Sorin Prodan serves as one of the elders of Providence Church in Brasov, Romania. He is also the Eastern European coordinator for HeartCry. In his recent report, he shares of how he is seeing fruit from the church’s ministry to the handicap:
I mentioned in the past about our ministry with the disabled people. This is a key ministry for me and a few others from our church. For seven years I’ve been serving these people who suffer so greatly. Every year we provide equipment for hundreds of children and adults that suffer with various degrees of disability. This month, I was involved in helping a Gypsy man who is missing his right leg. He had to go to more investigations to save the other leg. Marian was a very evil man. He went to prison for many years for something he never wanted to share with me. God’s hand began to press upon him, and he lost his first leg during his prison time. Shortly, after being released, he came and asked for a wheel-chair. We provided a good one for him, but he had great pains in the other leg. For almost a month, I was with him daily in a series of medical tests that led to a invasive surgery in the attempt of saving the leg. During his days in the hospital I visited him daily, providing all he needed. The Gospel was proclaimed both in deed and in words to Marian. He has not yet repented. He is afraid of soon having no legs. He has thought about committing suicide many times. Pray that Marian will come to Christ, who will save him from his criminal past, and present life of sin.
Many years ago, we had a disability camp in the mountains. We usually would have around sixty people. One time, we had a boy whose name was Valy. He came from an orphanage where he had lived since childhood. He was missing a leg and hand from a devastating fire that he and his family suffered in their home. Valy was a joyful boy, playing a lot with my son, who was just a little child. We kept in touch for a while after the camp, but then we lost contact as he moved out from the orphanage. One Sunday morning, we had a tall young man who came to our service. He asked permission to sing a song. We did not know who he was, but gave him the opportunity to sing. He had a few words before the song, then he sang the hymn of the camp he had attended. We began to feel like he was somebody we had met before. Sure enough, one of our team members, who was a leader in the camp, recognized Valy. We could not believe how much he had changed. We embraced him with joy and welcomed him to come again. Well, ever since that Sunday Valy was present to every meeting. Recently, he asked to testify to his faith in Christ in baptism. We learned once again that those who sow with tears will one day reap in joy. Pray for Valy to stay faithful. Pray also for wisdom in our decision concerning his baptism. He is not yet 18, being under a social worker oversight. If we proceed with baptizing him, somebody could accuse us of manipulating a minor.
