What an incredible week we have had!
God’s presence was felt each and every day as we worked with the older girls (and a few boys) from the Zau orphanage and from the Buckner group home. I was surprised yet also grateful with how quickly and deeply relationships formed with so many kids despite the tremendous emotional and mental trauma they have already had in their young lives.
But I’m getting ahead of myself… let me start with last Saturday (June 18th)...
M’Kayla and I left our work at the Child Developmental Center in Tarnaveni to help the first mission team from America with their camp at Harghita Christian Centre for the week. The camp was located in the heart of the beautiful Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania—the facility, the crisp mountain air, and the view was fantastic!
Every morning began with breakfast and worship and was followed by a rotation of Bible study, recreation, crafts, and music. After lunch we would do different activities with the kids such as hiking, water balloon fights, relay races, sand volleyball, basketball, Romanian football (soccer), face painting, and nail painting. There were also different activities planned for each evening. One night we had a movie night experience (popcorn included) where we showed the film “Rio.” The next evening was a talent show where several of the kids enjoyed showing off their dance moves and talented voices. Another night the kids got competitive where they challenged each other in “Minute to Win it” games. We wrapped up the week with an awesome bonfire complete with s’mores, drinks, music and even glow sticks!
Our goal was that, by the end of the week, every child know how much we love them and want the best for their future and how much more God loves them and has a plan for every one of them. I definitely believe that we accomplished our goal. We continually stressed the importance of having God-given dreams for their life because many of them are approaching the end of high school and will soon be forced to survive on their own. It was heart breaking to see how much they struggled with thinking of life outside of the orphanage and how very few of them had actually given much thought to goals they wanted to accomplish or what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. We talked about the importance of the daily decisions they make but that the most important and life altering decision they can ever make is to have a relationship with Christ. It was great to see how many of the kids wanted to learn more about Jesus and there were even a few who were confident in their faith despite the difficult circumstances they have been through.
The most encouraging example of this that I saw all week came from two young women who have been raised in the orphanage for most of their lives. Although both of these young ladies are deaf and communicate only through hand gestures, they make it both obvious and apparent to everyone they come into contact with how much they love the Lord. Both of the girls communicated how they love to read their Bibles and pray every night as they fall asleep and they even found a way to ask me if I would see them in heaven one day. I quickly understood their hand motions as they described with Jesus, the Bible, and heaven and was so excited to reply with an emphatic “DA!” that I WOULD be seeing them again! The love, excitement, and purity of heart of those two is something I will never forget. Despite the fact that they have each had such a rough childhood being raised in an orphanage with little means of communication, they choose to praise the Lord and show their love for Him continually. I was also told that in the Bible Study portion of the morning activities, several of the kids from each group prayed the prayer of salvation for the first time to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior! Such encouraging news.
While I was expecting some attitudes and participation issues because most of the kids were older, the exact opposite was true! They were all so thankful and appreciative of absolutely everything throughout the week and you could tell how much they enjoyed the change of atmosphere away from the orphanage and group home. We were all able to overcome the Romanian-English language barrier through universal signs such a smile, a hug, a simple “I love you”, and also with the help of some amazing translators. It never ceases to amaze me how great they are with all the kids.
This week was both challenging and encouraging for every American team member involved. It was painful to tell each and every child goodbye as the bus rolled away back to the orphanage, but hopefully we will see each and every child again someday because of the seeds that were planted this week.
I wish we were able to share pictures of the kids from this amazing week but there are some legal issues involved since all of the children are Romanian orphans and we’re not allowed to publish any kind of pictures of them.
Just take our word for it—the children all absolutely beautiful :)
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