It took four months but I finally have my first broken heart.
It was never hard for me to say goodbye to the previous countries and ministries we were at. Of course I loved the people and enjoyed what we did and the people we met along the way. But I had yet to find that deep attachment that would leave me in tears at the months end.
Welcome Pitesti, Romania.
My heart broke for a city.
My heart broke for a neighborhood.
My heart broke for the families.
My heart broke for the kids.
My heart broke for a sister and her little brother.
I knew before we started that this would be a ministry I would fall in love with. When I heard that we would be working with the children of a gypsy community I was so excited. But very quickly I realized that the excitement I had for this ministry would be followed by a profound sadness and deep sense of longing for something I could only ever pray to see.
Our ministry was in a neighborhood called Razboieni. The name itself means war. We saw that it lived up to its name less than an hour after we went there the first time. A child stabbed his Father to death at the bus stop we had just gotten off at. A sad part of this all, this was nothing to the kids, they have been so desensitized to violence that it didn’t even faze them.
Children are beaten by their alcoholic Fathers.
Mothers ignore their children.
Children learn to fight to survive.
Repeat year after year.
But despite the darkness there is a light. The church we partnered with is incredible. They pour into these kids day after day, week after week. These kids get to see the love of people who were once strangers and they get to hear that even though their earthly parents may not care about them, their Heavenly Father does.
Two kids that touched my heart were a brother and sister, Costi and Ioana. These kids were used to this violence but there was still something so innocent about them. Something so precious that captured my heart the first time I met them. There was gentleness to them. These are truly good kids, with incredible, sensitive hearts yet they have to struggle to survive in a neighborhood that doesn’t give them much of a chance. But it’s not just them, so many children with the odds against them. The beauty in this, God can overcome even the darkest of neighborhoods and He is so clearly at work with these kids.
A 10 year old runs up to me and says I love you.
A 12 year old girls shares candy and snacks with me day after day.
A group of teenage boys wanting to play soccer or football with me.
A 6 year old little girl who reaches up to me to hold her and love on her.
The goodbyes were awful, but I know they are in good hands.
After all, just like a city on a hill can’t be missed, even the tiniest bit of light in the darkest of places draws people in.
