Moment in Romania: Sarah Bourgeois

I will cherish the times I got to spend on mission trips forever; each one changed me as a person in a different way. When I was an intern at the Wesley Foundation, I had the privilege of leading students on a mission to Romania with two of my fellow interns. We spent a month serving in two ministries, caring mostly for women and children. The first week, we were hosted by a family, the Nicolaes, who had begun a small ministry in their village. Heather, the mother, was from Idaho and met her Romanian husband, Pavel, while being a full-time missionary in Romania. The Nicolaes’s current-day ministry serves their village of Coroiesti by conducting church services on Sunday mornings, having a playground for children, and offering orchestra lessons (taught by Heather). Their ministry also houses the only water well in the village, which means they have opportunities to minister to the village women as they make their stops for water. 

My team and I adored this family. They had four children who fell in love with us on day one. They were bilingual in English and Romanian, and they delighted in getting to speak in English with us, while also laughing at our sorry attempts to speak Romanian. After being with them for only a few days, we quickly learned that this family was a well-oiled unit. Heather was a steady woman who cooked three 3-course meals for us every day, upheld the house chores, maintained the garden, raised four children, and helped run the village ministry. Pavel was a tender father who farmed, protected and nurtured his family, and pastored their ministry. It was healing to witness traditional gender roles be executed so effortlessly; there was nothing oppressive or unbalanced about it. The sense of respect was tangible amongst all six members. When the time came for my team to depart for the next ministry we would be serving, it was a tearful goodbye to the Nicolaes.

There was one day during our stay where they took us into the city for some sight-seeing. We got to visit the castle of Dracula, shop for souvenirs, and be total tourists. Driving back home from the city, we drove through the mountains. As I struggled to keep my eyes open after a long day, I watched out of the window. We took on a curve around the mountainside, and I spotted a simple cottage nestled in the hillside. It sat alone, facing the glowing orange sunset while overlooking a village in the valley below, speckled with red rooftops. In seeing the beauty of this view, the awareness that God loves Romania overcame me. I felt His overwhelming presence there and not just because we— the western missionaries— had brought Him there, but because He was already there. God was not trekking unfamiliar territory alongside us in Romania; He was sharing with us His magnificent creation and its inhabitants. That simple cottage reminded me that God was caring for Romania’s orphans and widows long before we arrived and the glory of that view was just one of the gifts the Lord had given them. His hand prints were on every textured mountainside, and His holiness radiated in the glow of the sunset on that unassuming cottage. 

Praise God for His presence everywhere.

Sarah Bourgeois (pictured here with her husband Josh) is a beloved friend and former Wesley intern. She loves gardening (is hoping to get into flower gardening alongside some vegetables this summer!), cuddling her cat, watching new movies, and spending time with Josh. She currently works as the Admissions Specialist for the College of Education on LA Tech's campus. We’re blessed by her presence and her testimony!