Romania!

At last, a post about the Romania trip. 


        So the first question everyone asks when I return from a trip is always "How was______?" How broad of a question is that?? My answer is always the same. "Romania was great!" "China was great!" "Egypt was great!" but really, how can you seriously answer a question that broad in three sentences or less?  Most of the time it's just a polite question anyways, what would they do, I wonder, if my reply to their question was "Romania was horrible, I never want to go back." Well there's a conversation killer right there.

              Thankfully, Romania was not horrible, and I do want to go back.
Romania was great. There! I said it! And I do actually mean it. It was a fantastic trip - of course it had it's ups and downs, but overall, it was wonderful.
We had the most amazing team ever! We all got along really well, and by the end of the two weeks we felt like a big family.
I miss them.
A lot.

                                Anyhow.
          The first few days were fairly laid back; we got to sleep a bit and explore the macigal forest behind the base (eeh!), and then we started into ministry.

         Most of our ministry during the trip was in various gypsy communities, where we got to play with the kids and show them God's love. The children were one of my biggest highlights. They were just so beautiful! They shone with the most stunning joy through their intensely difficult circumstances. The smiles on their faces were at the same time beautiful and painfully convicting.
How often do we complain about our already frivolous lives, while they in the little that they have are beaming with genuine joy? It just made all of us realise how incredibly selfish we are in our daily lives.

          One night we got to make dinner for a big group of gypsies that lived down the road from us, and it was so wonderful. We were able to serve them and spend time with them, but more than that we all got to learn from the families themselves. Their hospitality and openness was really inspirational for all of us cold climate people. The gypsy culture is so rich and colourful, it is a really beautiful culture to observe, and I think there is a lot to be learned from them.

          Aside from the ministry, we also had some awesome times just exploring the country and meeting crazy people. Everyday in Romania was an adventure, and a worthwhile one.

          So many things happened on this outreach, I could never put it all into a blog post. If you want to hear more, tell me and we can find a time to have a cup of tea and a chat! I would love to tell you all about it sometime.

P.S. I feel the need to add this photo, since this is one of the cutest things I have ever seen. We found this adorable box of ducklings in the market on the first day in  Medias. Awww.










 
All photos taken by Elisa Leage ( http://elisaleage.blogspot.com/ )Thank you so much for being our wonderful team photographer!