DAYS 4, 5 & 6


DAYS 4, 5 & 6 -  13th - 15th August 2013
The specific details of the day time activities can be found in the Itinerary section of this Blog. 
Our Theme for this year was The Armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) which has a very encouraging message, in effect can be summarised by Joshua 1:9   We can honestly say that there was a sense that God was with us and overall everything turned out better than we expected.

 Leading into the trip the numbers of children anticipated to attend were never confirmed but we were working on the basis this could be anything up to 50.   The actual numbers turned out to be 21 who consistently attended each day. Of these, 11 were children from the after school care Centre, which is run by the church ("Ancora Sperantei" translated "Anchor of Hope").  We could have had an additional 3 children had it not been for the fact that when these children arrived they were inconsolable and they decided it was best for them to return home! 

 We were initially disappointed that the remaining 9 from the after school care Centre, for one reason or other, were not able to attend but in some cases there were some very sad circumstances to overcome and certainly not a matter where anyone could force or make them attend.

As it happened, 21 was a very good number as it meant we could give each child specific individual attention and by the end of the week we felt that we had built a very good relationship with each one of them.

It was interesting to see when they attended on the first day there were a number who appeared to be apprehensive but by the second day there was more of an atmosphere of trust and we saw their confidence transformed to the point of enjoyment.

We are indebted to the Frinea girls (Nastea, Cristina and Andrea) and Crina for the help they gave to us especially for translating and communicating with the children. It was heart warming to see how all these girls had matured into fine and talented young ladies.  We were also very impressed with Sergiu, the new young man who had recently joined the youth group.  He has a genuine heart for  working with the children and young people.  Also, we are indebted to the ladies who arranged all the lovely food, (Veronica, Veronica and Viorica on Tuesday and Wednesday and Angelica and Iulia on Thursday).  

 All the activities were great fun and well received.  However, we are surprised how a simple activity of the Hokey Cokey (which was slipped in as a last minute time filler) was such a great hit with the children.  

 Making the banners in teams was a good opening activity which served as a great introduction to get to know the children and we could immediately see that they had an excellent artistic flair.  

 The children seemed to enjoy the face and nail painting the most.  Perhaps this is due to the fact it's giving them direct one on one attention 

Our prayer is that seeds were sown and that they will take root and one day bear good fruit.

As far as the evenings were concerned, on the Wednesday we were invited to Sergiu & Iulia's house for Placintas  (which means 'Pie'). This is a traditional Moldovan pastry. It's similar to pitta bread, a thin layer of baked or fried dough which acts as an envelope for some sort of filling, (usually cheese).     Sergiu and Iulia don't speak any English so we were grateful to the youth who are residing with them as they speak excellent English and were able to translate for us.  Also there was young Sergiu and Mihil's sister Elena who had only got married the previous week to (yet another) Sergiu.   It was interesting to hear of their passion for sharing the gospel in the local community and how they had been involved in helping in a summer camp.

On the Thursday evening we attended the church weekly Prayer & Praise meeting.  This was well attended, with about 30.  Igor lead the meeting, focusing on Psalm 133 emphasizing the importance of unity and encouraging one another.  The meeting ended in fervent prayer as always.   It's inspiring to see this church with a real heart for prayer.