learned from the local pastor that it was run by the Orthodox priest's wife. She was standing outside most of the day calling people to her that would walk by and saying something to them. It was apparent that it was about us because they would then hurry by the church and not enter. So, Johnny decides we should bundle up a bunch of children's vitamins and take them to the clinic as a gift from us. He and the pastor went over to ask permission while I got the vitamins ready. She said that the would accept the gift, so the three of us went back to give them. She took the box and then proceeded to open several of the vitamin bags and smell inside as if she was suspicious of poison. She kept asking "what is this here?" and made us dig through the whole box so she could inspect every bag. Finally the local pastor opened one of the bags and popped a vitamin in his mouth to show her they were safe. She huffed at that but took the box. So we told her it was nice meeting her and to be blessed and moved on our way.

Much of this oppression is of course rooted in greed. The priests get paid for every service they perform - births, weddings, deaths, etc. This is their livelihood as well as their political power at stake here. But to have their people living in fear is just sad. We pray that God's perfect love will drive out this fear and hope that tomorrow more in the village will now have heard that we didn't drink any blood or steal any organs and will perhaps come to the clinic.

There was another level of oppression we came against today, but before I get to that, here are some lighter items:

Wayne had another foe to contend with today besides the knife wielding drunk. One of the sweet ladies of the church stayed around all day long. She kept trying to sneak into areas that she shouldn't be in or just stand in small spaces and obstruct traffic. It wasn't out of malice, but it became inconvenient at times. Wayne would kindly escort her back to the waiting area, but she was bound and determined to be in everyone's business and get exactly what she wanted. At the end of the day, Sunni took a picture of Wayne and his arch rival. Here they are:

The church was a small building, and we used every inch of it for our clinic. So, lunch shifts were taken outside against the wall and next to the garden where they were growing pumpkins, corn, assorted peppers, and some other small crops. Here are Pepper, Sunni, Larry, Joyce, and Debbie enjoyed our packed sandwich lunches.

Pepper did great today. This was her first day on the job with a medical mission trip, and she took on several duties including giving out gifts of gloves, scarves, and socks; praying and witnessing; and a little bit of pharmacy. Here is my apprentice pharmacist at work:

One of the few kids we saw today was a boy named Nicolae. He came by with an adult in the morning but stayed outside, so I went out and talked with him. He would only nod or shrug his shoulders when I asked him questions except when he told me his name. Later this afternoon he came back and actually saw the doctor. He's perfectly healthy but we were able to show he and his parents love and to give them some vitamins and gifts. While he waited he kept hanging out by the pharmacy and giving me winks and grins every time he caught my eye, so I of course had to get a picture with him:

As I mentioned, many of the patients we saw today were widows. Several of them came with such joy and wanted to give us gifts. We received several bunches of home grown grapes as well as some fresh home made pastries that tasted like donut-holes. They were delicious. Here is one of these women coming into the church:

As I also mentioned there was another level of oppression we had to face. Communism ruled Romania until 1989. We met today the matriarch of this church. Her husband has been a communist soldier and accepted Christ while he was a soldier. When he was able to come home, he led his wife to the Lord and they started this church in their home. The communists soon found out and tortured the man pretty severly to the point that he suffered great stress and ilness and eventually died. After his death, they came back and persecuted her as well. She is old now, but has remained faithful to God and to the church that continued to grow into what it is today through all of this. We were so blessed to get to serve her today. Sunni said that if the only reason God brought us all here was to serve this saint, then that is enough. She's right. If the Lord is willing, we will never experience such persecution ourselves as we heard about and saw in action today. So to spend time with faithful saints like this who are barely known on earth but will be kings and queens in heaven is such an honor.

Someday, when you're walking the streets of heaven and bump into a sweet Romanian woman who is crowned with jewels you've never imagined could be so brilliant, ask her name. If she smiles and says she is Min Vaselica, then you will be able to experience that honor as well.