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Lessons from the Underground Church - Peter Lucaciu
What if the collapse of a regime could ignite a revival of faith and hope? Join us as we engage with Peter Lucaciu, Executive Director of t…
Oct. 25, 2024
Lessons from the Underground Church - Peter Lucaciu
What if the collapse of a regime could ignite a revival of faith and hope? Join us as we engage with Peter Lucaciu, Executive Director of the Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission, whose journey unfolds against the stark backdrop of communist Romania. In a gripping narrative, Peter shares his family’s trials and triumphs under communist persecution, drawing inspiration from his grandfather's endurance as a former Siberian prisoner who helped lay the foundations for an evangelical church. Discover how the miraculous fall of communism in 1989 acted as a catalyst for spiritual resurgence, echoing the timeless tales of courage found in the biblical book of Daniel.
Embark on a journey of faith and humanitarianism as we learn about the foundations of the Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission. Through Peter's insightful storytelling, we explore how this unique initiative marries medical aid with spiritual outreach, transforming countless lives across Romanian communities. The story of international Christian doctors joining hands to deliver essential healthcare and spiritual growth showcases the profound impact of this mission. Hear about the ongoing efforts to recruit new doctors and expand its influence, sustaining an enduring legacy that began in Transylvania.
Our conversation sheds light on the resilient spirit of the Christian community during one of history's most turbulent times. Peter recounts personal stories of steadfast faith amidst the pervasive surveillance of an oppressive regime, highlighting the unity and strength that emerged from adversity. From forming cross-cultural Christian connections to the heartwarming tale of meeting his wife in church, Peter illustrates how faith has woven unbreakable bonds that continue to flourish. Reflect on the paradox of freedom leading to complacency and the potential need for challenges to reawaken fervor in faith, as we explore cherished memories and the enduring power of belief.
(00:01) Faith Journey Through Communism
(15:38) Missionary Work Across Romania and Beyond
(27:56) Cross-Cultural Christian Connections
(36:55) Lessons From Romanian Communism Survivors
(46:41) Strength Through Connection in Turbulent Times
Website - https://faithly.co
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/faithly.co
Peter Lucaciu
https://faithly.co/profiles/peterlucaciu
Romanian Evangelical Medical Mission
https://www.remmromania.org
Chapters
01:00 - Faith Journey Through Communism
15:38:00 - Missionary Work Across Romania and Beyond
27:56:00 - Cross-Cultural Christian Connections
36:55:00 - Lessons From Romanian Communism Survivors
46:41:00 - Strength Through Connection in Turbulent Times
Transcript
00:01 - Speaker 1
Life during communism. They talk about a new road, the road of communism, the victory in communism, and they were sure that communists will conquer the whole world through their ideology. And suddenly, the collapse of the communist Eastern Bloc. It was beyond your imagination that this will happen in your life. And when you look at what's happened during the revolution, people fall on their knees and start Lord's Prayer. It was close to Christmas and very cold, and people starting Lord's Prayer, hundreds of thousands of people or more. And that was after almost half a century of communism, atheism. They illuminate, they educate how people they knew Lord's Prayer and they shouted God exists, god exists, god exists and God is with us. God is with us. After was blood, after people had been killed. Suddenly, their eyes were upon that only God can save. Hello, my name is Peter Lucaciu. I am Executive Director of Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission, based here in the United States, and our field is in Romania. And this is my Faithly Stories.
01:13 - Speaker 2
Welcome to Faithly Stories, the podcast that brings you inspiring tales from conversations with church leaders as they navigate the peaks and valleys of their faith journeys through their ministry work and everyday life. Join us as we delve into their challenges, moments of encouragement and answered prayers. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. Learn more at faithlyco. Get ready to be uplifted and inspired as we unveil the heart of faith through stories from the front lines of ministry. On the Faithly Stories podcast.
01:56 - Speaker 3
So, peter, can you tell me a little bit about your faith journey?
02:01 - Speaker 1
journey, my faith journey. I was born in 1951, during hard years of communism in Romania. That time I was born in a Christian family. My grandfather came from Siberia prisoner camp. He was a prisoner in Siberia for six years. He came back in my country. He came back in Romania where I was born in the northwest part of Romania called Transylvania, and he founded a church, an evangelical church, in my village. He was very persecuted. I was born in this family, was born in this family. The communists came in power and one thing they taught us in the school that religion is poison for the people, is darkness, keep people in slavery. And they thought that in three generations will be no more religion, will no more faith.
03:01 - Speaker 3
So how did you come to believe in Jesus?
03:05 - Speaker 1
I came to believe in Jesus through several people my grandfather. I remember my grandfather when he taught me Lord's Prayer. I was four or five years old and he was a preacher, a lay preacher. Then a young pastor came to my church and he was severely beaten by militiamen. He died and he was in late 20s when he died. He had the family, two little children, and I look at the price price they paid. My father also was a lay preacher and look at how much they were ready to pay for their faith.
04:14
The communists they came and said that religion I mean the war started in the world because of religion and now it's all history. The communism will bring peace, will bring a job for everyone, and it was like they promised the paradise on this earth. And I look at the communist leaders many times and they said they don't want to pay for their faith, for what they believe, because stealing, cheating, lying, all of these things. I saw how it flourished during communism and I look at how honest was my grandfather and my pastor and how much they were ready to pay for their faith and that impressed me a lot and I came through faith through these people, my family, who pay a huge price for this and that's how we get to know Jesus and follow him. And that's how we are now, and almost everyone from the family is a believer and following Jesus.
05:34 - Speaker 3
Wow, that's amazing and astonishing because for me, these past couple of months the Lord's been really pressing into my heart what it means to live with urgency, with seriousness, and I don't think for a long time. Until recently I understood what you were talking about, like I'm willing to die for my faith, like I always said that. But there was a lot of fear in my heart, right, not like physically dying, but like worrying about like money or worrying about future but like it's all the same right.
06:14
It's like if you have fear, you're not trusting and so when I started to look at people who had like extraordinary faith. They lived a very life, but also a life that's very strong on the inside right, so that anything in the outside doesn't help. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah, so what was it like in Romania during like? Are they still communist now?
06:38 - Speaker 1
No, it was for me unbelievable beyond my imagination that communism will collapse. And 1989, it was like a miracle. For me it was. I mean incredible events. The communism in Eastern Bloc country like Czechoslovakia is Czech now and Slovakia there are two countries now Hungary then, country after country and reach the border of Romania. And the leader of Communist Party, the dictator of Romania, said this will never happen in Romania and we pray a lot that Christmas 1989, on Christmas Day, the dictator of Romania was executed and people who had been taught about atheism, communism, they came together in large places, they came in big cities and they knelt and they started Lord's Prayer after half a century of communism. And so you saw something that you never saw, that this will happen in your life. And for me, me was a miracle how god was working. Like daniel said, you know, he lift up the, lift up the kings and he deposed them. Uh, for me was right there in front of our eyes.
08:17 - Speaker 3
Yes, that's so interesting because I'm currently reading through daniel right now and yeah, about like how to live in a kingdom or a nation where they're oppressing you religiously and Daniel says, hey, I'm not going to follow no matter what and that kind of faith. I think I'm just beginning to understand what that means. So for you, what was it like to live under that oppression where they're trying to say you can't have faith and you have to follow the communist understanding? I don't think a lot of people understand what it means to live in a religiously oppressive state, so could you kind of share that experience?
09:03 - Speaker 1
Yes, when the communists came in power they promised there will be a freedom of religion and they will treat all religion equal. They change little by little. They ban the people who really preach the gospel and they put their own people as leaders of different denominations. So they change all leadership. I grew up, for example, in a Baptist church, which we have not so many Baptists in Romania or in Eastern Bloc. But it was incredible to see how they started a war against the Word of God. For example, they would not allow for years to print the Bible in Romania. They reduced the number of pastors so much that they saw there will be no more pastors in the churches.
