Boys camp

This week 11 boys from 3 orphanages met the challenge of hiking in the Carpathian Mountains. There was great excitement as I picked up the boys from Rosiori de Vede and Alexandria at the metro station. They soon had everything packed and were on the way to Snagov to practice putting up tents and getting all the information they needed for their trip. The trip itself was a great success, the weather was a little chilly but it only rained once and the boys got to experience the beautiful scenery of Romania and God’s creation. Like the girls camp, they had a scavenger hunt and other fun activities in between many meaningful conversations and one boy (that we know of) made a commitment to the Lord. On Saturday Jen and I drove to Sinaia to collect them. I was expecting them to be tired and quiet – Oh No!!! They were so excited and desperate to tell of their adventures. The only complaint was that there was not enough Romanian bread!!! – not an easy find up a mountain!

Girls camp

Over the past 2 weeks, we have held two girl camps at our Girls Transition House. At each camp, the 12 older orphanage girls were divided into small groups of three and together with some of our staff and summer team volunteers were involved in deep discussions about some really important topics. The theme of the camps was the lies that women believe about themselves and how believing in the Truth can set you free. Several of the volunteers and staff shared their testimonies and some of the girls even shared some of their very difficult stories. In between these difficult discussions, many fun activities were planned such as a pool party and barbeque, a scavenger hunt and a day trip to Sinaia in the mountains to visit Peles Castle, the home of King Carol. On the last day of each camp, to make the girls feel special, we had a spa day at which each girl was given make-over, manicure, pedicure, and had their hair styled. They also had a “tea party” with special food and were encouraged to wear the new outfits they had chosen the day before and at the end we had a fashion show, where each girl in turn walked down the catwalk.

Fun with the little ones

For the past three weeks we have started visiting a new Orphanage, which has young children from about 3-10 years of age. It has been great fun getting to know these children and playing with them. We have taken many fun things to play with including balls, balloons, bubbles and a parachute and each time have started our time there with a craft. The kids have loved this and each time I have been reminded of just how much we have and how little they have. When giving out foam shapes or pipe cleaners etc. for the crafts they all crowd round to the extent that you cannot move and stick their hand out at you shouting “I want one” or “give me one” over and over, often pretending they didn’t get anything so that they can get more. It is definitely survival of the fittest and truly makes me grateful for everything I have.

Graduation

This month also saw the end of our Transition House Programmes. We celebrated the Graduation ceremony on Sunday 13th June. Our staff, previous years graduates and the team that was here at the time, spent the afternoon enjoying a meal together and having fun in the pool after the ceremony, where this years graduates each made a small speech about how the programme had transformed their lives and were given certificates. Well done to them all.

Prizegiving and Carnival at the orphanage

On June 10th the kids at P orphanage celebrated their progress and achievement at their annual prizegiving. Many of the kids gained certificates for their work throughout the year Some classes performed skits, some of the older girls dressed up and showed us their skills at Indian dance and our dance class also performed their dance to “Tears of the Saints” by Leeland. In the afternoon, we held a “Princess and Hero Carnival” as a fitting end to our heroes programme this year. We taught the children the following characteristics of heroes – courage, selflessness, perseverance, loyalty, kindness, obedience, humility and integrity through various “heroes” some sports, some biblical, some historical, some fictional / Disney. The Carnival was a lot of fun and the kids all dressed up as Superman, Sportsmen, Princesses etc. and had the opportunity to win prizes by taking part in 8 different activities – one for each of the characteristics including races, challenges and crafts. They entered through a human tunnel of bubbles to “Superman” music and did a lap of honour before attempting the different activities. It was a wonderful end to this years hardwork.

Scotland trip May 2010

At the end of April, I took my 5 American missionary friends to visit Scotland for 4 days. We had a great time visiting Edinburgh and the Castle, buying Scottish souvenirs in the Royal mile, taking the Glasgow City Bus Tour (the first time for me – I learned a lot too), shopping in Argyle Street and a day trip to Loch Lomond and Inverary Castle. The Americans even learned some new Scottish vocabulary and apparently, Glaswegian is more difficult to learn than Romanian!! Lots of fun, fellowship and food with these friends and some in my church, who very kindly showed us true Scottish hospitality. Thank you all for a wonderful trip.

reward trips

This Month we took some of our kids at the Orphanage on special reward trips. The first trip was for the “little monkeys” music class. We took them to a puppet show of “Pinocchio”. Along with the puppets, grown up actors and actresses, danced and sang, bringing the story to life. The kids were spellbound. Afterwards we took those kids and the kids who had earned all their points in class to Macdonalds for lunch and then to the park. It was a beautiful sunny day. It was amazing to see some of the smaller kids who were scared to cross the rope bridge even with help at the start of the visit, confidently run across it by themselves by the end of the trip. Later on in the month, we took the kids in the Art class to visit Cotroceni Palace and Museum. This is the residence of Romania’s President. We had a guided tour and the children were really interested in what they saw and heard even asking the guide questions. After the tour we had a picnic lunch at the Botanical Gardens. They children took great delight in feeding the fish there, I am just glad they didn’t fall in!!