This past week I got to join my Romanian friend from LU, Philip Luca, and a short term team from North Carolina on a missions trip to Brasov and Rupea! It was so different being on the other side of things on an overseas missions trip and not having to go very far and actually knowing what's going on.
So on Monday I lugged my massive heavy suitcase and bookbag to the metro, then to the bus, all the way to the airport. It was super hot and my arms were sadly really sore for a couple days after dragging my junk all over the city. Anyways, I got to the airport around 5 or so, met up with Philip and Vali, then waited for the whole team to come in. Their flights were super delayed and they got split up, so they didn't all get there until about 7:30 or so and they were completely exhausted after traveling for 24 hours straight. Then we grabbed some food and loaded on the bus for the 3 hour drive to Rupea where we checked into the Motel Liliana and crashed. Wendy was my roommate for the week and we usually stayed up way too long talking haha.
On Tuesday morning, we walked to Emanuel Church in Rupea, the church that Philip's dad started a while ago but now where Calin is the pastor. We did a mini VBS and enjoyed playing soccer and volleyball, making salvation bracelets, coloring, and teaching them Jesus Loves Me sign language. I absolutely loved that I could actually communicate with the kids, even on the most basic level! This started the "Kristina! Kristina! What is he trying to say to me??" Even the kids caught on and started yelling my name when they could communicate through just hand motions. We ate lunch at the church, which Adrianna, Calin's wife prepared, and then we went to a large orphanage in Rupea. I would say there were about 60 kids and it was crazy! We started with a bunch of organized games, but we ended up just all doing our own thing. This was one of my favorite orphanages just because the kids were instantly my best friends since I could talk with them and play with them. That evening we had a church service and Sarah and Kathy shared their testimony's, the teens shared a skit about sin, and Pastor Sean taught about true worship.
Wednesday we had another day VBS in the morning at the same church. We played a bunch of games and colored and learned that we can help our friends. That afternoon, we went to visit a nearby village and citadel. We had to wait to get into the citadel, and during that time we got to know some of the people from the church better and to have a time to pray over Pastor Calin. The citadel was pretty cool and old, built around 1200, and I loved the view of the countryside from the top. Then we went back to the hotel, ate our usual chicken snitel and potatoes meal, and then loaded on the bus again to head to Brasov for the rest of our trip. We checked into Pensiunea Mony where we stayed the rest of the week. Vali, the guy that worked at the front desk the 1st 3 nights became our friend. Sean stayed up talking with him for literally about 5 hours and he had some awesome God conversations with him. Later in the week, he told Sean that he had never seen the kind of kindness he saw in our group throughout the week, and that every time he talked to me he saw that I had an inexplainable peace. This is what missions is all about... showing Christ's love and peace to everyone we come in contact with, even the guy that gives us our keys at the hotel.
Thursday morning after breakfast, we went to a village on the outskirts of town and visited an orphanage for handicapped children. This was one of the most uncomfortable places, but the most rewarding. We played games and colored pictures and had a skit or 2, but the best part was when Wendy read "You are Special" by Max Lucado. It's a children's book about how it doesn't matter what other think about you, the only thing that matters in spending time with your Creator and learning about Him and what He thinks about you. From our group there was not a dry eye at the end of the story. One little boy named Vali especially touched our hearts. He had been severely burned and lost a arm and a leg because of this accident, but he still was probably the most happy kid there and hopped around to everyone. When Wendy choked up while reading the story, he offered his sleeve for her to wipe her tears. Afterwards, he was talking with me & Bobbie, and I asked him if he knew that God loved him. He said yes, God made every person and He loves all of us because we are special. He also said that he prays to God every day. Here we were wanting to show Vali the love of Christ, and yet we were so much more impacted by the joy seen in his smile, even though he has had a very tough life already at the age of about 8.
That afternoon we explored an old fortified Evangelical church and then headed back into town for a church service at one of the larger Baptist churches in Brasov. We sang a lot of hymns, a couple people from our group sang and shared testimonies (which was way out of the comfort zone of most), and Sean preached his worship message again while Philip translated. After church we walked down to the center of town with the cute old cobblestone roads and the city square. This is the area that truly makes it "Probably The Best City in the World." We got a bunch of fancy desserts and shared them as we sat outside one of the the pastry places.
