STS Team: Elizabeth

Every spring break a youth group from Church of the Apostles in Atlanta Georgia sends a team of high school students to work with us. This is an account of one of those students.

This is my first trip to Romania, but I never expected that this week would be as meaningful as it already has been. So much of what we’ve seen has been both emotionally and spiritually challenging – in the best way – but I think the most significant was the series of interactions I’ve had with children here. We have visited a few gypsy villages, and each time I’ve been met with a slew of dirty, smiling children. They were all so eager to play and show off butchered English phrases they’d learned. Everyone was especially touched when they yelled “Christians! Christians! America!” We are all really inspired by the new church and the Christian kindergarten being built in one of the villages, Sabolciu. This morning my group visited the government hospital and I spent the entire time on a floor specifically reserved for sick infants with special needs. I petted a toddler with “water in the brain” so severe that he couldn’t leave his crib, and rocked a crippled four-year-old that didn’t show any outward signs of recognizing me. I had a feeling that just being there made a difference, however small. Many of them had just been abandoned there by parents that didn’t want to deal with them. The morning was emotionally draining, but I left the hospital praising God and praying for the sweet nurses who stayed with these babies day and night. We only have a few days left here, but I’ve already been so moved and inspired.

It's Raining Shoes

On Tuesday, Diteo and I drove down to the city of Targu Mures. Buckner Ministries has a mission center there. They are based in Dallas, Texas and one of their big outreaches is a program called Shoes for Orphans. We picked up a load of around 750 pairs of shoes to bless the kids in our ministry. I dont know if you have any idea what that many pairs of shoes look like but we filled our van to the brim. I had shoes on my lap for the return trip. It is really going to be a blessing to a lot of the gypsies especially but certainly the orphans as well to have these shoes for them. And even better, Buckner is coming here in a few weeks to bless us with even more shoes! By the time we get them all distributed, everyone who is in any of our programs will have new shoes for the winter. God really provided and it is really cool to be his hands and feet in getting these shoes to those who really need them most. Check out my flickr site for more pictures of the unloading extravaganza. Hopefully I'll be able to grab some shots of the distribution and I'll get those up soon. [Pictures]

Prayer Requests: Orphans in Sabolciu

The other day when Cornel was coming out to Sabolciu to check on the progress of our church plant, he saw two children on the side of the road. He stopped to talk to them and it turns out the four year old was taking care of her two year old sister because their grandmother had died and left them with no family. We checked out where they were staying. It was nothing short of appalling. It was a room no bigger than a broom closet with about a foot of trash on the floor. We need to be praying that Child Protective Services will step in and do their job. Once they have gotten through the legal work then we can step in as a ministry and help find them a foster home. They are very vulnerable right now and beg for all of their food. Pray that God will protect them and find them a place to live as fast as possible. Thank you for your prayers.

We Won!

This weekend CP2 hosted a fotbal (soccer) tournament. The Director invited some of the other placement centers in the surrounding city to participate. There were 8 teams total. WE WON! The Boys really played well and they played as a team. Their attitudes and temperaments were great. They really impressed me!...so of course we had to take them out to celebrate.

Sue Volpe

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