Romania 2011

Monday was the fourth of July, and our celebration consisted of one firework in the middle of a cake, and us singing the National Anthem in a key that was too high.

The kids arrived around 11am, and we welcomed them with American smiles and introductions. I was so excited to see all of the teenagers and meet them. They all are very excited about camp, and are very chill kids compared to last week! There are a couple special needs kids in the group, and all of the kids help them and encourage them to do better. I am very impressed with their good character.

We had our first sessions as a split team, and it went good! Rachel, Lizzy and I took the “copii,” (children), and Rob, Elizabeth and David went off with the teens. I will have the opportunity to share three testimonies with the teens, and am praying that God will use my life lessons for His glory.

It seems impossible that this is the final week of Romania, 2011. But God is going to do great things this week, and with a final “Fuarte Bine!!” we will end this wonderful camp.

p.s. Please pray that the sessions would go well, and that we would be equipped with enough energy to last each day!

Kaytra, for the team

Kaytra, and a few skit friends

Relay races with Rachel and David

Teens listening Elizabeth’s session

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We have to send our internet stick back to Deva tonight, so here’s a quick run-down on what’s going on. After a whirlwind tour of old Europe (super cool, by the way), we arrived back in the Hateg area to take part in several church services on Sunday.

In the morning we visited the church where some of the kids from our first week of camp attend. It was so good to see them again! We sang, shared testimonies, and had the kids sing with us. Ionel even shared a testimony. In the evening we spoke again at another church. Rob and David did a great job preaching.

Monday saw multiple car-loads of kids pulling up at the camp again. This is a different group from last week because we have a lot of older teens. So… three-ring circus coming right up! Rob, David, and I are running teen sessions while Kaytra, Rachel, and Lizzy work with the younger kids, but there’s also lots of running back and forth.

Pray for us as we wrap up our last couple of days in Romania. It’s going to be a race to the finish line since we leave the country just hours after the kids leave camp. If we find an internet connection between now and then we’ll update you, but if you don’t hear from us for a few days don’t worry. It just means we are minus an internet option.

Schedule from here to the end:

Tuesday – camp
Wednesday - camp
Thursday - camp (this is the day we have the princess afternoon for the girls and a BBQ and bonfire in the evening.)
Friday - kids leave right after lunch, we leave right after dinner to drive to Budapest.
Saturday - Rachel flies out in the morning. The rest of us fly out in the afternoon.

Elizabeth, for the Romania team

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Saturday -

After a great night’s sleep our team went out to the clock tower in Sighisoara and took our team pictures. I must say they turned out pretty good considering we had to dodge cars, large groups of tourists, and garbage men in orange jackets! On the road again with our translators Dana, Alice, and Estera we headed to a huge salt mine that took us 258 steps to get down in, it was like a whole other world down there! Yes, there was a lot of salt! Some of us decided to pick some salt off the wall and eat it, yes Romania salt taste just like American salt.

We did our final shopping there and then loaded up and headed towards Hateg back to the camp. The drive back was very pretty, God has made a frumos (beautiful) country here! We found a really ancient citadel on the way with a stairway that was just as old. It was my favorite citadel we have been to and was a challenge getting to the top without the boards breaking. We spent the next few hours in the car and once we made it back to the camp we all crashed in bed!

Lizzy, for the team

Lizzy and David

Salt mine in Praude

The team!

Elizabeth at the citadel

Silbu

Dinner at an outdoor cafe in Silbu

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Friday -

Castle day! We have seen a total of three castles the past two weeks and they are very different from each other. On the list for today were Peles and Bran Castle. Peles was the king’s summer home. It is multicultural collection of architectural influences from different parts of Europe. There was an armory room that had a total of about 1,000 different weapons from all over Europe. Bran was a smaller castle but I liked it even better then Peles. It had more of a lived-in, comfortable feel than the grand elegance of Peles.

