Loving The Least Of These

Hello friends and family!

This is Emma and Kayla on behalf of the MPC Romania team.  We started the day off right: oversleeping.  We almost missed breakfast and our morning activities!  Thankfully, Sarah came and woke us up in time!

Our first order of business was to take the kids from Amy’s House and the three Darius Houses to Macea Botanical Garden, where we explored under the canopy of the trees and walked through the seed museum.  The kids loved holding our hands, and Marian, one of the younger boys, took my (Emma’s) hand immediately.  Strolling through the woods, there was never a moment when the huge smile left Marian’s face.  To see the looks of joy on all the kid’s faces was so special.  They were priceless moments that I will never forget.

  

After the gardens, we took the kids to the park across the street. We brought balls and other games to play with them while we were there. One of the games we played was a relay race where each of the kids was paired with one of us. The kids had so much fun playing.  My (Kayla’s) partner was Leti, one of the older girls with a severe disability. Even though she didn’t jump over any of the jumps in the game, she still had so much fun and ran the relay race laughing and joyfully screaming. We also sang songs with them like “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” The Romanians sang in Romanian and we sang in English. We were singing the same song about the same God who’s got us in his hands even though we were singing in different languages.  It was just amazing to be able to interact with these kids in spite of the language barrier. Even though often times they could not understand us, witnessing their laughter was a confirmation of the incredible time they were having.

We loaded back onto the bus and drove back to the RCE campus, where we had a quick lunch and break.  Before getting back on the bus, we stopped by the RCE job center, which is located at the back of Amy’s House.  The job center provides teenagers who have disabilities with a chance to work for places like RCE’s second-hand shop and garden, which we visited next.  RCE strives to give these kids the best they can give them, not just the bare minimum.  When we arrived there were a few teenagers hard at work learning to sort and make clothes.  Before coming to Romania, I (Emma) had no idea how wide RCE’s outreach is.  I had always heard about the Darius Houses and Sunshine School, but I had no idea about the variety of programs they offer.  It really reveals the RCE staff’s thoughtfulness and passion for the kids’ future. 

After the visit to the shop and garden we went to visit two of the placement families who have adopted kids from RCE’s Darius Houses.  When we arrived at the house of the first family, we were graciously welcomed and led back into a beautiful courtyard shaded with grapevines.  This family had adopted two girls named Emma and Miha.  While we were there, we ate some lovely snacks and heard the story of the two girls.  Just before we left, the two girls gave us some handmade bracelets and paintings. It was just amazing to see the result of being loved by a family. They were loved and now they were showing love to us. After visiting the family of Emma and Miha, we went to visit another family in which a boy named Vasi had been adopted 20 years ago. Vasi had been living on the streets before he was adopted. He is now grown up, married, and has a 1½ month old baby. Vasi’s story is another beautiful story of how God’s providence can help end the cycle of poverty. 

Our final destination of the day was Pecica, RCE’s second campus.  It houses three disabled boys as well as Manu, a boy who used to be a part of the Amy’s House program but has now graduated out of that and is living in his own apartment at Pecica.  He works for RCE and is a living testimony to God’s restoration in our lives.  When RCE took in Manu, he seemed like he would never be able to live a normal life, but now, by God’s grace, he has surpassed expectations.  There are also a few more apartments in the works that are meant to house some of the current Amy’s House boys in the future.  

Another project that RCE has underway is Sorin’s House.  Sorin is a boy currently living in the Darius Houses who has a severe disability.  Along with a few of the other children, he is too old to be adopted but needs long term care.  This new house is meant to accommodate four current children from Darius House that need long term care and more specialized attention.  RCE plans to finish this project as soon as September of this year.  To top off our lovely day, we enjoyed pizza with the Romanians.

At the Pacica Center

We are so grateful for this incredible opportunity to witness God’s amazing mercy firsthand in the lives of these sweet children.  In Matthew 25:40 it says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  If you think about it, in God’s eyes we are just as “least of these” as these kids, but from the world’s eyes that is not so.  By loving them, we are showing our love for God.  Thank you for your continued prayers! 

Kayla and Emma