How can I, after being home for only a week, change to this new way of living? This life of continual surrender to God in every aspect of life and also of humbleness to live with Him without all of the spoilings and riches that this world offers. How can I simply desire Him and let Him satisfy me completely?
How can I keep myself from slipping into the old routine and way of life? God has challenged me to a new way of life and that is what I want to do, what I want to be. My sister Kristen once said, "If you keep doing what you have always done, you will be what you have always been." If I keep saying the things that I have always said, if I keep thinking the things that I have always thought, If I keep getting defeated by the same lies, I will stay the same. But, sometimes that is the easy road. It is way easier to stay in step with the world, to do what they do, to say what they say then to stop and go it "alone" without any other human to go along. Because, ultimately, it is God who I desire to please and not man and He is the one that I must follow.
If I want to be different, I need to constantly keep renewing my mind. The remind myself of who I want to be and what I must do to get there.
One day, I was talking with Ioana (one of the tranlators) as we walked the 20 minute walk to church. We were talking about travelling and she said, "I do not want to go to America. I do not want to live somewhere where I have everything that I need."
I thought about it, and I realized that it is so easy to get and get and get. As far as having my needs met, I rarely lack anything. One of the things that God has challenged me of from this trip is that of being satisfied with Him only. In the end it is not going to matter what kind of car I drove and how nice it was, it will matter if I used that car well, or if I was selfish and wanted it to please me. It will not matter what kind of clothes I wore and how stylish I was, it will matter if I let those things become more important to me than the people that God placed around me for me to minister to.
"...For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." God has challenged me to let go of the material things and to trust Him. He will supply what I need. And the things that I don't need, well, I can survive without them.
Echipa Rosu
Echipa Rosu
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Coming to a Close
Well, my time in Romania is now over. The emotions are so varied and I don't even know where to start in putting them all down. I want to tell the world what a great time it was and express to them in full detail everything that happened while there. In reality I cannot begin to share in the fullness what happened, there are not the words for me to express them. So I will do my best.
The greatest thing that I gleaned from this month of my life is the goodness of God. Time and time again He would show up and bless me. The days that I was feeling like I was not doing anything for the kids, God would softly encourage me to continue loving them because that was why He had brought me there. "For whatever you have done unto the least of these you have done unto me." So it does not matter how useful I feel, but if I am allowing myself to be used.
The last week in Romania we took 50 kids from 6 group homes to camp. It was one of the most amazing experiences that I have had. I worked with the "Rosu(red) group" and we had a group of 9 boys aged 5-11. I must say that we were the #1 team. We beat everyone else in points, although, I think we got most of our points because they were the cutest campers and the rest of the points were earned by our amazing hula-hooping skills! It was definately the hardest goodbye. I loved all of our times of playing basketball, eating our dinners of bread loaded with margerine all topped off with a ton of homemade jam, breaking up fights during recreation, learning the bible verses in Romanian and doing the hokey pokey around the campfire. What great memories.
One of the highlights of the week when Gutsa walked up to me and handed me a heart shaped card that he had made out of red construction paper. On the inside of the card he said thanks for spending time with him and for always eating dinner with him. It was one of the sweetest moments all week.
Another highlight was on Tuesday afternoon, the children received a snack and all the boys were trying to give theirs to me. They were afraid that the snacks were going to run out and that I would not get one. No matter how often I insisted that they eat their own snack they all denied and began to rip off pieces of the cakes, set them in front of me and then run away.
So, this month in Romania is now complete physically, but I know that God will continue to use this experience in my life spiritually. May He continue to bless the children of Romania and use them to bless the interns, their caretakers and the other children that they live with.
The greatest thing that I gleaned from this month of my life is the goodness of God. Time and time again He would show up and bless me. The days that I was feeling like I was not doing anything for the kids, God would softly encourage me to continue loving them because that was why He had brought me there. "For whatever you have done unto the least of these you have done unto me." So it does not matter how useful I feel, but if I am allowing myself to be used.
The last week in Romania we took 50 kids from 6 group homes to camp. It was one of the most amazing experiences that I have had. I worked with the "Rosu(red) group" and we had a group of 9 boys aged 5-11. I must say that we were the #1 team. We beat everyone else in points, although, I think we got most of our points because they were the cutest campers and the rest of the points were earned by our amazing hula-hooping skills! It was definately the hardest goodbye. I loved all of our times of playing basketball, eating our dinners of bread loaded with margerine all topped off with a ton of homemade jam, breaking up fights during recreation, learning the bible verses in Romanian and doing the hokey pokey around the campfire. What great memories.