10:22
The church started underground, underground church, for example. We had secret camps in the mountains, which was illegal. So you invited preachers, preachers who spent many years in prison because of their faith. So they taught us in a Christian camp. Then people from states or from other countries they came to teach us in this secret camp At the border. Some of them, they said they have been asked do you have with you guns, do you have with you drugs, or do you have with you Bibles? So the Bible had been very dangerous for them. So that's kind of activity how to smuggle Bibles from. We had people that had been called Brother Andrew. So you smuggle, you brought Bibles from one city or one town in your town and you should do the delivery immediately. All these Bibles and Christian literature. People had been killed for that or people had been imprisoned for that.
11:39
So you saw, in different parts of Romania people started this underground church activities and the word of God was spread. They would not allow somebody who has been educated at their school All the school had been communist one. So they saw that after you study in the school for example, I graduated medical school in Romania In order to be a physician or in order to be a teacher or in order to be engineer or whatever you need to study communist philosophy for one year. You need to study socialism, scientific socialism. And after you had studied this and you passed the test, they saw that once you educate through education, you will be no more Christian. Through education will be no more Christian. So in parallel you have this underground Christian activity, strong people.
12:54
I remember when I heard one preacher. He said we need to pray, we need to pray and to pray that in one day in Romania, romania, we can preach on the stadium and many people saw that. How can you think in this way when the community will not allow even in your church to do this activity? Today for such an incredible time. Miracle right now that we can preach. We preach on the stadium in Romania, on the radio TV, unbelievable time of freedom right now after a revolution. So people started in the church from the pulpit in praying and praying, and praying and you see, like what's? It's written in daniel that god changed the times. And many times I go in churches and say now we live in that time. So you see this journey from that time when they killed people because somebody smuggled Bibles, and now you have Bibles all over Romania. You see the Bibles even in the hands of former communists, former militiamen or preachers. And now it's that kind of time that we have in Romania.
14:25 - Speaker 3
That's fascinating, yeah, because I think for me those kind of situations only happen in movies, and so I don't really know what it's like to kind of live in that environment. So how did you go from there to your organization? It was called Romanian Evangelical Medical Missions, right?
14:51 - Speaker 1
Right Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission. I came, I found out that my son had an eye problem out that my son had an eye problem. So we tried to go to doctors in Romania and some of the doctors were bold enough to say we don't have this treatment for this kind of myopia in Romania. But there are doctors in the West and one of the doctors from the United States who came with medicine kind of smuggled medicine or Bibles in Romania. He knew me and he sent me an invitation to come here to the United States. The communists did not allow entire family. They kept like hostage part of your family. So they knew that you will come back or something. But I came here in the United States and one of the evangelists that I heard in one of Romanian churches his name was Anchorberg Floyd Anchorberg. He worked actually with Billy Graham for many years and he brought me the Wheaton Eye Clinic for treatment to a medical Christian doctor in Wheaton, illinois and that's how they started to treat my son and said you need to stay here for a long time. He needs contact lens and we need to change and his eye is growing. He was only seven, my son, when they came here. It was very, very tough time, uh, but anyway they replaced me as medical doctor in the area where I work. Then there were all kinds of threats and I decided to stay in the United States and to ask authorities to allow my wife to come with my daughter. She was an uncle, she lived in New York and she was five in that time. That's how the journey started.
17:08
I came in the United States and after 20 months of separation, after a lot of prayers, the churches here they start praying for my family, because at some point Romania, romanian dictator, romania lost most favorite nation status and I knew that there is no hope then for the reunited very soon with my family.
17:38
It was a kind of disparate case and I starting to pray, the churches that knew about me in Romania and here they started to pray and it was like a miracle. When I called my wife and I, she told me that no way that she will come soon. That's the authority told her and they became very nasty to her and I pray and pray and pray, and when I call her usually when you call romania in that time they interrupt you your phone conversation. So the just I heard my wife. Her name is anna. Uh, she was full of joy, said I have passport, I have visa, I have everything ready to go in America. On December 13, 1988, after 20 months of separation, my wife and my daughter came on O'Hare Chicago Airport. It was for me like a miracle.
18:52 - Speaker 3
So how did you start the organization?
18:57 - Speaker 1
So my wife came in 1988. In 1989, already we heard that country after country in Eastern Communist bloc collapsed and finally this happened on the Christmas, I mean when the revolution started in Romania. Then the dictator was executed. That was in December 89. In January 1990, I went back to Romania with my wife, my children. They were left behind here in America with some friends and people.
19:41
Everything was unbelievable for me in Romania because everything was collapsed. You saw lots of abandoned children, you saw orphanages, you saw a deplorable situation, the hospitals in Romania, medicine, everything was missing and people begged me, asked me to come back as a medical doctor, and that's a week. I came back to the United States in February, following month, and I talked with Christian's doctors from here. They came in 1919 in Romania and it was unbelievable because every year the medical doctor, christian's doctor from here, came with me in Romania. We had a long line of patients, of people waiting and waiting. They brought ultrasound machines, all kinds of equipment for the hospitals and suddenly I saw the entire Romania was so open to gospel and so we started this organization called Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission with the vision in one hand to have the medicine, another hand to have the Bible and many people came to Christ in this way, through medical doctors, through this kind of mission. So until today we work for 35 years now. That's how we started.
21:13 - Speaker 3
What city are you guys located in Romania?
21:16 - Speaker 1
It's a town about 11,000 people, but in West Carpathians called Bejus, Bejus town, bejus, in Transylvania, and we started to work there. We started to build a medical clinic there. Then we started to build a Christian orphanage. We work in about 100 villages, towns and villages around, to help needy families to prevent abandonment of children. So we went with food, clothes and brought them medicine and so on. Until today that we do in Romania, so that's in our area, but actually we work in. Went in the capital of Romania with medical doctors in Bucharest. We went to a big city in Transylvania it's called Cluj city. We sent medical doctors, taught some Romanian doctors, you brought equipment and lots of Bibles had been now distributed in the hospitals and everywhere.
22:49 - Speaker 3
How do you find the doctors?
22:51 - Speaker 1
I had connection with doctors during communism, my colleagues I worked in the hospital. We had many colleagues. They are communists or former communists, but they never loved communism. But in order to have a position, a high position, to be president of the hospital, you needed to be a member of the Communist Party. But it's amazing because lots of people former communists. They really respect you for what you believe, despite the fact that publicly they went and they were very strong against you because you knew that that was politics of communist party. But behind the door they try to help you.
23:49 - Speaker 3
So right now, are you just using the same doctors or do you recruit new doctors?
23:54 - Speaker 1
or, if someone else wants, to yes, we recruit new doctors. Some of the doctors when we started in 1990, some of the doctors they are with the Lord now they came in Romania year after year. And it's absolutely amazing for me, because we started in Romania and some of the doctors here in the United States they came from different states. Some of them they knew each other only in Romania, not here. And they came and I got messages from many of them and said, peter, I'm recruiting a team to go in Africa or in Asia or in South America.
24:43
And the mission was born there in Romania, in Transylvania, beginning of 1990s, 1990s, and you saw the impact of christian doctors, um, how they some of them. They said, well, peter, we came as a medical doctors in romania, now we go back as the preachers. So I love that. How the impact of the word of God, you know, was so strong that you see now, not only Romania but going beyond the borders in different countries New Europe, different countries in Africa and Asia, south America, all over North America, and I praise God for this.
25:31 - Speaker 3
That's so wonderful to hear, and I praise God for this. That's so wonderful to hear. Yeah, a lot of times when people go into missions, they go just to help, but then they get so blessed and they change more than the people. It's incredible. So let's move toward. How did you get involved with Facebook, then with your group?
25:57 - Speaker 1
My daughter, Anka, that she is in New York. She is very much involved with churches there and she told me a lot about faith and I was very impressed with this because I tried to spread the word of God. I'm on Facebook, for example, and I try to build bridges, because that's our mission to build bridges with different people, different communities, and especially right now, because you are in kind of dangerous environment. Romania, for example, is surrounded. One of the neighbors is Ukraine. Last year, we have about 50 Ukrainian refugees in our orphanage Mothers and children but the children were most of the refugees and now you see, the war is kind of in Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Republic of Moldova.
