LAST DAY!!! (a sad but happy day)

Today was our last full day with the campers! It was a sad/bittersweet day! All the kids were running up to us Americans today and hugging us! Some girls were even crying because they were sad we were leaving! I even shed a tear when a crying girl could not let me go! 

Today we had girls go swimming and boys do crafts. We also had a banquet for all the kids! We all got to dress up in nice pretty clothes and get asked out by little boys to be their dates to a nice dinner! Most of everyone had dates! It was so cute! And it was so cute to see all the little kids all dressed up! We also had an award ceremony for the kids! It was awesome!! And a talent show in the morning! We had great singers, a unicycler, bible verse reciters and more!

It will be very hard to see these kids leave tomorrow. We had no idea how much we've impacted these kids. I know at least for myself, that I'm attached to them and will cry when they're leaving. Even though these kids are trouble makers, they have impacted our lives so much and we will always be family. We all will never forget these kids and they won't ever forget this week at camp when they got to hang out with a bunch if crazy Americans. Tomorrow will be tough, but through Christ we will be able to let them go and trust that God will keep a hold of them. 

Mariah giving her testimony in the morning. 

Girls just wanna have fun!

Some sweet sweet girls (plus a boy) and I right before banquet!

Us young american girls.

ALLL THE PEOPLE OF THE CAMP<3

Myself giving my testimony on the last night. 

All the award winners.

{day 6 was a splash}

Today was an eventful day! We had lots of activities going on and wonderful things happening! 

We started out the morning with a special muppet show for the kids, during chapel. They loved the muppets! They were laughing non-stop while the muppets were on! It was entertaining to watch them all interact with them as well! 

After that, we had freetime and lunch, then girls went to crafts and boys went to the swimming pool! There was a bunch of boys going so we had to have lifeguards on duty. So myself, Beverly, Sarah, and Emily were the lifeguards. And boys being boys (the Romanian counselors) decided to throw Charlie into the pool, then move onto pushing us girls into the pool! It was freezing at first, then we got used to it. We ended up staying at the pool for a long time doing fun jumps and taking pictures! 

Then later that day in chapel, Iulian asked all the children if they are willing to accept Jesus into their life completely, and lots of kids raised their hands to say they did! It was amazing to watch and see how many kids wanted to pursue him! 

Then later, we made a giant bonfire! We gave ten glow sticks to represent them being lights for God! They went nuts for them! Then Iulian asked the kids again if they are accepting Christ, and this time, a lot more kids stood up to say they had accepted Christ!! It was an incredible day to say the least. Even the girl I posted about who needed a lt of prayers, accepted Christ. It's amazing what the power of Christ can do. So thank you for praying and giving time! It payed off! 

The muppet show!

All us after being pushed in!

Bonfire!!!!!!

Normal to adventurous in a second (day 5)

Today was just like all the others, in it's own special way. We started with breakfast, combed children's hair, who have lice, had chapel, freetime and lunch. But when we had outside games, we were told that the kids were going to hike a nearby hill and the "Americans" we're going into town to see a castle! And a castle we did see! It was a castle for a king and it was a victim to a battle. The castle grounds housed a cathedral, a castle tower, a "swimming pool", and another building with torn down walls and an underground passage! We got to go everywhere, including all the way to the top of the tower! Then after our tour, Iulian treated us to a fabulous dessert in a super cute cafe. Sections of tables were covered with outside canopies. 

Then later tonight we had chapel again and we tought the Romanians a Texas line dance! It's called the Copperhead Road. It was a little fast for them, but they enjoyed it! 

Also, we're having kids talk about God a lot lytately. Today a group of girls recited a prayer and a song about God, in front of the entire camp! And all the kids are becoming very sweet and handing out the bracelets we made, and just being fun and lovable around us "Americans"!

It's looking bright for some kids. God does some amazing work, doesn't he? This trip had been a blessing to me and the others as well. Only 2 more full days with the kids, but we're still gonna work to show them Gods love! 

Suzi Henry giving her testimony. 

Doing a skit of the Good Semaritan, but the camp MIA way! 

A little Turkish child, praying. 

Fun games outside! They have to be a worm!

2 boys who were in time-out, being tied to a pole! Hahaha!

The beautiful cathedral. 

Inside the cathedral. 

Inside the cathedral. 

Inside the cathedral. 

The fort from the outside. 

Going underground! 

The "Americans" underground!

The huge tower we climbed. 

From the top of the tower. 

What a beautiful view!

Myself standing on the ledge!

Gina giving her testimony tonight!

P.s. All the kids are loving the stories we share (our testimonies)! They sit and listen well! 

