Help Bring Hope to Romania

“Who says I don’t? I’m overwhelmed all the time, but I know that this is the mission God has called me to. Being overwhelmed is part of the job.”

This was Pastor Raul’s answer when I asked him how he kept himself from getting overwhelmed with everything. Raul, his wife, Ana, and their sons, Sammy and Jonathan, have spent the past several months working 14 to 16-hour days. Running Hope Church Romania is a huge task, especially when the church is as involved with refugee work as it is. There is always something that needs to get done and rarely enough hands or funds to go around. Despite the odds, Raul and Ana have never let this hold them back. They work by faith and mercy, not numbers in bank accounts.

Raul and Ana are originally from the Transylvania region (we have yet to confirm if they’re vampires) but moved to Craiova several years ago. The couple felt called to plant a church in the southern part of Romania to evangelize and love the people well. While the Transylvania area has a small percentage of believers, the rest of Romania is still considered an unreached region as Orthodox Christianity is more of a cultural standing rather than a true practice and witchcraft is becoming increasingly popular.

As you can imagine, planting a church in an unreached region means nonstop work. Between putting on youth group events, preparing for Sunday services, spreading awareness about the gospel and church, and caring for the Roma communities, Raul and Ana have always kept an extremely busy schedule. During our time here, we’ve been able to help out with all sorts of tasks. Here’s a look into what we fill our days with.

One of the best and gentlest ways to get the word out about Jesus and Hope Church is by handing out these packets. They are filled with information about the church, a copy of the gospel of John, and little packs of flower and vegetable seeds. This is such a great way to reach out to the community without forcing it down anyone’s throat.

Hope Church is very passionate about building up the next generation and therefore the youth of the city are near and dear to all our hearts. Every Saturday evening, we have a youth group filled with fun games, Tik Tok dances (which I’m amazing at), and a short teaching. Every few months, staff and volunteers do a prayer walk around the university. We got to do it one chilly Friday morning with Raul.

I deeply love the work that Hope Church does with the Roma communities in the area. They visit once a week to love on the kids who are often neglected, share short Bible stories, and pass out food.

Hope Church has a room set aside for food and clothing donations that they take to the Roma or those down on their luck in Craiova. They have connections with local food banks that have been vital, especially recently when they started their work with refugees.

When war broke out in Ukraine a few months ago, thousands of individuals and families fled to neighboring countries. Romania borders the southwest of Ukraine and due to its inclusion in NATO, has seen a huge number of Ukrainians either coming to wait out the war or passing through to find friends and family in other countries. Hope Church was one of the first to step up and begin to care and provide for the refugees.

Raul and Ana immediately set up convoys to bring supplies to the border, pick up those fleeing Ukraine, and make travel to neighboring countries easier. They also started providing housing, food, clothing, and necessary supplies to families looking to stay in Romania for the time being. You can’t even imagine the blessing that Hope Church has been to so many. In fact, their work has been so instrumental that Raul was contacted by authorities when a group of 300 refugees were turned away from Bulgaria last week ago and needed places to stay. By the grace of God, he was able to find housing for every single one of them as well as jobs for several. Mind blowing!

Hope Church currently has eight houses that are used to care for refugees. Seven are used for more permanent housing while the last is for transit purposes. Thankfully, we’ve been allowed to help up with the families as well! My team is assigned to three houses. We ensure that the families have all they need and pass on any requests to the church. We also get to help them adjust to life in Romania and just have fun with them.

These are two of the families that my team gets to work with. We had a bit of a frustrating day as we tried to find them shoes but didn’t have enough money. To try and turn the day around, we visited the botanical gardens for a fun adventure.

With all our new friends here, the food and clothing bank has increased tremendously. Almost every other day, we are receiving entire truck loads of fresh vegetables, jams and jellies, boxes of cookies, bags of pasta, and so much more. Despite all the donations, there are still certain things lacking, particularly supplies for babies – diapers, formula, and baby food. When families need things that are unavailable, the church uses its own budget to buy what they need.

As you can imagine, with all these new needs that the church cares for every day, funds are shrinking by the moment. Even the cheapest of supplies add up quickly when you’re providing them for over 10 families, most of which have young kids. Housing is difficult to find as many landlords refuse to rent to refugees. As the war intensifies and more people flee, more drivers and cars will be needed to get the hundreds of people out of Ukraine. The only drivers that the church has at the moment is the pastor’s family and the cars are beginning to fall apart due to the constant driving.

A few days ago, we received the news that the Odessa bridge, which was the main escape route for civilians into Romania, was bombed by Russia. This greatly complicates the plan to extract the several hundred people left behind in bunkers and would require Hope Church to drive all the way north around Moldova to cross the border at a different point. The vehicles we have currently wouldn’t be able to make this trip.

Thankfully, there are some easy ways that we can all help. Recently, a hotel was put up for sale across the street from the church. It has 25 rooms, a big kitchen, and a laundry room – a perfect purchase that would alleviate the housing situation quite a bit. The hotel is for sale for $1 million, a steep price for a little church, but beyond doable with your help. This is definitely a big dream of ours right now! We are also dreaming of the ability to hire drivers, repair vehicles, and buy more cars to make sure that all refugees get where they need to go as quickly and easily as possible. Again, this is very overwhelming for a single family to consider, but if we all pitch in, change won’t come fast enough.

The Ukrainian war is still very much a reality. Every day, people are being murdered, raped, brutalized, and tortured. Houses, streets, stores, and bridges are being torn apart. As Russia’s war crimes continue to increase, it is more vital than ever that we use our voices, money, time, and resources to fight back. I encourage all of you to do your part. Educate yourself and stay updated on the latest news. Spread awareness, don’t let the US forget what is happening across the ocean. Speak up so that countries around the world will start to step in.

Finally, your money can make a huge difference. For just $10 you can help a family buy new shoes for their kids. Every dollar you donate goes to something important and matters! We held a fundraiser at our Together for Ukrainians event this weekend. Some girls from Ukraine spent days making jewelry to encourage people to donate and the raised an incredible amount of money! This has been such a blessing to the church, and you can bless them as well.   

Donate here now or Venmo me at @Janine-Hald.