Romania Tour Week 1

We have been touring around Romania for a week now already and have been really enjoying ourselves. After we helped pack up and organize everything after summer camps we took off on a train for Brasov. Brasov is in Transylvania in the Carpathian mountains. It is a medieval town with much of the walls in place and many of the buildings too.

This is the black church, a large cathedral that is the center of town. There is a nice square too where the city hall is.

Another large church in Brasov.

We enjoyed some great food there too, we had Mexican at Bella Musica, a restaurant with great atmosphere in a wine cellar. We found lots of other great food too at the cafes, with the highlights being a cappuccino croissant and a strawberry-rhubarb bar. Around Bucharest nobody has even heard of rhubarb so this was an exciting find!

We continued our tour of the medieval towns in Sighisoara, which has this great clock tower in the center. This is also the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the impaler, the inspiration for the Dracula story.

The streets are lined with colorful houses like this, making it a very fun place to explore.

We also enjoyed great food here at the international cafe, the spinach quiche and blackberry apple pie were awesome. The cafe is run by the Veritas organization which works with people of all ages helping them better their lives. Our friend Jess worked with them here a few years ago.

We made a quick stop in Medias to see the church there.

Then we traveled by bus to Nemsa, which barely shows up on a map. We stayed at a really nice guesthouse where we talked over dinner with the owner about the history of the area. This area was settled by people from Germany in the 1200's and they built churches like the ones in our pictures in all the little towns. Many of them were fortified with large walls to keep out invaders. With all the recent wars involving Germany and then communism most of the Germans have left, especially after communism fell. The villages are so much different now, with the houses being lived in by Roma people now. Being there we could just feel the history and were witnesses to how quickly it can change.

We walked nearly an hour and a half with our backpacks through the mountains to arrive at Biertan, one of the best fortified churches. We asked some people if we could go up the hill through their garden to get a good picture. Then we caught a ride with a German couple back to Sighisoara because there was no public transportation at all.

We then went on to Sibiu, the European Cultural Capital of 2007. There is another huge cathedral there and we walked all the way up to the top of the bell/clock tower to see the city. We also went to an art museum but we didn't have much time because we were feeling sick earlier that day so we were resting.

We then went on to Hunedoara to see the spectacular Castle Corvinilor. This castle was built by one of the kings of Transylvania in the 14oo's and was added onto and modified by many others.

The dining hall was the neatest area, looking just like what you'd think of from a movie.

We're having a great time so far, and we have one more week to go. We are continuing to pray that God takes care of us and leads us to the right places, which he has done so far. This is our first vacation backpacking in Europe and also the first one where nothing is really planned out. So far everything has worked out just right though and we are having a lot of fun!

Boys Camps

It is so hard to believe that I am saying this: summer camp is finished! These past five weeks have flown by and we worked with so many different kids. The last two weeks we had four boys camps where we stayed at our boys transition house and had lots of fun and learned about God. We used the same lessons as we had on our backpacking trip which were about how to accept God and let him change us how he wants. We talked a lot about having a personal relationship with God and how to accept his love and forgiveness.

We also played lots of games, soccer of course being a favorite.

These kids are really good, we were pretty happy to even touch the ball and get a few blocks.

Another big hit was the obstacle course, which we made go through the whole yard.

Going through the yarn spider webs was a challenging part of the course. One of the boys did the course ten times to try and win the coveted prize: a brand new soccer ball.

We took a walk to the forest and played some games like capture the flag there.

The village wide scavenger hunt was fun too.

One of the highlights though was going to the river, there was a small waterfall and it was really deep there.

We also went kayaking on the river.

Pool and ping pong were big hits too and we had some tournaments.

Campfire times were well liked by everyone and we had some really great conversations there.

We roasted marshmallows and shared testimonies, and even told some ghost stories.

Some of the boys played around with light writing, using a long shutter speed and writing with a flashlight.

We were so proud of our three boys who were recently baptized. Each of them prepared for and lead one of the devotional lessons at their camp. They also helped answer questions for the other boys about how they changed their lives and how they were growing in their faith. They are great examples to the rest of the boys and are excited about helping others and telling them about God.

At the last camp our discussions were great and the boys had lots of questions, but we were amazed at the miracle that God did at the end. The last night at the campfire we shared some personal stories and then one of the boys shared his. It was so touching that many of the boys were in tears. We asked if anyone wanted to receive Christ in their life and five out of the nine boys said yes! They prayed out-loud after me to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior! God was really there and he answered our prayers by working in these boys lives. Many people have poured into them over the years and we were given the privilege of being there for the harvest. We are so thankful to God that he blessed all of these camps and used us to work for him. Thanks so much for your prayers and support, we couldn't have done this without being sustained by God's power through prayer. Praise be to him who holds everything in his hands!

Day Camps Week 2

We had a second week of day camps and they went really well. We started off the week with the older girls from the special school. We ran the same program as we had before - about the five senses. The highlight of each day was the water games.

Duck Duck Goose is always the hit game, we could play for a long time.