27:03
I mean, all of this area where you work is a lot of troubles now, and I was in Ukraine. I worked with Ukrainians. I was in the Republic of Moldova, I was in Yalta before 2010, and we spread the word of God there. So when you talk about faith, it's such a great need to spread the word of God in this way. So I appreciate, I'm very grateful to you, Danny, for what you're doing. It's amazing how you build the bridges and I try to go ahead with all these bridges.
27:56 - Speaker 3
So what made you want to start a Facebook group first? Was there a lot of people that were trying to connect with you, or are most of the people on your Facebook group from Romania or the United States?
28:12 - Speaker 1
They are from all over, especially through. We had every year we had American teams that came. It was not only medical. The doctors came, christian doctors. They went back in their communities, their hospitals, their churches. Then the following year they came with their family, even with children, and then they came with their pastor or other people like farmers, like policemen, people who work in army all kind of group of people that came.
28:55
We have, for example, students from Oral Roberts University, students from Azusa Pacific University, students from Trinity in Illinois, from Wheaton College, from Bryan College, from Covenant College. You saw how these young people went back and was like a fire, like a snowball, growing and growing, and we try to keep in touch with, we try to encourage them and they encourage the mission in Romania and they exactly what we needed faithfully now connection. So that's kind of what I have on facebook. There are people, there are christian, non-christian, former communists and you try to spread the word of god in many ways and I saw that what you're doing is absolutely amazing and I tried to spread the news about it.
29:59 - Speaker 3
How can it faithfully be helpful to you in what you're trying to do?
30:04 - Speaker 1
So I reached the number on Facebook, 5,000, the limit, the limit. I try um already. I talk about this with friends that they are very eager to start um the uh new door open there are through, opened through you, so I'm very eager to go ahead with this. Sometimes on Facebook or other, they saw that you talk too much about religion or something. You saw that they reduced the people who are real strong Christians or something like that strong Christian or something like that. It's great to hear that you are such a bridge between Christians, between Christian organizations. There are more Christian organizations in Romania Eastern Bloc, former Eastern Bloc, former communist country eager to work, and they are looking for something like what you're doing.
31:18 - Speaker 3
Do they speak Russian in Romania? What's the language? Or do they have their own language?
31:23 - Speaker 1
I study Russian because during communism I mean, that's in my village we study in the school of Russian. In my village we studied the school of Russian. Now, when we have Ukrainians that came as refugees, most of them they speak Russian. So in some way, when they force you to study Russian language, it was kind of you don't want to do that. I never studied English, for example, which was very difficult after I came here to learn the true English. To say so, even now I struggle, but it was unbelievable how God used all these languages to build a bridge.
32:19
For example, I went to the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of Moldova, a long time before communists came, was part of Romania. So when I talked with them, I saw that there are mixed families. I mean, there are some Russians, some Ukrainians, tartars, people from former Soviet Union republics, because Stalin moved people all the way you know and deported them. But when I preach in the church, they said, well, we need interpreter now from romanian language to russian. How is that possible? Because this is, I said well, part of my family is russian, part of my family is this.
33:10
But think in this way uh, you as american, you cannot go now, as all these former republics, but people from this chair, they can go all over because they have brothers, sisters in kazakhstan, turkmenistan and they can go share word of god. And I said it's amazing how God was working through all these connections. Stalin wanted to destroy religion, wanted to destroy the family, wanted to destroy all connections. In fact, god used this in an incredible way. So even now I'm connected with people from Republic of Moldova, from Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, from Ukraine, and you see how God use all these languages to spread the word. So that's I'm very grateful to you for what you're doing, danny.
34:08 - Speaker 3
Yeah, it's incredible that, like in the beginning we had a common language and with the Tower of Babel in Genesis, god changed all the language, but now he's using all the different languages to bring us back together. So yeah, I kind of see that full circle moment. It's kind of incredible. In your opinion, is communism like embedded that their ideology says you have to get rid of religion, or is it just like the Russian communists kind of used it that way?
34:36 - Speaker 1
Well, when you had been taught in the school that religion is darkness, is slavery, is opium for the people, and they say, okay, now you're educated to be a new man, a new society in religion and all of that. We need to get rid of this, to give freedom to the people, the open mind to the people, and it will be a paradise, but not in heaven, it will be a paradise here on the earth. Well, when they think that after you graduate the school or the end of the education, there will be no more faith, they will destroy the faith. The faith it's kind of I think in all communist countries it's kind of rule or something looking for long term, there will be no more faith.
35:47 - Speaker 3
So what would be your advice or encouragement for people living in countries where the government is trying to kill?
35:54 - Speaker 1
the faith, I think when we started the mission I heard a lot of Christians, god will provide. Many in Romania say you cannot do this in Romania, I cannot do this in Romania. And when I look for 35 years how God was working and kind of paved the road the way and I never thought this will happen like Magi or people from East came to worship Jesus and they they in Romanian language they went back in their countries on a different road.
36:42 - Speaker 3
How do you say that in Romanian?
36:45 - Speaker 1
Peu alta cale, peu nalt drum. A different road. And you know all my life. During communism they talk about a new road, the road of communism, the victory of communism, and they were sure that communists will conquer the whole world through their ideology. So you have been taught like that and suddenly the collapse of the communist Eastern Bloc was beyond your imagination, that this will happen in your life.
37:24
And when you look at what's happened during the revolution, people fall on their knees and start Lord's Prayer. It was close to Christmas and very cold and people starting Lord's Prayer, hundreds of thousands of people or more. And that was after almost half a century century of communism and atheism, of they illuminate, they educate how people. They knew lord's prayer and they shouted god exists, god exists, god exists and god is with us, god is with us. After was blood, after people had been killed. They suddenly their eyes were upon that only God can save us. And we can look at these facts because you have the leaders from Poland, from Czechoslovakia, that came here. They had been asked. They said you are the hero, because of you. The communism cult told journalists don't look at me. Only God made these changes. We are not able to overthrow the communism. So when you look at that, that that's I would like to teach my children, my grandchildren, here in america, everywhere, and to say only god, god changes times.
39:04 - Speaker 3
I love that because I think right now in america, we're too busy fighting instead of just praying. Right, and I think it's because we feel like we can do something, and we can, but, like you said, if God is not behind it, if God is not working, if God is not doing the work of bringing about the change, it's meaningless. And so I think we've lost a heart for humility, and what I'm hearing in all of your story is this heart and the sense of like I can't do it. I can't do it, lord, you have to do it, you have to do it, and for you, you saw the impossible happen and communism fell and you were probably like, wow, this is like the gospel coming alive, right.
39:55 - Speaker 1
Right. Many times I share passages from Scripture and that these words what is impossible with man is possible with God, jesus' words. So you saw in front of your eyes things that you saw, you're convinced that were impossible, and yet now we look back you see how it was possible. What is impossible with man is possible with God.
40:33 - Speaker 3
So what would you tell all the young people now in, like their teenage years and their early twenties, who don't believe in impossible things and who's kind of very comfortable and who's worried about their future and yeah, even right now, like, if you watch the news, everyone's like, like, everyone's worried about like the recession and getting a job and the political stuff and the election this year what would you tell people, the young people, the new generation coming up, we were on this road during communism.
41:16 - Speaker 1
They told you there is no future for you in Romania if you are Christian. I was expelled from students' organization. My wife was expelled from students' organization. My wife was expelled from students' organization. You knew what it means to be in front of your community, your colleagues, everyone to look at you and say now you're finished, there is no future for you, there is no hope for you in this country.
41:51
Now, thinking this way, after so many years, after they expelled me, they go in same medical school, same University, same school, and the bring doctors from here. And when nobody gave them hope in hospitals, when nobody came in Romania to help. You had Christian doctors, but we I grew up in a church, that a small church where people paid the price. And you look at what was painted behind the pulpit this gospel will be preached in the whole world, jesus world in the whole world. How is that possible? Now I look at that and I see people from a communist country like Romania. They go as missionary in Africa, they go as missionary in South Africa and you see how they spread the word of God Only through we are a small organization through our organization. How many people went all over the world and they have been very encouraged what they saw in this mission and you saw how you build these bridges with other countries, because we have friends in different countries in Europe and they said, okay, what hope is for the new generation? Keep in mind that my generation, they brought me in front of all colleagues and students. There is no future for him. Very few people in our area came back like we came back and share love of God with all people.
