Here are a few pictures of me in Romania. My time in Bucharest Romania was an amazing time one in which I will cherish for the rest of my life. I was able to be reunited with my bioligical family and it was an amazing reunion. I have known all my life that I was loved and had a family in Romania who loved me immensly and gave me up for adopted because of their great love for me and I saw firsthand how much of a sacrifice it was to give me up because they love me immensely.
My family ( which included all of Marianna,s family, and my brother and sisters) ended up coming to church with me which I was totally amazed by and know that God is working in my family's life. Not only does He love me, but He loves them and desires that they would all come to know Him. Roman Orthodox religion is very strong in Romania,which is grounded by many rituals. The fact they wanted to come to church was so amazing to me and I never asked them to come and they had decided they wanted to come even before I got there( through conversation with Jenn( missionary) and Pastor Viorel a Baptist Pastor in Romania who has played a pivitoal role in connecting me with my family and helping us to communicate over the years. Truly a God- sent man to my family. My sister Mariana had nothing but awesome things to say about him.After church I was then greeted by my mother and her husband, my aunty and my brother and his family. I was able to meet all of my family ( minus my two brothers who were adopted from Italy- but I know one day they will be found and we will all be reunited again) My time with them was so precious and they treated me like I was a guest of honor and fed me and gave me the very best they had to offer...I was incredibly humbled. I will post pictures of my family another time. It was amazing to see the family resemblence and to see how much I looked like them.
I am so blessed to have two amazing families, I have a huge family....My church family, my family in Canada( parents, siblings, sister in laws, neices, nephew, aunts, uncles and cousins) and my family in Romania ( siblines, parents, aunt and neice and nephews) I truly am incredibly blessed. God has been so good to me and I really see how much He loves me to have allowed me to back to my roots and taught me alot about my idenity in Him.
This trip for me taught me so much about myself and not only showed me about where I came from, but I got a real life lesson in where my idenity comes from.The biggest lesson I learnt is that my idenity doesnt come from being Romanian, it doesnt come from my past, and it doesnt come from what I was brought from ( my past experiences or where I was taken from as a child) And my true idenity comes from Him. It's a big lesson and one which I know I will continue to learn and grown on in the months and years to come.
I have always carried Romania close to my heart, and my time in Romania was short but it has only increased my love and passion for my country. Romania is a very forgotten country where abuse is very rampant. Life is not easy and although they have made many strides forward as a country since communist ended in 1989 there is still much progress which needs to occur there.
I stayed with a team and we stayed with Jenn Iacobs and her family in her house. We weren't sure where we would be staying but when we got there we were greeted warmly and brought to her house and were blessed to stay with her family in her house while we were there. We found out when we got there that the activity center when Jenn had been running had to be shut down and our plans completed changed. Her center had to be closed due to lack of finances. It costs alot of money for her to run the center. She is doing amazing work in Romania, a forgotten country and is working hard to prevent children from being human trafficked. She works hard with the Gyspy families as they are the lowest of the lows in social status. Our team was so sad to hear about Jenn and her center closing especially when we saw how respected by those she ministers with and how much they miss the services she onces was able to give to them such as teaching them life skills, hygienge and having a kindergarden and loving on the children and families. It was a real eye opener experience for us a team to have a small peak of what it really means to be a missionary in a poor country and the sacrifices which comes with it. It is not an easy life, but it was also so wonderful so see how her heart has been so captured by the people here and the great need to help them Jenn is a nurse and is able to help the people here in an incredible way with her knowledge and experience.
My team in Romania was awsome and we had a great time together. We were unified with the same goal of serving the people of Romania and loving on them. One of my favorite memories was when we all went to a special needs orphanage run by Italian Catholic nuns, and it was so beautiful to watch each of my team members love on the children and show the love of Christ to them.The facility we went to was amazing and the children got the best treatment there which was so refreshing to see it being done well because there are so many orphanges where the children have been incredibly mistreated, so badly that their bodies have been impacted and the shapes of their heads have been flattened by laying in a crib all day. This is the only orphanage I had the chance of going to while I was there but it was beautiful to see, and I know the next time I return to Romania I will see orphanges which are in much worse condition. I hope to work in one of them one day, and hopefully have my own center for women and children
I will always cherish the time I was able to spend in Romania, and am so amazed to have experienced a life long dream become reality. Now that this trip has finished I can begin to dream about my future and what that looks like and how I want to serve and work in Romania to a greater capacity. I know God has amazing plans instore and I trust He will ordain each of my days and put me excatly where He wants me. My plan is to finish my schooling, and am dreaming of one day having my masters in truama and crisis counseling as there is an incredible need for it in Romania. I leave it all in His hands and for now desire to be faithful to all that He has called me to.
