English Camp in Romania

Our favorite missionaries to Romania invited us to help with a camp for Hungarian students in July. Those who came were 13-22 years old, mostly Christian and mostly English speaking, and truly! We had the best time. Carolina and Cassidy took care of our littles at home. 

International Terminal at the Chicago Airport.
Amazingly, the folks in front of us were Amish and we had a great visit while waiting in line for 90 minutes. No pictures of them as this is not allowed.  :)

We were told after snapping pic this that we were NOT allowed to do that!

Coffee options in Berlin resembled motor oil and were every bit as potent. Ha.

We arrived several days early and enjoyed happy fellowship amidst a flurry of preparations. 
Water at the camp is heated by a wood stove that must be loved and fed continually.
 RATHER chilly if you happen to forget.

One of many work projects. Huge hailstorm damaged the camp several days day before we arrived and putting things back together was perfect for energetic boys.

Decided to route some manpower over to our friends barn which was destroyed in a fire a few months ago.

Salvaging roof tiles.

Working on the house which was right next to the barn. Amazed at how the Lord protected and cared for dear friends!

Shared meal following church. VERRRRRY delicious.

Amazing goulashes, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and onions, something fabulous with eggplant, and bread. We needed as many calorie burning projects as possible to stay ahead of mealtime! 

The schedule! Camp was run by six Bowers, our amazing missionary friends,
a sweet young couple from Michigan and one VERY organized math
 teacher who just happened to throw poster board and markers into her suitcase. 

This is not Idaho but they love their potatoes, too!

All meals for the camp were cooked over the fire in this fantastic pot.

Our incredibly sweet and organized cook.
 She only spoke Hungarian, so we got very good at charades!
We looked forward to her wonderful meals.

Daddy spent MANY years running restaurants, and dishes are his thing!
These dear gals and the blue bowl were his staff that day.

Lots of food, lots of fellowship!
We used mealtimes to squeeze in extra work on Psalm 1, The Lord's Prayer, the Doxology, and lots of hymns! We sang to them and they sang to us. VERY sweet times.

 Bugs are not bigs as chairs there but this thing WAS remarkable!

Always something in the works!!

We taught them Ultimate Fribsee and these were our prizes,
signed by all, for the first guy and gal that recited Psalm 1 word perfect in English.
We loved their accents and their hard work. Both recited within a day or
so of the assignment. Education and reading is HUGE in Hungary and these
students were all very, very quick learners.

Our room. Minimalista at its very best! 

Beautiful breakfast time!

The veggie cellar. Scary but worth the trip!

Bread! Love the scissor treatment.

Kitchen on the left...dining room on the right. Perfect!

Bonfire building Hungarian style. This is no small stick pile!
Several hours later:Victory!

It almost seemed like a crime to burn it up!
Let us never forget: guys love fire as much as they love dirt and water!

So peaceful.

Men's hike. Incredible views everywhere and perfectly quiet. Except for all of US!

Love, love, love! So precious.

One of the neighbors whose roof was destroyed by hail had a very sick cow.
We tried to milk her and eventually sent Charlie back. He did a great job.

Some of the gals launched an UNO party one night.

Starting the cook's fire. Much wood and much blowing!

Copying verses in English.

Outside the laundry room. Oh, the CUTENESS!

Hailstone our friends saved in the freezer. These flattened the potato crop and
destroyed almost every roof in the area. Amazing opportunities to take
things to neighbors and help fix where we could.

Sadly, there is still little respect for life in Romania.
Romania has many cultural habits from years of Communism.  

Charming tea cookies were a cultural thing we LOVED!!

This was a lovely Hungarian church where we sang. Of all the amazing memories, singing our favorite hymns in English with several hundred Christians singing in other languages was the BEST!! What a joy heaven will be, and what an incredible privilege to be in this place. Music is a huge part of their heritage.    

This sweet watermelon server was one of several interpreters God provided.
 It was a privilege to see her trust the Lord for her salvation, and we pray for her often!

Copying the Lord's Prayer into journals. Good thing Charlie has a strong arm!

More singing and reciting!

This precious Romanian Pastor heard Charlie was a gluten free fellow in a bread eating country and brought him these staples!

"On the Go" version of lunch!

Our dear missionary friends were blessed with unexpected babies to adopt this Spring.
The Lord has done miracles and continues to work out unbelievable logistics.
It was our privilege to hear of these things firsthand and to hold these beloved children.  

And what will they think of next? Plenty!!

Never a dull moment?

This dear lady named Anna lives in absolute poverty with her alcoholic son.
Three pigs live downstairs (!), she gets around her tiny room on her chair,
and recently lost her left leg. Prayers as well as projects are underway to move her to a safer, cleaner place. We sang with her and visited via interpreter.

The contrasts here were astounding.
Very beautiful homes and churches next to completely impoverished people and shacks.
There is almost no middle class. 

Very picturesque villages.

This is the music director at the Hungarian church where we sang. His daughter was one of our interpreters at camp, and they invited our whole happy team for Hungarian pizza (complete with peas!) after the service. We talked him into leading us in several hymns. This he did with all the Romanian drama and zest he applies to his own incredible orchestra and choir. 

'Tis the pizza with the peas!

Mama's suitcase was lost in Berlin for the first week so she 
borrowed Carver's shirts! 
Quite thrilled when God provided and it finally arrived! 
Daddy's was lost and came a day or so after that.
'Tis what sinks are for!? We did have our own tiny bathroom that 
also worked as quite the laundramat!  

They put rings in the swine's snouts so they won't dig. Reminded us of a verse?! 

Charlie headed up a rigorous morning routine with the guys.
Here they are taking a breather from his calisthenics and death defying obstacle course.

Note waving hand at top of tree! Would you believe this guy got DOWN in about 8 seconds?!

Great things happen at the campfire! Beautiful songs and testimonies of God's goodness. 

Loved that we had three times a day to just gather and relax.

The staples of life certainly include watermelon!!

Our favorite speaker at home or abroad!
Each of the men were given several sessions.
Topics included prayer, Bible reading, the whole armor of God, purity, and godly relationships.
We split up into smaller groups for further discussion.     

A great way to practice English is a game called Empire. 
They love it, too, but over there they call it SLAVES! 

Balancing fun and sweat and learning! 

Mama was given a beautiful purple Bible to take to Romania and prayed that God would show her who needed it. She told this sweet girl (named Esther!) her favorite story from the Bible (about Esther!) and when she had to leave unexpectedly, it was perfectly clear that she needed to take this special Bible with her. Praise the Lord for answered prayers! 

Cleaning up! Always cleaning up!!
 Our amazing friend (yellow gloves) with the stash of markers and
poster board, and the camp owner's sweet wife.

The church our missionary friends attend. Beautiful.

One of many multifamily family dwellings left over from Communist Romania.

All the gals!

And all the guys!

Dozens of hugs and hugs and addresses and emails later...

....our journey home began!
Not all slept as soundly in airport and airplanes as did these men.
Mama set the record by going almost 45 hours straight with no sleep. :)

So very grateful to the Lord for providing this opportunity to work in Romania!

The need for the love of God, direction in life, prayer, quiet time with the Lord alone, and salvation is everywhere. We are truly thankful for windows into other's lives that give us perspective.
So many reasons to praise the Lord!