Apa Plata Va Rog!

Today we went to visit the girl's group home where I had the opportunity to meet the four young ladies living there, their wonderful tutor, and the group home parents. I could immediately see that all the girls had their own personalities and their own God given talents. It was truly a beautiful environment that I was blessed to witness. While there I grew close to one of the girls very quickly. We had a very fun and interesting conversation with each other. She knows just a little English and I pretty much only know "apa plata va rog," (flat water please) so we obviously didn't get very far. It was so much fun trying to figure out what each other was talking about. At one point I asked her to teach me words and that was a blast for the both of us as well as anyone around because I was awful. To the both of us all of that did not matter though because we found a way to show each other kindness and a type of love. I went there being very nervous because I don't know near enough of their language, but I wanted to bond and get to know them. Of course, God solved that problem very quickly. It is just so beautiful witnessing God's work being done here in Romania. I have been overwhelmingly blessed to have the opportunity to meet these wonderful people and learn about their culture. It has truly helped my personal relationship with God to grow by understanding more about the size of this world and the different kinds of people He placed here. I have also started to understand more about God's love after being introduced to the some of the Gypsies at church this morning. The reason being that most seem to be so very happy, but only have very little, which is all because of their love for the Lord as well as the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. I would challenge us as Christians in America to trust in the Lord even through our pain and suffering and to hand it all over to Him. He will take care of us the way He has always done and the way he is caring for people all across this beautiful world.

Thank you for your prayers for our team and this country.

-Kristian Simpson