Mission team survives deadly winter storm in Bulgaria

Editor's note: Joshua and Katie Haun are volunteer missionaries in Razgrad, Bulgaria, through the Nazarene Theological Seminary (NTS) 365 Days in Mission program. Joshua recounts the harrowing experience of returning from picking up music trainers from an airport in Romania during a deadly snowstorm at the start of an unusual cold wave that gripped Europe for several weeks. 

This story is a reminder of how important it is to continuously intercede for the safety and well-being of our brothers and sisters in God's mission.

Razgrad, Bulgaria -- On January 25, I left at about 10 a.m. to drive to Bucharest, Romania, with Razgrad Church of the Nazarene's pastor, Nikolay. We have been anxiously awaiting and preparing for Brian Fentress and his musical partner, Jacek, to come and hold a gospel music seminar training and concert. We were planning to pick them up from the airport at five o’clock and return home around seven in order to finish preparations for the seminar to start on Thursday. 

It had been snowing here in Razgrad for a few days and so, as we drove, we enjoyed snow-covered scenery with small walls of snow on each side of the road from the cleaning trucks. The trip to Bucharest was uneventful. However, as we neared the airport it began to get slightly windy, snow started blowing across the road, and soon it started becoming a little harder to see. Still, we made it to the airport in good time, and Brian and Jacek were waiting for us. We got back in the car, and as we headed back through Bucharest, Pastor Nikolay looked at me and said, “I do not like the weather Josh. It is not good.”

This was the understatement of the year.

It had begun to snow heavily and the wind got even stronger. It took us about an hour to get out of Bucharest. By the time we drove past the last building, Pastor Nikolay and I were forced, for the first time, to get out of the car and beat the ice off of the windshield wipers.

Outside of Bucharest, between the city and the Danube River, the terrain is flat, with no trees or hills of any kind. Therefore, the wind became so severe that it began to push the car off the road. The combination of wind and snow made it impossible to see the car in front of you unless you were within 10 feet of it! In this way we covered little ground in a lot of time.

Finally, the traffic stopped. Pastor Nikolay got out of the car to break the ice off the wipers again. And we waited. The snow around us swirled in all directions and formed drifts around us. But we were warm in the car, so we began inching forward.

We found the answer to our traffic jam as we passed an 18-wheeler truck lying on its side across two lanes of traffic. It had wrecked on the ice, and snow had piled all around it.

We needed to get home, and we thought maybe if we just kept pushing through we would be able to make it to the Danube River and into Bulgaria. We drove past dozens of cars that had slid off the road into large snow drifts; we passed police cars blocking off all but the main roads. The wind grew unbelievably stronger and it was becoming harder and harder to see.  

Eventually we reached a village outside of the Romanian city of Giurgiu. Here there is a small dip in the terrain, therefore, the wind was not so bad. However, as we passed through the village, Pastor Nikolay explained the wind would be terrible on the next upper plain, and if we could make it off this next plain, maybe we could get to the border.

Within minutes we ascended to the plain where we would spend the rest of the night and the next morning.

Finally, a rescue man knocked on the door and told us we needed to hurry to the evacuation van that had just returned. We all jumped out and hurried toward the van. On the way, I heard Brian yell for us to wait. I turned to see if they were still behind us. When I turned, my left foot slipped and the wind caught me. It picked me up and I fell to the ground. Where I landed, the road was covered with an inch of ice, so the wind was blowing me under a truck! I could not stop myself until I was able to grab the truck's tire and pull myself up to continue jogging toward the evacuation van.

I was the last in line as we filed into the police station. Brian walked past the entrance counter, the offices, and the second entrance and plopped on the floor where he pulled off his socks and shoes and put his bare feet on the heater. As all the police officers gaped at Brian, I put up my hands in a gesture of helplessness and said, “He is American.” They all smiled and invited us in. They put us in a heated room farther back and, after receiving our passports, took us to the chief of police. 

When we were seated in front of the chief’s desk, he slid a plate of oranges toward us with several cups of hot tea and, with a smile, told us that he would help us in any way he could. This man took us to a grocery store where we bought food since none of us had eaten in the past 24 hours. Then he took us to the place where we would stay. It was a room with 10 steel beds and no heat on the third floor of a Romanian building for the housing of immigrants seeking political asylum. It was free and it was a roof over our heads.

After about three or four hours, the police chief called to say our car had been dug out. The police drove us to our car, and then gave us a private escort to the border which had just opened. Within four hours we arrived in Razgrad, praising the Lord for His grace and divine hand in helping us through our adventure.

I will never look at snow quite the same way ever again.

Apparently our story made an impression. Pastor Nikolay, Brian, Jacek, and I made the national Bulgarian news. While we were still at the immigration building, reporters showed up to interview Brian and Jacek, who told our story. The next day we were on both the Romanian and Bulgarian news: “Two Americans, a man from Poland, and a Bulgarian trapped in the storm!”

I am blessed to have so many people praying for me. I thank you all for praying for our safe return.