I don’t remember actually having what most people would call a “conversion”—my experience was more like the people in Cornelius’ house: choosing to believe in my heart, followed by a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit.  My family was full of problems.  My mother and father were on the verge of a divorce.  My older sister had just had to repeat 2 year of her studies because of the intense psychological pressure of our situation.  And I had just heard the worst news possible; my parents were too financially drained to support me, and I could not continue attending the private university I was enrolled in.  I would either have to go to a state university or drop out altogether.  My schooling had always been somewhat of an idol for me, and I felt crushed.

            Seeing my intense depression and maybe feeling a little scarred for me, my sister told me that I should go and visit a local church where her sister-in-law, Alina, went.  The first meeting, the pastor spoke on curses, and being able to relate because of the problems in my family, I allowed them to pray for me.  I was impressed by the sincerity of their message and the freedom of their worship.  Desperate and without any other options, I decided to give it a try.  Feeling a great hunger for the truth, I began to have an insatiable desire to read the Bible.  And the most amazing thing happened: as I attended the church, the whole situation in my family and my parents’ marriage was soon resolved!

            A few months later, during a strong time of worship, I began to think to myself that I needed to go up into the front of the room.  Instead of walking up in a diplomatic fashion, I ran up and threw myself down on the floor.  Without any previous teaching on the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a new language burst forth out of my mouth.  Later that night when I got home, I told Alina, “I can now speak in that language like you guys do!”  

Coming from a devout Orthodox family, I was baptized by our village priest as a baby.  When I was 20 years-old, I told my mother that I wanted to be baptized in water at my new church, and surprisingly, she agreed.  One year after my baptism, my mother came to visit me in Cluj, and I showed her the video with my baptism at a lake.  Suddenly, she started to cry, and I asked her why she was upset.

She told me that she wasn’t upset.  However, the day of my baptism, she had prayed that if it wasn’t God’s will for me to be baptized, He would make it rain, doing an impossible act.  In the same moment that she prayed, she saw a vision of the lake where I was baptized.  A voice spoke to her deep in her heart, saying that this is a good thing, and from then on, she felt peaceful and secure.  When she saw that video, not only was the place the same she had seen in her vision but also there was beautiful weather.

            A year after being saved, I met Bill Norton, a powerful prophet who is now my father-in-law, while attending a 3-month Bible school in a small village about 4 hours from where I live.  One of the first times we met, he prophesied to me very deeply about my whole life, telling me that while I was only a few months in my mother’s womb, I had almost been aborted.  Not knowing anything about it, I went and asked my sister, who confirmed that it was indeed true.  At the time, abortions were very common in Romania, my mother had only recently had my sister, and finances being tight around the house, various people tried to talk her into aborting me.  Nevertheless, my whole life, my parents showed me much love and affection.  But God used the prophetic word to reveal this root of rejection in my life and bring me into a new freedom.

            Bill Norton also prophesied that I would be a prophetess to the nations, and he began to take me with his team at different times when he would minister.  Very distinctly, I remember one time when he invited me to come and help him in one of the biggest conferences of the new church movement in Romania.  Thinking that he just wanted me to translate, I happily accepted.  Before the altar call, he started to introduce his team—including me!  Sitting in the far back of the auditorium, I had to walk all the way to the front, feeling that all eyes were staring right at me.  He prayed, releasing the anointing, and told us to go among the people and minister.  Gladly, God showed up, or I would have been in a big mess!  With his training and encouragement, I soon began to step into a ministry of my own.