So, I told you I would tell you Valentin’s testimony. This is what I could understand of it.
Valentin grew up going to the Orthodox Church. (The Orthodox Church is not a regular Christian church…it’s mainly tradition with a very small part of REAL Christianity. There also tends to be witchcraft and superstition involved in the religion.) Valentin ended up getting married to a woman and had a child with her, who is now 26. But when Communism came to Romania, all religious material was thrown away or burned. Well Vale was walking around one day, he found a Bible that didn’t quite make it into the garbage. It was on the ground next to a garbage bin. As Vale picked up the Bible, he didn’t realize what it was, but knew that something with this Book held power. So, he picked it up and took it back home, but didn’t understand what it was about. A few years later, he ended up getting a divorce from his wife. His wife left his daughter with him, as she didn’t want the child. This is not how it normally happens in Romania, but rather the father leaves. (He didn’t go into specific details, but from what I understood it was a very rough and bad divorce.) Vale from the divorce ended up falling into a deep depression from 1996-2010. During that depression, he turned to alcohol and many other things that did not help him with his fear, anxiety and depression. He told me that he remembers days when he left his daughter to do what he thought would help him in his moments of depression. His daughter could have been taking care of herself, for all I know.
Why 2010? What happened in 2010 that changed his heart? Valentin stumbled into the church in Draganesti, one evening to check out what was happening. I think it was a last resort. He kept going to church as it was his only source of encouragement. It was not easy for him as he encountered situations where it seemed as if God wasn’t present. One of those situations was when a youth from the church died unexpectantly. Valentin didn’t know what to do. He was utterly confused by the goodness of God when a youth who was good was taken away from the place he “needed” to be. As Valentin fought through these thoughts, the Lord continued to meet him where he was.
Valentin has been going to church in Draganesti since, but wasn’t feeling very encouraged and wasn’t drawing nearer to the Lord. Instead he was remaining stagnant. He said that once he saw my cardboard testimony, God was putting it on his heart that he needed more of the Lord. Also, when the second drama happened, he said he was reminded of God and how He takes everything, if we surrender it to Him.
It’s funny to me how God can use little, basic things like speaking English. As I was signing up for English, I was hesitant, because I didn’t want to miss out on the “seen” forms of ministry like evangelism, prayer, kids’ programming, but instead God meet me where I needed to be. He had specific individuals picked out for me to minister to and those happened to be these men. As God knew I needed to be here, he even multiplied numbers. By the end of our time together, there were a total of 14 men coming and we started with maybe? 7. I was there to encourage and instead, He encouraged me.
