Mission Trip to Romania 2008

For about 10 days in July and August 6 young people and 4 leaders returned to Comanesti in Romania.

As with previous years, the group went to Comanesti in the North-East part of Romania . The main link that the group has in Romania is with a charity called Cry in the Dark, who have built and now run an orphanage for young people with physical and learning difficulties in Comanesti. This orphanage is called Casa Lumina (House of Light). Over the years, we have also forged links with the Baptist Church in the town (next door to Casa Lumina). We have also made links with an estate in the town near to Casa Lumina. This is the story of some of those who were on the Mission Trip, starting with Andi Naude and the work on the estate: -

This was my first time to Romania and I was very unsure what to expect. I wasn't scared about being far from home or even being in a completely unknown culture, but I was terrified about the work we were going to do. These worries were only added to when we arrived and Pastor Adrian told us that there weren't many children in the church at the moment so a holiday club may not work. The one thing we had planned was taken away and whilst others started thinking how else we could best serve the town and church, I was pretty sure the best thing to do was admit we were doomed and go home. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but I wasn't happy. One of the most memorable moments for me was the next day when we headed off on to the estate. I wasn't expecting many kids to play with us as it was the first day and they didn't know who we were yet, but as we arrived and started to play, they ran to us from nowhere and joined in. After about an hour or two, it started raining pretty hard but without even questioning it we carried on playing with them and then walked back late that afternoon completely drenched and so excited about going back the next day. The estate part of the mission was definitely where my heart was and those kids taught me a lot about being thankful for what you have. They are amazing kids and I really hope I'll be back. A huge thank you to everybody who supported us financially and in prayer, I'm very grateful.

Kate Lumley also gives her story of the time on the estate and some of the work we did with Cry in the Dark: -

Had anyone observed our group while we were communicating in Romania, they would have noticed that our speech was frequently punctuated with confident exclamations of “Bine! Foarte Bine!” The equivalent of this in England would be a foreigner who had not got a clue what you'd been saying, but wanted to assure that what you had said was “Good, very good!” Despite our failure in understanding Romanian, the mission trip was absolutely amazing. The language barrier had been one of the things worrying me the most and it actually didn’t hinder us at all. Apart from once, when we didn’t realise we’d actually bought chicken hearts at the supermarket and then fried them up and ate them for dinner…but we won’t go into that. When it came to reaching out to the children on the estate, the young people in Casa Lumina and the Baptist church community that were hosting us, the language barrier was rarely a problem. We were extremely lucky to gain 2 fantastic translators by the second week but even then I had learnt that waving your arms about actually worked quite well.

My favourite experience was definitely playing with the kids on the local estate. While the boys on the team took the older boys off to play football, us girls were left with all the girls and the young children. It was daunting on the first day but the two weeks were filled with volleyball, frisbee, football, catch, ‘It’, drawing and even nail painting! I have so many fantastic memories of that time, but also some that were quite saddening; 3 year old children were left to play on this bit of wasteland on the estate, with no adult supervision, the children had to all look out for each other. There were huge holes in the ground where men were working, the grass was completely overgrown hiding glass, horse excrement and rubble and it was just really dangerous. I remember our first day when we managed to lose their ball down one of the holes under the road, and one of the boys, Costell, who was about 6 or 7 clambered down and disappeared from view looking for the ball. At this point, Andi and I were going “We’ve lost the small child down the hole!” but he emerged triumphant with the ball, as if he’d done it a million times. It was a very different world, one where health and safety was not a top priority.

Although there wasn’t much opportunity to talk to the children about Jesus until we had our translators, we formed very strong attachments to them all. I had met one girl, Andra, who was 11, on our first day, and by the end of the 2 weeks, even though my Romanian definitely had not improved much at all, we could understand each other much better, and she was even translating what I said for some of the other children, even though she couldn’t completely understand English. By the end of the 2 weeks we managed to get them to draw pictures of the Christmas story, the Easter story (Andra gave me her picture as a gift) and their view of Heaven and also to write their own prayers and lists of what they were thankful for. I miss them all now so much and I wanted to take most of them home with me!

