Boys Backpacking Trip

Backpacking through the mountains of Romania with eleven boys was a great opportunity for us to pour into their lives. That is exactly what happened last week when we created memories, made new friends, and experienced changed lives.

First we had "boot camp" at the girls transition house, slept in our tents, and left for the mountains in the morning. We took a cable car to a high point in Sinaia and hiked out from there.

There were boys from three locations but the bonding began immediately. We stressed working together as a team and the boys really took this seriously.

We hiked to the cross memorial and talked about how it was made and what the significance of it is. We had many conversations when we hiked and many of the boys shared their stories with us. Others shared their stories when we had our highlights meeting at the end of the day.

We set up a base camp at the mountain rescue station, they were so gracious letting us use their facilities for free. One of them even shared with the boys what he does and the joy that he gets from saving people. He also talked about the joy of being thanked by people long after they were saved. This was a great tie in to how we need a savior and that when we are saved it is good show thanks to God.

The boys really enjoyed the scenery and the nature all around. We we went to a cave behind a monastery and were let in free. The cave was magnificent and there was an underground waterfall inside.

We had a scavenger hunt and orienteering course where the final prize was a container with smores ingredients that we had buried the week before. We played soccer and ultimate frisbee and some other games that the boys enjoyed.

On the way back from one of our hikes a few boys and a few of us were talking about what it means to be a true Christian. When we got back to camp all of the boys sat down in a circle on their own and listened in. We were able to very clearly present the gospel to the boys and they asked lots of really good questions. I know the holy spirit was working in this because it was totally unplanned and the boys were so receptive.

We went to a beautiful lake and the boys swam even though it was freezing cold.

We conversations each morning and evening where we talked about things like what it means to be a man, what we would like our legacy to be, relationships and sexual purity. The last night we collected lots of wood and had a great fire. The conversation went on until about 1:00 AM and we talked about many things, ending with talking about how simple it is to accept Christ into your life, just by believing in Him and asking him into your heart.

The highlight of the trip came next, us leaders were talking and Bebe came up to us and told us he wanted to accept Jesus into his life. We prayed with him and he asked Jesus to be his savior, praise God!!!

God was in this excursion from start to finish. He provided great weather, beautiful scenery, and many opportunities to share our stories and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.