Romania 2015
Hello friends and family!
As many of you know, my mom, my sister, and I just got back from an 11 day trip to Romania. Many of you supported us in going. Thank you so much!! This was an experience that we will never forget.
Here's an overview of what we did during our time there.
We left Tulsa on Thursday night at about 5 PM, and about 50 hours later, after having gone through several delays and one flight cancellation, we arrived in Bucharest. From there we drove to Cluj with our new friends Tabita and Radu which is where we spent the first half of our week. We spent the second half in Mediaș.
In Cluj we visited public schools taught English in 5 different classrooms. The youngest children were 3 and 4 year olds, the oldest were 5th graders. We were not able to overtly evangelize here, but we showed them love, joy, and smiling faces. In a sense, we "plowed the ground" for our missionary contacts in Romania to be able to continue spending time and building relationships with the children and teachers at these schools. We also spoke life into the children by teaching them to read and understand the words "I am loved. I am smart. I am kind. I am beautiful." Another thing we were able to do was have the kids help us act out the parable of the Good Samaritan.
In Cluj we also spoke at two church services. My mom gave a testimony at both and Joy and I had the privilege of performing two worship songs for one of the churches. Joy and I also had the privilege of helping in the children's church at both of these churches. We got to pray for the kids, play games, and speak about why we serve God--because He loves us!
Monday night, our team held a youth conference at one of the churches we had visited on Sunday. Our team did an excellent job, and my mom spoke her heart about how God wants us to Emerge and become who He created us to be. She passed out mirrors and a list of "I am" statements in English and Romanian to each youth and taught them to speak these things over themselves each day that they may understand who they are in God's eyes.
In Cluj, we met a lot of amazing people, and built friendships with the Mihaly family, who hosted us and who live to be a light to Romania. They shared their dreams and visions with us as well as speaking into our lives about God's call. We plan to stay connected with them as friends and prayer partners. I enjoyed my time with their two little boys who taught me lots about dinosaurs and Lord of the Rings, who spent time laughing with me about snapchat rainbows, and who invited themselves to my wedding (whenever that may be). :)
In Mediaș, we stayed at a YWAM base and spent time getting to know the staff there. They are amazing people who give their lives to loving and serving the Lord. They each have visions for their community and they help each other accomplish these visions. We helped them repaint their classroom one day. I felt like they poured into us just as much as, if not, more than we poured to them. We visited a gypsy community and were able to bless the kids with candy, balloons, face paint, toothbrushes, and Bible coloring pages and crayons that our church (Faith Christian Family Church) donated. We also got to visit a boy's orphanage and see what the conditions were like. They were better than we anticipated! We had the opportunity to visit two other YWAM bases in the area. We also hosted a conference at the YWAM staff's church plant in a small town nearby called Dumbraveni. We also got to help the staff with their street outreach for the kids there. While in Mediaș, we got to visit 2 more public school classes.
We had a full week!!! My favorite parts were getting to see my mom and sister shine, getting to Joy get more excited about YWAM, and helping at the street outreach in Dumbraveni. I felt like we really connected with the kids there by getting to know their names (through the game of Red Rover, of all things!)
For me, this trip was a huge learning experience. I discovered both strengths and weaknesses that I didn't know I had. Being in charge of the public school ministry, I learned that I'm really strong in task completion and initiative--I can plan things and get the job done--and that I love working with kids. But I could use some work in the area of delegating a task to each team member that will fit their strengths, that they will enjoy and feel passionate about. The biggest thing I will take away from this trip is that I'm bolder and more capable than I thought I was, which is a big thing for a girl who constantly under-credits herself. I think all of my teammates would agree that this was a time for us to learn that we have more in us than we thought we did. Everyone did a great job just being available to God to be used, even though at times we felt under-qualified and unprepared for what we would do.
I was so blessed by what I saw God do in my teammates' lives! They came away with testimonies of receiving direction from God and growth. I was prophesied over twice during my time there and my mom received a prophecy and a vision about Emerge from one of the YWAM leaders. We were blessed!
On top of everything else, we learned a lot of new words in Romanian. We learned about Romanian culture. We learned about team building/bonding. I learned things that I'll use when organizing missions trips later on, which is something I really want to do. I'm sure my mom, sister, and I will all collaborate on that! ;)
Tina says,
Joy says,
Dumnezeu sa te binecuvanteze! (God bless you!)
Love,
Kristian, Tina, and Joy
As many of you know, my mom, my sister, and I just got back from an 11 day trip to Romania. Many of you supported us in going. Thank you so much!! This was an experience that we will never forget.
Here's an overview of what we did during our time there.
We left Tulsa on Thursday night at about 5 PM, and about 50 hours later, after having gone through several delays and one flight cancellation, we arrived in Bucharest. From there we drove to Cluj with our new friends Tabita and Radu which is where we spent the first half of our week. We spent the second half in Mediaș.
