Romania Missions Part 2 by Steph & Chris Watkins
Chris and Stephanie Watkins began attending Calvary Baptist Church in April 2016 and reside in Grand Prairie, TX with their daughter, Ema. The Watkins volunteer to teach regularly in the Boulevard (4 years old through kindergarten) area of Kid City. They like to spend time outside in their community garden, camping, and spending time with friends playing games or watching movies. Click here if you missed Romania Missions Part 1 by Steph & Chris Watkins.
When we first arrived, my friend’s organization was working with five families. They provided food once a month, work when the center had work to pay them for, and an after school place for the nine children to have a shower, meal, tutoring, bible study and a reprieve from the village. The women were sent home each week with strips of paper to make beads. They would come once a week to the center and have a bible study and string their beads into necklaces. Each woman was paid for the beads they made, which provided somewhat of a steady income for the family. The missionary couple that was leaving a couple months after we had arrived had befriended two teenager families in the Roma Village. The foundation did not want to leave those two families without someone to be there for them when the other couple left. We were asked then to create and expand the teenage family ministry. We started with five teenage families and ended with seven. Our youngest mom had just turned 13 and our oldest mom was 19 turning 20. In the Roma culture girls “marry” between the ages of 9 and 12 and start having babies soon after. A girl can get “married” a few ways. She is sold by her father, raped by someone and then taken as his wife, or the few just claim they are together, have sex and are married. Out of our seven families only two were married legally. All the others just claimed marriage and were married in the eyes of their people.
Romania in general is a poorer country
and the town where we lived in was out in the country. A good income for a
Romanian was comparable to about $300 US dollars, and for the Roma it was much
less. Even though there’s tons of need
everywhere, the difference is you can SEE the need everywhere in Romania where in
the states you have to look for it more; it’s not as obvious here. Here in The
States we pray for God to show us someone in need whereas in Romania we didn’t
need to pray for it, it was just there. You couldn’t walk through town without
seeing someone in need. Every day we had people knocking on our door or front
gate asking for something, most of the time, it was food. Occasionally they
needed shoes or diapers for the kids. We did provide food packets every month
and child resources weekly for the families.
We held weekly bible studies, brought the moms and babies to the
center to teach them to how to bathe their children and babies, they would come
once a week for showers and baths, and provided them with diapers and formula
if needed. We provided food while in the
hospital as well as monthly packages, started a morning center for the kiddos
who were 18 months or older, in-home financial budgeting lessons and guidance,
and jobs for the men when we had them. Eventually the girls started making the
joy beads as well. We saw God work in
and through us continually while we were there. But we enjoyed seeing it when
the families we served saw and experienced God. One week, Chris figured out how
much a family would need to make and how many days they needed to work to pay
their bills for the month. Then they prayed for the work to come. The Roma have
a hard time finding jobs in Romania because nobody really wants to hire them.
As the week went by, we didn’t see the husband of one of the families at all
until the end of the week. When we ran into him and asked him where he was, he
replied that he was working all week. Then Chris reminded him that they had
just prayed for work and how God provided. He thought for a second and his face
lit up, like a light bulb turned on. It was awesome to see him recognize God’s
provision and how He answered his prayer.
We also became their advocates in the
medical system; we would take them to doctors and be their voice. With the
conditions in which they lived in, there were a lot of medical needs,
especially with the young children. We would help with their medications, but
also help them with their medical care. The Roma did not receive the best
medical care and sometimes don’t receive any medical care at all. We would intercede
for the families on a continual basis. Sadly I think the only reason our
families got treatment is because we were with them and we were Americans and
would give them money to get help.
The conditions of the hospitals over there are
not the same standards as our hospitals here in the states. One of our young
families was having their first child. They had her in the delivery room while
strapped down on a metal table. As we waited in the waiting room with her
family and her husband we found out that she was going to need to have a
C-Section. At that point the family got really anxious and we didn’t really
understand why. We were told that while a procedure may be routine in the
States, it can be dangerous over there. We prayed and then we talked with the
doctor. We realized that they were not going to give anesthesia and that we had
to bribe the doctor so they would give her the proper medications.
Chris and I were a shoulder, a
reprieve, an ear, and a friend. We LOVE them and miss them greatly. The Roma
people gave us a piece of their hearts, which in a culture like theirs means
more than any monetary item we could give them.
My time in Romania has changed my prayer life and how I relate
to God and others; always being thankful for what have. The Roma have an
expectation that because we are Americans we are rich. Their thoughts are we have unlimited
resources and we are to help them.
There are times we have been exhausted by helping the families and
others in the Roma village because after we help meet a need they automatically
bring you a list of more to do, demanding you do them too. This was routine
throughout our entire time there. Half way through our time there I realized
that I am no different with my relationship with God. I have frequently given
my “request” to God and when he answers I usually give him another list. With
this perspective I have learned to stop and say thank you and appreciate what
God has given us. And when I do ask a request I do it with a grateful and
cheerful heart.
God used Romania to instill an excitement
for watching God work in others life’s; rejoice with others and shoulder each
other’s burdens. He also reminded us of
His provision. One of the many
opportunities that I, Chris, had was working with each family individually – a
financial bible study teaching Gods principles on finances and helping them
each create a budget for their family. During the process of helping them
budget, and teaching them how to manage their resources, I noticed that God
always provides exactly what the families needed. Now, the families mismanaged
their funds but it was a revelation to me and a couple of them that He always
provided and He expects us to be good stewards regardless of what stage of life
we are in or how much is given. It was also eye opening to the concept of how
we are slaves to our debts (Proverbs 22:7).
In the Roma village the concept of
debt is handled rather differently than in the states and while helping the
families budget, I realized they spend most of their time working to pay off
debt. For us, going from both of us having full-time salaries in the States to
an income that changed from month to month was unstable. The funny thing for me, Steph, though is that
I was never concerned about the money coming in while we were in Romania. I
knew God wanted us there and that He would provide. Different story in the
States, I remember before moving constantly being worried over money with both
of us working two full-time jobs.
We may not have the luxuries that we
had in the states, like consistent power, a washing machine that holds more than
5 pieces of clothing, and an oven that is no bigger than an easy bake, BUT we
had EVERYTHING we needed and more plus we were extremely grateful that He
continued to provide each month. We are more grateful for what we have we have
A LOT to be thankful for and we have learned the blessings of complete reliance
on God.
Our previous church
was really big on community. We had been with our same group, before we left
the states, for five years. We valued them we loved them. Going thousands of
miles away where you know two people, only five speak the same language as you,
your new “village” has no stoplights and only one stop sign, you have to drive
40 min for most everything was a huge culture shock, and that’s even before you
get to the culture being a shock itself. Our friends and family were now eight hours
behind us time wise and trying to set up Skype or FaceTime dates presented its
own challenges. All that to say we quickly realized how important community
was/is to us and how isolating living in a strange country could be. Isn’t it
wonderful that God knows us and he made us for biblical community?
The church
we attended in Romania was wonderful, three and a half hour long services may
have taken us a bit to get use to but it was wonderful. The people were great
and many spoke English. We were placed in a group with five other missionaries
in the area! God gave us people who understood and were walking similar paths.
We weren’t alone! One time we went to McDonalds after church (yes, they have McDonalds
and yes, it is different) and we noticed there was a group of four Americans
speaking English! We introduced ourselves and they told us they were
missionaries as well. God did not leave us in isolation, but we had to take a
step as well. It would have been easy to live “alone” physically, but
spiritually and emotionally we needed each other. We cannot stress how
important and valuable biblical community and fellowship is to us. We are so
grateful to be at Calvary!
