Miklósfalva (Romanian: Nicoleşti) is a little village in Romania, the sweet home for approximately 150 Hungarian people. It is located around 5 miles from Székelyudvarhely (Romanian: Odorheiu Secuiesc) where Hodos and Szőke creeks meet. It is surrounded by three other villages in a 3 or 4 mile radius, that is why the village has 3 parts called Alszeg, Felszeg and Kányádszeg depending on the closest neighbour village.
The village is first mentioned in a document dated from 1332. Until the Treaty of Trianon (the peace agreement signed in 1920 at the end World War I) Miklósfalva belonged to Udvarhely county, and after the second Vienna agreement it belonged to Hungary again for 4 years.
The population is entirely Hungarian and it is mostly Protestant (Calvinist) by religion.
The church of the village was built in 1882 and today there are two monuments in front of it in the memory of the villagers who died during World War I and II.
The sense of a long history and the religion of the forfathers is very strong in these people. They love their families and they work hard for their living. Agriculture is still strongly present, and the older generation together with the young work the fields, traditional and modern methods living side by side. It is common to see a horse and buggy and at the same time hear the noise made by the machines on the fields.
At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 20th century there was a spiritual awakening in Transylvania in the midst of the Protestant and Catholic churches. Some people realized they needed to study the Bible for themselves because they needed answers to their desperate questions. They needed God instead of the theories of the eloquant sermons, a God who would speak to them personally and would change their lives. Some people came home from abroad after Christ had found them there in miraculous ways and became missionaries in their homeland because they saw the need for it.
This is how my great grandparents came to Christ and decided to depart from the old ways of their lives: they decided to study the Bible, pray, meet with other believers, praise God with songs, and lead a pure lifestyle starting from the inside out. They didn’t want to drink in bars any more, they didn’t want to dance, they didn’t want to work on Sundays, etc. They obeyed God and followed Christ’s example in baptism, too (the Protestant and Catholic churches practiced and still practice child baptism), which became the most obvious and disturbing dividing line, which caused the believers to be the outcast of their family and society.
The economical crisis of the 70’s made life in the city with its opportunities become a lifesaver. Many young people and families moved to the urban areas with hope in an easier life (with running water in the house, washing machine, regular monthly salaries, the promise of a pension for the old age, etc.). First my parents around the age of 17, then later my grandparents did the same. My parents still worked the fields in their spare time, they kept the old house in Miklósfalva, but they lived in an apartment in the city, in Székelyudvarhely.
It took some 25 - 30 years for the city people in Transilvania to realize that city life can become too materialistic and busy, or even unhealthy...So, those who more accomplished financially, built houses in the suburbs or just outside the towns, and in the country. Some people moved into a village, because they couldn’t afford the city. Others still thought of the village as a thing from the past, not advanced enough.
If we visited Miklósfalva, we would see people at all ages, from all walks of life. The common thing most of them share is that they don’t know Jesus as their personal Saviour. They need somone who would be willing to share their lives, not only on Sunday, but every day.
This is our family’s plan: to live our Christian life this Hungarian village for all to see. Hoping to be instruments in a unique way.
My grandparents are in heaven. Their house is still standing. J Some of their land is still in the possession of my father, my aunts and uncle.
