Simon Ivascu lay dying on a cargo ship as he attempted to escape Romania to freedom. Using his last breaths he began to bargain with God offering a promise to spread his story of faith in exchange for his life. Despite great odds against him, Ivascu lived, and has kept his promise.
Recently Ivascu and his brother, Steven, as well as Jordan Cragun performed at the Carlyle Full Gospel Church on Monday, Nov. 25, to an audience of approximately 70 people. The Ivascu brothers and Cragun make up the Freedom Singers. Officially forming in 2001, the Freedom Singers travel to share both their music and testimony.
Simon's story begins in Romania. Born a Christian he and his family were persecuted as freedom of worship was not permitted. This persecution became amplified when Christians entered their mandatory military service following high school. Many would deny their faith as they went through service to avoid being beaten and treated harshly; but, for the Ivascu's this was not a choice, they would not deny their God.
Steven first fled Romania, making his way to Italy where he would establish a life for himself Simon explained. When Simon turned 18-years-old, he too would look to escape the same way his brother did.
"My brother ended up escaping and going into Italy," Simon explained. "...Once my brother arrived in Italy, he had to avoid being captured all the way to Italy because you see Romania was a country where the borders were closed..."
"When my turn came to leave the country I quickly found out how challenging it became because every border I had to cross between Romania and Italy, to go where my brother was, every border I had to cross was securely located... I will tell you I wouldn't be here today had God not been a part of my journey."
Although it was a difficult expedition, Simon was determined to find his brother. Knowing which city in Italy, but not the exact address his brother lived at, Simon thanks God for the miracle of knocking at a door to simply find Steven standing in front of him.
Italy would eventually deny Simon sanctuary and after paying a considerable amount of money to a stranger, would be smuggled out of the country. The individual they paid helped them through a patrolled zone where a train with large containers travelled through. Simon and his companions were locked inside and told they would be put on a ship the next day to be taken to another country.
With no idea where they were headed and with only as much food and water as they could carry along with a few tools including a hammer and chisel, they were locked inside the air tight container.
It turned out they would not be placed on the ship immediately and would wait four days inside the hot container which was slowly losing oxygen. The men inside were sure they would be cooked alive in the hot sun each day, but every night a cool rain brought the temperature down allowing them to live another day.
As it became difficult to breathe those in the container worked to puncture small holes through the metal to gain a source of fresh air. Eventually the container was placed on the ship, and Simon, with his companions began working on punching out a hole in the container large enough to escape from.
"The only way out was to somehow break out of the container and that took a lot of effort," Simon explained. "We grabbed our hammers and we grabbed our chisels and we started chopping. Little by little we started making a little 18 by 18 inch hole roughly."
Simon claims another miracle came as the container that should have been next to them, locking them in, was not there and they had room enough to escape the container. Finding two hatches, they attempted to open them to no avail.
As the group lay dying, and as thirst overcame them, they crawled back to their container because if the crew were going to find them dead they might as well all be together. Just as Simon was about to crawl in and succumb to death, he looked up at one of the hatches and noticed light. Mustering each ounce of strength left, he climbed to the hatch, saw a man through the opening, and began banging on the metal with a plastic flashlight.
It was another miracle. Not only had the crewman heard the weak banging, but the hatch which had been sealed for years had cracked open to reveal the daylight that had encouraged Simon to make the final effort in gaining the crew's attention.
"Right before I poked my head to crawl into the container for the last time, I turned my head and I looked around and looked back towards one of those hatch doors and I was stunned to see that sun shining through that hatch that was cracked open," Simon stated.
"To hear the captain later saying, he asked me how I got the crew's attention and I told him and he said, 'That's impossible. That hatch was sealed and locked for over 25 years...'"
Having been in the container for fourteen days, it would take another four before arriving in Montréal. They had risked their lives multiple times travelling from Romania through the Alps to Italy and finally to an unknown destination in the container, all for a chance at life free of persecution.
After being saved on the ship, the travellers found themselves headed to Canada and have since been extremely thankful for everything the country has given them Simon explained.
A difficult ordeal laced with what some call luck or what others call miracles, Simon and his companions reached Canada. They reached freedom.
Now Simon and Steven with the help of Cragun spread their message through their music and a book Simon wrote with fellow survivor Wesley Pop. This is why the group was performing in Carlyle and the three performers were thankful for such a good turnout. They raised money through donations and the sale of merchandise such as their book and CDs to put towards their missionary work in Romania.
