We
started the day with all twenty World Racers heading to church in downtown
Bucharest. Nathan stepped up to the plate to drive one of our vans to church,
navigating through the crazy Romanian streets alongside the irresponsible
Romanian drivers, we made it to the church’s 10am English service safe and
sound. Church was about an hour of singing songs of worship and listening to
the guest speaker (from India) share a good word. We talked with him after the
service about his upcoming trip to the US and he asked if I knew of any church
in the DC area that he could preach at NEXT WEEKEND! Sooo I sent NCC an email today, we’ll see if
they can fit him in anywhere.
We got back to Casa Shalom (our home
for the next 3 weeks) and a few of us volunteered to help with crafts with the
kids. I’m not sure the last time I used glue sticks, construction paper, and
markers…but I was called upon to help the kids create a booklet including a
page on the “Fruits” of the spirit. I summoned my elementary school skills and shortly my group had most of their apples, lemons, oranges, etc… properly glued to
the page as well as ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self control’ written across each piece of fruit
in Romanian. I was able to sneak in some games and merry-go-around time with
the kids before the Americans headed to “the village” for the evening.
“The village” is an area not too far
down the main road where our contact, Becky, has been serving for many years.
The area isn’t much to look at: gypsy families living in poverty, stricken with
alcoholism, child abandonment, and desolation. Once the kids saw Becky’s van
they came running with open arms knowing that Becky and the people that she
brings show unconditional love, affection, and attention to a life void of
these blessings. First we played a game of soccer (one team’s goal was an old
mattress while the other team’s goal was a broken briefcase and plastic tub).
The ‘field’ was a basic driveway outside of a dilapidated building, covered
with broken glass, clay bricks, and trash. Once the soccer game ended the kids
climbed all over us, laughing, overwhelmed by the entertainment we’d provided.
We invited the children to visit Casa Shalom this Tuesday-Friday. The
kids chased our vans down the road as we left, showing their excitement for getting to play with us and the amazing facilities of Casa Shalom on Tuesday.
Becky
has seen the fruits of working with these children over the years. Through
sharing Jesus and spending quality time they’ve seen generational curses
brought to an end for some of the children and lives changed.
It’s constantly
amazing, the smiles on the faces of these beautiful kids, despite their
situation. I pray that our team can make a huge impact in their lives so that these smiles may continue now into eternity.
