One day after work I stopped by a local park to pray and get God's direction before I returned home to my wife.

I spotted some children playing on the swings. It was a fall day, October (I think). I said to one of the children, "It's a beautiful day." The response was, "Me no speak English." "Where are you from?" I asked. "We are from Romania."

I looked and saw a couple, a man and his wife, looking at me. They appeared to be from another culture. I walked up to them and said, "I want to help you." The lady said, "Why would you want to help us? You don't even know us." I said, "Because God wants to help you." She said, "Oh, I know Him." They were both stunned by my offer to help them.

I usually don't carry money, but I had some on me that day. I reached into my pocket and said, "Here this is for you." I also hadn't eaten my lunch that day and had what my wife had fixed for me. I said, "Here, this is for you and your family." "Who are you?" they asked. "That's not important." I told them I would like to see them again, and then I left. (These people I will refer to as Romanian couple #1).

I returned home, told my wife what had happened, got a roast out of our freezer and cooked it. I went shopping and bought some dishes and silverware. My wife and I returned to the park the next day and to my surprise the Romanians were there. I told them, "I have food and gifts for you! They are heavy. I must drive them to your place."

We went together to a small one room apartment. I took a large box, opened it and gave them the food, dishes and utensils (one utensil at a time).

The lady said, "Me going to cry." I said, "It's okay." That was the beginning of starting an international Bible study in our home.

I met a lady who worked for the Lutheran Refugee Services. She was trying to help foreign refugees that were coming into our country. She told me about another Romanian couple who were looking for work. I said, "Can I meet them?" She said, "Of course."

One day, this Romanian couple #2, called me and said, "We heard about you and want to meet you. We have the lonely's very bad." I asked Romanian couple #1 if they would go with me to meet Romanian couple #2. They said they would.

We met and brought them gifts. Things were going great until Romanian couple #1 mentioned our Bible Study. "We don't know about this God thing. We don't know if there is a God." I said, "It's okay. Come, someone may offer you a job." That's all it took for them to show up. Our Bible study had grown. We had people from Africa, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Latvia, England, etc. And of course, we had some Americans.

We could hardly communicate with so many different languages in one room, so we centered on showing them love and meeting their needs. We took them to a food bank and stores for clothing and practical things that they might need. They knew they were loved.

Then one night at our Bible study, the room was full and some Americans shared a testimony. I then got up and said in a joking way, "I sure need the gift of tongues tonight" (Acts 2:4). I began to speak of God's love and grace, and how Jesus went to the cross and paid for our sins so that we may have a relationship of friendship with God (Romans 5:10). I noticed that the Romanian lady's eyes (who didn't know if there was a God) lit up. She was on the edge of her seat. At the end of the meeting, she ran up to me and said, "When the others spoke, I could not understand a word. When you began to speak, I understood every word perfectly. It must be God! It must be God!"