Day 4

DA, DA, DA!! (Which means "yes"..my favorite Romanian word).  Waking up this morning at 6:30 a.m. was not so easy when we only got to bed @ 2:30 a.m. It was a rough night of yet again spiritual warfare that not only myself am experiencing, but my entire team. How was this day going to turn out? The last thing I wanted was for this to affect our day or the way we serve while we're here. After our morning devotional we headed out to Tei center. Tei is a day center that has children with parents (1 or 2) that have some sort of income but live in extreme poverty. While the kids are there they are bathed, fed 3 meals & loved immensely. We worked with kids from the ages 2-5 years old. When we walked in the doors the kids immediately swarmed to us. I had a little boy Mario sit in my lap, wrap his arms around me & lay his head on my chest. It made wonder if he embraces everyone that way?

After Tei we walked back in the rain to the ministry center. Did I mention we got these amazing cheese pretzels on our way there? When we got back, some of the children from the counseling center were already here. We had lunch, played dutch blitz with the kids & CTL staff and had worship time. While eating lunch, Nelu, CTL team leader, asked if I would like to go with him to photograph Ana's kindergarten graduation this afternoon! I can't even explain the amount of joy that came over me in that moment. Ana holds a dear spot in my heart. Back in April when we had our team building weekend, we were each given a picture of a girl we would be praying for while we were preparing for our trip. I was given Ana's picture, she is one of the six girls from Home of Hope. When we first met the girls at the beginning of the weekend, the staff told each girl to grab one of our hands and Ana came to me. Coincidence? No. That was a total God thing. It seem's like something so little but it was such a memorable experience for me.

2 hours & 200 pictures later I was back at the ministry center. The team was winding down & we gathered for our nightly debriefing session. We shared our highs & lows and what God was teaching us this week. Let me tell you, it was quite the Holy Spirit roller coaster ride. I can't put into words how incredibly blessed I'm feeling. Romania has stole my heart already.

-Sara

Ana & I after graduation