Day #3 The Ministry Begins

Today started out in a new hotel with the team preparing to start the reason they came to Romania. To serve children and witness to them the Good News of the Gospel. The team started out the morning by meeting the girls in the Buckner Group Home. The trailer the team will be using to transport the building materials is stored at the group home so the team took a few minutes to get introduced to the 7 young ladies. After a short visit the team managed to make its way to the local building supply retailer and bought all of the necessary items for the construction project. The team then drove 45 minutes to the city of Tarneveni where the Point of Hope Development Center is located. After dropping off the materials the team enjoy lunch at Pizza Motors in the downtown area of Tarneveni. The team really seemed to enjoy the Romanian pizza served.

The team then moved onto one of the more inspirational parts of the trip. The team got to see 6 of the girls that attend the Point of Hope perform in front of TV cameras for the first time ever. A local TV station is doing a feature on the children at the Point of Hope and how Buckner Romania is going superb work at the center. The team watched the girls and other boys from the community perform a high energy Gypsy dance. The performance lasted 12 minutes with an interview with the children after. All of this was video taped for the future show. Everyone did an amazing joy and the team was exhausted after watching those kids dance that enthusiastically for 12 minutes.

The team then went back to the POH where Gabi Szabo did a Romanian orientation telling the team the story of the center and the progress ACF and Buckner is making with the children and their families. After sorting out all of the humanitarian aid brought by team members for the children, staff, and volunteers the team headed back to Targu-Mures for the evening. The team then enjoyed a delicious dinner at a local restaurant and browsed a park where the beautiful Christmas display was being seen by many people. The team even got their picture takes with St. Nicholas.

The days are flying by and I am sure I am leaving out many of the details the team is enjoying. I am sure they will fill in anyone who wants to hear about those details.

On day #2 I asked the team and anyone else reading this blog to consider the question..."why did Jesus come to earth?" Here is the answer I have learned. Yes Jesus did die on the cross to save us from our sins so that we can spend eternity with him in heaven. This is indeed the good news we share with people. But he also wants us to bring his kingdom in heaven to earth. Jesus came to mend the brokenhearted and to repair our relationships with him, ourselves, and with others. The first two we can work on ourselves. But the third one is where we have to work together. Jesus constantly strived to help the poor and the weak. And called us to live a life a similar life. Not to bring us salvation but to bring his heavenly kingdom to earth. This can only be done by his followers who work to mend the brokenness of this worlds relationships. This is not the place or the time to discuss the complexity of poverty and injustice but dealing with the root cause of poverty and injustice is where we start. This is what Another Child Foundation and our mission teams are doing. The team does not simply lend a hand to people in poverty but we work to lift the yoke of injustice that keeps the people we serve bound. ACF strives to do the best job possible to bring his heavenly kingdom to people here on earth.

You probably noticed no pictures yet...tomorrow...I promise!