43:47
We have gypsy communities in Romania. We have Hungarian community. You build bridges between all these communities only through love of God and they, okay, what hope is for children, for young people in this community? They watch you very careful. They look at you, they look at the results, they look how God was working. They look that it was impossible for you to do things like you do today. It was only God and that's many people say.
44:23
Many young people follow Jesus because they see now they had a hope. They look why it was, what hope you had after the bloody revolution in Romania that they can, you can do in Romania. Everything was collapsed and yet, through love of God, all of this has been built and many, many had hopes in Romania, but not through I don't know, kind of now you have a strong economy, now you have a. No, it's actually millions of Romanians left Romania. But we try to be in contact and touch, like your organization, to be in touch with all these people who go in France, in Germany, great Britain, italy, spain, and many, many open the churches in these countries, new countries. Many opened the churches in these countries, new countries, but it was because of hope in Jesus that they opened the churches and they built new communities in all these countries. So you see how the word of God is spread through all these people because they have hope, hope in God.
45:51 - Speaker 3
One last thing is I'm just curious as to what church was like, because you brought up the word community. I think community is really important, especially when there's a lot of oppression, like you need to be surrounded by people who will pray for you, support you, maybe even hide you, right, if the authorities are looking for you. But when I see the church in the United States, we're not as connected right. It's more like we come, we experience and then we go home and then we don't talk to anybody for one week and then we come back on Sunday. But yeah, what was church like for you and community like for you growing up in Romania?
46:37 - Speaker 1
Connect, connect, connect. Despite the fact that secret police of Romania infiltrated. I mean there were informants in the hospital, in the church, in the school, everywhere. Now, after the collapse of communism, when you see the files and you see what's happened, it's unbelievable. The secret police infiltrated public schools and the students needed to give reports about their teachers, their colleagues, everything. Then the children had been asked by secret police to spy on their parents. So everywhere the communists had control.
47:23
And yet through all of this you had been very connected with brother and sister in Christ. I say the church was much stronger during communism than now. That ties, that connection was much stronger than today in freedom. And that's rather people during communism they are ready to pay a price rather than today and freedom. And it's still alive in my mind how people they gave a place, for example, for secret camp. That was. You know, they knew that they would be punished for this, they knew they would pay a huge price.
48:15
Or people they try to help you in many ways during communism, which I don't see today in freedom, because it's maybe we trust too much in ourselves than in god and the you have a prayer room or upper room that you alone with god, you spend a lot of time in prayer. Now is no more like that and during persecution, when you have a brother in prison. I had a great Christian who was close to my town. He spent 17 years in prison because of his faith and many times we went on his house on different paths, the secret police watch you and nobody to visit him, and yet the connection was so strong, despite of informal, despite of all obstacles. One of the things was everybody urged the other one okay, pray, pray, pray, connect, connect, connect. So that's not only my opinion, people, they are convinced about this. During communism, the church was stronger because of prayer, because of love, because connection. And that's what we should do now. When we look around schools, when we look around society and communities. We need more to be connected than disconnected.
50:02 - Speaker 3
Yeah, I totally agree with you. I think it's easier in a sense when you have a common enemy, because it's like a push right.
50:12 - Speaker 2
But when?
50:12 - Speaker 3
that's gone. Then it's like a child with no rules. You're just like, oh, I do whatever I want, and then you forget that the evil is still there, right? And so like, maybe, like Satan is like you know what, pushing them is not working, so I'm just going to let them do whatever they want. And then our selfishness comes out. It's like, oh, I don't want to connect, and it gets fragile, um, and that's why I believe like the best thing that can happen for us is some kind of suffering that comes, persecution that comes, so that the church will wake up again. But it's like, I don't know, there's this, uh, double-edged sword, yeah, so about?
50:55 - Speaker 1
connection. How did you meet your wife? That's in the church, the church, the church, christian community, despite the fact that, as I said, there are all kinds of informants, all kinds of threats If you go to church, you don't have a future. Both of us, we knew each other through the church.
51:22 - Speaker 3
But did you just meet her and you fell in love, or your family knew each other? What's the story?
51:29 - Speaker 1
No family. Actually, I was born in it's called Valley of White River and she is born in a river called Black River. So I came to the church and I saw her in the church and she posed in one way after we had been expelled from students' organization, we had something in common. But we fall in love to each other and that's how I get married. I came in her town, I moved from my town to her town and I worked as a medical doctor there. It was a very small community church. It was kind of illegal meetings, despite of the we have a building, but they didn't allow you to go in that meeting. You didn't have authorization, a license. So that communist right where you don't have a church, did not allow to put a lot of obstacles. So I became in that time the leader of the church in her church.
52:48 - Speaker 3
How long have you been married?
52:50 - Speaker 1
We got married in 1978, August 78.
52:56 - Speaker 3
Older than me. So during that time, what was that like on your marriage? Because that must have been hard.
53:05 - Speaker 1
Well, it was during communism. In that time, to have a wedding you need to wait in line for meat, for bread, for that's all during communism. But the parents, her parents, my parents, everyone made a lot of sacrifice to put together something you know, to see the wedding.
53:35 - Speaker 3
What did they sacrifice?
53:38 - Speaker 1
Well, in order for a family, you have maybe two or three generations same family. You have maybe a house, you raise some hogs, maybe some sheep or chickens or something like that, and the whole year you feed the family.
54:05 - Speaker 3
So they brought some of the food or the animals to the wedding. Yes, gotcha, gotcha man. That sounds so beautiful. A community that's connected, sacrificing for each other while still standing up against oppression. Again, it sounds like a movie. I kind of want that for us here.
54:29 - Speaker 1
I was very connected during communism with churches. I was very connected during communism with churches. I'm still connected through old connections, you know. But really God helped us to keep all this old connection until today.
54:47 - Speaker 3
I have a couple of questions to end the podcast. The first question is what is your favorite childhood memory?
54:56 - Speaker 1
Lots of memories, maybe Christmas time, because at Easter time or Christmas time some communist forced you to go to cultural hall. Some communist forced you to go to cultural hall After I went at school, at high school, in medical school, I was far away from home. We came back from that small. We grew up in a small church where our teacher said you don't have a future in Romania. And now from that small church we succeed to go in university. Only a few young people from the entire village. You have anonymous test to go. So I went to medical school.
55:55
I have other two brothers in university which suddenly teachers and others saw wait a minute. How was possible that we told them that they don't have a future in Romania? And only them and a few others, their cousin, but from the same church, small church which was very small in comparison with a village of 3,000 people. You came back at Christmas time on vacation and now we went with carols, singing songs, our teachers, and it was a great joy. I mean the teachers came so sorry for what I told you. When you were in the school you encouraged a lot of people. You became kind of example of the village. You became kind of example of the village, look how God chose them, how God opened the door for them, and suddenly everything was overthrown in their mind. The memory great thing when I was a student to come back in my village to go to the mayor, to former communists, to go and to share with them love from the Christmas, from the good news, and that's, it's a great memory for me.
57:25 - Speaker 3
What are you hoping for in the future?
57:29 - Speaker 1
I hope in the future to see my grandkids. I had four children and I have four children. All of them they went to school and they brought their colleagues, friends, even their teachers, from here, from states. They came to work with us, with me and my wife, to keep in their arms abandoned children of Romania, even to adopt children from here and their families from Romania. And I hope that my grandchildren and they started to do this, be connected with Romanian Christian communities, with churches, that they already have friends, they already they are interpreters, they are good bridges and I think your organization, I mean your connection, will be great to continue and to spread all these bridges, especially among young people.
58:36 - Speaker 3
So that's kind of what are you hoping for?
58:39 - Speaker 1
at. Faithly I'm praying that as we work with so many communities here in the United States with so many churches United States with so many churches this debris enlarge to be more effective, to hear that more bridges they are built through you, through others, and here in the future there will be other countries that will benefit from these bridges and the strong message of God, his word, will be spread more effectively through these connections.
59:22 - Speaker 3
And how can we be praying for you and your family?