Of course we had to have fun with water balloons.

We don't work with these girls throughout the year because we don't have enough staff, so they were very excited to be with us at camp. We worked with them at camp last year too so we knew them all already. These girls need lots of prayer because there is lots of darkness and poor conditions at their orphanage.

The zip line was a big hit too, they wouldn't even do anything else while they were waiting to go, even though we had a written list and we called them when it was their turn.

Next we had the boys from the special school, even though we worked there throughout the year we got to meet some new boys.

The boys were really excited to come to camp too. Some from my english class practiced what they remembered with us. They are a really special group and we love them a lot.

We did a parade with sound makers, look at that great line.

Of course we played water games and they were a hit again. Especially in this hot weather it was so fun!

It was so great to spend more time with the kids that we've gotten to know over the past year, our ministry of teaching classes has really paid off in relationships with these kids.

These camps were lots of fun and we continued to build up our relationships with these kids. Please pray for them, especially being in the special needs schools they don't have a very bright future ahead of them. They need God's help to understand his love and they need people in their lives to show them too. That's what we're here to do and we would like to encourage you to come too and share God's love with these kids. Especially in the summer time we need lots of help and you can come for 2 to 5 weeks to minister to these kids. Ask us about it if you're interested!

Day Camps Week 1

Last week we started having our day camps for the kids that live in the south of Romania. We stayed at the boys transition house and the kids came over from ten to five to learn and have fun.
We did lessons using skits based on Bible stories that highlighted one of the five senses. Then we had craft time based on those senses. The kids enjoyed this time a lot but were always asking about what games we would be doing.

The weather is finally hot, really hot! We've had mid 90's most of the time, so the water games have been a big hit. We play balloon toss, duck duck goose with a wet sponge, and spray them with the hose.

We have been coloring and making bracelets and necklaces with beads too.

With the girls we played memory with big cards.

The zip line is always a big "hit" too, you can see below that there is a mattress there for the stop.

We know many of these girls from summer camp in 2008 and they still talk about that summer and how they remember us!

No camp of ours would be complete without a scavenger hunt with plastic cows, insects, frogs, snakes, and candy. Somehow the cows manage to find their way into the most interesting places.

Parker and I found some bags with really big balloons, so we tried them out with water to make the best water balloon ever. We have been breaking them off the balcony on the kids.

These camps have been a lot of fun and the kids have been having a blast. We are so thankful to have the chance to work with them, especially those that we don't work with during the year. Please continue to pray for our camps and for the kids to have fun and learn about God. Pray for energy for us as we are doing this 6 days a week and have a few more weeks left. Please pray especially for us next week as we start teenage boys camps.

May - June Newsletter

Wow, May and June flew by at a breakneck pace, it is so hard to believe that it is July already! These two months were filled with many different teams coming and going. We have different teams working here almost every month, they help us do more with the kids and provide lots of help and encouragement to us. We really enjoy getting to know more people and especially seeing people again who are returning. Part of our ministry is helping these teams to work with the kids and share God's love with them, and also ministering to the team members through devotions and sharing our own personal stories.

At the beginning of May a team came from Scotland. Many of them were returners and we also met many new people. We worked with the boys in the transition program with them and also in some of the apartments of the younger kids.

We went to the symphony and out to eat with our American/Scottish staff in between teams.

We ran several carnivals and had music classes with the team from Biola University in California. The kids love music and trying out the instruments so this was a really fun time for them.

With a team from Reno, Nevada we read bible stories to the kids in their apartments, did crafts, and played games. We also had youth groups each night where we taught about how to apply for a job, write a resume, and how to be successful at an interview.

We were very proud and moved to see four of our young people get baptized in June. They have each come from hard roads but through their interaction with us and others before us they have come to faith in God. They are all on fire and are growing quickly. God has shown us the fruit of this ministry through things like this. One of the boys said that he has come to faith because of the summer camps that he went to with our organization. We continue to disciple them and they enjoy meeting people from each team that comes.

At the end of June we started our summer camps. We went backpacking in the mountains with 14 boys and 4 other volunteers from back home. It was a great time of discipleship and growth for the boys and we all enjoyed the beauty of God's creation.

Coming here on a team is something that we would like to encourage you to think and pray about. God uses people for many different things on these trips and he also uses the trips to have an impact on those that come. Also we are very encouraged when people we know come on these trips. If you are thinking of coming or have questions please let us know: weloveorphans@gmail.com . We would also love to see some groups come from our supporting churches as it would deepen our relationships and partnerships and it is a great way of serving God and furthering his kingdom.

Thanks so much for partnering with us in support and prayer. Here are some prayer requests:
-For God to work in the lives of the kids this summer at our summer camps.
-For the planning and logistics to work well for the camps.
-For the people who are coming here to help us out, we can't do camps without lots of help.
-For strength, wisdom, and energy for us on staff.
-For the planning of the fall programming.
-Praise God for all of our family, friends, and supporters and ask him to bless them.



For a printable PDF version of this newsletter click here: May-June Newsletter