When news of the devastating floods in Valencia reached Romania, our team began contacting Romanian churches and local communities in Spain. Many were initially hesitant. Spain was a country with substantial resources and a strong government, they explained, and they questioned whether a mobile kitchen from Romania was needed.
Yet our team felt that God was calling us to serve there. We continued searching for local partners until we connected with Bethel Romanian Church in Valencia. The church was already collecting food and helping families affected by the floods. When they learned about our mobile kitchen, they welcomed the opportunity and invited us to come.
Upon arriving in Spain, we met another Christian organization that had gathered large quantities of food but lacked the facilities to prepare hot meals. When they saw our mobile kitchen, they recognized it as an answer to their prayers. Together with this organization and Bethel Church, we began preparing and distributing meals.
Among our volunteers was Cornel, a Romanian cook who had spent eight years working in kitchens in Spain. He described those years as some of the hardest of his life. He was young, the work was exhausting, and the demands were great. Yet through those experiences, he learned his profession and became familiar with Spanish cuisine and the tastes of the local people.
Nearly fifteen years later, having returned to Romania, Cornel found himself back in Spain for an entirely different purpose. Each day, he prepared between 600 and 1,000 meals, which our teams distributed to flood-affected communities around Torrent, in the Valencia region.
Cornel told us that he finally understood why God had allowed him to spend those eight years working in Spanish kitchens. What had once seemed like a difficult chapter of his life had become preparation for an opportunity to serve.
Even during the midday break, when he could have rested, Cornel joined the distribution teams. Tirelessly, he delivered meals and shared the love of God with the people he met.
Many were surprised to discover that volunteers had traveled all the way from Romania to help them. Their questions opened doors for conversations about faith, God's love, and the reason our team had come.
For Cornel, the kitchen had been one of God's schools of life. Years later, he could see how the skills he had acquired through hardship were being used not only to feed people but also to share the Gospel.
Through this mission, we were reminded that God can use even the most difficult seasons of our lives to prepare us for future service. He brings people, churches, and organizations together across national boundaries, allowing us to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ through practical acts of compassion.
What once seemed like years of hardship became years of preparation for a greater purpose.
