Romania! ~Gypsy Village~

       Romania! I've always thought Romania is one of the most beautiful countries I've every been too. Going there a second time proved that I still think that. :o) We left early in the morning from  Budapest to Romania, where our first destination was a gypsy village called Copsa Mara. My throat was starting to feel pretty awful and I wasn't sure if I had fully recovered from having a fever in Budapest. Still, I was rejoicing with the others that we had our own personal guide, Atty, with us to help us navigate the trains to Romania. Without Atty we would have been totally lost, as our trains got delayed and switched and communication was hard. The awesome thing to this is that Leif, a member of our team, had met Atty only two days before during street evangelism in the metro. Atty had a sad story of being left by his friends who were supposed to come and give him back money he lent them. He had been walking around one day and night without food when Leif met him. Atty's reply to all of this though was, "I don't need food when I have Jesus. He really is all I need. He will provide." Through Leif befriending Atty and inviting him to the YWAM cafe in Budapest the next night, our leaders decided to give Atty  money for a ticket home. Atty's home? Targu Mures-the very place we were staying in Romania after the gypsy village. So, we had Atty with us leading us like a good shepherd  (Leif ended up visiting Atty twice in Targu Mures and heard the story of Atty being an orphan, growing up with little confidence, and then finding confidence in Jesus. Atty is now going to school to become a psychiatrist to help people like him, orphans and lonely ones. Amen!)
        We arrived in Copsa Mara after a crazy traveling time that included driving in taxis that got a little more wild than was comfortable. We stayed with a family there where the Mama, Maria, and her two sons were living along with our contact person, Siril, from Norway, who is a missionary there.

This is a picture of Maria's home on the right with her outhouse on the left. It actually was a pretty nice outhouse complete with a colored toilet seat cover. They had a pretty nice house compared to some of the other homes in the village, and were also privileged to have an outhouse-most people just went outside. We stayed in this village for four days-eating great homemade Romanian meals, bucket showering, and saying "Buna" (Hello/Good/Greetings) to everyone we passed on the street. The Roma, or Gypsy people were welcoming and hospitable. There smiles, especially on the children brought encouragement as we brought music, art, games, comfort, and prayers to the families. We worked with the teens and the children doing different art workshops and playing games. We went house to house and encouraged people through listening to their stories, praying for them, and singing over them. At this point my throat was actually becoming much worse and it was painful to swallow and talk. Thankfully, I can play the guitar well enough to bring a melody out and during the house to house ministry I played while others sang. At one house I felt God wanted me to play a healing song for a woman who had just undergone some hard surgery. I had never played just a song for someone without singing for them before, so this was a special moment for me and I was blessed along with the woman who heard it. 

          

         One Sunday I had the privilege to preach in two churches. I talked about walking with Jesus and how we can't move ahead of Jesus and we can't stay behind, but he wants us to be in a relationship with him that is beside him. I shared some personally about how I had surrendered my life to Jesus when I was 14 and started really to walk beside Him. I included an illustration of this, one of my friends was "Jesus" and I was me, showing how communication doesn't work when you're behind or trying to be ahead of Jesus with your own strength. Everyone seemed to enjoy the message and illustration and I was encouraged by the positive response. I enjoying teaching and sharing the truth God has in His word. When I read Philippians 4:12&13 in the second church I got emotional-realizing just how much God had worked this verse in my life and I could say it as truth for myself. And when we returned to the base, what did our base leader read to us--Philippians 4:12&13. God is beautifully faithful, gracious and encouraging I must say. :o) 

          The children in the village were some of the cutest children I've ever encountered. They so longed for affection and attention and would grab your hand and laugh and smile with you as we walked along. The teens also really appreciated us. The girl in the middle picture above was a sweet  blessing to us. When we came into her home after awhile she got up and got her Bible and started to read it to us in Romanian. She was so eager and happy to have older girls there to listen to her and encourage her. Our time in the village was good, but I must say I was out of it mentally a lot of the time. I ended up going to the doctor in the next village because my throat was infected. (For those who want to know-I find this stuff interesting-there was a white substance stuck in the back of my throat. It looked like someone put poofy gum back there.) I also had a fever, so my nights were rather awful. This was the lowest point for me on outreach. Not being able to sleep at night because of the pain in my throat caused me some frustrated nights were I just sat up and prayed and expressed my frustration to God. I didn't like being at low capacity to minister, but it's in these places, for me often when I'm sick, that God ministers to my heart and reminds me that He loves me just as much when I'm lying sick in bed and when I'm preaching in a church. He continued to speak this truth in me when we left the gypsy village, me still being sick and exhausted...but that's in the next update-Targu Mures! 

 Playing games and loving children

Our team plus Siril, translators, and Maria's family eating a traditional Romania Meal-yum!