Major prayer request

Tonight during nighttime group devotionals, one girl expressed to Emily when asked "if you died now would you go to heaven or hell?", that she was going to hell, and she was perfectly okay with it. And it's not just this little girl who doesn't have Jesus in her heart, but there is many boys and girls who think they are going to go to hell. 

So we please ask of you to pray for these children. Please take time to reach out to The Lord and ask his grace upon these kids. Most have very hard lives and need God with them. They need him more than a lot of peole. They need the demon cast out of them so that they can have an open heart for God to come fill. They are so empty and need to be full of love, not negativity. So please please pray for these good kids to understand that God is always here for them and that they need him more than try know. 

Thank you so much in advance. We appreciate any help we can get. 

Taking on a war on day 4

When the campers were on their way to camp, we were warned that they were bringing lice. So we had to bunker down and get a plan set on how to tackle this. We ended up, yesterday, having only 2 kids with lice. But then this morning, we checked again, and found many more kids with lice. So we had to change our tactics again and beat the lice. 

Many of our lovely ladies (and Charlie) sacrificed their time and their health to wash and clean their hair and also comb all their hair! We had Chantelle, Sarah, Emily, myself, Charlie, Mariah, Beverly, sandy, and lots more spending half of their day washing and treating their hair. It was a beautiful thing.

Even though we were not having "fun" with them in their camp groups, we were keeping them healthy and trying to get to know them and talk about God while treating. This is what being a missionary is all about. It's not about going with the schedule, it's about doing whatever it takes to serve others and tell them about how great our God is. 

Other than the lice war, we had loads and  loads of fun in chapel. We had goodresponses from the kids while Charlie is preaching and they absolutely looooove our worship songs! We dance and sing on stage and they dance and sing with mile long smiles on their faces out in the crowd. It's an amazing sight! We also tought them how to do the line dance: "The Cupid Shuffle"! 

And again, it was a tough but AWESOME day!! Much love from all us missionaries! 

 We gave them stretches to wake them up in the morning. 

Emily combing a little boy with lice. 

Beverly also combing a sweet sweet girl with lice. (They're all such little troopers!)

Fun ice breaker games in chapel! (He's blowing up a balloon with his nose)

Fun ice breaker games in chapel! 

Kids showing that they have their bibles again! 

Us missionaries and councilors dancing and singing for all the kids. 

Charlie playing with some adorable London kids! 

Checking for the lice again. 

It was Danny's (a romanin counselors) birthday today! So we celebrated with more food, of course! 

Kids playing with "the camp dog".

Sharon Gelnett giving her testimony at chapel in he evening. 

Day 3 in a wrap

Today was a big day! Campers finally all showed up and everyone got to meet their groups and camp got started! It was a very busy but fun day! Before the campers showed up, we had to make sure everything was set up for them and everything was ready to go! Campers started coming in about 3pm and came in 3 groups. We got a bunch of energized little kids who love to play and monkey around! 

We had our first chapel time and it went great! We had Charlie preach, Chantelle lead a few games and introduced the idea during chapel, and our young Emily Stone gave her testemomy during the evening chapel! We had great interaction from all the kids!

We had loads of fun today and tomorrow will be even better! Keep praying for the children to have open hearts and minds towards God. Much love coming from Romania!

Activities during first chapel. 

Loaded seats and full attention. 

A kid playing a fun game! 

So much enthusiasm! 

 Singin worship songs with fun moves. 

Emily giving her testimony and Adrian being her translator. Sarah did a fantastic job! 

Chantelle keeping everyone entertained. 

Charlie showing off his gift as being a preacher and being so fun for kids.

Kids holding up their brand new bibles! 

And a great sunset for another blessed day! 

End of day 2

After church today we ate wonderful food made to us by our camp chef, and it was delicious! Then after we were assigned our group partner and what we are going to do. We also got to do some physical labor, by helping clean out the chapel and clean the huge craft room! Cleaning the craft room was easy, but the chapel was a whole different story. We had to take out 80+ chairs and accompanied tables, sweep and mop the floor, scrub all the windows, wash the walls, then replace the chairs and set them up in the chapel manor. It doesn't seem like much work, but it was a bit warm and we put some great effort into it! The chapel looks fantastic and is ready for all the campers! 

Later that afternoon, we got treated to a lovely dinner in a cute park cafe! The park was absolutely beautiful and the food was fantastic too! We stuffed our faces with salads, pizza, and a donut dessert! While finishing dinner, the World Cup final came on, so of course we stayed to watch part of the game on the big screen at the cafe! All in all, another great day in the country of Romania! 

Mariah and Emily with a Romanian counselor named Modelina (Maddie). 

The precious park.

A pond with paddle boats and row boats. 

All of us missionaries at one table! On the bottom left is another Romanian counselor named Cloudio. And the director of this camp (Julian) is in the very back right corner with his wife right next to him.