I’ve been home from Romania for a week now.  Calla has been so clingy and I’m loving every minute of it.  I have no idea when her Mommy will become her favorite again…so I’m soaking up all that I can while it lasts.  Its good to be home.

This is an attempt to collect my thoughts after returning from leading a team of college students on a remarkable adventure to Tinca, Romania to work with Forget Me Not Ministries.

Our objective was to go and serve Rachel Ross, FMN founder,  and her team however she deemed necessary through love and support.  Rachel is one of the most visionary people I know, so having our students just rub shoulders with her and hear hear heart was deeply inspiring.  Our hope was to further a stronger relationship with a remarkable ministry reaching the untouchables of Romania.  FMN works specifically with abandoned, neglected, abused, and exploited Roma children.  These precious kids are deemed outcasts and find themselves in a world that steals their childhood and innocence, forcing them to constantly be in survival mode.  FMN exists to change a culture by changing a generation.  So they love on children and invest into those no one else is willing to.  Their approach is holistic in that they seek to create an environment of stability, security and love for children and the remaining components of their family.  This is accomplished through providing basic human needs such as food, shelter and clothing, as well as supplemental education.  Basically, this ministry recognizes a deficiency and is filling it as best they can, as well as teaching a sustaining work ethic to families in order to assist in the provision for their families.

Our job was to come alongside that vision, submit to it, experience the many aspects of FMN, love on kids, love on staff, and work really hard to improve facilities both at the Isaiah Center (FMN’s primary base of operations) and the Roma village on the outskirts of Tinca, Romania.

So for 11 days we did just that.  Each day was filled with tons of experiences, tons of time with children and staff  as well as tools and building materials.  We dug 2 toilets each 2 meters deep and 1 meter square in order to brick an outhouse on top of it.  We repaired and remodeled a home in the village for 2 of our most favorite kids, Abel and Samuel.  We poured the foundation and constructed a wood shed at the Isaiah Center as well as mixing and pouring cement for a patio where future teams can gather.   The list of work projects we finished was huge.  We played with children, we chased pigs, jumped in a river, drank gallons of Frutti Fresh, grew together, served together, loved together, and came home different.

It was an absolutely remarkable trip to be a part of.  I am incredibly thankful for each of the students that participated, as well as all the people who were invested in this journey whether through prayer, encouragement letters, financial support, giving of supplies, toys, or shoes…everyone.  This team of students blew my mind with their character, grace with each other, willingness to serve, functioning abilities on very little rest, creativity, and love for these kids.  I am humbled just to have gotten to go with them.  They afforded me much grace.

God is doing amazing things in Tinca, Romania and we are a part of that story…and they are a part of ours.  The faces and names of these children, these loved ones are etched into our memories and hearts.

These students and I are forever changed through this experience.  It was a privilege to lead this team. It was a privilege to serve alongside them.  I will not forget it.

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