Day 2

Tuesday was our first full day with the teens. The night before was a late one so we took our time in the morning. I was glad we weren't too busy because I was able to go out and help fill in a bit of the trench for the waterline. Water coming into Laz is a great thing but also a huge burden because a great deal of work will be done by hand. It's not because they don't have a equipment but because the people running it are not careful or thoughtful about how they work.

As we were working Dan went into story telling mode which has been one of my favorite things about the trip. I'm always thankful for the time I get to spend talking with Dan and Maria. They know so much about the persecution of the church in Romania and always have something inspirational to say.

We were working away and then a pretty good thunderstorm blew in and sent everyone inside. We had a great time playing games though including Avalon and Werewolf. It's amazing how we can work through complex games and problems even with the language barrier. There's such a huge difference between the little kids and the teens in what were able to talk about with them and I pray that they would have open and thoughtful hearts so that God can continue to work even after they go home.

-Brittany Morales 

Maria spoke this evening on Bible study. The theme of the week is 180°, and we are focusing on spiritual disciplines and how they are essential to a changed life. She talked a lot about the importance of Scripture and how to read it. Afterwards, Dan shared some stories about people who were persecuted bringing Bibles into Romania. It is very humbling to be reminded of the price some people paid just to have Bibles and so many Christians don't even take the time to read them.

The week is going well. Pray God continues to speak to the hearts of everyone here. 

-Brittany Caulfield 

Teen Camp Day 1:

Today was the first day of teen camp in Laz. The teens arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon. After everyone got moved into their rooms we ate dinner together. This year we had the opportunity to get to know most of the teens going to camp on Friday. It was really nice to at least know them a little bit before going into the week. I really think hanging out on Friday made a huge difference with our fellowship this week so far. It's so cool to make friends with people in another country. I love to hear their stories and get to know them. We divided into two teams for the week, blue and green. I'm on the blue team, The Smurfs. I actually said the name as a joke haha and then everyone else loved it so that ended up being our team name. When it got dark we played 2 games of capture the flag with our teams. It was really fun, but the Smurfs lost :(. Later on we had worship and chapel. We did tonight a little different though because we did the message first and worship after. We chose to do that because Brittany was speaking on worship. She talked about the purpose of man, which is to worship God. My favorite thing that she said was that when God looks at us he sees Jesus's perfection because Jesus is our mediator. It was a really good message to start out the week because it set the tone for the whole week. It was evident that her message had an impact on the teens. Worship was really, really great. God's presence was definitely present in the room. Worship here is such a cool experience. I have never felt so close to God through worship as when I'm here. Worship is by far my favorite thing so far during our trip. Our theme this week is 180 degrees in hope that when we leave camp we have made a 180 degree turn in our life. If we make that turn than we are on the path with Jesus as number one in our life. This week has been different than the last because we are more campers than counselors, but I think it's been a really good week so far. Everyone has really came together as a camp and it's so good to just have fellowship with one another. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week and growing closer with the teens and in my relationship with Christ. 

Abigail Caulfield

Sunday July 24

     Today we got the opportunity visit Danny and Maria's church in Oradea. Danny the church is 16 years old and has been through a lot in that time. Their congregation used to number 500 but after two church splits, when parts of the group left over disagreements they are down to about 300.
Right now the government is trying to take part of the land the church owns to make a road which would cause some problems if they ever wanted to build a bigger building.

The church was very much like my home church, Chapel, where Danny was sent out to be a missionary. He attended there for over 25 years. The church in Oradia is much like his home church. God have done awesome things in Romania with Danny and Maria between getting water in Laz and just answering prayers .....They really stepped out of there boat in faith and God has allowed their ministry to walk on water.

-Aaron 

Day 6: Saturday

After sleeping in for a little while, we sat around and played games and became closer as a team. We later went to see the gypsy families. One family that we visited had two little girls and a mother. The best part was seeing the smiles on their faces as we handed them food and prayed over them. Those smiles were later placed on our faces as we visited 1 week old puppies at one of the teens houses. These little balls of fluff fell asleep peacefully in our arms as we laughed and talked. 

