Pray For Romania Part 3

Romania today is a land of great contrast. The large cities are modern and bustling with people whereas country life is slow and you would think you have gone back in time 100 years. Many people are buying expensive sports cars to show off and while they sit in traffic beggars come down the road asking for money. People are building bigger and bigger houses while others struggle to heat their homes for the winter.

In the wake of communism Romania ushered in a new era of democracy and capitalism, but it has been a struggle to shed the old ways of thinking and doing things. Under communism everyone had a job even if it meant creating useless positions. The communists didn't want any foreign debt so they exported nearly everything they produced and left little for the people. Now that Romania has joined the EU, much more is available but it is hard to attain as the country struggles with enormous debt and high unemployment.

Many people are really struggling to make it here in Romania, and among the hardest hit are the widows, like our friend Catarina. She has been a widow for over 20 years and gets a pension of around one hundred dollars a month. Her medication costs nearly half of that which leaves very little for life's necessities, especially wood for heating in the winter.


Catarina usually only heats one room of her house where she stays nearly all of the time. She has a daughter who works in Spain in order to help her out, but many don't have anyone to help them.

Even so, they are always very hospitable. I visited Catarina this week and she invited me to eat with her, we had a traditional peasant meal of mamaliga (kind of like grits but with cornmeal), cheese, eggs, sausage and milk. We have experienced this sort of hospitality many times, it is very humbling when someone who has far less than you uses all they have to make you feel welcome.

We have had the great pleasure of staying in this small village for summer camp the last two years in a row. We have enjoyed getting to know the locals and ministering to them.

There are so many people here that just long for someone to care for them. Just like the kids, many of the people here don't have a great family network that sustains them. When they get old they don't typically go to nursing homes, they just keep trying to survive on their own. Please pray for them, that God will provide for them and help them to have faith in him.

Please pray for all of the struggling people in Romania. One of the main reasons that children are abandoned is that the family or single mom doesn't have the means to support them. Many families struggle with alcohol abuse and other forms of abuse, please pray for them and ask God to touch the hearts of the abusers so that they stop doing this.


Please pray for Romania's economy and government. The economy isn't doing well here and the government is often corrupt and ineffective. The pay for government workers keeps getting cut and that includes teachers, nurses and doctors, so the quality of work in those sectors is going down. People are in general very discontent and there is a lot of political unrest.


Please thank God that he has called us and many other here to help these people, and ask that he would send more people here. The people need hope and the only way they will have it is by knowing Jesus as their savior. With the kind of hope he gives us we can live through any situation knowing for sure that we are in his arms.

Thank you for reading this series on Romania, I hope that you enjoyed it and that it has given you a better idea of what this place is like and how you can pray for it and its people. We are very thankful for you and your prayer support, please continue to lift us up in your prayers as well.