Ellena in Romania

Earlier this year, I was invited to join the United International Church team. I'm super excited about this new opportunity to reach out to Romanians who are searching for God and also to the international community that calls Constanta home. Our church is right in the heart of the old city, just a stone's throw away from the sea. Every year, thousands of people walk past our building. Our prayer is that they'll come in and find Jesus and a community of believers to grow with.

Today, I'm sitting here in the old city, and I can't help but feel like Constanta really needs Jesus. Even though this country is Orthodox, Constanta is a unique place. There is an Orthodox church in every neighborhood, but it also has the country's largest Muslim population. Whenever I'm in the old city, I hear the call to prayer from one of the mosques nearby. It's a bit strange to think that I'm still in Romania, but when I hear that call, I stop what I'm doing and pray for my city. I pray that God will use us to meet the needs of those who are lost.

Earlier this month, we hosted our first Inspire Romania women's event. Inspire Global Sisterhood isn't a conference, it's a movement to inspire women and girls to share their faith with others. As I think back on the event and hear what the participants had to say, I know that no matter how stressed I was organizing it, it's always worth it to hear the lives that were touched. On our volunteer night, we gave away free tickets to our volunteers to share with a friend. One of my preteen girls got up and took two tickets for her friends. When she was asked who was going to invite, she named her neighbor and classmate. Both of them showed up on Saturday, and one of them gave her heart to the Lord.

After Inspire, I had a chat with a friend who has attended this event in other countries. She was so excited to finally be able to attend it in her own country and language. At the others, she usually missed out on stuff because she had to translate from English all the time. By the time it was time to worship, she was exhausted. But this time, we had an amazing translator who translated for the speakers, and our worship team led worship in Romanian. She was able to fully enjoy everything.

I'm so grateful for everyone who prays and supports me here in Romania. I know this is where I'm supposed to be, and I know God has big plans for me in this new season at United. God has blessed us with an incredible team to work with, and they know how to hear and follow the voice of the Lord.