The thing that really touched me on the trip was the moment I saw so many kids accept Jesus. They all were excited and happy to let God into there hearts. It's was so beautiful and amazing. This trip has truly been a blessing. 

-Katie

Today we had the chance to visit a few gypsy families. Maria visits many families in the area and brings them food, milk, diapers, baby food, etc. It was cool for me to visit some of the families and see the growth in their lives. The first time I was here, we visited a family with twin baby girls. These girls are now 4 or 5 and are the sweetest and happiest little girls. Their smiles can light up the room. It was cool for me to see how far this family has come in the past 5 years. Their parents are very hardworking and have worked to make a good life for their daughters. It is also great to see the spiritual openness among the families Maria visits. They often ask her to pray for them because they know there is power in her prayers. We got to pray over them as well, and I feel blessed to come alongside Barnabas and see what God is doing through all the different areas of ministry.

-Brittany

Day 5: Friday

Today is our last day at the camp with all the children. We started out our day with a few rounds of freeze dance that included everyone. My favorite little dancer is David who moon walks all over the dance floor. Watching these kids worship is awe-inspiring. It was hard to sing the songs in Romanian but to see the little girls and boys so deep in God's presence, with their pure hearts that carry so much love it was easy to connect. Everyone grew closer together and to see the children hand in hand with each other fills my heart with joy. The rest of the day was spent cherishing our last few hours with the kids as they got ready to journey home. It was sad to see the children go, but I have faith that our paths will cross once again in the future. We quickly took to cleaning up the camp to prepare for the teens camp and then headed out to stay at Dan and Maria's house for the weekend. We reenergized as soon as we made it back to the house which is about a 25 minutes drive. Nine o'clock sounded and the house was filled with eight teens from around Sebis. It's normal for the teens here to stay up and wander the streets until 2 am, so that is exactly how the night went. We took a walk through town, hung out at a rooftop restaurtant, and went to a colorful park. It was a great experience to start off the friendships that will surely arise through this week.

I learned that we aren't able to change the world in one week, but nonetheless I believe that God was working in everyone's lives this week. Forget saving the world because in my eyes our impact can be measured in the personal touches we left with the children and the impact that we will leave during the teens camp. Helping these kids grow closer to God is enough for me. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us though out the rest of our trip here in this beautiful country.

Day 4: Thursday                                        7/21/16 

Where do I even begin? This past week has been the best of my summer thus far. These kid's hearts continually amaze me. Their intelligence of the bible stories, watching them worship, and listening to their answers during lessons is such a blessing. Seeing the difference in some of the campers from last year to this year is crazy. These kids are on fire for God and it has been such an inspiration to me. These kids have something different about them and I can't wait to continue to see them grow in their faith and see where it takes them. Not only are the kids a blessing, but Dan and Maria are so amazing to be around. I have learned so much from them in just one week. They are the perfect example of what living by faith looks like. Seeing the impact that they have had on Sebis and Laz is incredible. They minister to so many people, everywhere you walk someone shouts, "ceau Maria" because they know everyone. Kids will come to their house gate and call their name and wait because they need something for their family. They do so much for the city. Listening to their stories about how far their faith has taken them is my favorite part of the day. I'm excited to have another week and a half here! 