One of the highlights of the week when Gutsa walked up to me and handed me a heart shaped card that he had made out of red construction paper. On the inside of the card he said thanks for spending time with him and for always eating dinner with him. It was one of the sweetest moments all week.
Another highlight was on Tuesday afternoon, the children received a snack and all the boys were trying to give theirs to me. They were afraid that the snacks were going to run out and that I would not get one. No matter how often I insisted that they eat their own snack they all denied and began to rip off pieces of the cakes, set them in front of me and then run away.
So, this month in Romania is now complete physically, but I know that God will continue to use this experience in my life spiritually. May He continue to bless the children of Romania and use them to bless the interns, their caretakers and the other children that they live with.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
What God Has Done
This week we have been working in another group home for special needs. It has been an amazing time. We have felt the renewing of our strength as we go and do not tire of playing with the children. There are twelve children in this home, the oldest is 15 and the youngest is 7. We have enjoyed every moment of pushing Emilut on the tricycle, or dancing with Adriana or running all over the yard with Claudia, or walking with them into town to get ice cream for them and watching Marius dance as LeAllison sang to him. These kids are truly amazing and as I sit and watch them my heart is filled with love and compassion for them.
Last night in the group home, one of the caretakers, Tubi, came out to the yard with two photo albums. She shared some stories about the children and she said that Bobi was her favorite and went on to share his story. Bobi, at age three was in the hospital, he was unable to walk after already having two years of therapy. The doctors said that he would be a vegetable for his life. She was one of the caretakers at the home he was placed in. During their breaks all of the caretakers would go to the store or sit outside and smoke. On her break, she would massage his feet and spend her time working with him. Eventually she taught him how to walk and now, at age 10, he runs around the yard like all of the other children. The love for him was evident and you could see it in her eyes as she looked at her “Bobitsa.” It was truly a miracle to see how her unconditional love had brought him so far.
The translators and in-country staff have also been a huge blessing to us. They are always so willing to take us shopping or to the post office to buy phone cards or whatever we need, and they do all this without complaining. They have been great about translating what the kids are telling us and also for the entire two to three-hour long church services. We would be in quite a bind if they were not here. But we have also enjoyed watching them interact with the children. The kids all have great respect for them and flock to them as soon as we arrive at the homes. They share story after story of what these kids used to be and how much they have changed.
Last night in the group home, one of the caretakers, Tubi, came out to the yard with two photo albums. She shared some stories about the children and she said that Bobi was her favorite and went on to share his story. Bobi, at age three was in the hospital, he was unable to walk after already having two years of therapy. The doctors said that he would be a vegetable for his life. She was one of the caretakers at the home he was placed in. During their breaks all of the caretakers would go to the store or sit outside and smoke. On her break, she would massage his feet and spend her time working with him. Eventually she taught him how to walk and now, at age 10, he runs around the yard like all of the other children. The love for him was evident and you could see it in her eyes as she looked at her “Bobitsa.” It was truly a miracle to see how her unconditional love had brought him so far.
The translators and in-country staff have also been a huge blessing to us. They are always so willing to take us shopping or to the post office to buy phone cards or whatever we need, and they do all this without complaining. They have been great about translating what the kids are telling us and also for the entire two to three-hour long church services. We would be in quite a bind if they were not here. But we have also enjoyed watching them interact with the children. The kids all have great respect for them and flock to them as soon as we arrive at the homes. They share story after story of what these kids used to be and how much they have changed.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Blessings
I would like to simply take a minute to reflect on the blessings of God. As I lay in my bed last night I was overwhelmed by how great is the love that God has for me. He gave His son to take the punishment for my sin so that He could have a relationship with me. What is the result of this relationship? Well, it is a lot more work on His part than mine most of the time. And I am a miserable failure. He can do amazing things and the next minute I am wondering why He is not doing something else that I had on my agenda for him to complete. But He loves me despite my failure and He reaffirms this and continues to love on me. He has shown himself to me in amazing ways through his provision in many different ways: financial support, emotional support as well as strenghtening me for each day of interaction with the children.
As a result of His love he doesn't just pour, he dumps blessings into my life. Particularly while I have been here in Romania YOU have blessed my socks off! I am blown away by all of your notes of encouragement, your constant prayers, and your excitement and enthusiasm for what God is doing.