I didn’t really know anything about Romania ’s history before I left and was amazed to hear about how much darkness the country has suffered. The Communist regime had left many adults and young people with severe disabilities and special needs. Although Casa Lumina is an amazing’ House of Light’, wonderfully caring for 23 severely disabled orphans, giving them a home, a family and a life, there are many institutions throughout all of Romania, who have shut these ‘outcasts’ away, hiding them from public view, and not providing them with love or care that they need. This is why it is so great to support Cry in the Dark, who are working to bring light to Comanesti. They are in the process of finishing an AIDS ward, Casa Albert, which we were

privileged to visit, and it will provide a wonderful, secure home for those who have not got long to live. I loved being involved with Cry in the Dark and also the Baptist church we stayed in; we could engage with the patients in Casa Lumina (once they took us on a very, very long walk through the mountains!) and also the young people from the church. I have no doubt God was with us in everything we did, as we were so blessed by every person we met, spoke to and engaged with, and we also had great fun as a team, doing interesting things like flooding the church (Hannah had a very long shower!) and playing endless rounds of cheat! I can declare that all in all my experience in Romania was “Foarte foarte Bine!”

Karl Fowler had been on the previous two Mission Trips and came again this year to help out with the driving. Karl explains how some of the work on the estate is still going on in his story: -

What a privilege for Revival to be able to visit the beautiful town of Comanesti for the 3^rd time in 4 years! In 2006 we left England without knowing where we would stay, or whether we would have any translation to aid us in our tasks. This year, we left England knowing that brand new accommodation provided by the church would cover our heads, and some of the church youth would help us by translating - we’d sustained these relationships from our previous visit. It was also a joy to see the ‘next generation’ of Revival stepping up to the plate, with 7 out of 10 members on their first visit.

Circumstances on arrival meant that the young children’s holiday club administered in previous years was not appropriate, and this enabled us to spend more time with the older youth at the church. In the 10 days we spent in Comanesti, we met with the youth (aged around 14 to 17) on 3 occasions. It was a time in which we could share with them – share songs, games, testimonies, and our experiences of Christian life at school. We wanted to avoid turning up with entirely our own agenda and imposing it on them, and were keen to engage with the youth and find out about their town and their lives.

We were even able to forge friendships between the church youth and the children we were working with on the estate. Following the trip, a letter from one of the youth includes: “I felt that God worked and blessed the time you spent here. I thank Him for meeting you and for giving me the chance to create new bonds of friendship…your work on the estate had a great impact on the kids there. I’ve been there 2 days ago and it’s very different now.” For us, this is a real result – that the youth have been back to the estate, investing in relationships that we helped forge, even after we’ve left.

For this reason, and others that you will read of herein, the trip was a huge success, and we thank everyone who supported it in prayer and money for making it possible.

Emma Larkman tells us a bit more of what we were able to offer to Casa Lumina: -

This being my first trip to Romania I didn’t quite know what to expect. It being a European Union Country, you would expect it not to be too bad. But the reality is that a lot of what goes on there is covered up. When we went out we didn’t have any firm plans for what work we would be doing, which was very scary when most things in England are so organized! However, God definitely had plans for us and we ended up spending a lot of time with the local children on a nearby estate. The kids’ energy was amazing; some of them had practically nothing, living in very run down flats with people who were not their family, but they always wanted to play and often ran out to meet us. It was so very rewarding to bring smiles to their faces & simply show that we cared about them, but it made it heartbreaking to leave.

We also managed to do a bit to help at Casa Lumina, where 23 young adults with learning disabilities live and are cared for. This included playing with them, taking the more able ones for a walk and helping to collect medicinal plants. It became clear that the young people at Casa Lumina are the lucky ones, as we heard many stories of happenings at other state run orphanages where the children are just not cared for.

All in all, it was a very rewarding trip and I learnt a lot about how much I have and how little others have. It was very hard work but worth it!

One of the things we were quite anxious to do was to visit an adult government run institution. Previously, this had looked after 150 people, but it has been reduced to 80, which is still more that the EU regulations. We wanted to visit those living there and spend a little time with them. Hannah Jacobs talks of this visit in her story: -

Spending time in Romania was amazing. I don't think I've ever had such an emotional week (and a bit)! The thing that affected me most was meeting the people at Ungereni and Casa Lumina. I was really scared about visiting Casa Lumina, because I wasn't sure I'd know how to cope, but I absolutely loved it! I had so much fun walking with Christina on the 'short' trip to the hills. We made water noises every time we passed a river, and pretended we were driving every time we saw a car.

