We’ve been in Oradea, Romania, for a bit over a week now. We’re staying at the guest house at Caminul Felix, and it’s super nice! For the second month in a row we’ve been blessed with awesome living conditions. Caminul Felix is an orphanage with a unique setup. Children live in neighborhood-style housing with about 12children/house. A married couple lives in each home, and raises the children as their own. I love the setup of this organization, & it’s been such a blessing to get to know some of the parents & to hang out with some incredible kids.
Our first week here has consisted of working with a Habitat for Humanity project in the mornings. They are constructing houses to be used primarily for teenagers. We had the opportunity to dig ditches for electrical tubes & such, so I’ve now expanded my set of skills to include another realm of manual labor I was previously unexposed to. Starting this coming week it sounds like we’ll be painting a fence, which I must admit I was hoping was an experience that would stay in Bulgaria…but that is not the case. At least by now I've surely reached the level of master fence-painter after so much practice, so it’ll be good. If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far, it’s that ministry comes in many forms!
On our second day here, a few of us were able to talk with a couple of wonderful British ladies (both named Anne for the record) who work with Aglow Ministries, which focuses on outreaches to women, education about Islam, and information about the role Israel. They asked us if we wanted to attend a women’s conference that night. So 2 of my teammates & I went with them, expecting to go to some big rally at a convention center or something (why I still bother having expectations about anything, I'm not really sure). In actuality, we went to a small church where about 8 teenage girls plus a couple of leaders were gathered for their small group. Turns out the 2 British ladies started that small group about 6 months ago and were back in Romania for a week to revisit them, among other ministry-related stops. By the end of the night the pastor was there, some other Romanian lady with her Nigerian husband & adorable baby were there, & I had another moment of being amazed by my surroundings & thinking of the awesome people around me.
On the ride back, the British ladies were talking excitedly about the group & how grateful they were to be at the meeting. Romanian women are still very oppressed & not at all encouraged to speak up. So at their first meeting 6 months ago, none of the girls participated. On the contrary, the night we were there, they were engaged in the discussion & laughing & having a good ol' time. And seeing how passionate those ladies were was so encouraging. They’re so sweet & full of love & continuing to spread the Truth they’ve found to others, even though they’re older folks & have their own lives/families established in England. It’s neat to see first hand how God is moving in so many unique ways around the world!
