To my friends and family who have supported me with your time, money, and prayers on my expedition to Romania this summer: THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart.
I forgot to bring the charger for my camera, unfortunately, but I'll try to supplement my report with a few photos I collected from others along the way.
On the way to Romania I had connection in Amsterdam for 6 hours. Naturally, I met up with Leslie—a dear friend who works at a church in the heart of the city. We had a nice lunch together and we visited the top of the a large library in Amsterdam from where we could see most of the city.
In Romania, I stayed for a day by myself in Bucharest and then I met up with Lucian, a young man who is a dear friend and an inspiration for me. The example of his life journey has been a key factor in understanding the Lord's calling for my life. Lucian traveled to Bucharest to try to get a tourist visa to the States to visit myself and some other friends. Unfortunately, the US embassy did not award him a visa due to his lack of strong ties to his country, but it nonetheless was a nice few days exploring the capitol city together, along with a mutual friend who met up with us.
After a few days we took a train back to the apartment where he stays in the north-eastern Romanian city Piatra Neamt. PN is a lovely city tucked in a small mountain range, a bit bigger than our local Appalachians. I was able to visit Luci's work, visit some friends and their families, see Irina, and bring greetings (as is the Romanian tradition) to Luci's church. I played in a soccer tournament outreach (which I brought back a trophy from), made tacos for all the people at the office where Luci works (they had never had Mexican food!), and took a cable car over the city and into the mountains (twice, actually). I spent a lot of time praying and cooking with Luci, being able to appreciate his responsibility at work, and discussing our understanding of God—all of which were encouraging for both of us. One day, Luci and I went with Irina and another friend to a state-run orphanage just outside the city. We played some games with the kids, sang some songs, and I was privileged to be the speaker. After asking each kid a little about themselves and what they want to do with their lives, I shared a short lesson on David and Goliath, emphasizing the idea that, although there will be trials no matter what their life goals, the Lord can give them the strength to overcome the mightiest of obstacles. Our group had great rapport with the kids, and I ask you to pray for Irina and the others as they minister there once a week.
After the very nice visit with Luci and other friends, I headed up to Suceava to meet with the MWB for summer camp! I stayed in a hostel like I did in Bucharest (for those that don't know, a hostel is like a pension house with rooms full of bunk beds. It is much cheaper than renting a room at a hotel, and the lack of privacy doesn't bother me). I say that merely to mention that a) the hostel owner was Sarah Palin's tour guide in part of Romania, and b) since it was the 4th of July, I found it interesting that I ended up talking world politics with a young man from England and a young man from France who were also staying at the hostel. J. Thankfully, I didn't have to make any Declarations and we all got along quite nicely! Later in the trip I stayed in the same hostel and weeded the owner lady's garden in exchange for soup and sarmale—a trade I would make every day if I could.
Anyways, on the 5th I met up with the MWB team. I was impressed by the level of energy and organization on the part of the volunteers, who mostly came from the local Baptist church. We drove about 100km out to the camp situated not far from the medieval Voroneti monastery, nestled gently in the mountains. Somewhere around 115 kids came to the camp—ages ranging from 5 to about 23 (which made it especially interesting for the game director.) I was assigned to co-lead a group of older boys, which included my sponsorship kid, Costel!
Camp consisted of games, group devotions, camp meetings, hikes up the mountains, soccer, creating and performing skits, excellent traditional Romanian meals, a sweet zipline and rockwall, and endless kids' songs (which I now know by heart in Romanian.) J. Apart from normal group-leader responsibilities (serving meals, keeping order at camp meetings, etc), I spent a lot time getting to know all the kids, teaching them UNO and Mennonite Sword-fighting, and exchanging English and Romanian vocabulary. I even got to use the little bit of sign-language I learned when I was a kid with a deaf boy (although I could only use the alphabet, because Romanian sign-language is a different, of course). Later in the week a couple of Dutch volunteers came and we did an international night, during which I shared the seven pounds of American candy I had brought, some images of American national parks (for a guessing game), and the traditional American manly cheer/chant ("OOH OOH OOH") which I heard the rest of the camp whenever I did something in front of the group. J.
For Costel's birthday, I gave him his gifts, got to hear more of his life story, and we even got a little time to read together (I brought him the Chronicles of Narnia in Romanian). It was so important for me to be able to make this connection with him. I don't think either of us will forget this summer!
All of my experiences at camp were incredible. I wish I could tell you what it meant to me to be able to spend time with Costel, to be endlessly sincere and sweet, to sing at the top of my lungs during song time, to speak Romanian, to just be gentle and play with kids, to be in the mountains and have time to pray, to have the stillness to listen to the Spirit, to worship like a child in the midst of worshipping children, to get 30 hand-made birthday cards from kids who can't speak my language, to rest and breathe deeply, to share Jesus' love with kids and teenagers alike, to remember what it is like to let every ambition fade into the background and just soak in the joy of belonging to Jesus. I sincerely mean these words, and I sincerely wish I could convey my gratitude for this gift that you all have made possible. May Jesus bless each of you with a special sense of his presence.