Sighisoara was our final destination of the night. We were mainly planning to just get some sleep there, but after checking in to the hotel, we were told that one of the best sights of the city was the citadel at night. So… midnight hike, here we come! Fortunately, Dana (our translator) and our wonderful Romanian bus driver was wanted to be in on the adventure. We had a great time exploring the historic citadel and taking pictures of the city lights. Have fun enjoying our pictures!

From Sighisoara,

Rachel, for the team

Peles! Summer Palace of the Romanian Monarchy

Dining Room in Peles

Bran Castle

Midnight hike to the Citadel

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We’re going to miss these kids. When they first arrived we really had no idea what to expect. Street kids? Umm… yikes! But now, we love them. Let me tell you about a couple of them.

Beatrice… dark eyes; long, dark hair; and the most beautiful smile. She was in my Bible study group in the mornings. I had the 9-12 year old girls. We studied parts of the book of Ephesians. Starting with the verses in Ephesians 1 about how we are accepted and adopted into God’s family, I used the analogy of a king adopting a little street girl to be his princess. I wish you could have seen Beatrice’s eyes light up and her sweet smile spread across her face as I told her that she had an invitation to be a princess. Imagine a little girl who has seldom felt loved, wanted, or chosen being invited to be a princess, a daughter of the true King, and you can have an idea of what this meant to these little girls.

Tiffany… curly blond hair that seems to go in all the wrong directions, a young teen who hasn’t gotten past the awkward stage, quiet, hungry for love and acceptance. Tiffany also loved the idea of being a princess. Her face lit up when I told her that God knew all about her before she was born, that she would have blond, curly hair and beautiful blue eyes. I don’t think anyone had ever told her before that she was a beautiful girl. She would often come up and just put an arm around me, wanting to be close and feel loved.

Ionel… a tall, thin, shy boy with a sweet smile. One morning the kids were asked to share prayer requests. His request: a shelter. He’s homeless. He loves people, though. I sat at the older boys’ table one meal. Have you ever seen a bunch of 10-12 year old boys who don’t get regular meals attack food? It was disappearing at an amazing speed. Ionel spoke up, “Wait, guys! You have to leave some food for Elizabeth!” He often watches out for other people to make sure their needs are met. He is also very artistic and loves the craft projects. He gave me a card to today: “Thank you for loving all of the kids and being kind to us and especially to me.” Given just a little love he responded with such love and gentleness.

I could go on and on about these children. They may be the unwanted, rejected children of society, but they are incredibly loved by God. Jesus died for them. When someone loves them, they soak it up. Please pray for these kids. They are returning to very difficult home situations, or in Ionel’s situation, no home at all.

As the children piled into the bus to return to their town we all gathered to yell back and forth, “Goodbye! We love you! God bless you!” We love these Romanian children.

- Elizabeth, for the team

Elizabeth with Tiffany and Beatrice

Rachel with Ionel

Three-legged race

David and crew

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Wednesday –

Today was the final full day of the first kids camp here in Hateg, and it was so AWESOME!! It is so wonderful to see the changes in the kids. From mean words to helping hands, and from fights to peace. Now kids come up to you and give you flowers, and gratefulness notes, and say that they never want to leave us… they were loved this week. It might have been one of the few times someone said they are beautiful, or they received a voluntary hug from someone. Maybe it was the first time they had ever had a camp fire and eaten American s’mores. There probably were a lot of firsts this week.

This week has had its own challenges and hardships. There were fights, and miscommunication, and bullying. But God worked thru it all, and so many of these kids are dreading the thought of going back home. Here at camp they got three meals a day, a roof over their head, a bed to sleep on, and people who cared about them. Please pray for these kids as they go home. Their life is a pit: prostitution, homelessness, drugs, no food, and no one to rely on. Cristina, Ionel, Alex, Marion, Damion, Dani, Raymond, Nicolitsa, Beatrice… and all of the others. Pray for eternal security for these little souls, because they have none here.

