Unforgetable

Ok, so I told you about the team last week, but I want to express to you a personal experience while working with the team in the Gypsy village of Sabolciu. Up until this point I had not done much work in the villages, mostly because I would do office work in the morning and hang with the kids at the orphanage in the afternoons. Cornel (My Pastor) asked me to go to the Villages with the teams to assist with the VBS. I have to say I was very hesitant. It makes for a very long day. So anyway, Sabolciu is the poorest of the villages we work with; there are a lot of single mothers with very small children. Most of their husbands left the country for work with promises to send money back, which never came, and neither did the husbands. This VBS was special because the team brought love bears for the children. Everyone made a bear, and we wrote their names on them. It was really wonderful, and the kids loved them. After we fed them and were sending them home, one of the Ladies in the team (Sarah) & I heard these two little sisters screaming. One of the older boys who had his own bear was trying to steal their bears from them, so we shooed him away and walked the girls home. As we were walking back up the hill to the van, we heard them screaming again and could see the boy running off with the bears. We could do nothing. It was very heart breaking. Sarah and I decided that we had to get these girls new bears, so the next day I went to their home with Mirabella (a co-laborer). We met their grandmother who said that the girls had come home crying. She also told us that their mother was crazy and unable to take care of them (I have to say I agreed…their clothes were filthy, the little one didn’t have pants or underwear on, they looked like they hadn’t been bathed in months, and their hair was so matted I don’t think you could comb it out.) When we gave the girls the bears they were so full of joy that their faces will be burned in my heart forever. I am excited to have more opportunities to bless this family, and I plan to go back next week with food and clothes for the girls.

Sue Volpe