I have been humbled by the fact that God would use me to minister to and love these children. To tell them stories, to sing to them, to hug them and to laugh with them. What a huge blessing and one of the greatest opportunities of my life.
Multumesc--Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Blessings!
Katie
As a result of His love he doesn't just pour, he dumps blessings into my life. Particularly while I have been here in Romania YOU have blessed my socks off! I am blown away by all of your notes of encouragement, your constant prayers, and your excitement and enthusiasm for what God is doing.
I have been humbled by the fact that God would use me to minister to and love these children. To tell them stories, to sing to them, to hug them and to laugh with them. What a huge blessing and one of the greatest opportunities of my life.
Multumesc--Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Blessings!
Katie
Saturday, July 21, 2007
The Girls at Zau de Cimpie
This week we worked in the orphanage at Zau. It is a big old castle located on a hill overlooking the city. You can see it for miles before you drive up. This was the hardest week we have had and I felt the spiritual warfare for the entire one- our drive every morning. Satan did his hardest to discourage me and convince me that the girls did not care that we came and they were not learning anything from the Bible lessons that we gave. On Wednesday I was sitting on the porch really discouraged. I felt like I could not teach another Bible lesson. The Spirit came over me and reminded me that God is my provider. When I cannot go on, it is then that He will carry me. When I cannot love these children, He will love them through me. When I fall down, it is then that He holds me. When I am discouraged and I have no strenth, He is my strength. Although it was the hardest and most emotional week, it has been my favorite.
I worked with the teens with Mandy-one of the interns, Anca and Ioana-the in-country staff. The first few days were rough and we had a hard time getting them involved in the discussion and games. It was Thursday before they became comfortable enough with us to really participate. On Friday we received a lot of compliments on the day from the in country staff. I could not take any credit because I know that it was God working through me. That was not our program. It was very awesome to see Him work through us.
The girls were very precious. I would have taken any one of them home with me, all of them if possible. It was neat to see how they get along so well. Living in the orphanage would be like having 45 sisters around all the time.
It was heartrending to hear their stories. Some of them have 3 or four sisters in the orphanage. One family of 5 was dropped off right at Christmas time because their family did not want them anymore. The oldest was about 17. Bella has five sisters but she was the only daughter that her mother did not want. Several of the girls' parents took them home to work on the farms for the summer. The girls will come back in the fall to go to school.
One of the girls who has a special place in my heart is named Mimi. She is about 13 and one of the happiest girls I have ever met. We had very limited conversations: Hi. How are You? That is about it. Everything else that we said to each other we could not understand. She would always be smiling. No matter how mad the girls would get at her because she had already listened to the same song six times and now she was listening to it again, she would smile and laugh and keep on playing it over and over. She would come over grab my arm, and and we would dance for just a minute before she started laughing, maybe I am a bad dancer, I don't know why she laughed. Then we would do it again, I will cherish that moment forever.
I worked with the teens with Mandy-one of the interns, Anca and Ioana-the in-country staff. The first few days were rough and we had a hard time getting them involved in the discussion and games. It was Thursday before they became comfortable enough with us to really participate. On Friday we received a lot of compliments on the day from the in country staff. I could not take any credit because I know that it was God working through me. That was not our program. It was very awesome to see Him work through us.
The girls were very precious. I would have taken any one of them home with me, all of them if possible. It was neat to see how they get along so well. Living in the orphanage would be like having 45 sisters around all the time.
It was heartrending to hear their stories. Some of them have 3 or four sisters in the orphanage. One family of 5 was dropped off right at Christmas time because their family did not want them anymore. The oldest was about 17. Bella has five sisters but she was the only daughter that her mother did not want. Several of the girls' parents took them home to work on the farms for the summer. The girls will come back in the fall to go to school.
One of the girls who has a special place in my heart is named Mimi. She is about 13 and one of the happiest girls I have ever met. We had very limited conversations: Hi. How are You? That is about it. Everything else that we said to each other we could not understand. She would always be smiling. No matter how mad the girls would get at her because she had already listened to the same song six times and now she was listening to it again, she would smile and laugh and keep on playing it over and over. She would come over grab my arm, and and we would dance for just a minute before she started laughing, maybe I am a bad dancer, I don't know why she laughed. Then we would do it again, I will cherish that moment forever.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Reflecting on the First Week
So we have been in Romania for almost one week. I can't believe that it has been that long! The children have been great. Especially at the group home, the kids are very active and I greatly enjoyed watching them. I love to see the joy on their faces when we take just a bit of time to care for them and play with them.
