God Working in Romania

Thirty-five years ago, Ken and I traveled behind the Iron Curtain into Communist-controlled Romania – one of our sponsors was the American Embassy, and our job was to connect with government officials in order to ascertain the needs of Romanians with disabilities. Under the ruthless dictator, Nikolai Ceausescu, the standard government response was, “We have no disabled people!” It was a sad and difficult time for the people of Romania. I did, however, enjoy many opportunities to “bring greetings” in churches throughout Bucharest and beyond (my greetings often lasted 30 minutes); in one of those churches, two young boys, Cornel Tun and Otto Kis, listened intently. I was talking about God’s love for people with disabilities. And now, 3 ½ decades later, Cornel and Otto are very much involved in reaching Romanian special-needs families with the Good News of Jesus – recently they were in town for Dr. John MacArthur’s Shepherd Conference, and they came by the IDC to have discussions with our Joni and Friends team. The seeds sown 35 years ago have borne fruit! God bless Cornel and Otto and all that they are doing to reach people with disabilities in their nation for Christ.