You may or may not know, but I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Greece with some of my missions team for a week to relax, but also to build relationships with one another. The trip was good, but I hardly relaxed! There was too much beach to see and unfortunately, I ended up with a sunburn! The Lord is healer and healed it though!
I shared that just to give you a background about this story that I’m about to share. I’m sure some of you know this, people such as my mom and all, but my home church, Blackhawk Church, partners with a ministry about 1 hour away from Draganesti-Olt, in Craiova. The name of the organization/ministry they partner with is called Open Roads Ministry, however they also work alongside Ethos House. The day after Greece, I had the opportunity to visit the ministry, but also to spend time with some of the participants on this year’s trip. If I remember correctly, there were 25 or so participants including leaders. (Every year, Blackhawk sends a team of high school students and leaders.) It was such an encouragement to see the ministry and to spend time with the participants. The theme of the trip for this year was “Visul Meu” (My Dream) with the key verse as Jeremiah 29:11.
I arrived early Saturday morning at 2 am and for that day, I did everything with the ministry. I ate breakfast with them, chatted with some of the leadership team of the ministry, as well as with some of the team from Blackhawk. But the most encouraging thing to me is this…
Without me even realizing, my home church is connected to a ministry that works with orphans. Whether you realize or not, my heart breaks for orphans. It is MY DREAM to get my citizenship in Romania, so then I can adopt Romanians legally. You see, as an American, I do not have the right to adopt a Romanian anymore. This changed about 10 years ago. With my Romanian citizenship, I could adopt as many as the Lord told me to adopt.
It was such an encouragement to me to actually look at everything Ethos House does in Craiova. So many things that I have desired to do in Romania is happening through this ministry. They have an assisted living home for the elderly, apartments for low-income families, homes for orphans, a school and they are doing work in the penitenitary, in which over 200 youth are currently staying.
Am I saying I’m leaving Draganesti?! Absolutely NOT! I’m saying it was such an encouragement to see that I’m welcome into this “family” whenever I want to visit and who knows, perhaps, I’ll be doing some work with them in the future. God knows exactly the plans He has for my life and while I desire to know them, do I really need to? I do not think so.
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
AND… in Romanian…
Ieremia 29:11
“Caci Eu cunosc planurile pe care le am cu privire la voi, zice Domnul, planuri de pace si nu de nenorocire, ca sa va dau un viitor si o nadejde.”