On Friday we went to another orphanage in Brasov where they had about 10 kids, some with special needs and some without. We played one of the best games ever there, the musical bookbag game! You have to stand in a circle and pass around a bookbag stuffed with all kinds of articles of clothing, and when the music stops, whoever is holding it has to reach in the bag and put on whatever they draw. It was so hilarious when people got the bikini top and bottom, underwear, and lacy girl shirts! We also played dodgeball, colored, and Wendy shared "You are Special" again. That afternoon we grabbed some food at Real, then went to Vali's church in Sanpetru outside the city to potentially do a mini VBS there. We went out in the street and found a bunch of little boys and started playing a game of soccer with them. We didn't have much time, but after we left we gave them some optical illusions with a tract on the back and they loved them. That evening we went back to the big Baptist church in Brasov and helped with the youth group that they're trying to start up again. We sang a bunch of songs, not just hymns this time, and a couple of the teens shared their testimonies. Then Philip taught a short lesson while translating himself...I've never seen that before! He would say a phrase in English looking towards the Americans, then look the other way and translate it into Romanian. It so messed with my brain since I could understand both and they were both coming from the same voice haha. Then we played a bunch of group games like Never Have I Ever and a game where we had to shuffle around on the chairs in a circle and not let the person in the middle sit in the open seat.
Saturday was our sightseeing day and we had a ton of fun seeing the highlights of Bran and Brasov. We had to catch the bus to Bran at 9am, but we were running a little late, and when Philip saw our bus driving past, he literally took off sprinting to catch the bus! Then all 14 of us started running after him, laughing and panting and flailing, and we succeeding in stopping the bus and all getting on! After about a 30 min bus ride, we got to Bran and took the tour of the Castle which is made famous in the book "Dracula." It was my 2nd time there but I loved seeing the views once again. We spent a while shopping at all the booths for souvenirs, then got on the bus to head back into the city. In Brasov, we walked around the city center again, checked out the shops and the Black Church, and then went up the mountain on cable cars! The cable cars were sweet and so was the view from right next to the Brasov sign that resembles the Hollywood sign on the mountain. We then headed to a restaurant close to our hotel where everyone got to experience some real traditional food such as mici, mamaliga, pork, and even wild boar.
We attended Vali's church in Sanpetru on Sunday where we sang some songs, Elizabeth and I shared testimonies (I only got a little red!), and Sean preached his sermon on worship for the 3rd time. After church we went to Vali's house where he cooked us a meat feast on the grill. We spent the afternoon just chilling and hanging out in his garden area and it was wonderful. Oh, also, Sean got pooped on by a bird flying overhead and it was hilarious. We heard the loud smack on his bald head before we even realized what happened and then he poured hand sanitizer all over his head. We back to Vali's church for the evening service, where we did a couple different hymns, and Philip and Vali each shared a short sermon. Then we went back to the hotel, where Vali showed us a slide show of the camps that New Generations Impact has done, and we discussed how we might be able to be involved in a camp in the future. We debriefed about the week and each shared what we loved about it.
Monday morning the bus left at 8 am to head to Bucharest for their flights home. It was hard to say goodbye to all my new friends, but thankfully they don't live too far from me in the States! Then me & Philip went down to the city square to wait for David Graef to pick me up for camp for the next 2 weeks!
I absolutely loved this week of ministry! I formed great relationships with the team (Lauren, Wendy, Sarah, Bobbie, James, Randall, Kathy, Chelsea, Autumn, Elizabeth, Caitlin, Sean, and Philip) and I had numerous opportunities to have good conversations with them throughout the week, especially traveling everywhere by bus, taxi and walking. They encouraged me so much and I am so grateful for them taking me in and loving me like they did. I loved going to the orphanages and at least for a short time, loving on and talking with the kids. I became a little more confident in my Romanian, and got to talk with all the kids a lot, let alone translating for everyone. It really was such a blessing for me to see the fruits of all of my hard work in Romanian lessons and just the knowledge I've gained since living here! It was also great to be able to support and encourage Vali, and see all that he does with NGI and how much he has truly become a father figure to so many children, and I hope that we can work with him again in the future!
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