CEE Story From The Mission Field
A Modern Day Lydia - Part 1
March 2003
"Helga!" she asked, "Who is Helga?" so began this amazing story…
In 1991 Helga prayed to receive Christ. In 1994 she came to a conference for new believers near her home in Brasov, Romania, held by IMB missionaries to the deaf of Central and Eastern Europe. She was the oldest participant back then. Now, as one of the missionaries returned to visit Brasov, eight years later, someone mentioned Helga to her.
"Was this the same Helga from that conference so long ago, the one she remembered so fondly?" the missionary wondered, "was she even still alive?" The missionary inquired of her contact if Helga lived close by? Yes! She lives on the other side of the courtyard! They went to the door and waited, and waited, and waited. Helga is 84, blind in one eye, has a difficult time walking and is deaf, so the waiting was expected. When the door finally opened and recognition dawned in their eyes, Helga and the missionary embraced tightly.
After an animated reunion, Helga excitedly motioned to the missionary to follow her up to a small room that serves as her apartment. There, among the small coal stove, a bed that doubled as a couch, a table and a small prayer alter, was something really amazing. Like artwork plastered across each wall, were the notes that the missionary and her husband had scribbled at the 1994 conferences--the drawings, the verses, the lessons, everything. Helga's long, bony finger waved at he now-yellowed pages that had been taken from a flipchart nearly eight years ago.
"Do you remember teaching this?" she asked with a smile.
"At that moment, I wanted to weep," recalls the missionary, "Eight years had passed and this was still some of her Bible commentary. She had kept those sheets and used them daily. I felt deeply humbled!"
Then Helga pointed to the table and eight chairs that dominated the apartment and said, "This is where we meet!"
"Who?" the missionary wanted to know.
"The Deaf Christians," said Helga, and she went on to explain.
The Bible Conference in '94 changed Helga's life. She had never been around other deaf Christians. After the conference, she would sit daily in her small apartment, reading the Bible, trying to understand it and the plan God had for her life. One day, while she was sitting by her window, reading, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She was startled as she thought herself to be alone. She looked around and found no one, so she continued reading. Someone tapped her a second time! Her heart beat rapidly! Then she looked down and saw that her Bible was opened to Hebrews where God said we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together with one another.
So she left her home to find Odette, another deaf believer, and told her, "If you are a believer and I am a believer, should we not meet together?" She offered her little apartment-room. Over the past eight years several have come to Christ and the group has grown. Now eight of them meet together.
Th missionary was so excited! "Helga," she asked, "what do you do in your meetings?"
The answer was straight out of the book of Acts! "We fellowship! We pray! We sing! We study God's Word! We worship! We break bread together!" The missionary hugged Helga tightly and they both cried tears of joy at what God had done. Then she asked, "Helga, can we come tomorrow? Can we worship with you?" Helga's face broke into a huge grin and she lifted up her hands high praising God and then asked, "Will you please come teach us? We have many questions!"
The missionary went back into the courtyard and met up with her husband. Seeing the tears he quickly asked what was wrong. The missionary explained, "There's a deaf church that meets there! I believe I just met the deaf Lydia of Romania. Tomorrow we may be participating in a truly deaf, indigenous church."
"A deaf church?" the missionary husband asked, incredulous.
"Yes! And a house church no less!" the missionary responded.
"Do they know they are a church?" he asked.
The missionary replied, "No, I don't think they do!