Sometimes you can’t even find the words to describe the things you see.
I woke up that morning thinking that it was just going to be another normal day in Romania. That I would get to play with some kids and tell Bible stories.
Sometimes God shakes you up a bit without any warning.
We headed to a Gypsy village about 45 minutes outside of Deva. The view out in the country is breath taking.
Green fields with trees just beginning to bloom.
Herds of sheep being led by their shepherd.
Roads that turn so much it makes your stomach a little queasy.
We parked the car outside of one of the many churches that our contact, Marius, visits on a regular basis. There was a group of people outside on the street talking amongst each other, one of them came and greeted us.
There was something different about these people; something that I had not seen in Romania.
We walked down the street and children began to pour out of the house as we walked by. They would grab our hands and join us as we walked. We stopped and talked to and prayed for people…you know, the normal stuff.
I then began to hear stories of these people.
A handicapped 20-something year old girl who ended up pregnant and no idea who the father is or when it happened.
Children being bitten by rats inside their home while they’re sleeping.
Children with burn scars covering their faces.
Young teen prostitutes.
A family with 12 children living in a one room house.
Young toddlers with gashes on their arms.
Sometimes you connect with people and you can’t quite explain it.
A young girl, maybe 12 or 13, came up to me and walked next to me the whole entire time. Her clothes were far too small for her and she was exposing a lot of skin. Her lip was pierced. She had dark skin and hair with the most beautiful light green eyes, just like the rest of the people. Eyes that you could get lost in if you stared too long.
We could not talk to each other, but she taught me how to say, “What’s your name?” and then she giggled as I tried to pronounce it 20 times.
We didn’t spend too much time together, just 20 minutes or so, but I think she is someone that I will never forget.
As we walked away from each other, the 2 of us couldn’t help but look back every two seconds for another wave or to blow another kiss goodbye until we couldn’t see one another anymore.
Sometimes you start writing a blog with no point to it.
And sometimes God reminds you that you’re problems don’t matter when there’s people like this green-eyed girl.
