Vessels

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. After 24 years of living in Romania, I shouldn't be surprised when God works. I think sometimes God must look at me and shake his head that it takes so long for me to catch on. He made it clear throughout the New Testament that His choice for spreading His love to the world is humans. He picks ordinary, unspectacular people and allows them to be His vessels to pour out His love. What an honor and a privilege it was to be a jar serving among close to 60 people this summer all with the same goal: To bring the Love of Christ to the poor and orphaned in Romania. There were many times that I looked at numbers and logistics and I thought. "I don't know how this is going to work!" God's math isn't mine and it was fun to watch Him show up and meet the needs. It was an incredible, busy summer. We had two teams from the US. One from Orchard Church and one from Emanuel Faith, both in the Escondido area. We added a few others from the US and some translators and helpers from our church here and our H2H graduates. We had 7 different groups of day camps and helped out with the AlfaOmega VBS in two locations. The H2H staff was a small but mighty group. We added in an intern, Cassie, and past staff Jenny, came to assist for the month. I was more then happy to hand over the kitchen to her! The next generation was also involved. Ruthie and Karla, two of our “grandkids,” helped out as well. Ruthie, age 12, was one of our translators, assigned to a team, and Karla, age 8 helped out translating as well. Thanks for all of your prayers for our summer ministry. I am thankful for each of you! Our theme was "We are light in the darkness." and we talked about different characters from the Bible that were lights in dark places. We used a cave setting and had a great skit with some cave explorers!

We had different stations and four teams. The first week I was in charge of the memory verse station.

We few 50-70 people per meal so there was a lot of grocery shopping involved!!

Free time! The favorite part of the day. They could zipline, jump on the trampoline, play games, do arts and crafts (tye-dye and bracelet making being the favorites),and when at the team house they could swim. The two weeks at the boys house, without the pool, were very hot and water games where a must!

Keeping the teams unified and informed is a huge part of what I do. We had morning devotions and evening wrap up each day, plus orientation and debriefing at the beginning and end. There were some very special moments and it was a privilege to lead.

Other hats I wore were chauffer, maid, laundress, doctor, and counselor, and tour guide!

I love summer ministry. It is always busy and a lot of work, but watching God show up and His love be poured out is something I never tire of! Come and join us next year!!

Many Different Ways To Do Ministry!

When most of you think of what H2H does in Romania, you probably envision lots of different kinds of programs with adorable kids. While you are correct, our jobs often require lots of different types of work that has to be done to be able to have these programs. In my role, this is especially the case. This time of year finds me bopping between sitting at my computer or in meetings to schedule summer ministry, telephone calls and meeting with directors to get all the documents in place so that we can bring kids to summer camps, working to make sure our houses and vehicles are ready to accommodate lots of kids and team members, normal visits and ministry with the kids and H2H family, and much more. I sometimes feel like I'm a circus act that spins plates and I need to keep all the plates spinning without letting any fall! I actually love the variety of what I do! And while, it is not glamorous or the picture of "typicial" ministry, it is reality and necessity. When I'm scrubbing the gunk out of the pool, I envision the smiles of the kids when they will be jumping in. When I'm rewriting documents, I think of the kids piling out of the vans yelling "Americani!" Loving the kids of Romania takes many different forms, but all with the goal of showing them that they are loved with the love of Christ!

We needed to do some repairs and painting at the Boys Transition House that will be hosting alot of our summer programs. Before

During and After

We had a garage sale to fundraise for repairs and summer minsitry. It was a good event.

Kid times!

The weather, this Spring, has been especially stormy. We've had quite a bit of rain. It has led to some beautiful skies and I even got to drive on a Rainbow. God is faithful!

April 23

April in Romania means Easter Celebrations! Typically, Romanians get two weeks off for Easter break. Spring Break for schools is always tied on to Easter break. At all of the schools that we teach in, we have a combination of kids from the orphange and kids from the towns or villages. It is amazing to me to see the kids from families that have no concept of Jesus and the story of Easter. In comparision, the kids from the orphanages, that have grown up with H2H's involvement in their lives, know the story of Jesus. Fruit from years of investment from many different staff and teams. I'm grateful that God allows us to occasionally see that what we do does matter. That is encouragement in the times that we wonder if what we are doing makes a difference.

We did special activities at our Snagov house, which is continuing to house Ukrainian refugee families. Currently we have 3 family units which is 3 moms, 1 grandma and 12 children. It is a busy place!

We, of course, had a H2H family Easter Celebration at the Team House. It was a fun day being together and celebrating. Great time of reflecting on the meaning of Easter, eating great food, and of course the massive egg hunt!

We also had a wedding in April. Marinana, who was part of our Girls Transition Program in 2007, got married, in a civil ceremony.