While in Romania, my mom, dad, and stepmom came to visit me for a week through an Adventures in Missions program called Parent Vision Trip(PVT). I recently asked them to share a short story from their time and how God worked. I combined the three into a blog here so they could share their story with all of you! Enjoy!!
Mom- Ramona Louviere
Less fortunate? Hummmmm? My trip to Romania has me wondering about my nightly prayers. Each night as I tuck my youngest daughter into bed, we pray. We always pray for those less fortunate. Those without a good roof over their head, or a warm bed to sleep in, or a job, or a car to get around, or food readily available to them, or those without someone to love them.
My visit with one beautiful family in Romania reminded me just how much bigger the last request in our nightly prayers is. The prayer for those who have no one to love them. I say this because this family of 12 (yes 12, a man and a woman and 10 children) proved to me when you have absolutely nothing, but you have love, you have everything. For this family does not have a good roof over their head, nor do they have warm beds to sleep in, nor do they have jobs or a car to get around, they don’t even have water or electricity. This family worked every day for that day’s meal. ……….yet, as we drove up for our visit, these beautiful children greeted us with excitement and smiles. They welcomed us into their dusty yard and showed off their new baby puppies. They were happy to share life with us, they were happy to receive our simple gifts, they were HAPPY! Their sweet smiles generated love, and it could only be from what they had received that they were able to greet us with such love. This family will forever be my reminder that with sufficient love, a child can prosper, a family can grow, the Lord can use them to plant the seeds of humility and simple treasures within our hearts and souls. As we thought God was using us that day to reach this family, God was using this family to reach us. It makes me wonder if we, the people with more worldly pleasures, may actually be “the less fortunate”?
Stepmom(AKA Mama Sheila)- Sheila Reed
Awkward, beautiful, redeeming…..just a few words to describe what most would say is just weird! Early on when Olivia told us about the PVT, Ralph and I immediately said,”No”. It was at a terrible time. It landed on the second week of school and I’m a principal. But the Lord had different plans. One day a pastor said these words in a Wednesday night service that changed my heart instantly, “Quit making calculated decisions!” At that moment I knew God was speaking to me, and we needed to go on this trip. Now, that was a step of faith for me, but the next step would be a leap. Mona, Olivia’s mom was also planning on going too. This is where the “awkward” part comes into play. We decided to travel together since traveling overseas alone didn’t seem like a wise decision. So Ralph and I and Mona set off to see and work with Olivia for a week. We did the normal birthday parties, homecoming, graduations, etc. and have always gotten along, but have never gone somewhere together for week. But off we went to discover what God had planned for us. We arrived to find out, not only would we hangout together with Livi, but we would stay at the same house. We would work together, travel together, ride bikes together, see extreme poverty together, witness what God was doing and continuing to do in Olivia’s life, and have communion together….It was BEAUTIFUL! In the natural people would question this scenario and not understand. Don’t get me wrong, there were probably times the three of us had our own questions and doubts, but God’s grace and love was all over this blessing. We not only made it through the week…we THRIVED together because God’s supernatural power goes way beyond what our natural mind can understand. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours…and this is our story of God’s great REDEEMING love and grace that goes way beyond our natural understanding!
Dad- Ralph Reed II
What started out as a trip to see my daughter turned out to be so much more. Through this trip I learned a few things. I I have come to realize how blessed we are, that TV is not as important as I thought it was, 25 cent vending machine coffee taste great, and God answers prayers.
One day we visited a family of 12 that lived in a one room house. The family was poor; they made just enough money to eat. After visiting we asked if we could pray for them. The mother asked for one prayer, she asked us to pray that one day they would be able to fix the roof so when it rained the kids could sleep without getting wet. I realized how blessed I am.
Another thing this trip made me realize was how important I thought TV was. Going without TV for a week gave me more time to think and pray and made me realize the importance of other things in life.
I also love coffee. I drink it all day. Olivia told me about vending machine coffee for 25 cents. My thoughts were, You can’t get good coffee out of a vending machine. I was wrong. The coffee was great! I’m sure who ever that vending machine belongs to felt blessed that week because their sales where definitely up. haha.
And finally, I got to see prayers answered. Our home church, Bethel Church, sends members on a mission trip to Guatemala once a year. Two years ago Sheila and I were talking and said if Olivia would go we think it would change her life. I prayed God would open her heart to the idea and chase after her. April 2015 she left for Guatemala for a week. This past January she left for the World Race. And after watching God work through her in Romania,I saw my prayers answered.
