Missionary Girl
By: Whitney Donaldson
You might have been to a foreign country before, and I know that you loved it! But how would you feel if you moved there? Meet Fiona, a thirteen year old girl now living in Arad, Romania, where she is a pastor’s kid. She has not been living there her whole life though!
At the beginning of 2005, the Barbosu family moved from Elgin, Illinois to Arad, Romania. The Barbosu family consists of Fiona, Tara, and their parents. Mrs. Barbosu is now expecting a new baby as well! The reason that they moved to Romania is because her dad, who is originally Romanian, wanted to be a pastor. He had a passion for his people, which was no doubt sent by God. Not knowing the language, Fiona had to be tutored in the US in order to understand her soon to be home language. When asked how it felt to leave all she knew and loved to move to a new country across the world, Fiona said, “First I really didn't like it here, I never thought I would fit in, I had a very hard first year adjusting but now I do not regret coming here in Romania.” Isn’t that the kind of attitude that you want to strive for?
Romania is very different from the United States. Because Romania was under Communism for over 45 years, they have no highways, good hospitals, and believe it or not girls, but not many malls, because they mostly have markets. The Romanian culture is very different from the United States; they have different money (lei) and a different language. This was a huge change for Fiona, who grew up in the States. Because salaries are so low and taxes are so high, Romanians are generally poorer than Americans. And we are complaining about the economy! Most people are pretty religious, and most people are orthodox Christians. Most Romanians have gardens and pets, and they hate air conditioning!!! They eat a lot of meat including pork and chicken. Some national foods are “sarmale” (stuffed cabbage leaves with rice and ground meat), smoked eggplant paste on bread, and salted raw fat. Fiona’s personal favorites are raw pigs feet and tail, mamaliga or polenta, and lots of good ciorbas (vegetable and meat based soup).
Fiona had to make a lot of changes going from the States to Romania. One day she lived with the English language all around her, and the next she is speaking Romanian! Fiona missed her friends a lot and took a while to get used to the strange food. She also became a pastor’s kid at her new home. Everyone had high expectations for her and said that she had to be the best in her class because of her dad’s position. Obviously, Fiona had to change schools as well. Romanian schools are very advanced, the teachers are not very friendly, and the whole system is shame based. Most students have about two to three hours worth of homework every night. On top of this, many students take private lessons! Fiona’s life is very busy!
Being new wasn’t the only thing that made Fiona stand out. She is a true believer of Jesus Christ, so people in her class have made fun of her because of her belief. She decided to take things up with God and started praying for each one individually. And guess what? None of those people have teased her for over two years! We should learn from this, and when life gets hard and everyone is teasing or picking on us, we should turn to the Lord and pray for them.
I do not like change, but guess what, everyone will have some in their life. If we choose to have a rotten attitude about it though, you will not learn from it or enjoy it. Fiona had a major change in her life, but God was with her every step of the way. Hebrews 13:5a-6 says, “‘ I will never leave you nor forsake you,’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” God had helped Fiona adjust so well that she can now confidently and proudly say that Romania is her home sweet home.
