_carolyn (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} carolyn_) wrote,@ 2027-09-03 21:59:00 |
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3 posts in 1
From One Week Ago:
Another fabulous and really hot week has gone by.
Once again I started the week tired and thinking that the kids were not as fun or as cool as the previous week and that it would be a much quieter week and not as exciting...and once again I was wrong - I don't know why I have not learnt by now that this is always the case!
It was another general kids camp, with kids ranging from 6-15 though, so quite a big age spread. We managed to play a whole lot of volleyball, and I even decided this week that I quite like playing football!
Every night Andrew and I were requested to sing 'One Way, Jesus' and a Romanian song called 'Eu am un tata bun'.....and I was elected as a karaoke judge for the week.
One absolutely amazing thing happened that is quite hard to explain...but before I left England someone from my church shared a vision with me about a boy who I would meet, with a lot of specifics about the situation, and every week that went by I never met this boy, but last week I did, and so it was amazing to see the outworking of what God said was going to happen....and it is even more exciting cause part of the prophecy said that even in a difficult situation with this boy, that I would have peace because I would know that God was calling this boy to be really unstrumental in building the church in Romania and that he would call many people to Christ! I can't really explain it very well on here, but yeah, it was some amazing stuff!
On Wednesday Andrew and I and our friend Relia are going to Uricane to visit the kids in the orphanage there!!!!
Then Saturday evening our last camp here ends, and we have one week before we fly back to England...so I think we shall go to Hunedoara and stay in a centre there that does a lot of amazing social work in a really poor community, and then go to Teliuc again to visit the crew out there.
One of our friends from the teen camp posted some pics from that week, so I think that if you look under the 'photos of me' bit on here then you can see some of them at least!
Yesterday had a really strange experience of being around a table with me and Andrew, 2 Romanians and 2 french...I can't understand any french anymore, the french couldn't understand any Romanian and only a little English, one of the Romanians spoke great french, and the other great English, and then I spoke some Romanian....it was strange having a converstation going in 3 languages all at the same time.
I must run off again and get to dinner quite shortly!
God Bless
Carolyn
but first, prayer points -
- for this week, a family camp with families from Hunedoara
- direction for the future
-for Benny one of the boys from camp last week (the one who the vision was about)
- that we would figure out how to actually GET to Uricane...using train and bus
And from Today:
Our last week at camp was a family camp with families involved at the centre in Hunedoara which Beni (who runs the camp)'s brother Corneliu runs.
There were some kids and teens who we knew from previous weeks who were here again, and it was quite a relaxed week since the parents of most of the kids were there.
On Wednesday morning we had the amazing experience of riding on a Romanian 'Personal Train' - which sounds very nice eh? definitely....it was the slowest moving train I have ever experienced - it took us 4 hours to travel 98km! But we eventually made it to Uricane and it was brilliant to see the kids from the orphanage there! They were all super excited to see us as well and we just hung out for the day and wandered around their town and watched a football match and things. I had the chance to talk to Aurora quite a lot and she was doing pretty well and settling in ok, but still struggling with it. On the Thursday she was going with her brothers to see her birth mum and stay there for a week, so she was not really sure how she felt about that.
Also got to experience a new form of transport....the maxi-taxi - which I think is amazing! it would cost us like 50cents to travel for 20minutes in a little minivan sort of thing. They travel between the villages and into the cities and we never had to wait more than 5minutes for one to come, even at like 10pm.
We got back to camp on the Friday morning, and that day at lunch Benny, the little boy from camp last week phoned and we got to chat to him!
It made me realize that all of the kids who I have been thinking and praying about lots over the summer, I have gotten to see again - Milena, Alexandru (little boy from the first week...who we ran into randomly at a bank in Deva), Aurora, and Benny!
Friday afternoon I hiked up the mountain with Benny (different one than mentioned above) and Natty (who were back for the week again), Daniella and some others, and we went up and over to where there is a cave - that was really cool!