59:25 - Speaker 1
Please pray. We are in that area of the world, neighbor with Ukraine, still we have Ukrainians, refugees. There are lots of threats, a cloud of threats in that area. Please pray that American teams will be a great witness for Christ. American teams will be great witness for Christ. We will have my family, my grandkids. They want to come to Romania. There will be a peaceful time there. For our health I was born in 1951. I'm 73 almost, so I can still have good health to continue the ministry, to build the bridges. Please pray for my family, for safety. We travel a lot in Romania. We work with different communities, like I said, hungarian, romanians, gypsy and other communities and to share with them love of Christ. More we work with. We have friends, russian friends, that they are in the Ukraine or Republic of Moldova. That God protects all our people and for American teams.
01:01:03 - Speaker 3
Thank you, peter, this was refreshing to talk to you about what you're doing in Romania. That's it for the podcast.
01:01:23 - Speaker 2
Thank you for tuning in Romania. That's it for the podcast. Bye leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers, the Faithly Digital Platform offers innovative and practical tools and resources to enhance connection, foster collaboration and promote growth within the church and ministry space. Remember to subscribe, rate and review our podcast to help reach more listeners like you. Stay tuned for more uplifting tales from the frontlines of ministry on the Faithly podcast. Stay bold, stay faithful and never underestimate the power of your own story.
Life during communism. They talk about a new road, the road of communism, the victory in communism, and they were sure that communists will conquer the whole world through their ideology. And suddenly, the collapse of the communist Eastern Bloc. It was beyond your imagination that this will happen in your life. And when you look at what's happened during the revolution, people fall on their knees and start Lord's Prayer. It was close to Christmas and very cold, and people starting Lord's Prayer, hundreds of thousands of people or more. And that was after almost half a century of communism, atheism. They illuminate, they educate how people they knew Lord's Prayer and they shouted God exists, god exists, god exists and God is with us. God is with us. After was blood, after people had been killed. Suddenly, their eyes were upon that only God can save. Hello, my name is Peter Lucaciu. I am Executive Director of Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission, based here in the United States, and our field is in Romania. And this is my Faithly Stories.
01:13 - Speaker 2
Welcome to Faithly Stories, the podcast that brings you inspiring tales from conversations with church leaders as they navigate the peaks and valleys of their faith journeys through their ministry work and everyday life. Join us as we delve into their challenges, moments of encouragement and answered prayers. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. Learn more at faithlyco. Get ready to be uplifted and inspired as we unveil the heart of faith through stories from the front lines of ministry. On the Faithly Stories podcast.
01:56 - Speaker 3
So, peter, can you tell me a little bit about your faith journey?
02:01 - Speaker 1
journey, my faith journey. I was born in 1951, during hard years of communism in Romania. That time I was born in a Christian family. My grandfather came from Siberia prisoner camp. He was a prisoner in Siberia for six years. He came back in my country. He came back in Romania where I was born in the northwest part of Romania called Transylvania, and he founded a church, an evangelical church, in my village. He was very persecuted. I was born in this family, was born in this family. The communists came in power and one thing they taught us in the school that religion is poison for the people, is darkness, keep people in slavery. And they thought that in three generations will be no more religion, will no more faith.
03:01 - Speaker 3
So how did you come to believe in Jesus?
03:05 - Speaker 1
I came to believe in Jesus through several people my grandfather. I remember my grandfather when he taught me Lord's Prayer. I was four or five years old and he was a preacher, a lay preacher. Then a young pastor came to my church and he was severely beaten by militiamen. He died and he was in late 20s when he died. He had the family, two little children, and I look at the price price they paid. My father also was a lay preacher and look at how much they were ready to pay for their faith.
04:14
The communists they came and said that religion I mean the war started in the world because of religion and now it's all history. The communism will bring peace, will bring a job for everyone, and it was like they promised the paradise on this earth. And I look at the communist leaders many times and they said they don't want to pay for their faith, for what they believe, because stealing, cheating, lying, all of these things. I saw how it flourished during communism and I look at how honest was my grandfather and my pastor and how much they were ready to pay for their faith and that impressed me a lot and I came through faith through these people, my family, who pay a huge price for this and that's how we get to know Jesus and follow him. And that's how we are now, and almost everyone from the family is a believer and following Jesus.
05:34 - Speaker 3
Wow, that's amazing and astonishing because for me, these past couple of months the Lord's been really pressing into my heart what it means to live with urgency, with seriousness, and I don't think for a long time. Until recently I understood what you were talking about, like I'm willing to die for my faith, like I always said that. But there was a lot of fear in my heart, right, not like physically dying, but like worrying about like money or worrying about future but like it's all the same right.
06:14
It's like if you have fear, you're not trusting and so when I started to look at people who had like extraordinary faith. They lived a very life, but also a life that's very strong on the inside right, so that anything in the outside doesn't help. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah, so what was it like in Romania during like? Are they still communist now?
06:38 - Speaker 1
No, it was for me unbelievable beyond my imagination that communism will collapse. And 1989, it was like a miracle. For me it was. I mean incredible events. The communism in Eastern Bloc country like Czechoslovakia is Czech now and Slovakia there are two countries now Hungary then, country after country and reach the border of Romania. And the leader of Communist Party, the dictator of Romania, said this will never happen in Romania and we pray a lot that Christmas 1989, on Christmas Day, the dictator of Romania was executed and people who had been taught about atheism, communism, they came together in large places, they came in big cities and they knelt and they started Lord's Prayer after half a century of communism. And so you saw something that you never saw, that this will happen in your life. And for me, me was a miracle how god was working. Like daniel said, you know, he lift up the, lift up the kings and he deposed them. Uh, for me was right there in front of our eyes.
08:17 - Speaker 3
Yes, that's so interesting because I'm currently reading through daniel right now and yeah, about like how to live in a kingdom or a nation where they're oppressing you religiously and Daniel says, hey, I'm not going to follow no matter what and that kind of faith. I think I'm just beginning to understand what that means. So for you, what was it like to live under that oppression where they're trying to say you can't have faith and you have to follow the communist understanding? I don't think a lot of people understand what it means to live in a religiously oppressive state, so could you kind of share that experience?
09:03 - Speaker 1
Yes, when the communists came in power they promised there will be a freedom of religion and they will treat all religion equal. They change little by little. They ban the people who really preach the gospel and they put their own people as leaders of different denominations. So they change all leadership. I grew up, for example, in a Baptist church, which we have not so many Baptists in Romania or in Eastern Bloc. But it was incredible to see how they started a war against the Word of God. For example, they would not allow for years to print the Bible in Romania. They reduced the number of pastors so much that they saw there will be no more pastors in the churches.
10:22
The church started underground, underground church, for example. We had secret camps in the mountains, which was illegal. So you invited preachers, preachers who spent many years in prison because of their faith. So they taught us in a Christian camp. Then people from states or from other countries they came to teach us in this secret camp At the border. Some of them, they said they have been asked do you have with you guns, do you have with you drugs, or do you have with you Bibles? So the Bible had been very dangerous for them. So that's kind of activity how to smuggle Bibles from. We had people that had been called Brother Andrew. So you smuggle, you brought Bibles from one city or one town in your town and you should do the delivery immediately. All these Bibles and Christian literature. People had been killed for that or people had been imprisoned for that.
11:39
So you saw, in different parts of Romania people started this underground church activities and the word of God was spread. They would not allow somebody who has been educated at their school All the school had been communist one. So they saw that after you study in the school for example, I graduated medical school in Romania In order to be a physician or in order to be a teacher or in order to be engineer or whatever you need to study communist philosophy for one year. You need to study socialism, scientific socialism. And after you had studied this and you passed the test, they saw that once you educate through education, you will be no more Christian. Through education will be no more Christian. So in parallel you have this underground Christian activity, strong people.
