Back in the U.S.

How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news."
Romans 10:14-15

I'm back from Romania! Now I have the next few days at home to recuperate from the jet lag and reflect on all that we saw and experienced on this trip. I know from previous missions trips that it's going to take me a while to process it all and fully understand what God taught me and how He worked in my heart on this trip.



What an absolutely incredible 10 days! God is so good! My words could never do justice to the amazing ways that God worked in Tinca, the Gypsy village, this week. He is so big and so mighty, and we witnessed firsthand this week that our God can do ANYTHING!



Since our group was so big (126 young adults), we were able to do lots of different projects and activities throughout the week. All of us spent the first day picking up garbage in a big field where the Gypsy children play. It was covered with broken glass, dirty diapers, and cow carcasses, and sadly most of the children run around in this field without shoes. I spent the rest of the week painting the front room and the kids' bedroom at the Isaiah Center, an orphanage for Gypsy children in Tinca, and doing Vacation Bible School with the kids in the village.



I have so many stories from our time in Romania, but it would take forever to tell them all in this post! Instead I'm going to summarize the past 10 days with a few numbers:

-11 people from our team were baptized in a river in Tinca
-1 member of our team accepted Jesus as her Savior
-Dozens of members of our team rededicated their lives to Jesus
-22 outhouses were constructed in the Gypsy village
-1 entire house was rebuilt from the ground up
-2 roofs were rebuilt
-1 playground/swingset was constructed at the Isaiah Center for the children
-30 Gypsies came forward to accept Jesus after viewing a film about Jesus in their language
-100's of Gypsy children attended Vacation Bible School all week long
-more than $25,000 was raised beyond what we needed to travel to Romania and was donated to Forget Me Not Ministries to serve the needs of the Gypsy people
-126 lives and one Gypsy village in Romania were changed forever



What an incredible trip! What an awesome God we serve!