Camp Round 2 -- The Little Ones

We headed back to the countryside for the second camp with orphanage girls aged 8-11.

Riding up the the camp in "Ole Blue" the Dacia Truck that the missionaries have is a journey. The truck was damaged recently in recent accidents and leaks water and overheats--thus "Ole Blue" often needs to left of some steam particularly in the city. We were only involved in two slight car accidents while we were there but saw lots of them. So "Ole Blue" needs to have the heater going to keep the geyser from going off--when it is around 38 Celsius outside already with the additional heat in the truck you stay toasty warm :)

When we got to the last town before camp, the bridge had not been fixed and it appears that there is no plan for it to be fixed anytime soon. But the riverbed is now dry and you just drive through the riverbed.

The girls were so excited to go to camp--they did not even sleep the night before and were awaiting the van in the morning with all of their bags packed. Some of them are so tiny they appear to be about 4 instead of 8 or 9 years old. The missionaries said that this is very common.

The younger girls took a lot more time and attention by all the staff to keep them occupied and happy. They loved playing in the creek, catching frogs, going on hikes, picking flowers and with all this they worked up huge appetites. Paul and I were amazed that they could eat so much. Cooking for all of them kept us busy.

The last day of the camp the girls were very upset. They did not want to go back and they definitely told us this in the tears and crying as we left camp and then again as we arrived at the orphanage.

We so enjoyed getting to know the missionaries. We had a lot of fun it was like we had known them for a long time and were visiting friends. Scott and Cami are headed to the US to visit churches and individuals interested in supporting their mission this fall so if you or your church is interested in information or supporting children's ministries in Romania--let us know and we can put you in contact with them.

Camp

Ten of the older girls (ages 11-18) from the orphanage arrived as the first campers at the camp. The tents and pavilions were up and ready. Two of the Mather's girls had come and helped us complete everything in time.

It's so interesting to be out there working in the country--wagon after wagon would pass by filled with grass all cut with a scythe. Paul and Steve at one time had a crowd of seven local Romanians gathered around to watch them as they used the weed whacker to make paths through camp. They were puzzled by they use of such a device--one man brought over his scythe and helped clear an area to put up the staff tents.

Paul and I just helped with whatever needed assistance during the camp. There is lots of water to be gotten for 23 people and cooking over a fire for that many takes time. Noemi DeWeerd is amazing at cooking for so many with none of the modern conveniences such as refrigeration--you can not even find coolers over 2 gallons here in Romania.

The girls were so excited to be at the camp. The camp had bought a swimsuit for each of them and most of them just wore their swimsuit for most of the camp. They had devotions each morning followed by activities and then crafts each afternoon. Every evening we had a campfire with the main speaker and of course music--headed up by our newest Brazilian friend Matteos.

The girls are like any teen girls but after awhile you notice that things like being kind are generally afterthoughts--they have grown up fighting for what they have and with little to no security in the knowledge of knowing that somebody cares for them. At times this makes it difficult to work with them.

The evening of the last campfire--each of the girls took a stick and made a prayer request and then threw the stick into the flames. Some of them shared their request before we all prayed for them. The requests made me cry-- "I wish that I had a family", "I hope that I will get adopted", "I want to find a home to live before I must leave the orphanage", "I want to have Mrs. Mather as my mom"...The girls were all so serious about this and sharing the one thing that they wanted most--love and a feeling of belonging. Later as Paul and I talked we were increasingly aware of how blessed we are to have such an incredible family.

The day before we left the torrential rains had started as the campfire had ended. The downpour continued throughout the entire evening and into the next day. The river rose and was impassable--thus we remained at camp, altered the menu as there were not going to be any trips into town and attempted to dry out the wet bedding and clothes and keep the girls entertained.

We noticed that the traffic on the road passing camp had almost ceased. The river went down the following day and the truck went to meet the van that had been hired to take the girls back. The truck got stuck in the second water crossing as the flood had shifted the road and had to be pulled out by horses. Then they returned back to the camp with the local police to start shuttling the girls to the van. Paul rode in the back of the truck while I rode in the front on the Romanian police car--with a siren happy police man. We made it to the van and got all the girls loaded and headed into town where the van driver had gotten stuck trying to get to camp as a bridge had been washed out. We could see washouts on the roads going into town--then we got to the bridge. It was completely destroyed and the van got stuck trying to get around it on the detour. The van had to be towed out and high centered and damaged some of the center body panels. Thus we had to go to the police station and wait for over an hour as the paperwork was filled out so that the van could be fixed. Then we were off to Bucharest and arrived last night.

Next week we are off to camp again for a camp with the younger girls!