That night we play Mafia - on the suggestion of the Romanians, not me! They play it a bit differently but it was really good fun, even if all the accusations and defensives and everything were in Romanian
Everyone left on Saturday afternoon, and I mean literally everyone. Usually each week when one group leaves, the other arrives straight away (they come in the bus that will take the others away). Andrew and I were the only ones left in all of the camp - and it was strange and eerie and I didn't like it. I didn't know what to do...Andrew and I chatted a bit and then he slept and I cleaned, and then I started to pack and read a bit....eventually Beni got back and we had a BBQ and then went to bed!
Sunday morning we went to church in Simeria and then got a lift into Hunedoara where we are staying for the week now until we leave. We're staying at the centre here that Corneliu runs.....more details on the centre later.....we have a nice little room with internet access so this week I can be in touch lots!
Yesterday we went to Corneliu's church in the evening and got to see lots of folk we know...tis a very big church with a choir with like 8 violins and cello and flute as well.....Andrew and I sang a couple of songs (everywhere we go we get asked to sing some songs....this summer has involved us leading worship quite a lot) and so we sang one in Romanian, and then on the request of some of the young people sang 'One Way, Jesus', which is quite a lively and rock-y kind of song....and so I'm not sure that some of the older members of the congregation were too happy with it....that sort of music isn't typically played in their church. Later we went out for pizza, which was really good, but took like 1.5hrs before we got to eat....and then came home here and went to bed.
Today we have been helping clean and sort at the centre and tonight we are having a meeting with some of the youth who came to the teen camp.
Stay tuned for another note quite soon that will be much more interesting and have some bigger news.
AND MORE IMPORTANTLY FROM TODAY:
So.
I feel like I should write this to people individually, or perhaps wait till I get to England to tell people in person, but if I do that people will probably find out in other ways and I don't want that to happen cause then some people will get offended that I did not tell them, so I will tell everyone all at the same time (well, aside from my family who I told earlier today...)
So, as most of you know I have been trying to figure out stuff about the future and if I want to stay in Romania or in England or go back to Canada, and what God's plan is in all of it....
I knew that I would be quite happy to stay in Romania, but really wasn't sure what I would do or how it could actually work practically...so I was praying and have been asking lots o folk to pray for me that if God wanted me to stay in Romania then he needed to provide something specific for me to do, PLUS somewhere to live and a way to live/eat etc.....
Last week while we were at the Family Camp, Corneliu, who was heading up the camp that week, took me aside and asked me if I would come and work at their centre for a year or 2 or however long I wanted to stay...he said they couldn't pay me, but that I could live at the centre and eat there and so I wouldn't need to worry about anything like that! Twas a great and exact response to my prayers...and so I said yes.
I AM still coming back to England in September, and will stay for like a month and a bit, and then my plan is to go to Canada for a month before going to Romania in mid-late November (just in time to experience a Romanian winter!).
So what is the 'centre' I have been refering to?
Centrul Crestin Betleem is in the middle of the city of Hunedoara, in the middle of a lot of pretty run-down blocks of flats.
The Centre is doing a lot of amazing work with the kids, you and families from the area.....
Free Meals
After school clubs
Homework clubs
Sports groups
English lessons
Sewing lessons
Computer lessons
a Clean life project (kids from some of the really poor families can come and get showers and get their clothes cleaned)
Family support visits
Bible clubs
Youth groups
Women's groups
So I'm going to be living and working here...working with the kids and youth, doing English lessons, helping with the sports and after school clubs, potentially even the computer stuff cause they have no one to help in that area (not that computers are my strong point...), and helping doing some fundraising bids and organizing for missions teams to come out during the summer and organizing some of their summer events and camps....
There isn't a huge team working here at the moment, and a lot of us will be new...There is Daniella who has been at camp with me for the last 3 weeks and is amazing...there's Dan and Lidia who have just come from Bucharest and are social workers, there's a lady who does the sewing stuff, and a cook, and some guys who do a lot of the building work, and Corneliu and Deanna who head it all up....and probably other people involved in different little things...
But yeah, I'm well excited, especially being here this week and seeing the place and being in the community here and everything!
Umm yeah, I don't really know what else to write about it at the moment....and there's lots of you who I probably need to talk to more individually about it....but that will wait till I get back to England.
I'll probably have a Romanian Night when I get back to England at some point, and then one in Canada....with Romanian food and songs and games and photos and things, to try and raise a bit o money for the centre....but will talk about that later!
