Hello from Romania!
On Saturday evening our team was blessed to be invited to join a church of Ukranian refugees here in Oradea for a cook out at a beautiful park. They prepared a delicious meal for us and we had the opportunity to listen to their stories and pray for them. When asked, “How has the war affected your faith?” one woman replied, “When you have to flee your home on a moment's notice, not taking anything with you, not knowing where you are going to be sleeping that night, you can do nothing but trust God. My trust in Him has grown, He has been faithful.” It was a very special evening that I, and the whole team, will cherish forever.
Then on Sunday morning we attended the worship service at Agape Church (the church where we hosted VBS all week) and also taught their Sunday School classes, giving their volunteers a break. It was so moving for all of us when some of our team led worship along with Agape's worship team, each singing in their own language. To hear a room full of Romanians and Americans singing together in praise to God was so beautiful! A small glimpse of Heaven. God is moving at Agape Church! Theyeven had two new families attend this morning that came because their children had attended VBS that week.
It was hard to leave our new friends at Agape but after the service was over it was time to travel on to Satu Mare where we will spend our remaining days here in Romania. Upon arrival in Satu Mare we attended the evening worship service at Betel Satu Mare where our own, Andy Baker gave the message. After the church service was over we headed over to House of Hope. After eating a delicious Romanian meal we spent the evening playing games with the kids. Having been here last year, it was so fun for me to see all of the kids again. They have all grown so much and were just as polite, kind and helpful as I remembered them to be. A fun time was had by all!
The beautiful thing about going on a short term missions trip is seeing how God is working all over this great big world. How, even though we may speak different languages, eat different foods and have different customs, we really are all just the same. We are all God's children, we all want to be safe, we all want to love and be loved.
On Saturday evening our team was blessed to be invited to join a church of Ukranian refugees here in Oradea for a cook out at a beautiful park. They prepared a delicious meal for us and we had the opportunity to listen to their stories and pray for them. When asked, “How has the war affected your faith?” one woman replied, “When you have to flee your home on a moment's notice, not taking anything with you, not knowing where you are going to be sleeping that night, you can do nothing but trust God. My trust in Him has grown, He has been faithful.” It was a very special evening that I, and the whole team, will cherish forever.
Then on Sunday morning we attended the worship service at Agape Church (the church where we hosted VBS all week) and also taught their Sunday School classes, giving their volunteers a break. It was so moving for all of us when some of our team led worship along with Agape's worship team, each singing in their own language. To hear a room full of Romanians and Americans singing together in praise to God was so beautiful! A small glimpse of Heaven. God is moving at Agape Church! Theyeven had two new families attend this morning that came because their children had attended VBS that week.
It was hard to leave our new friends at Agape but after the service was over it was time to travel on to Satu Mare where we will spend our remaining days here in Romania. Upon arrival in Satu Mare we attended the evening worship service at Betel Satu Mare where our own, Andy Baker gave the message. After the church service was over we headed over to House of Hope. After eating a delicious Romanian meal we spent the evening playing games with the kids. Having been here last year, it was so fun for me to see all of the kids again. They have all grown so much and were just as polite, kind and helpful as I remembered them to be. A fun time was had by all!
The beautiful thing about going on a short term missions trip is seeing how God is working all over this great big world. How, even though we may speak different languages, eat different foods and have different customs, we really are all just the same. We are all God's children, we all want to be safe, we all want to love and be loved.