19 Jul 2012

Englishman in Romania: God's Mission



Matthew 28:19 says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.


On the 9th July, 21 people from Kings Church went to Brasov, Romania in hope of seeing God at work and experiencing more of God’s mission and purpose for their lives. We started the trip feeling nervous and excited unsure of what to expect: what we would eat, or drink, or how we would be sleeping? However Jesus said in Matthew 6:25 says “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” So nerves were overcome by excitement and expectation for God to provide.

On our first day we got stuck in gardening and painting at the house where we were staying in. The garden was very over grown and a lot had to be done to it but the youth eagerly volunteered to clear it up. During this time, the other half of the team started emulsifying and painting the house. We then headed into Brasov for some sight seeing and shopping; the town is beautiful and we enjoyed getting to grips with Romania.

On Wednesday and Thursday the team split in two. Team A went off to a youth camp whilst Team B went to work with Florin in Harman a rural town outside of Brasov. At the youth camp we lead games, swam in the river, befriended the youth and played football in the rain. We also did a performance of “Snow white and the 7 dwarves” and helped them with their group Bible study of Matthew 6. This was fantastic and gave us a good opportunity to talk to them about Jesus. In Harman with Team B they led a church meeting where some of our youth preached, gave testimonies and led worship as well as leading a kids club with some of the children from the apartment blocks. We turned up at the park to play games and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by 70+ enthusiastic children wanting to play Duck, Duck, Goose (or Ratza, ratza geesa) and other games.

On Friday our teams were reunited and headed out to the mountains in Busteni for a cable car ride up to the peak (amusingly some of our leaders were quite terrified on the cable car ride!). Everyone went for a hike to the Cross monument at the peak of the mountain. Although this was a 3 hour round trip we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with each team’s activities and hearing about how God had been working in their groups. We then spent the evening with CCB youth group, Adzee gave a very practical preach about living supernaturally, whilst others shared prophetic words from God. It was encouraging to see the Holy Spirit working in the youth as we prayed for the Romanian youth. God was working in amazing ways.

On Saturday it was back to work. The teams separated again - Team B were off to the Youth Camp to lead a day of Olympics and games whilst Team A headed out to Harman to work with Florin and spend the afternoon with the Gypsy Villagers. We cleaned the church carpet and then headed off to the park wearing T-shirts that said “Isus te Ubeste” (Jesus loves you) and sharing the gospel with people. This was an incredible experience for all of the youth which opened their eyes to how much people rely on God. In the evening Team A joined the CCB youth group and 20’s for an evening of prayer which ended our day brilliantly, spending time with God.

For our last day we joined the CCB Church for their Sunday morning meeting where our very own Steve Blaber preached exceptionally on mission, encouraging and inspiring all who were listening to step out in faith and listen more to what God says to us. In the afternoon Dani (church leader) hosted us and cooked us a very filling and yummy BBQ before we went into town to play CCB at Volleyball. The match was close with Romania Vs England. Romania won the first match but England brought back the second match to draw 1-1. So a final game was played with the Romanians winning 25-12.... a very close game so we will be back to challenge you.

Every morning out team was up and ready for our devotionals where we prayed for each other, shared words of knowledge and encouragement and spent time worshipping our Father. This week in Romania was by far the most any of our youth had been stretched before. God called each of them to step out in faith, put reliance in Him and have faith for him to protect them. Once again God proved to be faithful and revealed things to all of us which we will remember forever and know that God will continue to grow each of us in him. We are so thankful to CCB Church for looking after us so lovingly who have been real witnesses to Jesus Christ and have encouraged us to start living more missional lives.  
      


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