Today we got to take the children from the day center to the zoo. It was so much fun to see them get excited to see the monkeys and bears. When they saw the goats they all started "baaing", all 20 of them in unison. It was great!
If you could keep us in your prayers this coming week for continued working with the in-country staff; pray for us this coming week as we go the the girls orphanage in Zau, that we could encourage them in their walk with Christ. Also I am still lacking funds for support, please pray for that all to come in. If any of you would be willing to support me financially checks can be made payable to Buckner International and sent to my home.
Blessings upon you all and THANK YOU for all the prayers you have sent my way!
Katie
Today we got to take the children from the day center to the zoo. It was so much fun to see them get excited to see the monkeys and bears. When they saw the goats they all started "baaing", all 20 of them in unison. It was great!
If you could keep us in your prayers this coming week for continued working with the in-country staff; pray for us this coming week as we go the the girls orphanage in Zau, that we could encourage them in their walk with Christ. Also I am still lacking funds for support, please pray for that all to come in. If any of you would be willing to support me financially checks can be made payable to Buckner International and sent to my home.
Blessings upon you all and THANK YOU for all the prayers you have sent my way!
Katie
Thursday, July 12, 2007
May we...
One of the highlights of this week was attending church on Sunday night with Cristina and Ioana (Buckner in country staff). There were about 150 in attendance and they were all very excited to be at church. It was neat to hear songs that I recognized even though the words were not the same. We do not speak the same language, yet, we are all able to worship the same God together.
The children are such a huge blessing and encouragement. They are so much fun to hang out with and they are well behaved for the most part. It is great to hear them sing “Father Abraham” in English and know that they have no idea what they are singing; they sure are enthusiastic about it though! As soon as we walk into the classroom the children get these huge smiles on their faces and run up and give us big hugs and the little girls want to be held the whole time. They are precious.
It is heart breaking to know that most of these children will probably only get to attend school for two years and then they will go back to be at home. The uniforms and books are too expensive for many of the families to have the children continue their education. Thus, this cycle of poverty is repeated.
I am greatly blessed by the caretakers in the group home. I am blessed by how they love these children and care for them unconditionally. How they patiently rebuke them and do not yell and scream at the children until they obey. They lovingly care for them, hold them, kiss them, and laugh with them.
I am reminded of a conversation en route to Romania. I was sitting with LeAllison and she said that sometimes we get too comfortable with our lives and we take things for granted. We get to go to Romania! What a huge blessing! We need to soak it all in and not get frustrated when things do not go how we had planned because we have been given this great opportunity and we want to get everything out of it that we can.
I hope that we never take this for granted. We are blessed to be here and to serve these children. May we not worry how many times they pull our hair out or pick our noses or push us over; may we be ridiculously goofy as though there were no one to criticize; and may we open our hearts to love them just as Christ loves them.
The children are such a huge blessing and encouragement. They are so much fun to hang out with and they are well behaved for the most part. It is great to hear them sing “Father Abraham” in English and know that they have no idea what they are singing; they sure are enthusiastic about it though! As soon as we walk into the classroom the children get these huge smiles on their faces and run up and give us big hugs and the little girls want to be held the whole time. They are precious.
It is heart breaking to know that most of these children will probably only get to attend school for two years and then they will go back to be at home. The uniforms and books are too expensive for many of the families to have the children continue their education. Thus, this cycle of poverty is repeated.
I am greatly blessed by the caretakers in the group home. I am blessed by how they love these children and care for them unconditionally. How they patiently rebuke them and do not yell and scream at the children until they obey. They lovingly care for them, hold them, kiss them, and laugh with them.
I am reminded of a conversation en route to Romania. I was sitting with LeAllison and she said that sometimes we get too comfortable with our lives and we take things for granted. We get to go to Romania! What a huge blessing! We need to soak it all in and not get frustrated when things do not go how we had planned because we have been given this great opportunity and we want to get everything out of it that we can.
I hope that we never take this for granted. We are blessed to be here and to serve these children. May we not worry how many times they pull our hair out or pick our noses or push us over; may we be ridiculously goofy as though there were no one to criticize; and may we open our hearts to love them just as Christ loves them.
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