Thanks for all your prayers...and please keep praying!!
From One Week Ago:
Another fabulous and really hot week has gone by.
Once again I started the week tired and thinking that the kids were not as fun or as cool as the previous week and that it would be a much quieter week and not as exciting...and once again I was wrong - I don't know why I have not learnt by now that this is always the case!
It was another general kids camp, with kids ranging from 6-15 though, so quite a big age spread. We managed to play a whole lot of volleyball, and I even decided this week that I quite like playing football!
Every night Andrew and I were requested to sing 'One Way, Jesus' and a Romanian song called 'Eu am un tata bun'.....and I was elected as a karaoke judge for the week.
One absolutely amazing thing happened that is quite hard to explain...but before I left England someone from my church shared a vision with me about a boy who I would meet, with a lot of specifics about the situation, and every week that went by I never met this boy, but last week I did, and so it was amazing to see the outworking of what God said was going to happen....and it is even more exciting cause part of the prophecy said that even in a difficult situation with this boy, that I would have peace because I would know that God was calling this boy to be really unstrumental in building the church in Romania and that he would call many people to Christ! I can't really explain it very well on here, but yeah, it was some amazing stuff!
On Wednesday Andrew and I and our friend Relia are going to Uricane to visit the kids in the orphanage there!!!!
Then Saturday evening our last camp here ends, and we have one week before we fly back to England...so I think we shall go to Hunedoara and stay in a centre there that does a lot of amazing social work in a really poor community, and then go to Teliuc again to visit the crew out there.
One of our friends from the teen camp posted some pics from that week, so I think that if you look under the 'photos of me' bit on here then you can see some of them at least!
Yesterday had a really strange experience of being around a table with me and Andrew, 2 Romanians and 2 french...I can't understand any french anymore, the french couldn't understand any Romanian and only a little English, one of the Romanians spoke great french, and the other great English, and then I spoke some Romanian....it was strange having a converstation going in 3 languages all at the same time.
I must run off again and get to dinner quite shortly!
God Bless
Carolyn
but first, prayer points -
- for this week, a family camp with families from Hunedoara
- direction for the future
-for Benny one of the boys from camp last week (the one who the vision was about)
- that we would figure out how to actually GET to Uricane...using train and bus
And from Today:
Our last week at camp was a family camp with families involved at the centre in Hunedoara which Beni (who runs the camp)'s brother Corneliu runs.
There were some kids and teens who we knew from previous weeks who were here again, and it was quite a relaxed week since the parents of most of the kids were there.
On Wednesday morning we had the amazing experience of riding on a Romanian 'Personal Train' - which sounds very nice eh? definitely....it was the slowest moving train I have ever experienced - it took us 4 hours to travel 98km! But we eventually made it to Uricane and it was brilliant to see the kids from the orphanage there! They were all super excited to see us as well and we just hung out for the day and wandered around their town and watched a football match and things. I had the chance to talk to Aurora quite a lot and she was doing pretty well and settling in ok, but still struggling with it. On the Thursday she was going with her brothers to see her birth mum and stay there for a week, so she was not really sure how she felt about that.
Also got to experience a new form of transport....the maxi-taxi - which I think is amazing! it would cost us like 50cents to travel for 20minutes in a little minivan sort of thing. They travel between the villages and into the cities and we never had to wait more than 5minutes for one to come, even at like 10pm.
We got back to camp on the Friday morning, and that day at lunch Benny, the little boy from camp last week phoned and we got to chat to him!
It made me realize that all of the kids who I have been thinking and praying about lots over the summer, I have gotten to see again - Milena, Alexandru (little boy from the first week...who we ran into randomly at a bank in Deva), Aurora, and Benny!
Friday afternoon I hiked up the mountain with Benny (different one than mentioned above) and Natty (who were back for the week again), Daniella and some others, and we went up and over to where there is a cave - that was really cool!
That night we play Mafia - on the suggestion of the Romanians, not me! They play it a bit differently but it was really good fun, even if all the accusations and defensives and everything were in Romanian
Everyone left on Saturday afternoon, and I mean literally everyone. Usually each week when one group leaves, the other arrives straight away (they come in the bus that will take the others away). Andrew and I were the only ones left in all of the camp - and it was strange and eerie and I didn't like it. I didn't know what to do...Andrew and I chatted a bit and then he slept and I cleaned, and then I started to pack and read a bit....eventually Beni got back and we had a BBQ and then went to bed!
