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Grigorescu Alexandru

Up-Dated - Friday, April 04, 2014

Table of Contents
* Grigorescu Alexandru
* Romania to Lebanon to America
* No Supervision
* Began to Search
* Back to Old Friends
* God began to Work
* God Answers in a Peculiar Way
* Saved
* A Changed Person
* Mission
* God is Not Through

Grigorescu Alexandru

My name is Grigorescu Alexandru and I was born in Dumbraveni, jud. Sibiu, Romania, on 12 may 1956. I’m the youngest and the only boy of 4 children.

Since I was a child I went to ortodox church with my mother, because she was an ortodox. At that time I thought that God is the one who is watching me all the time, ready to punish me for every mistake.  Because of that I was always afraid of God.

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Romania to Lebanon to America

In 1970 my father obtained the right to emigrate in the States, because he was an Armenian.

So  from May 1970 to December 1970 we stayed in Beirut Lebanon, waiting for the official papers to go to States.  In 1970 the war started so we had to evacuate the state immediately and we went to New York where we received Green Cards.  In N.Y. the winters were really cold so we had to move to L.A.  My father and my oldest sister found a job, me and my sister enrolled school.

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No Supervision

After one year and a half as a teenager, I’ve learned English fast. Since my father and my oldest sister didn’t have time to keep their eye on me, I started to do wrong things.

At the beginning it was fun, everything was good and beautiful, I thought that nothing could be more natural than that. The parties had no end, and my conversations were drugs and sex.

After 1 year I was expelled from school because of my absences without leave. So I had to take a job at a gas station. In this time I continued to use drugs, alcohol, but my family didn’t know anything about it.  My life continued that way for years and each day my vice was destroying me.

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Began to Search

In 1983 I wanted to change my life so I moved to Dallas, Texas, hoping and believing I would start a new life, in a place where no one knew me. I tried to give up my vices and live a normal life. That lasted only few months because I started to do what I wanted and that because I had money.

But this time was worse.  After one year and a half of living in Dallas I understood that I couldn’t face the problem on my own and that that I was overpowered by the problems I had, so I asked for psychologist help. They made some tests and they said that my way of living affected my brain. I continued to look for help at the “Self-help-Alcoholic  Anonymous “ and “Narcotic Anonymous”, a place where people like me met for helping one another. This program has a term of 1-5 years and contains a lot of help methods: meditation, collective prayer, self-power.

This program is a good one but because the center element is the man and his self-wish, it can solve only 10 % of the problem. After 2 years I started to use amphetamine substance thinking that I can help myself quitting my vice. After others 2 years the effects of this substance was visible: I started to live in a world of fantasy, paranoia. I was interned 3 months in a rehabilitation centre.

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Back to Old Friends

After I discharged from hospital I felt fine. In all this time I stopped working. I had to find another job: metal lather. In 1989 after 7 years of living in Dallas, I moved to L.A. and I entered in Carpenters Union. They gave me a job well paid: 30 $/h. After awhile I gathered some money and I went back to my old friendships. They were happy to see me back and that because I had money. That pushed to my old style of living: drugs, alcohol. In that time the cocaine was cheap and the smoking drugs were found the drugs market started to develop. You could smoke at any street corner or buy cocaine at a low price.

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God began to Work

In that time for the first time in my life I’ve heard God’s calling. In most of the nights I was crying and I was thinking of killing myself but I didn’t have the courage to do it. God brought into my life people that prayed for me to know Christ. I was involved in few critical incidents, with guns fire. I was listening to the guns sound and I was thinking that I’m so lucky that no of it hitted me. When I wanted to buy drugs I went to places where I wasn’t sure that I’ll come back alive.

Few years later I entered in a criminals and mafia group. They had the control of prostitution, drugs, criminals market. At the beginning I was afraid because I was conscious of the danger, but after awhile I started to admire them, I tried to do what they do and to compete with them by bets. They offered me a driver job. I had to carry women from one place to another, or art objects (which I supposed they were stolen). When I thought of quitting my job they tried to kill me because I became a danger for them. I found out that these people used to kill another for no reason, or for revenges. When I saw that I tried to get out of there, to hide, I changed my aspect.

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God Answers in a Peculiar Way

One night when I was praying to God to help me he created the best way of taking me out of there. I went with a friend in a place where we had to take some things. The police stopped us and arrested us. The initial charge was a house breaking, where we stole valuables. That happened one night before our arrest.

I was interrogated and the police proved us, that we were guilty.  At the L.A. Penal Court I received a counsel for the defense. He told me that I had to stay 15 years in prison. In that moment felt that my heart it’s stopped beating: I was so confused. I thought I was 46 years old and in 15 years when I’ll get out of jail I’ll be old. It took me one week to get over the shock and I started to cry in the cell when I was closed with other 5 men. I was in a prison where men had sentences between 30 – 300 years. They were criminals. The atmosphere was really depressive:  you could hear man crying, beating one another, killing one another. Most of them were man between 18-30 years.

In this horrible place I stayed two month and a half. Once in a week I was allowed to get out of my cell and go to church. One day, one of my colleague, invited me to church. I’ll always remember that way to the church: there was a long hall and then I entered in a big room with many chairs. A black pastor entered, he was holding a Bible in his hand. He started to talk about Jesus Christ, how He was beaten and crucified for our sins. This pastor also, told us that five years ago he was in a similar place like the one we were in. He prayed to God to help him and use him as a messenger for Him.

