Day Three - Hanging out with Roni's Gang

I dislike the fact that it's taken me this long only to get to day three of the trip.  I've been home over two weeks now and feel somewhat disconnected from the trip.  I miss the kids tremendously but love the fact that they pop up on Facebook with an instant message every few days.

Our third day was Sunday and the team headed into Speranta Baptist Church to worship with the kids.  This is the church that Pam, Ben and I attended when we lived in Arad and is pastored by our friend Romica Iuga.  Since there was not translation readily available for the team members we skipped the first hour of prayer and arrived for hours two and three.  It was a nice service and Romi's brother, Viorel, brought the message.

After the service the team split up into pairs again and I went with Jay out to Ana's House, or the "big house" or Roni and Rodi's house.  Either way we enjoyed a marvelous lunch and hanging out with the kids. 

I had a chance to catch up with Mircea, who is now 14-years-old and the same age as my son, Ben.  Ben and Mircea got along well when we were in Romania.  However, I remember that in the beginning it wasn't always that way.  During that first summer in 2003, the boys were playing outside and I'm not sure what was going down but Mircea suddenly blurted out "When is that American going home?"  They came a long way after that episode. 

As I sat chatting with Mircea at the dining room table he wanted to know all about Ben's bedroom.  He was so fascinated that I had to sketch out on a napkin what his bedroom looked like right down to the window, closet, bed, etc.  Then Mircea wanted to know what my bedroom looked like and basically I gave him the layout of the whole upper floor of our house.  I'm always amazed at what intrigues the kids. 

With mission team members it is interesting to see if Romania lays out like they had in their mind before arriving.  I wonder, too, what perception Romanian kids have of America.  Much of it is what they see on television and the very unrealistic "reality" shows and things like that.  Some day I want my friend Roni and his wife, Rodi, to come visit.  But I already dread having them see the house that I live in.  It is a castle compared to the typical Romanian dwelling that poplulates their country.  At what point did we, as Americans, get confused as to bigger is always better?  I always think that I can only sit in one room at a time so why is it necessary to have so many of them?  And then have to clean all of them?  I think that it is a waste of time and energy having a big house.  Some day I'll be ready to go back to something much smaller and simpler.

Mircea and Jay at the castle in Şoimoş.

This is why I love going to Romania and hanging out with the kids.  They ask questions of me that prompt me to question my lifestyle, my motives and my desires.  I don't think one country is better than the other but each one has so much to offer to another; challenging each other in how we do things and accepting that sometimes we are different and it is okay to be that way.  Connecting heart to heart is the most important thing as people. 

Day Two - Visiting with the Stanca Family

Today would mark the beginning of three days in which we would visit the foster families.  A year ago the children that lived at the House of Hope had the opportunity to go to live with their very own parents.  Staff members made the transtition to full time foster parents for the children.  Instead of a situation where a rotating staff worked with the ten children, the children now would have foster parents and gain the individual attention they would need. 

The team divided into pairs and the three oldest children from Ana's House, Sanda, Oana and Radu would act as guides and translators for the pairs.  I paired up with Sherry, we brought Ioana with us and Sanda guided us to visit the Stanca family.  Using the kids as guides for the team is really an amazing thing.  Over the past ten years mission teams used to come to Arad and provide projects and summer camps for the children.  But now the project has evolved to where the oldest children are actually participating in mission along with American team members.  I found out that this would provide a tremendous opportunity for the team members to get to know the older children much better and in turn find out about their lives, goals and ambitions for the future.

Sherry and Sanda

Before eating with the family we played a game of Remy.  Remy is much like Rummikub.  However, the rules are slightly different, as seems to be the case in all games that we play with the kids!  I, for one, never played Rummikub so it was impossible for me to get a grasp on the situation.  I paired up with Andrada and Sherry was paired with Sanda.  Plenty of laughter ensued as Sherry and I tried to pick up the game!

Hoiny was there with us as well but she was involved in playing with her dolls nearby.  Hoiny is just one more success story in the history of Global Hope.

In 2005 she had been found in a facility in Arad.  Her mother had abandoned her and she was placed with children with disabilities.  She was gluten intolerant and Bill and Kelli Nixon, who were Global Hope missionaries at the time, happened upon her.  They were touched by this child and the apparent need for help in her life. 

When Steven's House opened up it created the opportunity for Hoiny to become part of the Global Hope family.  And this brings up an important point in how God works and how hard it is at times for us, as humans, to understand His scope of wonder.  Over the past few years many people have lamented to me about the closing of Steven's House and the House of Hope.  However, we can't control the global economy and financial crisis.  But if Steven's House had never opened, even if it only operated for roughly a year, then Hoiny may have never left the instituion where she was located.  Can you put a cost on the life of a child?  Take a look below at the difference the Stanca family has made in Hoiny's life.