Sunday morning we went to church in Simeria and then got a lift into Hunedoara where we are staying for the week now until we leave. We're staying at the centre here that Corneliu runs.....more details on the centre later.....we have a nice little room with internet access so this week I can be in touch lots!
Yesterday we went to Corneliu's church in the evening and got to see lots of folk we know...tis a very big church with a choir with like 8 violins and cello and flute as well.....Andrew and I sang a couple of songs (everywhere we go we get asked to sing some songs....this summer has involved us leading worship quite a lot) and so we sang one in Romanian, and then on the request of some of the young people sang 'One Way, Jesus', which is quite a lively and rock-y kind of song....and so I'm not sure that some of the older members of the congregation were too happy with it....that sort of music isn't typically played in their church. Later we went out for pizza, which was really good, but took like 1.5hrs before we got to eat....and then came home here and went to bed.
Today we have been helping clean and sort at the centre and tonight we are having a meeting with some of the youth who came to the teen camp.
Stay tuned for another note quite soon that will be much more interesting and have some bigger news.
AND MORE IMPORTANTLY FROM TODAY:
So.
I feel like I should write this to people individually, or perhaps wait till I get to England to tell people in person, but if I do that people will probably find out in other ways and I don't want that to happen cause then some people will get offended that I did not tell them, so I will tell everyone all at the same time (well, aside from my family who I told earlier today...)
So, as most of you know I have been trying to figure out stuff about the future and if I want to stay in Romania or in England or go back to Canada, and what God's plan is in all of it....
I knew that I would be quite happy to stay in Romania, but really wasn't sure what I would do or how it could actually work practically...so I was praying and have been asking lots o folk to pray for me that if God wanted me to stay in Romania then he needed to provide something specific for me to do, PLUS somewhere to live and a way to live/eat etc.....
Last week while we were at the Family Camp, Corneliu, who was heading up the camp that week, took me aside and asked me if I would come and work at their centre for a year or 2 or however long I wanted to stay...he said they couldn't pay me, but that I could live at the centre and eat there and so I wouldn't need to worry about anything like that! Twas a great and exact response to my prayers...and so I said yes.
I AM still coming back to England in September, and will stay for like a month and a bit, and then my plan is to go to Canada for a month before going to Romania in mid-late November (just in time to experience a Romanian winter!).
So what is the 'centre' I have been refering to?
Centrul Crestin Betleem is in the middle of the city of Hunedoara, in the middle of a lot of pretty run-down blocks of flats.
The Centre is doing a lot of amazing work with the kids, you and families from the area.....
Free Meals
After school clubs
Homework clubs
Sports groups
English lessons
Sewing lessons
Computer lessons
a Clean life project (kids from some of the really poor families can come and get showers and get their clothes cleaned)
Family support visits
Bible clubs
Youth groups
Women's groups
So I'm going to be living and working here...working with the kids and youth, doing English lessons, helping with the sports and after school clubs, potentially even the computer stuff cause they have no one to help in that area (not that computers are my strong point...), and helping doing some fundraising bids and organizing for missions teams to come out during the summer and organizing some of their summer events and camps....
There isn't a huge team working here at the moment, and a lot of us will be new...There is Daniella who has been at camp with me for the last 3 weeks and is amazing...there's Dan and Lidia who have just come from Bucharest and are social workers, there's a lady who does the sewing stuff, and a cook, and some guys who do a lot of the building work, and Corneliu and Deanna who head it all up....and probably other people involved in different little things...
But yeah, I'm well excited, especially being here this week and seeing the place and being in the community here and everything!
Umm yeah, I don't really know what else to write about it at the moment....and there's lots of you who I probably need to talk to more individually about it....but that will wait till I get back to England.
I'll probably have a Romanian Night when I get back to England at some point, and then one in Canada....with Romanian food and songs and games and photos and things, to try and raise a bit o money for the centre....but will talk about that later!
Thanks for all your prayers...and please keep praying!!
