What a week!

Praise the Lord and again we are sorry for the late post but we have been SWAMPED with good work! Since the last update Melissa has recieved her bag with not a thing stolen from it! Such an answer to prayer and just in time! Turns out that it was the ONLY bag that actually made it to Bucharest on-time but some one mistook it for theirs and took it home, but they returned it without disturbing any of the contents. She is a very happy woman!

The first week of camp ended with many smiles, hugs, and quite a few tears. Camp this week was wonderful, with moments of much laughter and joy, as well as some touching and moving moments with the campers. Our activities ranged from soccer tournaments to a HUGE water fight that left everyone in the camp dripping wet and basking in the sunshine which has lasted all week! The Romanian team established a very disciplined transfer between activities which allowed for the most possible activity for the campers, including plenty of free/quiet time to interact with us. We spent our time playing with and loving on the kids, and we know for sure that there is one new believer among them! He is a great kid and it is so exciting to see the effort of 5 years of work (much done by Marcel) come to fruition. We are all so joyful over it! We also got to spend plenty of time building up and encouraging all the kids.

We were plagued by power outages over the last couple of days, but even without running water the Lord provided for us in the most outstanding ways! The evening when the power was out all night also provided us an amazing opportunity to look at the stars here... When you see them here you can truly understand why the Psalms say that the Heavens and Earth declare the glory of God.

Saying good-bye is always hard, especially because we know that the majority of these children come from lives that are more difficult that most of us can imagine, but there are two things that make the parting easier. First, the hugs, smiles, an sincerity of the children in their joyful, if teary, farewells let us know that their hearts were touched while here at the camp, and their lives are changed for the better! Second; the great, big, loving, compassionate, kind, caring, merciful, just, mighty God that we know, knows and loves each one of those little ones better than we ever can! Entrusting them to His care makes the parting a little easier.

We will try and post a few pictures and update more regularly now that we have an intern here to help with the work load! LOTS of prep to do for the arrival of the Orlatt orphanage girls this weekend! Please pray for us! Now some from each team member!

Alisha: Week one done, the town kids are gone (*tear*). Please pray that this next week is just as wonderful and rewarding as this last.

Cee Cee: The joy of this week was to be with teens that were sooo.....easy to love. The National Romanian Team was a blessing in all things as we worked together to make this week ONE wonderful family. Time went by too fast and as we said goodbye we knew that our hearts were full of with the most fantastic memories for a life time.
Please continue to prayer for our team to have good health and rest and bond with the new Romanian team.

Ginny: Praise God for this amazing week! I felt His hand in all of our affairs, from the coordination of activities and work duties to worship and fellowship time. It was so cool to see everyone come together in unity and offer a hand when it was needed. Those kids were so awesome! I made some great bonds and will keep them close to my heart. Goodbyes were tough, but I have faith that God has planted the seeds leaving them with an experience to remember for a lifetime! Prayers for the upcoming week are much needed and appreciated. I'll be resting this weekend in prep for new adventures to come! God is so great! I love you all!

John: (Writing for my dad) God worked amazingly this week! The older boys attached themselves to him this past week. All of them loved to play "volley" with "John". It was neat seeing how much they looked up to a father type figure. Those boys were truly in awe of being able to spend time with him and just be able to try to speak English to him. The kids were wonderful and we all enjoyed making relationships with the campers. God blessed our team tremedously!! Just keep praying for all of us, as we are all very tired and not getting full amounts of sleep.

Josh: God has shown us so much this week. To see so much happen in these kids lives in such a short time is truly of God. They have left an impression on my heart that will never leave. God blessed us, allowing us to see that the kids had the best time they could. Please pray that we continue to rely on God's strength especially as we become more wore down.

Melissa: Can I just say how amazing the Lord is?! God is so good! This week has been amazing. The first day, I was sort of nervous about talking with the kids because of the language barrier. But as the Lord is so faithful to show us, He is more than able to bridge any differences that lie between His children. It was so amazing to learn some Romanian and ask the kids how to say certain words and phrases so that we could make simple conversation. But God was so awesome to bless us beyond simple conversations: He used us to connect with the kids on a personal level. Everyday, even though I was always exhausted when I woke up, I felt so much joy and energy just being around them. Thank you so much for praying that the kids hearts would be prepared to hear God's Word! Continue to pray for the girls coming next week. I KNOW God will move and work in AMAZING ways!!!
ALSO, thanks to everyone who prayed for my luggage. It finally arrived to me on Thursday, but God taught me so much about relying on Him. He doesn't always give us what we want or what we think will make us most comfortable, but He will ALWAYS provide for what we need. Praise the Lord!!! Love you all! Have a good week! -Romans 8 (AMAZING!!!)

Vicky: Wow this past week has been beyond incredible. All the teens were amazing and welcomed us right away. I loved hanging out with all of them, playing ping pong with the boys and futbol with everyone else. God moved in incredible ways and it was neat to see how accepting they were of God's word. It was hard to say goodbye today, but I look forward to seeing most in the future. I was able to learn how to show love to others just by the love they shared. Even though we went through a lot this week we had the most amazing time ever. God blessed our team in so many ways. Keep us in our prayers as we start with a new week with new campers.

Daniel: It is late.... I wrote the first bit... we will update more tomorrow... love you! :)