He risked everything to leave Romania, but followed God‘s prompting to go back
Vasile Doru’s journey begins in Romania, where his faith in God survived childhood tragedy, public ridicule, and years of atheism under communism.
Have you ever felt like God was asking you to do something that didn't make sense? Maybe even felt a little scary? Vasile Doru believed in God long before he ever found the church. When he was just 7 years old, his family was crossing a river in a horsedrawn wagon when the current overturned it. He remembers the screams as his family was swept downstream. Everyone survived except one of his grandmothers.
Just one year later, he was paraded in front of his class and mocked for believing in God. And yet, in a country like Romania, surrounded by atheism, he never stopped believing. Then, in the early 1990s, after communism fell, he set out for a better life. He and his friends left Romania, hid inside a shipping container with just enough crackers and water for 8 days. After weeks, he arrived in Canada starving, nearly dehydrated.
Not long after, he met someone who introduced him to missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At first, he didn't want to read the Book of Mormon. His friends mocked it, and he felt disloyal to his ancestors. But then something changed. From the moment he held the book, he felt a desire to repent, to become better. Then one day as he prayed, he said, "I was overwhelmed by feelings of warmth, love, peace, a divine presence I had never felt before.
In that moment, I knew without a doubt that God lives and that he speaks to us when we seek him." In 1995, he was baptized and just two weeks later, he felt something unexpected. God was asking him to go back to Romania to share what he had found. But going back meant giving up all he had sacrificed for. It meant hardship and uncertainty. So he prayed, "Lord, is this really from you?" And the answer came, "You won't have a family in Canada.
Your wife is waiting for you in Romania." Vicile didn't rush. For a full year, he prepared. He saved money, served faithfully, received the Melzdc priesthood, and went through the temple for the first time. Then in 1996, he returned to Romania. And two years later, at a small church fireside, a woman named Anna Maria walked in late. She had searched everywhere for truth. But here, she felt something different.
That November, Vasile baptized her, and just one week later, they were married. In 2000, they were sealed in the Fryberg, Germany temple. Today, they have a family and helped build the church in Romania. Vicile once said, "An immense joy fills my heart seeing the growth of the Lord's kingdom on Romanian land." So, let me ask you, what is God prompting you to do right now that you might be a little hesitant about?
