This month we got to help with two summer youth camps for at risk kids and young teenagers.
The kids we worked with come from the poorest areas in Pitesti, and some of these kids are at risk of being involved in human trafficking or becoming homeless due to their difficult home lives.
It was amazing to be able to show these kids positive love and affection, to see them laugh, smile, and freely be the children that they are!
To see our first camp video, click here:
https://justinandtessiewest.theworldrace.org/post/youth-camp-in-romania
But this blog is for the second camp.
Our second camp had triple the amount of kids than the first. So we had our hands full, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. These children stole my heart from the get go!
One little dude in particular, Antonio, melted my heart as he called me “Mommy” for three days, and called some of the guys on our team “Daddy”, and he just clung to all of us the whole time. It was obvious that he was starving for attention. I asked our host what his story was, and it turns out that his father is in prison and his mom is in prostitution throughout Europe and she isn’t home much, so he lives with his grandmother. He doesn’t have a mom and a dad that care for him, and so its as if he was pretending he did for those three days. This devastated me, especially since he isn’t the only one. Most, if not all of these kids have endured so much in their short lives, and it is heart wrenching.
I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to love on them, and give them the attention and love they deserve.
Our hosts already do a great job of loving on them weekly, but it was fun to join in on it!
Here is a fun video to give you a glimpse of our time in the mountains with them!
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for Pitesti, Romania. God is doing big stuff there!
2. Pray for the Golas Family and their ministry. They are full time missionaries in Pitesti and have been for many years. They are incredible, but as you can imagine, tired. Pray for a fresh outpouring of endurance to keep running the race that God has set before them.
Thank you all!
Love, Tessie and Justin