12:54
I remember when I heard one preacher. He said we need to pray, we need to pray and to pray that in one day in Romania, romania, we can preach on the stadium and many people saw that. How can you think in this way when the community will not allow even in your church to do this activity? Today for such an incredible time. Miracle right now that we can preach. We preach on the stadium in Romania, on the radio TV, unbelievable time of freedom right now after a revolution. So people started in the church from the pulpit in praying and praying, and praying and you see, like what's? It's written in daniel that god changed the times. And many times I go in churches and say now we live in that time. So you see this journey from that time when they killed people because somebody smuggled Bibles, and now you have Bibles all over Romania. You see the Bibles even in the hands of former communists, former militiamen or preachers. And now it's that kind of time that we have in Romania.
14:25 - Speaker 3
That's fascinating, yeah, because I think for me those kind of situations only happen in movies, and so I don't really know what it's like to kind of live in that environment. So how did you go from there to your organization? It was called Romanian Evangelical Medical Missions, right?
14:51 - Speaker 1
Right Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission. I came, I found out that my son had an eye problem out that my son had an eye problem. So we tried to go to doctors in Romania and some of the doctors were bold enough to say we don't have this treatment for this kind of myopia in Romania. But there are doctors in the West and one of the doctors from the United States who came with medicine kind of smuggled medicine or Bibles in Romania. He knew me and he sent me an invitation to come here to the United States. The communists did not allow entire family. They kept like hostage part of your family. So they knew that you will come back or something. But I came here in the United States and one of the evangelists that I heard in one of Romanian churches his name was Anchorberg Floyd Anchorberg. He worked actually with Billy Graham for many years and he brought me the Wheaton Eye Clinic for treatment to a medical Christian doctor in Wheaton, illinois and that's how they started to treat my son and said you need to stay here for a long time. He needs contact lens and we need to change and his eye is growing. He was only seven, my son, when they came here. It was very, very tough time, uh, but anyway they replaced me as medical doctor in the area where I work. Then there were all kinds of threats and I decided to stay in the United States and to ask authorities to allow my wife to come with my daughter. She was an uncle, she lived in New York and she was five in that time. That's how the journey started.
17:08
I came in the United States and after 20 months of separation, after a lot of prayers, the churches here they start praying for my family, because at some point Romania, romanian dictator, romania lost most favorite nation status and I knew that there is no hope then for the reunited very soon with my family.
17:38
It was a kind of disparate case and I starting to pray, the churches that knew about me in Romania and here they started to pray and it was like a miracle. When I called my wife and I, she told me that no way that she will come soon. That's the authority told her and they became very nasty to her and I pray and pray and pray, and when I call her usually when you call romania in that time they interrupt you your phone conversation. So the just I heard my wife. Her name is anna. Uh, she was full of joy, said I have passport, I have visa, I have everything ready to go in America. On December 13, 1988, after 20 months of separation, my wife and my daughter came on O'Hare Chicago Airport. It was for me like a miracle.
18:52 - Speaker 3
So how did you start the organization?
18:57 - Speaker 1
So my wife came in 1988. In 1989, already we heard that country after country in Eastern Communist bloc collapsed and finally this happened on the Christmas, I mean when the revolution started in Romania. Then the dictator was executed. That was in December 89. In January 1990, I went back to Romania with my wife, my children. They were left behind here in America with some friends and people.
19:41
Everything was unbelievable for me in Romania because everything was collapsed. You saw lots of abandoned children, you saw orphanages, you saw a deplorable situation, the hospitals in Romania, medicine, everything was missing and people begged me, asked me to come back as a medical doctor, and that's a week. I came back to the United States in February, following month, and I talked with Christian's doctors from here. They came in 1919 in Romania and it was unbelievable because every year the medical doctor, christian's doctor from here, came with me in Romania. We had a long line of patients, of people waiting and waiting. They brought ultrasound machines, all kinds of equipment for the hospitals and suddenly I saw the entire Romania was so open to gospel and so we started this organization called Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission with the vision in one hand to have the medicine, another hand to have the Bible and many people came to Christ in this way, through medical doctors, through this kind of mission. So until today we work for 35 years now. That's how we started.
21:13 - Speaker 3
What city are you guys located in Romania?
21:16 - Speaker 1
It's a town about 11,000 people, but in West Carpathians called Bejus, Bejus town, bejus, in Transylvania, and we started to work there. We started to build a medical clinic there. Then we started to build a Christian orphanage. We work in about 100 villages, towns and villages around, to help needy families to prevent abandonment of children. So we went with food, clothes and brought them medicine and so on. Until today that we do in Romania, so that's in our area, but actually we work in. Went in the capital of Romania with medical doctors in Bucharest. We went to a big city in Transylvania it's called Cluj city. We sent medical doctors, taught some Romanian doctors, you brought equipment and lots of Bibles had been now distributed in the hospitals and everywhere.
22:49 - Speaker 3
How do you find the doctors?
22:51 - Speaker 1
I had connection with doctors during communism, my colleagues I worked in the hospital. We had many colleagues. They are communists or former communists, but they never loved communism. But in order to have a position, a high position, to be president of the hospital, you needed to be a member of the Communist Party. But it's amazing because lots of people former communists. They really respect you for what you believe, despite the fact that publicly they went and they were very strong against you because you knew that that was politics of communist party. But behind the door they try to help you.
23:49 - Speaker 3
So right now, are you just using the same doctors or do you recruit new doctors?
23:54 - Speaker 1
or, if someone else wants, to yes, we recruit new doctors. Some of the doctors when we started in 1990, some of the doctors they are with the Lord now they came in Romania year after year. And it's absolutely amazing for me, because we started in Romania and some of the doctors here in the United States they came from different states. Some of them they knew each other only in Romania, not here. And they came and I got messages from many of them and said, peter, I'm recruiting a team to go in Africa or in Asia or in South America.
24:43
And the mission was born there in Romania, in Transylvania, beginning of 1990s, 1990s, and you saw the impact of christian doctors, um, how they some of them. They said, well, peter, we came as a medical doctors in romania, now we go back as the preachers. So I love that. How the impact of the word of God, you know, was so strong that you see now, not only Romania but going beyond the borders in different countries New Europe, different countries in Africa and Asia, south America, all over North America, and I praise God for this.
25:31 - Speaker 3
That's so wonderful to hear, and I praise God for this. That's so wonderful to hear. Yeah, a lot of times when people go into missions, they go just to help, but then they get so blessed and they change more than the people. It's incredible. So let's move toward. How did you get involved with Facebook, then with your group?
25:57 - Speaker 1
My daughter, Anka, that she is in New York. She is very much involved with churches there and she told me a lot about faith and I was very impressed with this because I tried to spread the word of God. I'm on Facebook, for example, and I try to build bridges, because that's our mission to build bridges with different people, different communities, and especially right now, because you are in kind of dangerous environment. Romania, for example, is surrounded. One of the neighbors is Ukraine. Last year, we have about 50 Ukrainian refugees in our orphanage Mothers and children but the children were most of the refugees and now you see, the war is kind of in Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Republic of Moldova.
27:03
I mean, all of this area where you work is a lot of troubles now, and I was in Ukraine. I worked with Ukrainians. I was in the Republic of Moldova, I was in Yalta before 2010, and we spread the word of God there. So when you talk about faith, it's such a great need to spread the word of God in this way. So I appreciate, I'm very grateful to you, Danny, for what you're doing. It's amazing how you build the bridges and I try to go ahead with all these bridges.
27:56 - Speaker 3
So what made you want to start a Facebook group first? Was there a lot of people that were trying to connect with you, or are most of the people on your Facebook group from Romania or the United States?
28:12 - Speaker 1
They are from all over, especially through. We had every year we had American teams that came. It was not only medical. The doctors came, christian doctors. They went back in their communities, their hospitals, their churches. Then the following year they came with their family, even with children, and then they came with their pastor or other people like farmers, like policemen, people who work in army all kind of group of people that came.
28:55
We have, for example, students from Oral Roberts University, students from Azusa Pacific University, students from Trinity in Illinois, from Wheaton College, from Bryan College, from Covenant College. You saw how these young people went back and was like a fire, like a snowball, growing and growing, and we try to keep in touch with, we try to encourage them and they encourage the mission in Romania and they exactly what we needed faithfully now connection. So that's kind of what I have on facebook. There are people, there are christian, non-christian, former communists and you try to spread the word of god in many ways and I saw that what you're doing is absolutely amazing and I tried to spread the news about it.
