Romania Service Trip

8. April
Oradea/Tinca, Romania

God, thank you for our safe arrival. Please give me strength to get through today on little sleep. I don't understand why I couldn't sleep, but you are already holding me. Help me to lean on you.

This was the first full day in Romania. We jumped right in with the hardest work we would do all week. In just one day we dug a trench (70m x 30cm x 40cm) for a new fence, carted away all the clay from that trench, spread topsoil over a good portion of their yard to level it out. All while it steadily drizzled rain over us. We were muddy and cold and sore by the end. Add to that, I can never sleep the first night in a new place, so I'm pretty sure I was running on < 1 hour of sleep. Talk about relying on God for everything.

9. April

Despite overwhelming physical discomfort and exhaustion, I will rely on you Lord. I pray that I can be effective, even if I don't feel up to the work we are doing. You can work through my muscles, and be my energy. All the same, I pray that I would know my physical limits and not try to do more than I physically can accomplish.
I don't know whether I have the energy to do the outreach, but I pray that you will work through us and help us to make the decision, so that our team will not feel burned out. 

The next day was Sunday, which was not a workday, but I still felt the effects of little sleep and very sore muscles. Our team split into 3 groups to visit 3 churches in nearby towns with Roma communities. My group actually attended a Hungarian church. And our translator spoke Hungarian and German. Which meant that I became the German-English translator for the non-German speaker on our team. I don't think I ever listened so carefully to a sermon before!

After church, all three groups met up again for lunch and shared experiences and impressions. Clint, our trip leader, shared with us the opportunity to hold an outreach later in the week with the Roma community where we were working (Tinca). He shared this opportunity first with the leaders. If we as leaders didn't feel up to planning such an event, there was no way we could motivate the students to participate as well. That day, I did not particularly feel motivated myself to plan and pull off something so ambitious, especially during an evening after a full day of labor. Good thing God was in control, and not me.

Stay tuned for part II. Coming soon!