Thought he talked for one hour I didn’t understand too much of what he said at that point, only the fact that Jesus Christ is our savior and He is the only one that can forgive us. The pastor gave me a Bible, and when I went back to my cell I started to read it, although I couldn’t understand too much.  I continued to go to church but each time another pastor came as a volunteer.

After eight month I was convicted with 6 years and 8 months of prison and I knew that God answered my prayer and I thanked Him. I asked God for me to be moved in a prison were I could have time to follow His call. So I was sent to Avenal State Prison, a prison with second level of security, the second large prison in USA, with six big interior courtyards with 1250 men each courtyard.

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Saved

The courtyards had their own educative program, work, rehabilitation programs, self-help. The first days I was so thankful that God sent me there and I could enjoy the food and the educative programs. After six month I surrendered my life to God, I went to chapel and I listen to the sermons. The pastor told us if we want to accept Jesus in our lives, and some thing inside me pushed me in front  and I prayed this: Lord Jesus, forgive me for all my sins, I confess that you are my Lord, I believe You rose again so you could be my savior. Jesus please come into my life and master it. From this day on I give up my old life and help me to live a life with you, a life guided by you. Thank you for saving me and giving me eternal life.

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A Changed Person

So my life with Jesus started with April 2002, God gave me an anointment and in a few month, I couldn’t smoke anymore, I changed my way of thinking, I couldn’t curse anymore.  Slowly I began to change while learning Gods word, many wonderful things were happening in my life

When I entered the prison, the doctors took me some tests and they said that I have many diseases, like hepatitis, generated by drugs, alcohol and other things. I was also diagnostic with incurable diseases, with few chances of living but I said: Lord, my time left I give it to you, teach and use me for your glory.  When I came back to Romania, and I was examined again, the doctors told me that I’m not sick anymore, the diseased disappeared. I started to cry and I was singing to God, He healed me. In the first one year and a half, in the prison, I cried all the time, without knowing what’s happening to me. But now I know that the Holly Spirit was at work in my life and gave me the anointment for His work. I started to know how to pray. I felt like a child who was talking with his father, telling him his sorrows. In the past I was wicked, violent, aggressive, but God changed me, tough it was a big fight. I believe that God loves me a lot and He showed me that by forgiving me and taking away my sins. I also asked God to help me to have the necessary education. I received all the offers that came in the prison and I followed some classes by mail.

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Mission

I thank God that He choose me and separated me from my old life, and put me in the prison where to have the chance to know Him. Before I got out of prison, God started to make miracles in the courtyard number 6 where I was.  In the others courtyards there were problems, but in number 6 was peace: people came to Jesus, they were healed together with their families.  Each time God answered my prayers and I praised Him for that. At the end of my penalty, I asked God to use me for His glory and to send me as a missionary. So I was transferred to a federal prison, because I wasn't an American citizen. I arrived in San Diego and God started to use me as a missionary, in a Christian cell. So I started to preach in this cell helped by a translator. I was overwhelmed by God’s work and I couldn’t believe that He used a sinner for His work. For 4 month I preached and a lot of men gave their lives to Jesus Christ. I prayed that God help those men to go home and when I prayed that, God said to me: I will send you back to Romania, I have a work for you there, you will be a missionary.

My lawyer was surprised by the choice I made and in 2 month they sent me in Romania. I arrived in Bucharest, I looked for a church and because I couldn’t find one, I started to smoke and drink alcohol again. I cried to God and I asked Him to find me a church. One day when I was in a park and reading from my Bible, two boys and a girl came to me and talked about Jesus, God, salvation. God bought in my life mature people, faithful to God. Today I can say that I have a normal mind, a healthy body. Praise to the Holly Spirit that I don’t have any vice and I live under His control, praising God in prayers, hymns and churches.  Soon the Lord has found me a good church to serve and worship him, I got involved in ministry, witnessing and praying for, and with people evangelizing in different places like prisons parks, metro, public places, and people’s homes. I prayed and asked God to bless me with a wife and he did. Asked Him for a home, and He gave me one. Praise the Lord. One day the Lord saw us caring our grocery bags and me and my wife we were talking it will be good to have a car, soon after the Lord gave us a new car Praise the Lord. 

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God is Not Through

Right now I’m waiting for God to show me His ministry here in Romania. I know that my testimony is a part of that ministry, and I’ll be glad to take God’s word anywhere He asks me.

Thanks be the Lord that he carries our burdens and we belong to Him it is a wonderful.

Life in Jesus Christ it is a miracle that happened in my life and is all part of His wonderful work of salvation.

There are many wonderful verses in the bible that relates to my story but more than that there are this verses that brought me life.

1Co 6:9 ¶  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Tit 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
15 ¶ These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Tit 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

I thank God  and our Lord and Savior for the His mercy and grace and  love. 

May our Lord bless you and your ministry?   

Grigorescu Alexandru

Editor's Note
Mr. Alexandru sent his testimony at first in Romanian, but it was in image form and must be retyped.  We did not feel comfortable retyping a language we did not understand, because of the likely hood of many typing mistakes and no way to proof read.  After several months he was able to get it translated and the above is the result.  Thank the Lord.
We added the subtitles and made very few corrections hoping to leave the personality in tact of this new Saint.

Steve Andres

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G. Steven Andres
Psalms 45:17
Missionary Evangelist
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