Hoiny in 2005

 Now Hoiny is in a great situation.  Gabi shared a story with me about how difficult it was in the beginning formulating a diet for Hoiny that was gluten free.  Over the years they began to slowly introduce gluten back into her diet.  This past spring they had some blood work done and sent to Germany.  The results came back that Hoiny was now 90% gluten tolerant!  As Gabi told the story to me tears came to her eyes.  As I translated for Sherry tears came to my eyes.  And as Sherry understood the story the same happened to her!  Gabi feels that God intervened on Hoiny's behalf because the doctors can not offer a reason why she can now handle gluten in her diet. 


Hoiny in September 2010


The other children with the Stanca family are Ionut and Flavius.  Ionut was busy at work on the day that we were there.  He arrived back home in time for lunch and then headed off for a nap afterward.  Flavius is now about six feet tall and is still an awesome kid.  He has a heart of gold and was interested in how Pam and Ben were doing back in the United States.  The next morning as I was journaling about my day with the Stanca's I stopped and stared out into the courtyard of the House of Hope.  I remembered looking out into that same courtyard years ago and watching the kids play as I worked.  As I thought about how much Flavius has grown as a person my heart began to swell and tears flowed down my cheeks.  I remembered the days when Jacci and Pam used to tutor the kids and help with their homework.  Flavius used to get so frustrated with the process and would often end up in tears.  Now he is sixteen-years-old and getting ready to begin high school.  This trip was really beginning to show me how each of the kids has grown and the value of the people that are now in the lives of these abandoned children.  By far the most common remark I would hear from team members about the foster families was how it was impossible to differentiate between the biological children and the foster children.  That is a testament to a successful project.  Thanks God!

Andrada, Ioana and Flavius playing Remy

Day One - A Big Reunion

After some well earned rest the team settled in and got to meet the rest of the kids at Ana’s House.  I caught up with the kids up at the “Big house”, or Ana’s House.  I was wondering if a few of the kids would remember me, mainly Cristina and Marian.  I met the two of them in 2001 on my first mission trip to Arad when they were still in the orphanage.  Marian would have been about 18 months old during that time.  His sister Cristina would have just turned three.  A little over a year later they came to live at the House of Hope and have been under the care of the foundation ever since then.  “Hey, Marian”I said to him as he took breakfast this Friday morning, “do you remember me?”
“Da”, came his reply, indicating that he did.  Marian has a low level learning disability and his sister Cristina has some learning disability as well but to a greater degree.  So I wasn’t sure if Marian truly did remember me or was just saying so.  After I went into the kitchen, Doina, an original staff member from 1999, asked him if he did really remember me.  “Yes”, he said, “he used to throw me up and twirl me in the air!”

A few days later we were all sitting around the kitchen table talking.  I told Marian about the first time I ever met him when he was in the orphanage and a little bit of our history together.  Once we had moved to Romania in 2003 it took a few months for him to warm up to me.  There were some funny stories along the way and as I told him all about it he laughed and laughed at the table.  There’s nothing like telling a story to a kid in Romanian and then translating back into English for the guests at the table.  You get to laugh twice as much and twice as long! 

Marian's eleventh birthday party

We were able to celebrate Marians birthday party on the 11th of September.  He turned eleven years old.  The great thing about having twenty kids is that when you visit the chances are very good that someone is going to have a birthday and you can join in the big celebration! 

Lisa, Paula and Cristina take me for a walk

Later in the morning I took a walk with Marian’s sister Cristina, Paula and Lisa up to the kindergarten where Paula used to attend and Lisa currently goes to school.  How refreshing it was to just stroll with these three girls and have them tell me all about their lives.

In the afternoon all of the kids and friends came by for a big cookout.  We had 50 people in total.  It was a classic meal of mici, chicken and french fries cooked on a disc, bread and plenty of soda which is always a big treat for the kids.  The volleyball net was set up and it became clearly obvious that the children are playing volleyball on a daily basis.  Anybody on the receiving end of Mircea’s service was in for some challenging returns.  On a side note I commented to Roni one day driving down the street about the new ping pong tables set up in many of the city parks.  I asked if the kids and specifically Mircea played ping pong at all.  “Sure” he said “again you can get a beating from him!”.  So you can see how effective he was at bringing it in a big way on the volleyball field! 

The kids love board games and card games of all sorts.  They had a game called Tick, Tack Bumm!! or Pass The Bomb which involved cards with two or three letters and a plastic bomb.  You push the button on the bomb and have to make a word using the letters shown on a displayed card.  Once you have a word you pass the bomb.  The whole time it ticks and if it explodes while you hold it you receive the card.  Receive three cards and the group decides on a punishment for you.  I had a couple of interesting punishments of which one I’ve posted here.  I’m singing Happy Birthday in Romanian. 

It was great first day for the kids and the team.  It's amazing how the children just open their hearts to the world when teams come.  Over the years the activities have changed as they have grown and matured but they love to interact and relate to people.  As Pam and I always discovered when we lived with these kids for two and a half years the children enjoy nothing more than spending time with people.  It reminded me of when we had difficult days in Romania we only needed to go play with a kid to remember the purpose of why we had come to Romania.