From Hateg, HD, Romania ~ Kaytra, for the team

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Tuesday -

Mix cold weather, rain, 25 energetic kids, muddy feet, loud voices, fun crafts, wild games, crazy skits, and Bible lessons together and you get the picture of what our wonderful day looked like! I must say today was quite a challenge, but by God’s grace we were still able to accomplish a lot and we all enjoyed it! We seem to be making progress every morning with the child’s Bible study and the kids are really getting into the activities!

One of the themes today was “Jesus is Salvation” and we had many opportunities to share the gospel with the children. I think they understood it clearly and we are praying that God will work in their heart. Knowing some of the backgrounds of these children I know this week will have a big impact on them and I believe that they will remember much more than just fun and games.

One of my illustrations today was “Blind Maze” where one child was blind folded and they had a partner to lead them through by only clapping. The application was how as God’s children sometimes He leads us through times where we don’t understand why He is putting us through there; but we must lean on Him and know that He sees the big picture. If we try to do it on our own and go the way we think is right we will eventually end up at a dead end and have to start all over again. It was a great way to demonstrate the lesson and I loved seeing their faces light up when they saw the connection.

Thank you for your prayers, God is definitely working through and in us!!

Lizzy for the team

Lizzy and Rachel ensuring blindfolds are properly positioned during a game

Rob encouraging a little team spirit

A team navigating the maze

A very cautious limbo player

Evening large group session

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Today was the first complete day of the kids camp. The language barrier is frustrating for our team, because more than anything we want to talk to these kids, and get to know them. They really are sweet kids. There is one boy named Ionel (Lionel without the L) who is homeless, and two weeks ago his Dad was killed. He is confused and unsure of what his future holds, but when he sees someone willing to say a few words to him his eyes light up, and his entire countenance changes! These kids are in desperate need of love, and they are absorbing all of the TLC (tender loving care)that they can get from us.

It is very different to teach a camp and not a children’s program. Being with these kids 24-7 really reveals their vulnerability and how needy they are. Not only is our team studying 1 Corinthians 13, but these words from the popular 60s song has been running through my head, “all you need is love.” Being a vessel for God and being continually poured out for these kids is hard, but so rewarding! God has really opened my eyes to my own selfishness and pride as I see what these kids go through each day. “’The Lord is my portion,‘ says my soul, ‘therefore I hope in Him.” (Lam.3:24) We are still pretty healthy, eating good food, and relying on God for His strength and enthusiasm. Good food, good people, good weather. God is good, and His mercies are new every morning.

Larivedere~ Kaytra

Kaytra directing games

Elizabeth with some of the kids

Lizzy and Alice helping with one of the crafts

Buckey, Sally, and Joey

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Wow!

Day one of camp is over and it went really well. We had 27 children today, 80% of them are from very poor families. Most of them have only one parent or are orphans and most Christians here don’t want anything to do with them.

The kids were very excited to be able to go to camp. Showers were the first thing that we did, some of the children hadn’t had a shower in a long time and having one with hot water was great. They were very eager to get their team colors. We are keeping a points system with the team colors. The kids are grateful to be here.

We learned about God as are Creator, we have such a beautiful outside setting to teach that in. We are the first camp that the facility has had. We are on about 5 acres of land, it is just right for everything we need.

Blessings,

Rachel for the team

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Today was the last day for our children’s program in Deva; it was both happy and sad. It was amazing to see God work in the lives of all of us this past week but hard to say goodbye to so many wonderful people we have met. One of my highlights of this past week is how the children warmed up to us a bit more each day and by today there were many hugs, pictures, and exchange contact information. It was so sweet to have the girls come up to me and tell me thank you for coming and that they love me!

Our translators were pretty much part of our team and we are so grateful for them! They did such a fantastic job helping us and I made some lifelong relationships. We are all ‘slightly’ tired but going to make the most of this last evening with our host family who has been so gracious and kind to us.

The beginning of our trip has been so superb that I cannot wait to see what God has in store for the next few weeks!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers!
Lizzy, for the team

Lizzy and her team

Team with teachers and translators

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