Sunny Sunday

Hello Family and Friends!

This is Lisa Park here, writing on behalf of the MPC missions team serving RCE.  We got in yesterday and were greeted graciously by our RCE hosts, Ovi and Mimi who drove us from Budapest to Arad, Romania.  Bleary-eyed and hungry after our travels, we were welcomed with a hot and delicious Romanian version of a polish dish, sarale, stuffed cabbage leaves.  They were the epitome of comfort food following a day en route! 

Sunshine School

This morning, it became apparent that RCE is nestled in a clean, colorful and well-constructed block that includes a school, housing facilities, a volleyball and playground area, and a small courtyard.  The students are on holiday so we are being housed within the empty classrooms at the school.  Here, the orphans learn life skills with the hopes of achieving a semi-independent life.  The more able orphans learn career skills, and to cook, clean, and do laundry for themselves; there is even a garden with vegetables growing that they learn to grow.  

We met the orphans at the Darius houses today (the housing facilities for the orphans); they are divided by severity of disability.  Each orphan receives a double or single room and board, and individualized training and care in accordance to their learning capacity.  Their buildings are colorful and neat.  They had toys and love to socialize.  The older ones have life dreams.  One young lady wants to be a singer/dancer.  One young gentleman has dreams of joining NASA or becoming an architect; he had graph paper with building drawings in the words, as well as posters of NASA directors and astronauts decorating his bedroom.  Another young man just wanted to stay connected with the Americans, taking down as many contacts as he could. 

Some orphans are young and adaptable; they have great likelihood of healing and becoming adopted.  On the other side of the spectrum, we met an older orphan in his 20s who is beyond adoption age in Romania, and who also is unable to learn life skills due to disabilities; he will need life-long care.  Rather than turning out such an ‘unsuccessful’ case, RCE is making this challenge into a case of hope by building an additional house specifically named for him, where he will have a place to reside forever.  Plans like these that give hope but require sacrifice are almost unreal in our world today.  Yet here at RCE, they make the impossible somehow possible, one step at a time.  It is humbling to know how dedicated the staff is to these orphans, and also, that somehow the Lord opens doors to love those who need it the most. 

Another example that demonstrates the heart of the leadership at RCE is a recent challenging situation faced by Ovi, one of the current directors of RCE.  He was called to the emergency room and asked by the hospital staff to choose one to take home, the boy or the girl.   In tears, he made a difficult decision to take them both, even though RCE only had one room available.   Thanks to his courageous decision, both brother and sister are now at RCE with the hopes of being adopted in the near future.  

Gradual change in attitude towards orphan-care is also a testimony of progress; apparently, helping orphans here was not always supported among local Christian groups.  Through years of patience and frank conversations between RCE and local pastors, more Romanians in Arad are learning to embrace orphan-care as a way to love, rather than ignore, those who are most broken and vulnerable as a way to show love to others in the way the Lord has loved us.

Arad is a beautiful, fruit-tree filled city, with large contrasts within a neighborhood.  One street has the town hall and financial district with banks and a very popular McDonald’s nearby.  Then, not too far off, are homes that are half-finished or falling apart, that are either abandoned, or the product of grand plans for an imposingly large home, yet never finished due to lack of resources and professional construction knowledge. 

Church was a lovely experience this morning.  We sat through a three-hour traditional Baptist service in which we got to experience a Romanian-style service where there was significant time dedicated to worship music, Bible-reading (in the style of a Bible study where individuals – including children! - read a verse), and sermon time.  Our MPC Pastor Dave gave an awesome sermon on the Good Samaritan.  With the help of a translator, the Romanians were keenly listening and clearly understood the message. 

The Americans gave a performance of two songs, “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks,” led by Becca, and “Amazing Grace.”  Someone lent the usage of one of their children’s violin, and I was able to accompany our group singing.

Other highlights of our one Sunday here is:  we went to the local bakery (amazing fresh bread, even – gasp- better than French bread), we saw the city center and learned about some history in Arad, we had dinner at Ovi’s house, generously prepared by the Martin family.  To cap it off, we had a volleyball game match with the Romanians, which turned into mixed teams half-way through.  What a great first full day in Romania, thank you, Lord!

Today was an awesome, fun-filled Sunday.  A great way to adjust to our new time zone, and a great way to rest up prior to tomorrow, a busy 12-hour day of construction time!  Please pray for Pastor Dave’s knee to heal – he got hurt during the volleyball match. 

Enjoy the pics!

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Author: Lisa Park
Fact: Most of today's photos were taken by Julia, and credit for our dinner photo goes to Will!