About two weeks ago, my squad and I officially arrived in the great country of Romania.
The process to get here was quite honestly mentally and physically exhausting. Starting with a 60 minute drive to the airport, we waited about 4 hours to board our flight that would be a red eye.
After about eight hours and many time zone switches, we landed in Paris, France! As beautiful as it was, I had only gotten about an hour of sleep. With this, my head was pounding, and body aching for some rest and a good stretch.
Our flight coming out of Paris into Bucharest, Romania was about another 3 hours. The heaviness of wanting to sleep and the excitement of our next journey overcame my body, leaving my mind running and my body struggling.
Once we arrived in Bucharest and pushed ourselves into customs, I could hardly keep my eyes open. I knew in this next ride, it would be another 4 hours until we finally made it to our host home.
I convinced myself to try and sleep in the car as much as I could, and finally get some rest. As we load up our bags into some different vans, we hopped a little red Volkswagen with a Romanian man who we have not met quite yet. With that, I just happened to find myself in the passenger seat right next to the man.
I am quick to greet him with a hello, and with a gleeful hello I receive in response. I ask some more about him, and he replied, “I don’t speak English much.”
Knowing we had a 4 hour car ride, my heart sank a little. I was so eager to know his heart and story.
As the ride went on, I pieced together a few things about this man.
- He had a wife named and introduced her as beautiful over and over. How sweet!!
- He had two or three children, all of younger ages.
- He had been a pastor a few towns over in a village, and has been asking the Lord for help for a long time.
Not knowing how to communicate more, the ride was pretty silent. As my team mates fell asleep in the back, something in my gut told me to stay awake with him.
To keep from falling asleep, I journaled, read, and asked the man words I could speak in Romanian.
By the third hour, I was trying to keep my head up. Struggling to stay awake, I was almost in tears. As I am about to drift into a forbidden sleep, the man took a call from someone. I focused on his jumbled words, unaware of what’s he might be saying. Suddenly, I heard him cheerfully claiming “Hallelujah, Hallelujah!”, and at another point “Praise God!”
My heart was joyful to hear this. His excitement and eagerness of how wonderful the God we serve was in his heart. This is why I had to stay awake.
After his phone call, I say “Hey! Hallelujah!”
He exclaims once again “Hallelujah! God is good!”
“All the time!” I say, in which he responds “All the time, God is good!”
I found this to be one of the most genuine and precious moments I’ve ever been talking about God.
Just from those few words, a man who I had just met who didn’t speak the same language as me, got so excited for who Jesus is.
The love we have for Jesus is more than words could ever do justice for.
God is more than a language barrier. Truly, His love for us knows no bounds.
Praise His name and thank Him that the Gospel can and will endure all things, and through all things will prevail.
After this encounter, I was reassured and giddy for the fact that I will inherit the kingdom with this man, and one day I will know his story.
Truly, I know that one day we will get to be in Heaven next to Jesus and be giddy together again.