29:59 - Speaker 3
How can it faithfully be helpful to you in what you're trying to do?
30:04 - Speaker 1
So I reached the number on Facebook, 5,000, the limit, the limit. I try um already. I talk about this with friends that they are very eager to start um the uh new door open there are through, opened through you, so I'm very eager to go ahead with this. Sometimes on Facebook or other, they saw that you talk too much about religion or something. You saw that they reduced the people who are real strong Christians or something like that strong Christian or something like that. It's great to hear that you are such a bridge between Christians, between Christian organizations. There are more Christian organizations in Romania Eastern Bloc, former Eastern Bloc, former communist country eager to work, and they are looking for something like what you're doing.
31:18 - Speaker 3
Do they speak Russian in Romania? What's the language? Or do they have their own language?
31:23 - Speaker 1
I study Russian because during communism I mean, that's in my village we study in the school of Russian. In my village we studied the school of Russian. Now, when we have Ukrainians that came as refugees, most of them they speak Russian. So in some way, when they force you to study Russian language, it was kind of you don't want to do that. I never studied English, for example, which was very difficult after I came here to learn the true English. To say so, even now I struggle, but it was unbelievable how God used all these languages to build a bridge.
32:19
For example, I went to the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of Moldova, a long time before communists came, was part of Romania. So when I talked with them, I saw that there are mixed families. I mean, there are some Russians, some Ukrainians, tartars, people from former Soviet Union republics, because Stalin moved people all the way you know and deported them. But when I preach in the church, they said, well, we need interpreter now from romanian language to russian. How is that possible? Because this is, I said well, part of my family is russian, part of my family is this.
33:10
But think in this way uh, you as american, you cannot go now, as all these former republics, but people from this chair, they can go all over because they have brothers, sisters in kazakhstan, turkmenistan and they can go share word of god. And I said it's amazing how God was working through all these connections. Stalin wanted to destroy religion, wanted to destroy the family, wanted to destroy all connections. In fact, god used this in an incredible way. So even now I'm connected with people from Republic of Moldova, from Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, from Ukraine, and you see how God use all these languages to spread the word. So that's I'm very grateful to you for what you're doing, danny.
34:08 - Speaker 3
Yeah, it's incredible that, like in the beginning we had a common language and with the Tower of Babel in Genesis, god changed all the language, but now he's using all the different languages to bring us back together. So yeah, I kind of see that full circle moment. It's kind of incredible. In your opinion, is communism like embedded that their ideology says you have to get rid of religion, or is it just like the Russian communists kind of used it that way?
34:36 - Speaker 1
Well, when you had been taught in the school that religion is darkness, is slavery, is opium for the people, and they say, okay, now you're educated to be a new man, a new society in religion and all of that. We need to get rid of this, to give freedom to the people, the open mind to the people, and it will be a paradise, but not in heaven, it will be a paradise here on the earth. Well, when they think that after you graduate the school or the end of the education, there will be no more faith, they will destroy the faith. The faith it's kind of I think in all communist countries it's kind of rule or something looking for long term, there will be no more faith.
35:47 - Speaker 3
So what would be your advice or encouragement for people living in countries where the government is trying to kill?
35:54 - Speaker 1
the faith, I think when we started the mission I heard a lot of Christians, god will provide. Many in Romania say you cannot do this in Romania, I cannot do this in Romania. And when I look for 35 years how God was working and kind of paved the road the way and I never thought this will happen like Magi or people from East came to worship Jesus and they they in Romanian language they went back in their countries on a different road.
36:42 - Speaker 3
How do you say that in Romanian?
36:45 - Speaker 1
Peu alta cale, peu nalt drum. A different road. And you know all my life. During communism they talk about a new road, the road of communism, the victory of communism, and they were sure that communists will conquer the whole world through their ideology. So you have been taught like that and suddenly the collapse of the communist Eastern Bloc was beyond your imagination, that this will happen in your life.
37:24
And when you look at what's happened during the revolution, people fall on their knees and start Lord's Prayer. It was close to Christmas and very cold and people starting Lord's Prayer, hundreds of thousands of people or more. And that was after almost half a century century of communism and atheism, of they illuminate, they educate how people. They knew lord's prayer and they shouted god exists, god exists, god exists and god is with us, god is with us. After was blood, after people had been killed. They suddenly their eyes were upon that only God can save us. And we can look at these facts because you have the leaders from Poland, from Czechoslovakia, that came here. They had been asked. They said you are the hero, because of you. The communism cult told journalists don't look at me. Only God made these changes. We are not able to overthrow the communism. So when you look at that, that that's I would like to teach my children, my grandchildren, here in america, everywhere, and to say only god, god changes times.
39:04 - Speaker 3
I love that because I think right now in america, we're too busy fighting instead of just praying. Right, and I think it's because we feel like we can do something, and we can, but, like you said, if God is not behind it, if God is not working, if God is not doing the work of bringing about the change, it's meaningless. And so I think we've lost a heart for humility, and what I'm hearing in all of your story is this heart and the sense of like I can't do it. I can't do it, lord, you have to do it, you have to do it, and for you, you saw the impossible happen and communism fell and you were probably like, wow, this is like the gospel coming alive, right.
39:55 - Speaker 1
Right. Many times I share passages from Scripture and that these words what is impossible with man is possible with God, jesus' words. So you saw in front of your eyes things that you saw, you're convinced that were impossible, and yet now we look back you see how it was possible. What is impossible with man is possible with God.
40:33 - Speaker 3
So what would you tell all the young people now in, like their teenage years and their early twenties, who don't believe in impossible things and who's kind of very comfortable and who's worried about their future and yeah, even right now, like, if you watch the news, everyone's like, like, everyone's worried about like the recession and getting a job and the political stuff and the election this year what would you tell people, the young people, the new generation coming up, we were on this road during communism.
41:16 - Speaker 1
They told you there is no future for you in Romania if you are Christian. I was expelled from students' organization. My wife was expelled from students' organization. My wife was expelled from students' organization. You knew what it means to be in front of your community, your colleagues, everyone to look at you and say now you're finished, there is no future for you, there is no hope for you in this country.
41:51
Now, thinking this way, after so many years, after they expelled me, they go in same medical school, same University, same school, and the bring doctors from here. And when nobody gave them hope in hospitals, when nobody came in Romania to help. You had Christian doctors, but we I grew up in a church, that a small church where people paid the price. And you look at what was painted behind the pulpit this gospel will be preached in the whole world, jesus world in the whole world. How is that possible? Now I look at that and I see people from a communist country like Romania. They go as missionary in Africa, they go as missionary in South Africa and you see how they spread the word of God Only through we are a small organization through our organization. How many people went all over the world and they have been very encouraged what they saw in this mission and you saw how you build these bridges with other countries, because we have friends in different countries in Europe and they said, okay, what hope is for the new generation? Keep in mind that my generation, they brought me in front of all colleagues and students. There is no future for him. Very few people in our area came back like we came back and share love of God with all people.
43:47
We have gypsy communities in Romania. We have Hungarian community. You build bridges between all these communities only through love of God and they, okay, what hope is for children, for young people in this community? They watch you very careful. They look at you, they look at the results, they look how God was working. They look that it was impossible for you to do things like you do today. It was only God and that's many people say.
44:23
Many young people follow Jesus because they see now they had a hope. They look why it was, what hope you had after the bloody revolution in Romania that they can, you can do in Romania. Everything was collapsed and yet, through love of God, all of this has been built and many, many had hopes in Romania, but not through I don't know, kind of now you have a strong economy, now you have a. No, it's actually millions of Romanians left Romania. But we try to be in contact and touch, like your organization, to be in touch with all these people who go in France, in Germany, great Britain, italy, spain, and many, many open the churches in these countries, new countries. Many opened the churches in these countries, new countries, but it was because of hope in Jesus that they opened the churches and they built new communities in all these countries. So you see how the word of God is spread through all these people because they have hope, hope in God.
