When God Called Me From Romania To Serve The World!
As I type this post, I’m awaiting my flight from Spriggs Payne Airport in Monrovia, Liberia. If you have never heard of this airport, that’s okay. I did not know this place existed before today either. And today I get to co-pilot six other passengers over West African rainforests from Monrovia to Greenville, Liberia.
2013 God Knocks
Five years ago, I never would have imagined myself co-piloting a small plane into a rural West African village. See, I was born and raised in a small town in Romania. I never had a huge desire to venture far from home. In fact, the farthest I had traveled from Romania at this point in my life was to Rome, Italy to live with my aunt for a year. That summer in 2013 I was volunteering as a translator for a global church-planting ministry that came into my town every year in partnership with my church. But this particular week turned out to be different from any other year I translated. The first day I met this guy who had all kinds of cameras and equipment strapped all over him. Today I even tell people that I didn’t even see the person underneath all those cameras at first; I just saw “lights, camera, action!” Fast forward to 2015, I married that guy, and I packed everything I could fit into two checked bags to move to America and start a new life with him.
Lantern Vision
In 2011, God led my husband to create Lantern Vision, a professional visual storytelling nonprofit, to serve ministries, Christian individuals and Christ-centered nonprofits. In 2012 he left his full-time video production job to run and operate Lantern Vision entirely, and he has served in this capacity ever since.
Early on in our marriage I saw Lantern Vision as his job that had nothing to do with me. I had two degrees from Romania (Early Childhood Pedagogy and International Business), but I felt as though they didn’t count in this new country, and I needed to focus on making a new career for myself. However, it did not take long for me to realize this was not just his job or profession but rather a calling on his life. And over time God revealed to me that He had a purpose for me as well in Lantern Vision. I began simply by volunteering here and there for shoots like being an extra hand in a shot. As God continued to work on my heart, I began to see more and more what I could do for Lantern Vision. Today, I represent Lantern Vision along side my husband. I essentially serve as his right hand on shoots domestically and around the world. I set up lights, I mic-up subjects for interviews, I unpack and pack-up equipment, I serve as his spotter when we shoot aerial shots with the drone, I help in strategizing stories, I shoot B-roll occasionally, and I even help with translation when we work in Eastern European countries. Even more, I maintain and fix equipment, and I’m managing the social media along with assisting in the relationships with different ministry partners. When we are working in the field, it’s fun to keep one step ahead of him, to know what he’s going to need before he even asks. Every day I find myself more and more involved in this ministry called Lantern Vision.
God’s Orchestrating
It has really been humbling and beautiful to see how God has transformed and molded our marriage into this ministry that we do it together.
Many people advised both my husband and myself against working together as a couple, but it is undeniable to see that God has both of us involved in Lantern Vision for a purpose to serve others around the world. And the people I get to meet along the way inspire me in my own walk with Christ. Our God is a wonderful conductor, and I am thrilled to be an instrument in the work He does through Lantern Vision.
This blog post was written by Flori Troost.
