Opened Eyes & Hearts: Week 2 Team Romania

Hello friends! 

Week two for Team Romania has been crazy and as we are heading into our third and final week here we would love to share with you what we've done, learned, and how we've seen God work here in Bucharest and in our hearts this week! 

This week we served alongside Children To Love in their ministry to bring the hope and love of Christ to the orphan community of Bucharest. In brief, Monday-Friday we spent each day with two separate groups of children of various ages. During our time with the children, we hung out and played games with the kids and then we spent time in worship and had a bible lesson. Our team took part in this portion by leading worship and doing a skit of the Gospel (& we even learned a song in Romanian!)

Here's a few of our highlights from this week! It was amazing to be able to pour love into the kids at CTL and to grow in relationships with them. Each morning we spent time in worship, a devotion, and prayer with our team and the staff of CTL. We were blown away by the encouragement that we encountered from this brief time spent with one another and the staff were such a blessing to our team! We are experiencing God in huge ways and loved being able to have conversations with some of the kids and see God work not only through us but in our hearts as well! We are learning that God desires to use us in the midst of our brokenness and that all we have to do is be willing to trust God and say "yes". 

On Thursday we spent the morning at a Rehab center and served with mentally and physically disabled children. For everyone on our team it was a very real and heavy experience. We are so honored that the Lord allowed us to be able to bring the love and presence of God into this place. Daniel had the opportunity to play music and we each prayed over these children. It's difficult to find the words to capture what we experienced during our time with these children but we are all processing and seeking truth in the midst of our questions. 

After our busy and somewhat exhausting week full of high energy kids, we returned to our "Romania home" (Teen Challenge center) and had a restful weekend. On Saturday we drove a few hours outside of the city to the mountains. This area was previously part of the old Transylvania and holds rich Romanian culture. We were blessed to get to experience traditional Romanian food and culture, visit two castles, and spend time together with our team and the staff members from Teen Challenge! On Sunday we spent the day at the Baciu's apartment for lunch and an afternoon of conversation, laughter, and encouragement with her family and our team. On Sunday night we attended church with Teen Challenge. It has been such a cool experience to be able to worship in another language! 

On Monday we spent time at the Teen Challenge center and in the afternoon our team we went on outreach. We had the honor of bringing bunk beds, a stove, and a dresser to a family. We spent time with the family cleaning, playing with the kids, and praying with them! It was a blessing to see God working in the hearts of this sweet family and to serve them in this way! Before leaving for Calarasi on Monday night, our team had a blast playing soccer (in 30 degrees) with the guys at Teen Challenge. It has been amazing to witness the transformation of some of the guys hearts at Teen Challenge and for the guys on our team to be able to influence their lives so powerfully. 

This week we are in the city of Calarasi, which is a few hours outside of Bucharest, we are working with Outstretched Hands of Romania. The vision of their ministry is to "raise an army of children and poor to bring the gospel to the unreached parts of Romania." Their ministry is currently involved in evangelizing, planting churches, community centers and healthcare outreach, and pro life ministry. Our focus this week is to bring the light, love, truth, and presence of Christ to the gypsy community. Specifically, we will be serving in community centers with the children, visiting people in their homes, listening to their stories, and praying with those we encounter. We're learning flexibility and adaptability in the mission field and that God's plans are more sovereign than our own. 

Here is how you can specifically join us in prayer this week:

-Ears to listen to God and opportunities to share the Gospel

-Health and Weather

-Prayers against spiritual warfare

-To be fully present and have open hearts toward the gypsy community of Calarasi this week 

-That the men at Teen Challenge will never stop running the race towards God

-That the children we worked with would feel God's love through the CTL staff

-That the ministry staff that we've come in contact with will remain confident and on fire for Christ

Thank you for your support and love,

With love,

Team Romania 

Hebrews 12:1-3