45:51 - Speaker 3
One last thing is I'm just curious as to what church was like, because you brought up the word community. I think community is really important, especially when there's a lot of oppression, like you need to be surrounded by people who will pray for you, support you, maybe even hide you, right, if the authorities are looking for you. But when I see the church in the United States, we're not as connected right. It's more like we come, we experience and then we go home and then we don't talk to anybody for one week and then we come back on Sunday. But yeah, what was church like for you and community like for you growing up in Romania?
46:37 - Speaker 1
Connect, connect, connect. Despite the fact that secret police of Romania infiltrated. I mean there were informants in the hospital, in the church, in the school, everywhere. Now, after the collapse of communism, when you see the files and you see what's happened, it's unbelievable. The secret police infiltrated public schools and the students needed to give reports about their teachers, their colleagues, everything. Then the children had been asked by secret police to spy on their parents. So everywhere the communists had control.
47:23
And yet through all of this you had been very connected with brother and sister in Christ. I say the church was much stronger during communism than now. That ties, that connection was much stronger than today in freedom. And that's rather people during communism they are ready to pay a price rather than today and freedom. And it's still alive in my mind how people they gave a place, for example, for secret camp. That was. You know, they knew that they would be punished for this, they knew they would pay a huge price.
48:15
Or people they try to help you in many ways during communism, which I don't see today in freedom, because it's maybe we trust too much in ourselves than in god and the you have a prayer room or upper room that you alone with god, you spend a lot of time in prayer. Now is no more like that and during persecution, when you have a brother in prison. I had a great Christian who was close to my town. He spent 17 years in prison because of his faith and many times we went on his house on different paths, the secret police watch you and nobody to visit him, and yet the connection was so strong, despite of informal, despite of all obstacles. One of the things was everybody urged the other one okay, pray, pray, pray, connect, connect, connect. So that's not only my opinion, people, they are convinced about this. During communism, the church was stronger because of prayer, because of love, because connection. And that's what we should do now. When we look around schools, when we look around society and communities. We need more to be connected than disconnected.
50:02 - Speaker 3
Yeah, I totally agree with you. I think it's easier in a sense when you have a common enemy, because it's like a push right.
50:12 - Speaker 2
But when?
50:12 - Speaker 3
that's gone. Then it's like a child with no rules. You're just like, oh, I do whatever I want, and then you forget that the evil is still there, right? And so like, maybe, like Satan is like you know what, pushing them is not working, so I'm just going to let them do whatever they want. And then our selfishness comes out. It's like, oh, I don't want to connect, and it gets fragile, um, and that's why I believe like the best thing that can happen for us is some kind of suffering that comes, persecution that comes, so that the church will wake up again. But it's like, I don't know, there's this, uh, double-edged sword, yeah, so about?
50:55 - Speaker 1
connection. How did you meet your wife? That's in the church, the church, the church, christian community, despite the fact that, as I said, there are all kinds of informants, all kinds of threats If you go to church, you don't have a future. Both of us, we knew each other through the church.
51:22 - Speaker 3
But did you just meet her and you fell in love, or your family knew each other? What's the story?
51:29 - Speaker 1
No family. Actually, I was born in it's called Valley of White River and she is born in a river called Black River. So I came to the church and I saw her in the church and she posed in one way after we had been expelled from students' organization, we had something in common. But we fall in love to each other and that's how I get married. I came in her town, I moved from my town to her town and I worked as a medical doctor there. It was a very small community church. It was kind of illegal meetings, despite of the we have a building, but they didn't allow you to go in that meeting. You didn't have authorization, a license. So that communist right where you don't have a church, did not allow to put a lot of obstacles. So I became in that time the leader of the church in her church.
52:48 - Speaker 3
How long have you been married?
52:50 - Speaker 1
We got married in 1978, August 78.
52:56 - Speaker 3
Older than me. So during that time, what was that like on your marriage? Because that must have been hard.
53:05 - Speaker 1
Well, it was during communism. In that time, to have a wedding you need to wait in line for meat, for bread, for that's all during communism. But the parents, her parents, my parents, everyone made a lot of sacrifice to put together something you know, to see the wedding.
53:35 - Speaker 3
What did they sacrifice?
53:38 - Speaker 1
Well, in order for a family, you have maybe two or three generations same family. You have maybe a house, you raise some hogs, maybe some sheep or chickens or something like that, and the whole year you feed the family.
54:05 - Speaker 3
So they brought some of the food or the animals to the wedding. Yes, gotcha, gotcha man. That sounds so beautiful. A community that's connected, sacrificing for each other while still standing up against oppression. Again, it sounds like a movie. I kind of want that for us here.
54:29 - Speaker 1
I was very connected during communism with churches. I was very connected during communism with churches. I'm still connected through old connections, you know. But really God helped us to keep all this old connection until today.
54:47 - Speaker 3
I have a couple of questions to end the podcast. The first question is what is your favorite childhood memory?
54:56 - Speaker 1
Lots of memories, maybe Christmas time, because at Easter time or Christmas time some communist forced you to go to cultural hall. Some communist forced you to go to cultural hall After I went at school, at high school, in medical school, I was far away from home. We came back from that small. We grew up in a small church where our teacher said you don't have a future in Romania. And now from that small church we succeed to go in university. Only a few young people from the entire village. You have anonymous test to go. So I went to medical school.
55:55
I have other two brothers in university which suddenly teachers and others saw wait a minute. How was possible that we told them that they don't have a future in Romania? And only them and a few others, their cousin, but from the same church, small church which was very small in comparison with a village of 3,000 people. You came back at Christmas time on vacation and now we went with carols, singing songs, our teachers, and it was a great joy. I mean the teachers came so sorry for what I told you. When you were in the school you encouraged a lot of people. You became kind of example of the village. You became kind of example of the village, look how God chose them, how God opened the door for them, and suddenly everything was overthrown in their mind. The memory great thing when I was a student to come back in my village to go to the mayor, to former communists, to go and to share with them love from the Christmas, from the good news, and that's, it's a great memory for me.
57:25 - Speaker 3
What are you hoping for in the future?
57:29 - Speaker 1
I hope in the future to see my grandkids. I had four children and I have four children. All of them they went to school and they brought their colleagues, friends, even their teachers, from here, from states. They came to work with us, with me and my wife, to keep in their arms abandoned children of Romania, even to adopt children from here and their families from Romania. And I hope that my grandchildren and they started to do this, be connected with Romanian Christian communities, with churches, that they already have friends, they already they are interpreters, they are good bridges and I think your organization, I mean your connection, will be great to continue and to spread all these bridges, especially among young people.
58:36 - Speaker 3
So that's kind of what are you hoping for?
58:39 - Speaker 1
at. Faithly I'm praying that as we work with so many communities here in the United States with so many churches United States with so many churches this debris enlarge to be more effective, to hear that more bridges they are built through you, through others, and here in the future there will be other countries that will benefit from these bridges and the strong message of God, his word, will be spread more effectively through these connections.
59:22 - Speaker 3
And how can we be praying for you and your family?
59:25 - Speaker 1
Please pray. We are in that area of the world, neighbor with Ukraine, still we have Ukrainians, refugees. There are lots of threats, a cloud of threats in that area. Please pray that American teams will be a great witness for Christ. American teams will be great witness for Christ. We will have my family, my grandkids. They want to come to Romania. There will be a peaceful time there. For our health I was born in 1951. I'm 73 almost, so I can still have good health to continue the ministry, to build the bridges. Please pray for my family, for safety. We travel a lot in Romania. We work with different communities, like I said, hungarian, romanians, gypsy and other communities and to share with them love of Christ. More we work with. We have friends, russian friends, that they are in the Ukraine or Republic of Moldova. That God protects all our people and for American teams.
01:01:03 - Speaker 3
Thank you, peter, this was refreshing to talk to you about what you're doing in Romania. That's it for the podcast.
01:01:23 - Speaker 2
Thank you for tuning in Romania. That's it for the podcast. Bye leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers, the Faithly Digital Platform offers innovative and practical tools and resources to enhance connection, foster collaboration and promote growth within the church and ministry space. Remember to subscribe, rate and review our podcast to help reach more listeners like you. Stay tuned for more uplifting tales from the frontlines of ministry on the Faithly podcast. Stay bold, stay faithful and never underestimate the power of your own story.
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