Rosiori

Yesterday a smaller team of us split of to head to Rosiori,a smaller town about 2 hours away from Bucharest. Here the orphanage system is structured a bit differently where the kids are actually in apartments and we spent the day distributing gifts and hosting Christmas parties. I wasn't sure what to expect, how "useful" we could be since we'd only be with the kids for a few hours at most- and likely wont see these particular ones again. As always, God surprises me with the moments He blesses me with and the lessons I learn.

Moments after we arrived I had kids piled on my lap... I was grateful for two legs so that I could hold more than one at a time! I love how comfortable I feel in the midst of the language barrier... yet another reminder that love is a universal language- I couldn't quite figure out why the kids were so drawn to me- but I wasn't complaining: Fact: I could cuddle orphans all day every day. At the second location more kids piled on me, at one point somehow I was holding three, one of the girls in particular seemed very attached- Rebecca, a staff member translated what she was rapidly saying to me at one point and it was "I love you... I love you a lot." How these kids can have so much love... and pour it out so willingly and freely- something I wish you all could experience. Ever want to know what unconditional love looks like? Spend a few hours loving on an orphan- you'll get so much more in return.

I felt a bit unnerved with the last place we went to, all the kids were older... I'm used to little kids- all they need is love and attention... and I dont speak Romanian. Upon entry I pretty much figured the Lord wouldn't use me at all there and was pretty content to just hang back. I situated myself to kind of hang back and observe more as opposed to the last few places where I'd kind of thrown myself right in. While Mark, one of the staff members was explaining the bingo game we were going to play Sanda, one of the Romanian staff called me over to the corner where she was sitting closely with some of the kids (Romanian culture has much smaller bubbles- its not uncommon to see people holding hands, linking arms and in general sitting very closely) Anyhow- she asked me to explain my tattoos to one of the kids, he was quite interested. So next thing I know I've got a group of Romanian teenagers gathered around me, attentively listening while I essentially walked through an abbreviated version of my faith story. After this I found myself yet again, tossed into the middle of things, not as useless as I'd anticipated... The best thing about this? I later learned that this group of orphanages is run by a non-christian/ director, so the H2H staff is somewhat limited to what they can talk to the kids about- however if they're directly asked... funny how the Lord can use a girls tattoos. Way to go God :o)

Came back for some quality time with the team- I really do love these people, lots of laughs, intense game of spoons, and later in the evening, seriously blessed conversation. Somehow wound up talking with the staff about my heart for missions, especially Eastern Europe... letting go of your dreams for God's better ones, everything that'd happened with Africa, and where I'm currently at- I was asked "Where does Romania fit into this?" I like that question- and its currently resting on my heart...

Lord, where does Romania fit into all of this?