Over the month of June I had some very exciting opportunities and experiences.
The first two weeks was centered on worship and prayer. There was a week of evening prayer meetings at Bethany Church in Calarasi and the next week was worship and work week for the Outstretched Hands team.
A very unique experience was getting to go to the graduation for some of the Caramidari kids who finished their grade level. I helped paint faces because they were dressing up as characters from a Romanian fairy tale.
I also got to attend the kindergarten graduation at the Hope Center. It was very adorable to see these little kids finish either one or two years of kindergarten, depending on which class they were.
It was also very nice for me getting to move into the Zece Nivele apartment with two girls from the Milwaukee area and later in June two friends of mine from Ireland joined us as our room mates.
While most days I was busy with ministry, helping at the Hope Center, or odd jobs wherever I could be made useful, there was a day that I got to go into the mountains and visit two castles, Peles [pel-esh] and Bran. I also got to go inside of Bran castle, which pretty much made my year. Peles is a very beautiful castle; it would have been nice to go inside, but the day we were there they weren't open for tours. I also got to visit the Black Sea for one day which resulted in some sunburn, but I enjoyed it just the same. I went with a busload of kids from Caramidari and we played all day in the sand and the water.
The last weekend in June for me was like a grand finale because I got to spend a lot of time with the team from Norway passing out invitations to the tent event in Chiselet and at a worship night at the Hope Center. My last day was made extra special because it was the last day of the tent event where the Gospel was preached and many kids came to know Christ. It was also made special because of my birthday that everyone made efforts to make special for me and by the end of it I was rather overwhelmed.
Saying goodbye to everyone was very difficult for me, but I believe I will be back to Calarasi again soon, so I have no reason to feel too sad about it.