The Adventure Begins at the Airport

   When Randy Jessen trained and led teams to Romania he always stressed the importance of flexibility.  My good friend DJ Atkinson also taught this to the many teams that he led to Romania as well.  It is probably the single most important thing to remember during any international travel, regardless of the purpose of ones trip.
   Our team going to Romania would be comprised of five of us from the Denver metro area and one person from Toledo, Ohio.  Sherry Wells, Bill Katzenmeyer, John Waters, Jamie Howard and myself were flying out of Denver and Jay Leeming would be departing from Detroit on Wednesday, September 1.
   The Denver group was flying through Memphis connecting to Amsterdam and then a short flight to Budapest, Hungary.  We would meet Jay in Amsterdam.  However, the flight out of Denver was delayed so two wondeful women from Delta airlines got us on different flights out of DIA.  Jamie would go to Detroit and consequently meet Jay for the trip to Amsterdam.  John and I would go through Atlanta and Bill and Sherry flew through Minneapolis.  The team showed great flexibility right off the bat with the travel changes.  Of course, the fact that all of us flew business class on the domestic portion and John, Jamie and me flew business internationally made it all the better!


Bill thinking about coffee in Amsterdam.

   We all reconnected in Amsterdam for our final leg to Budapest.  The flight to Budapest was uneventful but we were all getting pretty tired.  We arrived at 7:00pm just about 24 hours after leaving for the airport in Denver a day earlier.
   Of course, none of the bags from Denver arrived with us but we were assured we would have them in Arad, Romania the next day or day after.  (They arrived the day after on Sunday)  I was excited to see my two right hand men, Walter Williams and Roni Stepan, who would be helping us out with logistics and travel in Romania.  Walter is a long term missionary that lives in Cuvin and Roni is the house dad at Ana's House.  He was my best friend when I lived in Romania and would do anything for you.  He has a servant's heart and is a wonderful father to the twelve children that live with him and his wife Rodi.
  We made our way to the van for the 3 1/2 hour drive to Arad.  We stopped for some goulash in Hungary while on the road, then made our way on to Arad arriving at ~2:00 am.  Four of the kids, Robi, Oana, Radu and Teo snuck out of Ana's House and came down to where would be staying at the House of Hope to welcome us.  I was floored to see them and literally had to take a step back after the initial hugs to see how much they had all grown.  Whenver I return this is one of my favorite moments; the first moments of seeing the kids after time away.  The love is overpowering and I was shocked that I didn't break down in tears like I have in the past. 
   We had made it safely to Romania.  We settled in for a quick nights sleep and to get ready for a big party that would take place on Friday.  It would be day one in Romania and the whirlwind would begin in earnest.   

Full Circle

My first trip to Romania was in June 2001.  I went to work with kids giving massage in a state run institution.  That led to a sequence of events in which my family moved to Romania as full time missionaries in June of 2003 serving as administrators for private run Christian family homes operated by Global Hope.  We returned to the United States in 2005.  In 2006 I made three different trips to Romania with the last being that summer. 

Since that last trip to Romania in 2006 it has been challenging to say the least as I have transitioned back to life in the United States.  At one point it became necessary to completely detach from the operations and children that we worked with on a daily basis so that we could collect ourselves and reflect on where we had been and what God had brought us through.  As can happen frequently with any passion, my wife Pam and I had become burnt out and exhausted from the work. 

However, after a time of healing it became increasingly clear that my heart was still with the children, friends and country of Romania.  My one constant connection was through my dear friend and brother in Christ, Walter Williams, who was in Romania serving with Global Hope.  Walter would return from Romania and often stop by our house within hours of setting foot in America.  He and I would sit in my front room for hours catching up and I would go to bed unable to sleep, thoughts swirling through my head about the children, operations and the challenges that existed. 

Finally, in November of 2008 when Walter had returned I declared to him that it was time for me to go back to Romania.  I desired to lead a small team of people with one sole purpose; to connect with the Romanian people at their hearts and learn about what life is like for the children and adults alike in that country.  I wasn't interested in a material project but wanted to build on relationships developed over time to share my passion with a small group of people. 

A year later in November of 2009 I met formally for the first time with the group that would go with me.  Walter and I had discussed previously that the best teams were ones that were well prepared spiritually.  The spiritual preparation of this team would be imperative if it was to be successful.  The model for this team would be entirely different from the teams I had led and hosted in the past.  We met a number of times over the next ten months.  We read Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot and Cold Climate Cultures and Three Cups of Tea as a group to understand the differences that exist between our home culture and the culture of a foreign country.  Romanian friends of ours that have immigrated to Denver met with the team and prepared a Romanian meal so that the team would get a better sense of the people and the cuisine.  For ninety days leading up to the day of departure each team member read a daily devotional specifically written to prepare them for the project and children that they would be involved in. 

The following posts detail the trip and also serve as a way for me to reflect on an amazing two weeks reconnecting with friends that are like family to me.  Through this trip I realized that the children in Romania are remarkable and love unconditionally.  They smile, laugh and enjoy life.  They reminded me that God is good and full of love just like they are.  It's clearly evident that knowing Jesus has made all the difference to each of them.