Adventure Overseas...

So we've just got back from Romania and I've just got time to reflect.


It was INSANE!

Haha, okay but seriously, one of the most rich and rewarding 

experiences of my life.. It opened up my eyes to the amazing magnitude of God, of the lifestyle, beliefs and cultures of people so unlike us, of the richness of God's love and people's faith for Him.. Insane. I'm just going to outline a few of my favourite experiences, and what they meant to me! One of the most amazing days for me was the day in which team B (the best team;) went to the gypsy village of Harman, and met with Florin and lead some of his church service in the evening. When we got there, we were about to set out evangelism and giving out tracks in the street when it started tipping itself down with rain- so we had to wait! As the rain began to pour we sat inside the church room and just started to play and rehearse for later on ((if you can call it that:s) and through the back door burst a whole load of little children- who had run from the park to hide from the rain! 

What amazed me was that these kids really had no-where else to go. Instead of popping home to hide from the showers, these youngsters ran to the CHURCH-this is how much it is the centre of the community! This was something that really affected me. In this poor place of trouble and hardship, it was the church, and God, that was the focus, the light that shone in the bleakness. Once the storm had cleared up a bit, we set out armed with church tracks and a few  translators to spread the Word into the village. What I think we all noticed was the receptivity of nearly all of the people we approached – whereas in Britain, I think a foreigner with no language skill in English would get ignored or turned away: but in Harman 100% of the people we spoke to were open to what we had to say. 

Whether this reflects the privacy and self-pride of the British or just how often it can happen in the streets for us I’m not sure; however there was a conceivable difference which has to be noted. When we got to the park where we’d run the kids club, we all nervously started to play some games with the children! What I think made the experience so rich for me was the feeling of being thrown into the deep end here. We were given virtually nothing beforehand as to what we were going to be doing: literally just shown the growing number of youngsters and expected to entertain them! We ended up having a ball and all of the team learnt a massive amount from that day. Florin did, thankfully, take charge and he really was the best to us in terms of translating and so on. Adzee and I were both given 30 seconds to think of short testimonies about Jesus to them all; such was the spontaneous nature of the afternoon!

The evening service at Florin’s church was not so much of a rush: Jake had been given a few hours in which to write his speech. Again the moment of worshiping, and hearing the Word of God in 2 different languages to people from 2 completely different cultures in the same room literally baffled me. I can’t even begin to unwind the wonder of the Lord I felt in that church; that God is so personal, yet huge and with so much power all across the world.

The whole week has humbled me entirely, to the magnitude of God. In this country, in our culture and in our wealth we rely so much on objects, things, services. The right we believe we have to medication, care, even to just be listened to! Time spent with people who don't think so much of themselves, don't think so much of the world and who don’t expect so MUCH makes me rethink every single moment of my life now back to normality.

I really could write a book on how much just one week in Romania, one week where the days were spent physically doing God’s work has changed my life. I’ve just outlined one of my most fantastic days; but I don’t think this blog does it justice! The ways in which the Lord moved just within our small group of believers, praying in the backyard of a house on a street in Brasov, will not be leaving me anytime soon.(: