Week 1

(Interns praying for the week)

Last day of week 1 is tomorrow! My group for this week has been the Verde (Green) group. The past several days have been good but challenging. The camp groups are selected at random but mine ended up being one of the toughest. There's a diverse mix of personalities and interests. There are several older boys in my group and a few girls. One of the girls has special needs which makes my group's situation a little bit unique. It is honestly a God thing that she ended up on my team-I have missed being at Camp Barnabas and this week has given me a little taste of that in Romania! It is amazing how God equips us to do his will. 

(A small portion of the Verde group)

     The three volunteers that are in my group have been so helpful! Teo, Tudor, and Diana. All three of them have volunteered at camp in the past so they have a good understanding of how everything works. I also have one of the American team members in my group this week, Alaina. She is here for the week.They are all patient and willing to serve. This week would have been close to impossible without their help. 

(Alaina, Diana, & Teo)

(Goofball-Tudor)

     Every day we have an activity called "Team Time" where we talk about the Lord and get to know each other. On Tuesday I asked my kids, "Who is Jesus to you?". One girl, Ileana, said, "Jesus is the reason why I am here today". She told me that every summer she comes to camp and her leader (Intern)   reminds her of how much God loves her. She was abandoned by her parents when she was about 10 years old but she has an incredible perspective on life. I couldn't believe it when she said, "I'm glad that I live in the children's home because if I lived with my parents ,(Aka if she had never been abandoned), I never would have been able to come to camp and I never would have learned about Jesus". Her story, and so many others, inspire me on a daily basis. Unfortunately, not every kid has faith like Ileana. Please continue to pray for those who are lost!
   Tonight was our first night of "Youth Group" with the LOC kids. This will be a weekly event that we get to do with them. We have prepared messages, games, and fun activities for them to do with us every Thursday. We decided to focus all the messages on attributes of God. Tonight was "God is Holy". In future weeks we will talk about how God is faithful, God is just, God is a protector, etc..
Thursday nights are a really cool opportunity for us to spend intentional time with the LOC kids. Every summer they get to go to Livada's camp and every sunday they go to church BUT they have never experienced anything like youth group. Only a few of them claim to be Christians. (Just a reminder, these are the kids who live in Livada's two private group homes). 

(Youth group with the LOC kids)

   Wow-It feels good to almost have a week of camp under my belt. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement..it means so much to me and has really made a huge difference in the way this summer has gone so far.