My First Romanian Baptism

by Christina Semon

I want to share with you an experience I had in which I witnessed my first Romanian baptism. Here is how it happened.

Wednesday at the PTFC we hold a meeting for the mothers. At this meeting they discussed their problems and listened to others. Then if the staff can offer some advice, they share it. It was my first time attending such meetings. Laura is one of the single mothers who has a son named Dragost. She was crying for half of the meeting while she was explaining her pains and worries. During the meeting, I learned that on Sunday she will have Dragost baptized at an Orthodox Monastery! My eyes brightened up after hearing this news.

On Sunday, I drove three of the ladies that work at the PTFC to the baptism. I saw Dragost's father, and I learned that Dragost's parents are around 19 and are Roma -- [Gypsy]. Laura did not expect anybody to come to her son's baptism and she was so grateful that we came to support her. The father, whose name is Florin, was hired by the monastery to help with some construction work and the Abbot got to know Florin. The Abbot talked to him about baptizing Dragost at the monastery. The parents are poor so that some of the typical baptismal things you would see were not there. But in God's eyes what items they had, and who participated are what mattered the most.

Dragost is now an Orthodox Christian. Glory to God!