When Gates Open

Gates, walls, and locked doors. Bucharest is a city of houses behind gates and people living in apartment blocks that you can’t get into unless you are a resident. How do you reach people, build relationships, and share the Gospel in a city that is busy and closed up? The ramifications of communism are still evident in people’s hesitancy to open up to strangers and to build a relationship with someone they are not connected with. For Marie and I this has been a matter of prayer, especially in relation to our neighbors.

The kids on a walk in front of one of the many gates in Bucharest.

God began to prepare the way for us with one of our neighbors, Aura, a retired physician, by giving us three, and now four, little kids. Serenity just turned 4, the twins, William and Penny, are about to turn 3 in July, and Victor is 3 1/2 months! It is rare in Romania for people to have many children, especially close together. Marie is often told how courageous she is, or they use the expression “Cum resistați!” which basically means “How do you manage!” Aura had been impressed by the kids and Marie’s attitudes when she would see us walk by the house, and we would regularly express a warm greeting when seeing Aura and her husband Grig.

At the end of last year, Marie knew that continuing with formal language school wouldn’t be possible while caring for a newborn, and we began to pray for someone to be Marie’s language helper. God put on Marie’s heart to ask Aura if she would be willing to help her practice Romanian. Aura was thrilled, and it turns out that Aura’s mother was a Romanian grammar teacher! Aura began to ask Marie about her life and background, and what we are doing here. Through the conversations in Romanian, not only did Marie learn more, but was also able to share about God, her ministry in Honduras, working with the Deaf, and our goals here. Aura expressed her admiration for those that believe in God, saying that, “I grew up under communism, so I never had the blessing of believing in God.” She also shared with Marie that she knows very little about Christianity, but would like to learn more about what Marie believes the next time they meet.

Serenity opening her birthday gifts. Aura is hidden in the back right corner, sitting next to her granddaughter and husband, Grig (yellow shirt).

Before they were able to get together again, Serenity turned 4 on May 17th! Due to some scheduling conflicts, we decided to have her birthday party on Saturday the 24th, and we invited Aura and Grig to come. We also had 15 other guests at our house, and 5 countries were represented (Romania, United States, Lebanon, Spain, and Argentina)! We played some games, had Serenity open her presents, and enjoyed a meal. Thankfully the Pastor of the Romanian church we are attending and his wife were able to come, and I was careful to make sure the two couples sat together for dinner (Aura and Grig next to Pastor Liviu and his wife). During the meal, Aura voiced an interest in learning more about what we believe and expressed a desire for a Bible and the pastor’s wife let her know that she would give one to Marie to give to her. Aura was thrilled!

The next Tuesday, the 27th, Marie went over to Aura’s house to give her the Bible and show her where and how to read it to learn more about Jesus. She used the tool of three questions (Who is Jesus? What can He do? What does He offer?) and gave her an example from John 10. Aura not only expressed her interest in reading the Gospel of John, but raved about the birthday party. To us it was just a birthday party, but God used it to increase favor with Aura. She was specifically amazed by the fact Serenity told each person “thank you” after opening the gift they brought and that I (Ben) had taken a moment to stop and thank God for the food and what He has given us. She told Marie that all the other birthday parties she had been to were "chaotic." She told Marie that they hadn’t wanted to leave. Clearly the party had further intrigued her about her Baptist Missionary neighbors!

When Marie left, Aura took the time to express again how much she wanted to learn about the Bible and God. She expressed again to Marie not only her excitement for the Bible, but also to hear Marie tell her more about what we believe. It has been amazing to watch God take a closed gate and open it! Please continue to pray for us, for Aura, and for all of the other closed gates that surround people here in Bucharest, Romania. Thank you for your faithful prayers for us as we watch God work and seek to join Him in that work!