Romania 18 April 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011 by Sora Jay
Hello everybody,
Sounds like Tim's wedding went well. I liked all of the pictures that everyone sent. There was one with chocolate eclairs... they exist here, but they're not the same. I'll have to get some when I get back, maybe Jesh will be getting married by then.
I remembered some things that I forgot to tell you about. I got permission from the city to do 'street-boarding' again and we got more persecution this time, but nothing bad happened. This priest walked by and said something like "How dare you do this near the orthodox churches, it's propaganda!" But, there isn't any place in iasi that isn't next to an orthodox church, so we can't help it. Another lady stopped to say "Have you no shame? You should be ashamed for saying such things!" and as she walked away I was like, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ..."
This is the only city where I have met people who are actually convinced that the orthodox religion is true, most of them just keep it as a religion. There was another girl that stopped and shouted at the elders for a while but they defended themselves boldly and I think they convinced her to take a pamphlet in the end, maybe not, I don't remember.
We talked to a man in the park yesterday and offered him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said he already had one and that he had read it and it was a bunch of lies and that orthodoxism was the true religion, because they have been around for 2000 years while we have only been around for 200. I told him that he obviously didn't read it. He looked a little embarrassed, so it must have been true. As we kept talking he told us that miracles should be following the true religion; things like healings, prophecies, and knowing people's thoughts. (And I thought, I just called you out super hard for lying to me, that's sort of like reading your thoughts, plus we have tons of miracles anyway). Then I asked him why he didn't become a saint, and he pondered profoundly on the idea. He said he would tell people that I asked him that and that he would say it in a really blunt way: "Why are you not a saint!"
We met an old history teacher on the street and met with him. He wasn't willing to believe anything we said and said that the orthodox church is the true one. Later on he told us that he was born into an Adventist family, but that when he got a little older "the security" which is the secret police, I guess, asked him what he was doing going to that church and that from that point on he never went to the adventist church again. A few years later when he was in college in a different city "the security" contacted him again and asked him about the adventist church. He had never going again so he was safe. It was a super creepy story, and it was the first one I've ever heard about "the security." I heard another one this week though; one of the members told us that her grandpa got in trouble with them because he "wasn't stealing like he was supposed to," she said, and that he has had a really difficult life compared to his siblings. She says that it is because "the security" messed things up for him. That's what she says. That may be one of the reasons why this city is more difficult than others, they created a tradition of fear. But we still find people to talk to, our English class has been really successful this transfer. Three students came to church yesterday, and there are two more that the elders are working with. Some of them are from our class, but they are all guys, so we didn't get any investigators from it. The elders got them all.
This one time we were talking to a JW and she started saying all these horrible things about orthodox members and I didn't like it. I like the people here, even if they do like to slam doors in my face and yell and swear at me.
Love,
Sora Jay
I like 2 Chron 7:14, where the Lord says he will heal the actual land, if the people will just repent. I think that's what all countries need.
Sounds like Tim's wedding went well. I liked all of the pictures that everyone sent. There was one with chocolate eclairs... they exist here, but they're not the same. I'll have to get some when I get back, maybe Jesh will be getting married by then.
I remembered some things that I forgot to tell you about. I got permission from the city to do 'street-boarding' again and we got more persecution this time, but nothing bad happened. This priest walked by and said something like "How dare you do this near the orthodox churches, it's propaganda!" But, there isn't any place in iasi that isn't next to an orthodox church, so we can't help it. Another lady stopped to say "Have you no shame? You should be ashamed for saying such things!" and as she walked away I was like, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ..."
This is the only city where I have met people who are actually convinced that the orthodox religion is true, most of them just keep it as a religion. There was another girl that stopped and shouted at the elders for a while but they defended themselves boldly and I think they convinced her to take a pamphlet in the end, maybe not, I don't remember.
We talked to a man in the park yesterday and offered him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said he already had one and that he had read it and it was a bunch of lies and that orthodoxism was the true religion, because they have been around for 2000 years while we have only been around for 200. I told him that he obviously didn't read it. He looked a little embarrassed, so it must have been true. As we kept talking he told us that miracles should be following the true religion; things like healings, prophecies, and knowing people's thoughts. (And I thought, I just called you out super hard for lying to me, that's sort of like reading your thoughts, plus we have tons of miracles anyway). Then I asked him why he didn't become a saint, and he pondered profoundly on the idea. He said he would tell people that I asked him that and that he would say it in a really blunt way: "Why are you not a saint!"
We met an old history teacher on the street and met with him. He wasn't willing to believe anything we said and said that the orthodox church is the true one. Later on he told us that he was born into an Adventist family, but that when he got a little older "the security" which is the secret police, I guess, asked him what he was doing going to that church and that from that point on he never went to the adventist church again. A few years later when he was in college in a different city "the security" contacted him again and asked him about the adventist church. He had never going again so he was safe. It was a super creepy story, and it was the first one I've ever heard about "the security." I heard another one this week though; one of the members told us that her grandpa got in trouble with them because he "wasn't stealing like he was supposed to," she said, and that he has had a really difficult life compared to his siblings. She says that it is because "the security" messed things up for him. That's what she says. That may be one of the reasons why this city is more difficult than others, they created a tradition of fear. But we still find people to talk to, our English class has been really successful this transfer. Three students came to church yesterday, and there are two more that the elders are working with. Some of them are from our class, but they are all guys, so we didn't get any investigators from it. The elders got them all.
This one time we were talking to a JW and she started saying all these horrible things about orthodox members and I didn't like it. I like the people here, even if they do like to slam doors in my face and yell and swear at me.
Love,
Sora Jay
I like 2 Chron 7:14, where the Lord says he will heal the actual land, if the people will just repent. I think that's what all countries need.
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