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2003 Team Chronicles
Days 13-14

Written By Team Member Ramona Lewis

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SAYING GOOD-BYE TO ROMANIA, OH BUT THE MEMORIES

Where are the words that define feelings and emotions that I'm not sure can be identified, much less defined. How does a person feel full to the point of bursting and drained to empty all at the same time? I suppose this sounds a little melodramatic but it's the closest I can come to describing the emotional atmosphere in our final worship time with our Romanian and Gypsy friends. It seems impossible to become so attached in such a short time, but it happened!

On Friday morning the final day of Camp Joy ended with a BANG!! The parents were invited to come hear and observe what their children had learned during the week. It was amazing as the children sang their songs, made the hand motions, quoted the scripture verses, answered the questions. They sat orderly and listened intently to the Puppet Play some youth from Bistrita Baptist Church put on for us. Then, as they were leaving we formed an "assembly line" and Patty Lawton made each child's picture with a Poloroid camera, Linda Batson pasted that picture to a card that said "Jesus loves me" in Romanian and I hung it around their neck with a string. Then as they left the premises through the playground gate, everyone was given a gift bag with hygiene items, crayons, pencils, etc.(I sure hope they know how to use the dental care items!) Our construction team left their work long enough to come around to the school building and help out. They are the ones who distributed the gift bags and I'm sure their presence helped to maintain order.

These guys proved that they could handle children as well as sheetrock and lumber! The inside of the church now has a drywall ceiling and a wall that separates the "baby room" from the worship area. By the way, the worship services are being held in the "Baby Room" now because it is the only finished part of the building. Even though it is small, it is better than the house where the church met before the room was completed.

Even though a Friday session was not planned for the Sarata Women's Bible Study, we decided to meet so Libby could join us (at their request) for a short time of fellowship and refreshments. Eighteen women was the most we had on any one day although 20 came in all. So I bought gifts and refreshments for twenty ladies. Well, you guessed it about forty showed up! They came to say goodbye to me and I was delighted but what was I to do? Adella, my young friend and interpreter, came to my rescue and explained for me that the gifts were just for the ones who had come to Bible Study, but the refreshments were for everyone. I shared with them what Paul wrote to the Phillipians and paraphrased it to fit what was in my heart. I will thank my God every time I remember them!

The Bistrita Baptist Church Women's Bible Study had a banquet on Friday night and invited all the women on our team. Libby Wooten made all the arrangements and it was a lovely night. Shay made flowers out of handkerchiefs for four hours to decorate the beautiful table. The ladies sang for us. These ladies sounded like a choir! The meal was delicious and the fellowship priceless. Libby is so loved by the Romanians.

After the banquet one of the Romanian ladies named Flavia invited Patty Lawton and I to her home for tea. She lived in an apartment about a block from the hotel where we were staying so we walked over with her. This was a special experience for us because it was our first and only time to visit inside a Romanian home. Flavia was a gracious hostess; after we drank our tea while visiting with her husband and son, she gave us a parting gift of a little porcelain bird which she took from her own things on a shelf in the parlor. Patty and I prayed for God's blessings on our new friends and their home.

Let me tell you a story about the Bistrita Baptist Church. During the communists years the church building was bulldozed to the ground two times, but each time the foundation was left and the people rebuilt the building. When word came that the local thugs were coming to tear down the building a third time, the people courageously gathered inside the sanctuary and declared that it would only come down over their bodies. The communists backed off and the building was saved. Do you think perhaps there were protectors there that human eyes could not see?

Revival services

The services each night continue to be "holy ground". The number attending has increased each night. On Friday night the crowd [between 90 and 120] was so large every chair was filled and people stood about three deep around the walls. And this is with the pastor out of town!! When you realize that this church only has about thirty members, these numbers become more significant and represent the impact our presence has on the community.

Saying Goodbye

Sunday morning was our last time to worship with our Gypsy brothers and sisters of Sarata. Saying goodbye was one of the most difficult things this little group of American missionaries has ever done! The whole congregation, male and female, were weeping, some sobbing. They gave a gift to each of us, bought with funds given from their own need, their "grocery money". This was a true love offering. It was a pottery bowl, a very valuable, priceless, irreplaceable pottery bowl!

As I sat there studying the faces of those precious Gypsy believers, trying to imprint them in my memory as they are imprinted on my heart, I became certain of one thing...we went to Romania to teach and to give. God sent us to Romania to learn and to receive. Thank you, Lord Jesus!! TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!

I would like to add a personal observation pertaining to In His Grip Ministries, Inc. I know that there are many private ministries asking for funds to support their work. It is hard to know who is creditable and who isn't. I am convinced that this organization is a valid and trustworthy one, an accountable ministry of persons of integrity who are responding at personal cost to their calling of God. Its objectives are simple; to reach the outcast, forgotten gypsy people of Romania with the good news of God's love as found in His son, Jesus Christ. It is deserving of our financial and prayerful support.

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