Dear brothers and sisters,

 

The mountains of Vladeasa seem to be the source of beauty and riches, not only for the inhabitants of Transylvania, but also for all the visitors who choose to spend their resting time here. It seems like nothing can look better; nothing can be more breathtaking than these mountains. Every person that visits Vladeasa is amazed at what God has created here, which provides, not just a beautiful home but, a great source of income for the Romanian inhabitants that live here.

 

Between these inspirational peaks, nestled in a dry valley, are the two gypsy villages of Vladeasa, Sacuieu and Calatele, striving for their daily living. These villages are completely ignored by all authorities, and by all their neighbors: nobody seems to care. Everyone in Romania wants to stay away from anything that has to do with gypsies­, except Satan, who has been trying to keep them as his captives. He has taught them that the best way to succeed in life is to deceive, to abuse and to use witchcraft. 

 

As a Romanian I was taught to never trust a gypsy, and to stay away from them as much as I could. But the Lord has taught us something different: the best way to bring a gypsy to Christ is to go out to the them, to spend time with them, to get to know them better and to get to know their culture and their way of perceiving things. For a year and a half, our   time was spent getting to know them, trying to understand their hearts and ministering to them in their daily needs, sharing the Gospel on every occasion that the Lord brought to us. The children were the first ones to receive the gospel message, and then the gypsy ladies.

 

At the beginning of this summer, one of the gypsy men, who is highly respected in the village of Calatele, came to us and told us that he wants to become a repenter like us (“Repenter” is the word used by Romanians for born again Christians). He asked us if we would give him a Bible, and he came and prayed with us. The Lord has totally changed him: he has stopped drinking alcohol, smoking and committing adultery. All the people from the village were amazed at how Fery was changed, and some of them expressed their desire to do the same. Our joy is so great, because Fery is one of the few gypsies who know how to read, so he is able to read the Bible. He started to read the gospel of John, but when we gave him a children's Bible, to read to his children, he told us that he can understand this one better, and he is now reading the children's Bible. We are praying that he will be one of the leaders, who will lead all his people to Jesus.

 

In the other gypsy village, Sacuieu, the Lord worked great things this summer. More people received the Lord, and God gave them gifts of the Spirit, such as visions and speaking in tongues. A young gypsy lady came and asked me to tell Nicu to go to her house to pray before we went home, because her father had died two weeks before, and since then her and her family were not able to sleep in the night due to a haunting that was resulting in various manifestations, such as noises, objects moving, appearances of her dead father and beatings in the night. I told her that we could pray, but I stressed that she needed to receive Jesus, because He is The One who can help her. In about five minutes, I told her how Jesus died for her sins and wants to forgive her and come into her life. I asked her if she wants to receive Jesus into her heart, and her answer was "Of course." We prayed together, and after prayer I told her that if she was honest when she prayed, then she is now saved. She looked at me confused and asked me "What to be saved means?" She had never heard of this. I told her that her sins were forgiven, and that she will go to heaven now, with Jesus. Again, she was confused and asked me "That's all I had to do?" , and my answer was "Yes!" After church, we went to her home and prayed together, and during prayer she started to speak in tongues. It was amazing for us to see this, because she didn't even know what that was. We had to explain to her that it was the result of The Holy Spirit working in her. The next week, she told us of how she had reported to her husband concerning us praying with her and how she had received The Holy Spirit, and she asked her husband to pray with her and the children, and he did. They all prayed together. She told us that, since then, she had never slept better, and that there is peace in her house now; the evil spirit had gone.

After a month, more people decided to follow the Lord. We baptised ten people, six of whom received the Lord right then and there. More people received the Lord in the last two months, but they want to have some time to understand the work of God in their life, the grace and love of God. We are praying that the Lord will bless their minds so that they are able to comprehend the Word of God, since only a few gypsies are able to read . We know that the Lord can work miracles, and that the recent work in the gypsies' hearts was done "not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says The Lord of hosts."

 

During all these happy experiences, Satan was furious, and attacked both us and the gypsies who had received Jesus Christ. The Lord has taught us, through all this, the importance of prayer and the proclamation of His Word. We fought this battle on our knees before the Lord, and He was The One who stood up for us, and defeated our enemy.

 

 In His Grace

Silvana & Nicu Hagiu