Summer Camps 2021!

In my last blog I told you about the first day camp of the summer. In July and August we were able to have two more weeks of day camps and two groups of a shorten version of overnight camps. So in all we had 5 different camp experiences, with about 110 kids involved. It was different summer for us in many ways. We were not allowed to have teams from the US come and help out because of Covid travel restrictions and each orphanage had different rules and regulations that we had to follow. Despite this we were thrilled by the amount we were able to do, the volunteers from our graduates and some fellow Romaian friends, and the smiles, fun and love that was able to be shared. I was reminded again of the resilency of our kids and the power of Faith, Hope, and Love. The second camp was a week of day camps with kids 6-13 from Rosiori. The theme was the miracles of Jesus and we brought the kids each day to the Boys Transition House in Nenciulesti. I was in charge of lunches and snacks and leading craft time. Two of my favorite memories of the week were the singing time. The kids loved to sing and everytime that we sang the song "Stiu Cine Sunt" (I know who I am), which is a song that talks about who we are in Christ, and I saw the kids singing the words with passion and energy, I would get tears in my eyes and would pray "Lord let these words be true in their lives!" That is our deepest desire, that each child would know who they are in Christ. It is such a contrast to go from being an orphan with "no worth," to being a child of THE KING, with infinite worth. The other favorite moment was after lunch each day each team would tell me thank you for the meal. It started out with an impromptu shout out instigated by one of the team leaders with a traditional romanian thank you "Sarat mana pentru masa." (I kiss your hand for the meal) and it turned into a competition between the teams to come up with a different poem or chant each day to say thank you. It made me laugh every day!

The Boy in the third picture, Alex, attached himself to my side and said he was going to be glued to me all day. I told him he'd have to help cook, he said "no problem," then I told him he'd have to help clean up "No problem." Then I told him he'd have to help clean bathrooms, he thought a second and decided to go play! The next camp was a day camp with kids of all ages from Peris and Voluntari. We did lesson and game time out at Snagov in the big yard and then they came to Pipera for lunch and swim time in the afternoon. I was a leader of the red team, which was the girls' team. We had a slight disadvantage to the highly athletic boys' teams, but we were able to come from behind and win first place for the week! It was very exciting!

Camps 4 and 5 were teen camps from Rosiori. We were able to bring them up to Bucuresti and they were able to stay overnight. It was only one night and two days for each group so we packed in those days. We had lessons, worship, games, scavengerhunt, pool time, camp fire, more games, meals, more games, and a bit of hang out time. We are continuing to see the trend in Rosiori that teens are being placed in the orphanage often, so we have quite a few "new" kids that haven't been in the system and then as teens find themselves in the orphanage. It is a very hard transition and I'm so glad that we can provide a place for them to feel safe and loved.

It was a terrific summer and I'm so thankful to God for his provision, my staff and volunteers for all of their work, and all or you who support us in many different ways. Thank you!