Italiano

A group of girls arrived at my door on a cold Saturday afternoon. We were on a mission....make Italian food, watch a movie, talk, and laugh a lot! Good plan! :)

All of the above happened, I am happy to report. Mission accomplished.

It was so great to spend times with these girls. So fun to get to know them a little more.

I am already looking forward to doing this again...maybe Greek? :)

I'm alive

Guilty.

Of not really paying attention to how much time has passed since my last post.

Of not even really caring. Well, that's not true. I would check occasionally noting that the date of my last post kept being further away...I just did not do anything about it.

Hmm...maybe I really am not a blogger at heart. OK, scratch the maybe. I'll just move on.....

My summer in Romania truly was an amazing experience. One thing that really stands out to me when I look back is that no matter how many obstacles stand in the way, if God steps in, things move forward. He accomplishes what I may perceive as impossible.

~Students who heard the story of God
Ionut and Mihai were two students in my discussion group. Ionut is 14 and he is not a Christian. He does go to the orthodox church but has no relationship with God. He looked really bored the first night our discussion group met and talked through the story. Every night he seemed more and more into it, asking questions and coming up with some really good thoughts and ideas. On the last night he asked how his sins could be forgiven through Jesus...

Mihai is in his twenties. He is a Christian. He also looked very bored on the first night. He thought it was stupid to do the story of God. He thought it was too simple, too boring, too much like a study for little kids. One of the greatest things that happened that week was to see him rediscover many new things about God, to fall in love with the stories again, and to get so excited about God. I was thinking about this a lot, and going back to how we always need to have the attitude of a “learner”. I am sure we all get to a point at times when we feel like we’ve heard it before, we know it all, and there’s nothing new that can surprise us. How cool to see that perspective shattered!! :)

Saiza is a 29-year old woman. We connected at camp even though she spoke no English :) She grew up in an orphanage. Saiza showed no emotion, she was tough. She asked me if I was a Christian and I got to share my story with her. I asked her the same thing. She said she used to make fun of Christians, used to mock them, thought they were stupid. “God changed that”, she said. She believes in God but does not have a personal relationship with Him. She was so uninterested at first, so detached. She realized many things at camp. She talked to people, asked questions, observed everything. It was so beautiful to watch God break her shell, and to see her “melt”. She wanted to become a Christian but was afraid to do that because of the people she lived with. We learned that in an orphanage being a Christian is considered a weakness and people get made fun of, beaten. Saiza has a very tender heart and I cannot help but wonder what God has for her. There are so many orphan NOT experiencing love. So many that grow up tough, just trying to survive.

So many more stories to tell....I cannot help but end this post with a picture of the famous dump truck bringing our students to the camp site :D OH this still makes me laugh so much.