Seeing the situation at Ungereni broke my heart, but at the same time the residents there are so full of life and character. I remember one person who sang happy birthday to us, and it was just lovely.

Working on the estate was also really fun, and it was so nice to see friendships forming despite the communication problems! The best part of that, for me, was when it was time to leave for lunch one day, and they didn't want us to go, so they jumped on me, and I fell over!

A big thank you to Ema, Katy and Titus who helped us translate, we wouldn't have got very far without them!

Everyone from the church was really friendly and I felt very welcomed and cared for, which helped settle me in and stop me missing England !

It was a challenging few days but I loved being able to serve and give something back in Gods world. Hopefully I'll be going back soon!

As previously mentioned, this is the third time young people from revival have been to Comanesti and it was great to have Sam Gardner come this time as a leader: -

As a team leader this time around, I've had a new experience and perspective on our work in Romania . I've been twice before as a team member, but on this trip I got to meet more of the people in charge of Casa Lumina, more people from the Baptist church and got to know the rest of the team much better. They're all great people of God, all wrestling with the different challenges God is throwing at them and taking His work on. The director of Casa Lumina, Marie-Anne, is a great lady who really opened up the kid's home to us, allowing us freely to come and go as we please. The Baptist church has a great minister in Pastor Adrian who welcomed us warmly and looked after us when the church started leaking! With all this, my favourite place was the nearby estate where we spent so much time simply playing with the kids there, playing lots of football and holiday-club-type games with the littler ones. Without a translator for the first week, we had to use our basic Romanian and do lots of pointing! But we got to know their characters. When one of the church youth came with us to the estate in the second week, conversations and opportunities to talk about faith arose, and I pray those conversations are still with those kids now. The other thing that stands out is the way the team adapted to all the new conditions that mission and a place like Romania throw up. They understood mission is about serving and got working from the off, putting in so much to get to know the kids at the church, Casa Lumina and the estate. They did so much with all of those kids that I never saw and still don't know about. And probably never will. They were a blessing to the trip, a quality team.

Other members on the team included Jon Nichols and Lizzy Plummer. We also thank Barbara Booty for giving up time to also be on the trip and come as a female leader. Barbara’s tells us how the trip effected her life: -

It’s over 2 months now since I leapt out of my “comfort zone”! And it’s probably true to say that recent circumstances have, in some ways, nudged me back into it!!

However, the opportunity to go on mission to Comanesti, with a wonderfully talented and committed group of young people, has caused me to stop and reflect. Although on the surface life may appear to “travel the same road”, significant changes have taken place with regard to my knowledge, thinking, spiritual growth and attitude to others, in particular the underprivileged. Many images remain with me, significantly our first visit to the estate, our work with the young people at Casa Lumina and our visit to Ungereni.

Walking onto the estate was unnerving at first. “Who am I”, I thought, “that I think I can walk into your space, your living place?” I felt out of my depth, I had no idea what we would do or what to expect……so I prayed”…. That day, as I put myself in God’s hands, I learned (again!) that He really can be trusted and that He really does know best. I learned that a smile can help break through so many barriers, especially that of communication.

The estate children don’t appear to have much but they ooze welcome and friendship, and they look out for each other too. There’s a sense of community, comradeship and belonging between them, and yet there is this acceptance of us – strangers…  Later in the week, when we were able to share Bible stories with them, the children were “open books, but not empty ones”. Clearly there is some teaching at home, church or school. I continue to pray for developing links between the church in Comanesti and the youngsters on the estates.

Ungereni is an institution for adults with special needs, tucked away in the hills, hidden from prying eyes, forgotten by many. On the Internet you can read of children being rescued from the place…. just as those young people at Casa Lumina had been. I think it was the injustice of the political circumstances of these dear people that choked me. It struck me that so many of the disturbed behaviours we saw was no fault of theirs but was due to the political regime that had led them to being abandoned in the first place.

At Casa Lumina we experienced how compassion, real interest and Christian love have provided stability, self worth, purpose and hope. Cry in the Dark is Christian love in action in a place where so many are not respected. Now that I am back in England where children and adults with special needs have some status and place of their own, I ask myself the question, “What next?” While I would hope to be able to support the work of Cry in the Dark further, I also hope, through prayer, to be proactive in bringing light, hope and compassion to some of the underprivileged where I live.

You will see from these stories what a difference the trip has made in the lives of these young people.  Thank you for your support.

Andy Williams