Today we had a pretty chill morning. Dan and Maria had to run into Sebis so our team spent the morning with the kids. Tuesday, Kenzie, B and Katie got to ride into the city for the big farmer's market they have on Thursdays. It's a really fun thing to experience! All the streets are filled with fresh produce, shoes and clothes stands. They got back mid morning so from there we had worship and bible study with the kids. Bible study was one of the best times for me, I loved to get to know the kids individually and learn where they are in their faith. Their answers to the questions are so amazing, they know so much at such a young age. After lunch we decided we would do sport clinics for the kids. We gave the option of soccer or volleyball since most of our team plays one of those two sports. Girls in Romania aren't allowed to play soccer so we made it that the boys had to go learn volleyball so the girls could have a chance to learn soccer. We decided that we would play a boys versus girls soccer game after we taught the girls and the girls were so excited. It made me so happy to see the smiles of these kids. I'm sad to say that the boys ended up winning the game, but they were so sweet about it. They high fived all the girls and told them they did really well for just learning. The girls were happy that they kept up with the boys in the game. Their happiness from giving them the opportunity to play made my heart so happy. Later that evening we went to chapel and started with worship and then Dan spoke about hearing the voice of God. He read out of 1 Samuel 3:1-10 and told the story of Samuel hearing the voice of God so clearly that he thought it was his servant, Eli calling him. Dan spoke about this topic to challenge the kids in their faith, but it was so good for us to hear too. I got so much out of it and I know that other people from our team did too. In my opinion, it was the best chapel of the week. After chapel we decided to enter into a time of worship and pray over each camper individually. The Holy Spirit was so evidently present during this time. It was such an amazing experience that is indescribable, but I'll try my best. We started with a couple of songs to prepare our hearts for a time of worship and almost instantly half the kids were in tears because of the healing that was taking place in their lives. As they went up to pray you could see be difference in the kids before and after. You could see the healing and hope that took place while Dan, Maria and our team prayed over the kids. The kids would come out of the prayer circle as a difference person. Before they were prayed over they would be in tears and after they would be focused and in a sincere time of worship. One of the campers, Norby completely focused on praising God for 3 hours straight. He was actually the first person to be prayed over, but it was amazing that he stayed focused on giving glory to God for that long. It was obvious that the Holy Spirit was present because all of our prayers lined up. The visions were consistent with most of the kids. Specifically, we prayed over a boy named Timo and I was blown away because the vision that Dan, Brittany and I had for him was so similar. As I listened to them pray it was like they were taking the words straight out of my mouth. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had especially since we just listened to a Dan speak about hearing the voice of God.  I have never experienced anything like that before and I am so thankful that I was a part of that night. We actually were really behind on our schedule that day so we almost decided to skip out of praying for the kids because it takes so long, but we were all so thankful that we decided to do it anyway. It was evident that we chose the right decision to stay up late rather than not pray at all for the sake of rest. It makes me so happy to love on these kids who how have pretty rough life stories and just remind them that they are loved. Seeing their smiles makes all the work worth it. They bring me so much joy and one thing I have learned is that smiles really are contagious.

Abigail Caulfield 

Day 3: Wednesday
     Wednesday was a pretty eventful day at camp. We started with a Bible study on why bad things happens. It attempted to address the problem of evil in a way kids could understand. Many of these kids have been through some difficult experiences already at such a young age. Some of it may have went over their heads, but we are praying that when they come to difficult things in life they remember that God is always with them and loves them unconditionally. Through all the different speakers during the week, God kept repeating the same three promises. God will never leave us. God loves us, and he has a plan for us. The kids heard this over and over, but I don't think we can ever hear these promises enough. Even when we think we know them, it is easy to forget from time to time. God clearly had a message for these kids, and we are praying they can remember it throughout their lives.

     We spent the afternoon doing team building games (the human knot, blindfolded obstacle courses, etc.). Romanians are very competitive, so team building games are always interesting. While some groups took a little longer than others, each of the four teams were working together by the end of the games.

     For our evening chapel, Katie and B shared from the book of Job. The story of Job fit perfectly with the morning Bible study. There is hardly a better example of praising God through suffering than Job. Job shows us the importance of recognizing that God has a higher purpose in all things that we may never understand. B also pointed out that suffering makes us who we are. Hard times allow us to grow and develop in ways that good times cannot. Hannah also shared a little bit about how God wouldn't leave us.

     After chapel, we separated into boys and girls. The boys helped Dan move hay bales and went for a ride in the truck. They were so proud to be helping Dan. The girls did face masks and painted finger nails which is not my favorite activity, but the girls loved it. There were so many squeals and giggles. One girl kept saying "Girls Night" over and over accompanied by a happy dance. It was cute to see how excited they were. I think both the boys and the girls felt closer to the leaders and respected everyone more after this night.
                                                -Brittany