In Cluj we visited public schools taught English in 5 different classrooms. The youngest children were 3 and 4 year olds, the oldest were 5th graders. We were not able to overtly evangelize here, but we showed them love, joy, and smiling faces. In a sense, we "plowed the ground" for our missionary contacts in Romania to be able to continue spending time and building relationships with the children and teachers at these schools. We also spoke life into the children by teaching them to read and understand the words "I am loved. I am smart. I am kind. I am beautiful." Another thing we were able to do was have the kids help us act out the parable of the Good Samaritan.
In Cluj we also spoke at two church services. My mom gave a testimony at both and Joy and I had the privilege of performing two worship songs for one of the churches. Joy and I also had the privilege of helping in the children's church at both of these churches. We got to pray for the kids, play games, and speak about why we serve God--because He loves us!
Monday night, our team held a youth conference at one of the churches we had visited on Sunday. Our team did an excellent job, and my mom spoke her heart about how God wants us to Emerge and become who He created us to be. She passed out mirrors and a list of "I am" statements in English and Romanian to each youth and taught them to speak these things over themselves each day that they may understand who they are in God's eyes.
In Cluj, we met a lot of amazing people, and built friendships with the Mihaly family, who hosted us and who live to be a light to Romania. They shared their dreams and visions with us as well as speaking into our lives about God's call. We plan to stay connected with them as friends and prayer partners. I enjoyed my time with their two little boys who taught me lots about dinosaurs and Lord of the Rings, who spent time laughing with me about snapchat rainbows, and who invited themselves to my wedding (whenever that may be). :)
In Mediaș, we stayed at a YWAM base and spent time getting to know the staff there. They are amazing people who give their lives to loving and serving the Lord. They each have visions for their community and they help each other accomplish these visions. We helped them repaint their classroom one day. I felt like they poured into us just as much as, if not, more than we poured to them. We visited a gypsy community and were able to bless the kids with candy, balloons, face paint, toothbrushes, and Bible coloring pages and crayons that our church (Faith Christian Family Church) donated. We also got to visit a boy's orphanage and see what the conditions were like. They were better than we anticipated! We had the opportunity to visit two other YWAM bases in the area. We also hosted a conference at the YWAM staff's church plant in a small town nearby called Dumbraveni. We also got to help the staff with their street outreach for the kids there. While in Mediaș, we got to visit 2 more public school classes.
We had a full week!!! My favorite parts were getting to see my mom and sister shine, getting to Joy get more excited about YWAM, and helping at the street outreach in Dumbraveni. I felt like we really connected with the kids there by getting to know their names (through the game of Red Rover, of all things!)
For me, this trip was a huge learning experience. I discovered both strengths and weaknesses that I didn't know I had. Being in charge of the public school ministry, I learned that I'm really strong in task completion and initiative--I can plan things and get the job done--and that I love working with kids. But I could use some work in the area of delegating a task to each team member that will fit their strengths, that they will enjoy and feel passionate about. The biggest thing I will take away from this trip is that I'm bolder and more capable than I thought I was, which is a big thing for a girl who constantly under-credits herself. I think all of my teammates would agree that this was a time for us to learn that we have more in us than we thought we did. Everyone did a great job just being available to God to be used, even though at times we felt under-qualified and unprepared for what we would do.
I was so blessed by what I saw God do in my teammates' lives! They came away with testimonies of receiving direction from God and growth. I was prophesied over twice during my time there and my mom received a prophecy and a vision about Emerge from one of the YWAM leaders. We were blessed!
On top of everything else, we learned a lot of new words in Romanian. We learned about Romanian culture. We learned about team building/bonding. I learned things that I'll use when organizing missions trips later on, which is something I really want to do. I'm sure my mom, sister, and I will all collaborate on that! ;)
Tina says,
I was so blessed to experience this dream of going to Romania with my girls. It was worth waiting over 20 years for. I am so proud that my girls love and serve God, by loving people for God. I feel the baton has been passed and that they will take the Gospel farther and to the next generation. It was a harvest moment for me and it was good.
One of the highlights for me was seeing that the orphanages have come such a long way in the past 20 years. Also, I enjoyed our outreach in the park. I loved seeing the number of children participating grow from 4 children to about 30.
The gypsy people need God. That community needs laborers to work with them and show them the love of Christ and how to be people of character.
Joy says,
I really love all the people we met. I feel like we will be friends with them for a long time. I was blessed by all of the kids I and I think it's really awesome that we were able to help open some doors for Laura (our contact). My heart was broken for the gypsy kids. I thought it was very sad that their parents don't take care of them. And it made me grateful for how blessed I am.
Dumnezeu sa te binecuvanteze! (God bless you!)
Love,
Kristian, Tina, and Joy
Dumbraveni street outreach
Maddi face painting in the gypsy community
Our team
First graders in Cluj
Fifth graders in Cluj
Youth conference in Cluj
Dumbraveni street outreach
Second graders in Medias
Dumbraveni street outreach
Gypsy girl
Kindergartners in Medias--the Good Samaritan story
Tina teaching at the youth conference
Joy and I are thankful for our friend, Taby!