ROMÁNIA.

‘Holy Spirit burden.’

A moment of sobering silence & humbling clarity.
Pastor Raul was looking me in the eyes, his look one of seriousness & conviction. I had just finished pouring out my heart in one of our team sessions (we meet daily in the Church to spend the first hour in prayer, intercession, & worship). I didn’t realize all of these things were building up in my heart and mind. And when he asked us about our experiences with evangelism & ministry in Románia, what spilled out of my mouth surprised even me. I started crying as I realized the heaviness I had felt in this city. The burden of lost souls & urgency to share the Gospel with a city that is spiritually asleep and dying. The tragic loss of a youth I had a connection with from youth we had been serving with left me trembling with the reality of the evil & darkness that is present in Craiová.

but in that moment… Pastor Raul helped me to realize that the heaviness & weight I had personally been feeling and carrying could actually point to a Holy Spirit burden. That what I was feeling was a picture of what the Father feels for this city. How His heart is literally grieved for people to know Him.

This experience portrays what my time in Craiová was like. My heart was awakened to the desperate need for salvation in this city- and across the world. Craiová is part of the ‘Balkans’ region, where less than 1% of people are professing evangelical Christians. This is a sad statistic and when I learned this in cultural orientation, I was motivated right off the bat with the urgency of what God is trying to do in this part of Románia. I really enjoyed my time with ‘Biserica Speranta’ (Hope Church) in Craiová. They are a local Church plant whose Pastor moved here because of his awareness of the need for more laborers in this part of the Kingdom and the sad reality of spiritual darkness.

Most of our time was spent in efforts to be a ‘bridge’ between the Church and locals. I met so many people and built some really sweet friendships. My days were built around building meaningful connections with youth & they ended up becoming some of my best friends. As World Racers, we represented Hope Church & would constantly carry around flyers, engage in street evangelism, & use any opportunity to invite locals to outreach events. We helped put on youth group every week & would take turns sharing our testimonies. I personally got to help start a ‘kids club’ where I worked with one of the local missionaries to host a summer camp that included an English lesson, Bible story, & worship. Our time also looked like ‘one-on-one’s with youth and contacts we had made in the city (i.e. coffee dates & meetings to share the Gospel/build relationships with locals who could be followed up by Hope Church).

This was definitely my personal favorite ministry location. I felt the urgency the Pastor was alluding to and the reality that most people I passed by on a daily basis didn’t know Jesus was a huge wake-up call. I haven’t felt the importance & weight of what we’re doing on the Race like I did while we were in Craiova. Isn’t this why believers are on this earth?- to see the lost be found & the ones who don’t know Jesus come to know Him?

So many Romanians have grown up in an era of communism & know the Church only by religiosity (Orthodox is the commonly practiced religion) and don’t understand what it means to know Jesus personally. I had so many experiences where I felt pretty powerless & overwhelmed with the question of ‘how do you explain the Gospel in a way that’s relevant to people in this kind of cultural context?’ There were so many moments in Romania where I was reminded of how dependent I am. None of who I am or what I do or how I ‘explain’ the Gospel matters- if it’s not completely empowered by the Holy Spirit. Only He can convince a person of their need for Him. Only He can reveal the deep love He has for them personally & the lengths He went to to display that (it ended with a Cross). My job (& the job of every believer) is simply to be available. We give our hearts to Him & say  ‘Lord, I’ll go where You want me to go. Here I am. You direct me & You speak.’ Because we are not the saviors. We are the ones who point to The One.

 

România was a season of ‘calling unleashed.’ A timeless question in Christian circles is some kind of version of ‘what am I called to? How do I know what God wants me specifically to do with my life?’
He answered this question very clearly for me during our time in România. I realized- our ‘calling’ is really about Him more than it is about us. Which means- we need to care about what He cares about. This looks like- what breaks His heart?
And the answer- He cares about justice. He cares about mercy (Micah 6:8). He cares about the ones who have been marginalized, outcast, & forgotten. One of God’s repeated instructions in the Old Testament was to ‘take care of the widow, the fatherless, & the sojourner.’ Which means He cares about taking care of the ones who are oppressed. And His kids are called to participate in bringing His heart to this world in some kind of way.

Which leads to the most significant part of România for me- one day, we served with a human trafficking ministry. It turned out that one of the Church members & his mom had started a non-profit 15 yrs ago to be a safe house for young girls who have been rescued from the horrific industry of trafficking. Driving with him to the safe house, we had an incredible conversation where I gained more understanding about the heartbreaking statistics of this evil that exists in Europe. As it turns out, România is the biggest location for human trafficking in the European Union. My heart was absolutely shattered walking into that house and meeting some of those young faces. We got to take them to the zoo for the day; they normally don’t get those kind of opportunities & even though we couldn’t communicate because of the language barrier, we had the sweetest time just laughing and smiling with each other. Within the next week, The Lord gave me 2 more opportunities to interact with this kind of ministry & it is incredibly clear to me that this kind of ministry is absolutely part of what I’m called to in the future. This whole experience pointed me to the reminder that He is a God of justice & as a believer, I’m called to care about what He cares about.

I can’t begin to fully articulate the significance of what God wrote on my heart in România. But it was the beginning of a realization that I can never turn back on. I haven’t felt sadness about leaving places on the Race quite like I did in ROM. If there are people across the world who literally haven’t heard the words of Life & there are people who daily are dying without knowing a Savior who gave Himself for them- I should be affected by it. God’s heart breaks for the lost & I want mine to too. România was a picture of the reason for my existence on this earth. I fell in love with the youth I met & will always cherish the friendships I built in this place. I praise God for this season and will absolutely never forget the faces of the ones He loves in Craiova.

May we be a people whose hearts burn to see the world know Him.

keep on keeping on,

Kenz<3

p.s. I also got to witness a national track meet in Craiova & it was such a divinely orchestrated moment of God reminding me of the ways He has changed what my ‘Racing’ looks like these days;) though my running shoes are retired, He has given me a new Race to run. thank you for how you guys continue to love & support me on this journey!! xoxo