Romania 2K15: Part 2

ICSV and IGA

Ms. Johnson, do we have to leave? Can we please stay another week? I don't want to leave these kids again! Ms..., Can't we do more for them? I feel like I am free here. These were just a few of the comments that I heard from almost every student's mouth as we were getting ready to leave Romania. I have learned that when you travel to a place to serve, you tend to leave more of yourself there and realize that giving is (once again) more rewarding than receiving. When you go to a place for a specific purpose and you are able to see growth and change, you don't want to leave. You want to further the ministry, relationship, or project you began and see it come to fruition. This is what I believe our whole team experienced. Once we started working and building relationships with the people at the care home, our purpose for being there was cemented and we didn't want to leave. As a teacher and leader of this trip, this was a huge answer to pray to see your students become apart of something greater than themselves.

Choose Joy
The theme for our trip was Choose Joy. We really wanted the students to be joyful in every situation they encountered. Whether it was digging deep ditches, painting fences, cleaning bathrooms, sitting next to someone you don't like, or having to wake up early; we wanted them to be joyful. Our prayer was that they would take that idea and bring it back to their everyday lives. To choose joy in the mundane, the boring, the difficult, the stressful, and whatever else they might face.

We had our student leaders create a devotional book titled Choose Joy. They found verses in the bible for the team to read and then created questions for us to apply this theme to our days and lives. Every morning each group would meet with a small group of students from the team and discuss the devotional. Most students were very vulnerable and open about challenges they had faced and how hard it was to choose joy.


Testimonies 

A wise woman told me recently, 

"Let your life be a witness and maybe use some words". 

My favorite part of this trip were the evenings. After a long day of work and a nice warm meal, we would all come together for a large group session. We usually started the evening with worship and then someone would share a little devotional or testimony. I had asked only three students to share their testimonies during the trip; but by the end of the evening, I had five other students approach me and asked if they could share their testimony. We decided to put aside our devotionals and let the students share their stories. This was the part of the trip that greatly impacted everyone. Some of these students have been abandoned, hurt, bullied, lied to, and abused. Some of them have experienced more in their short 15 years of life than most people experience in a lifetime. Throughout their pain and struggle they all decided that Jesus was worth it and decided to make a commitment to follow him despite what may come. For some of these students, choosing Jesus means being disowned by family and friends. After each student shared their story, the rest of the students would surround the student and overwhelm them with hugs, encouragements, kind words, and love. Being vulnerable about some of your darkest secrets and pain risks relationships and status. I was so proud how these kids chose to love their friends even more and choose joy.

Some things that I learned on this trip were nothing that would surprise anyone. If anything, they were reminders as to how I should live my life. I was reminded that everything we do in this life is all about Jesus. It is easy to worry about earthly things, but our minds should be set on heaven. I learned not to judge a book by its cover. After hearing these students stories, I was reminded that you never know what is happening in someone's heart or what they have experienced that influences who they are. Lastly, don't be afraid to ask tough questions. Students want to have intriguing and interesting conversations that challenge them. They want people to pour into them and to take an interest in them. They want to be loved, cared for, and respected. I am hoping these truths will stick with me and am very thankful for this wonderful opportunity. Thank you once again for those who prayed over this trip. The Lord answered them well :). 

Romania 2k15

We're back from our trip to Romania and it was quite incredible. This blog post is just a basic over view of what we did and accomplished on our trip. I will write a more personal one later to further explain what God did in the lives of each one of our hearts.

We left early Saturday morning and drove 8 hours to our destination. Once we arrived at the River of Life care home, we were greeted by students from IGA which is located in Istanbul. Many of our students had known some of them from different events so it was fun for them to be reunited.

On our way

We spent our Palm Sunday attending a Protestant church on the compound. Since we were a group of about 50 people, we pretty much took up the whole church. The women and kids at the care home performed songs for us which was very special. At one point, we all sang a worship song in everyone's native tongue. It was heavenly.  

Palm Sunday

After the church service, we took a tour of the city we were living in for the next week. We were quickly reminded as to how blessed we truly are living in Vienna. This city was very poor and depraved. During our tour we decided to do a pray walk throughout the city. The students broke up into small groups and prayed for each house, street, and person that passed by. 

After the prayer walk, they had a photo shoot: typical.

Work Projects
On Monday morning we were up early and ready to work. We had a lot of work projects to complete and each student was up to the task. No one complained once and these kids worked hard. The first project was to dig a deep tunnel for a septic tank. We finished the tunnel on the last day, inserted the tank, and put all the dirt back.

Before picture

Almost done! 

Another project we were asked to do was to paint a playroom for the kids. Since I have NO artistic ability, I put some very qualified students in charge of this project.

Before

Painting 1 Timothy 4:12

Visionaries 

This group had to dig out a sand pit, mix cement, pour cement, and the build a bike rack for the kids of the care home. They finished this in one day!

Some of the cement was also used to pour into another tunnel for a fence. The fence will separate the animals and kids from a garden. 

Another group of students repainted this iron fence with oil based paint. This project took ALL week and left a lot of stained clothes and faces. :)

Kid's Program

In the afternoons, we put on a kid's program for the care home kids. Our students choreographed dances, songs, brought crafts, and played LOTS of games. Each kid had the biggest smile on his or her face during this time. It was so neat to watch our students build such great relationships with these kids in such a short period of time. The kids were able to worship God, learn some bible stories, and just have fun. 

 

Surprise!

The best part of the whole week was giving these kids the ping pong table. We had raised 800 euro in order to purchase a ping pong table, work supplies, and then just donated the rest. We also had A LOT of people donate various clothes, toys, and sports equipment for these kids. They were beyond excited to receive these items and have new toys to play. In that moment the age old saying never rang more true: giving is more rewarding than receiving. 

The ICSV and IGA team.

Normal photo

Crazy photo

This is my fourth and final mission trip with these lovely ladies :(.

On the drive home to Vienna, the Lord blessed us with a spectacular sunset. The kids in my vehicle called it the Jesus effect. It seemed to be an appropriate theme for the trip. 

Then, our car broke down. We fortunately just crossed into Austria so all of our phones worked and we were able to contact the necessary people. Also, a good samaritan pulled over and helped me drive the car to a service station which just happen to be 2 mins up the road. I also got to wear a pretty cool orange vest that made it look like I knew how to fix a car; don't be fooled though because that couldn't be farther from the truth. What could have been a pretty dangerous situation turned out to be a pretty great memory.