Blessings,
Andrea
My family ( which included all of Marianna,s family, and my brother and sisters) ended up coming to church with me which I was totally amazed by and know that God is working in my family's life. Not only does He love me, but He loves them and desires that they would all come to know Him. Roman Orthodox religion is very strong in Romania,which is grounded by many rituals. The fact they wanted to come to church was so amazing to me and I never asked them to come and they had decided they wanted to come even before I got there( through conversation with Jenn( missionary) and Pastor Viorel a Baptist Pastor in Romania who has played a pivitoal role in connecting me with my family and helping us to communicate over the years. Truly a God- sent man to my family. My sister Mariana had nothing but awesome things to say about him.After church I was then greeted by my mother and her husband, my aunty and my brother and his family. I was able to meet all of my family ( minus my two brothers who were adopted from Italy- but I know one day they will be found and we will all be reunited again) My time with them was so precious and they treated me like I was a guest of honor and fed me and gave me the very best they had to offer...I was incredibly humbled. I will post pictures of my family another time. It was amazing to see the family resemblence and to see how much I looked like them.
I am so blessed to have two amazing families, I have a huge family....My church family, my family in Canada( parents, siblings, sister in laws, neices, nephew, aunts, uncles and cousins) and my family in Romania ( siblines, parents, aunt and neice and nephews) I truly am incredibly blessed. God has been so good to me and I really see how much He loves me to have allowed me to back to my roots and taught me alot about my idenity in Him.
This trip for me taught me so much about myself and not only showed me about where I came from, but I got a real life lesson in where my idenity comes from.The biggest lesson I learnt is that my idenity doesnt come from being Romanian, it doesnt come from my past, and it doesnt come from what I was brought from ( my past experiences or where I was taken from as a child) And my true idenity comes from Him. It's a big lesson and one which I know I will continue to learn and grown on in the months and years to come.
I have always carried Romania close to my heart, and my time in Romania was short but it has only increased my love and passion for my country. Romania is a very forgotten country where abuse is very rampant. Life is not easy and although they have made many strides forward as a country since communist ended in 1989 there is still much progress which needs to occur there.
I stayed with a team and we stayed with Jenn Iacobs and her family in her house. We weren't sure where we would be staying but when we got there we were greeted warmly and brought to her house and were blessed to stay with her family in her house while we were there. We found out when we got there that the activity center when Jenn had been running had to be shut down and our plans completed changed. Her center had to be closed due to lack of finances. It costs alot of money for her to run the center. She is doing amazing work in Romania, a forgotten country and is working hard to prevent children from being human trafficked. She works hard with the Gyspy families as they are the lowest of the lows in social status. Our team was so sad to hear about Jenn and her center closing especially when we saw how respected by those she ministers with and how much they miss the services she onces was able to give to them such as teaching them life skills, hygienge and having a kindergarden and loving on the children and families. It was a real eye opener experience for us a team to have a small peak of what it really means to be a missionary in a poor country and the sacrifices which comes with it. It is not an easy life, but it was also so wonderful so see how her heart has been so captured by the people here and the great need to help them Jenn is a nurse and is able to help the people here in an incredible way with her knowledge and experience.
My team in Romania was awsome and we had a great time together. We were unified with the same goal of serving the people of Romania and loving on them. One of my favorite memories was when we all went to a special needs orphanage run by Italian Catholic nuns, and it was so beautiful to watch each of my team members love on the children and show the love of Christ to them.The facility we went to was amazing and the children got the best treatment there which was so refreshing to see it being done well because there are so many orphanges where the children have been incredibly mistreated, so badly that their bodies have been impacted and the shapes of their heads have been flattened by laying in a crib all day. This is the only orphanage I had the chance of going to while I was there but it was beautiful to see, and I know the next time I return to Romania I will see orphanges which are in much worse condition. I hope to work in one of them one day, and hopefully have my own center for women and children
I will always cherish the time I was able to spend in Romania, and am so amazed to have experienced a life long dream become reality. Now that this trip has finished I can begin to dream about my future and what that looks like and how I want to serve and work in Romania to a greater capacity. I know God has amazing plans instore and I trust He will ordain each of my days and put me excatly where He wants me. My plan is to finish my schooling, and am dreaming of one day having my masters in truama and crisis counseling as there is an incredible need for it in Romania. I leave it all in His hands and for now desire to be faithful to all that He has called me to.
Blessings,
Andrea
thanks for sharing this! It sounds like it was an amazing experience!
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