Romania - Thank you for your prayers and support

I have added a slide show of some of my pictures from Bucharest, and will try to explain some of them in this post:
The city of Bucharest still shows effects of being a communist country, most of the building are grey cement, lacking any color. However, occasionally you will see a beautiful building surrounded with flowers. The town has many beautiful fountains where Gypsy children can be found taking a bath. Although there are trash cans conveniently placed throughout the town they are rarely used, trash is scattered in the streets and yards. Most area's are not mowed they are left unattended. In this area of the world it is perfectly fine to just pee in the streets, or where ever you are. Dogs run the streets and it has been said that children have disappeared because of these starving animals.
Romania is trying to become part of the European Union and to do so they needed to close down all orphanages. Casa Shalom has found a home for all but one of the boys who lived there. The rest of the children have been sent to foster homes, boys homes, or returned back to the parents who couldn't afford to feed them, or abused/molested them. For this one week these children returned to Casa Shalom.
Sunday as the children started arriving we were ready for 25-30 kids. In Romania few camps are available and most parents can afford to send their children. There are no church camps, so because of this it was hard to turn any child away, and as word spread that first day or two we ended up with 60 + kids.
These kids ranged in age from 5-17. Some of them have been taught of Jesus' love while others had never heard of him before. We taught these kids who Jesus was, what He did for us, that He loves us - no matter what. God created, he designed everyone of them. He has a purpose for their life. We talked about standing up for what we believe. Standing strong in making the right choices.
Some of these kids came from the village, one of the little boys had never seen a shower or known of hot water. This was one of his favorite parts of camp along with getting to sleep in a bed all night, without being bother by his uncle. In this country there is nothing you can do for the children in these situations. For this one week, they were safe, they were fed, and they were loved.
Here are some exerts from the journal I kept during this week:
Monday after the evening service some of these kids came up for prayer. They asked for healing or for a home for a family. This night a boy around the age of 8 came forward and he said, 'I don't know much about Jesus but I want what ever it is.' A little girl said she didn't know if she had ever asked Jesus into her life but she wanted to be sure now. In the evenings we would go to the dorm rooms and have a little devotion time with them. It was so cute seeing these little girls kneeling in front of each other, laying their hands on them and praying.
The next evening we prayed for some of the older children and God used me in a way that I had never been used before. I knew it was coming but had been waiting patiently for God to work through me in this way. One night the kids were told to close their eyes and bow their heads. And asked this question, "Are you living your life for Jesus? Have you asked him to forgive you? Do you know if you will spend eternity in Heaven?" If they answered no or didn't know the answer to one of these questions they were invited to say a simple prayer with us. Many of them raised their hands admitting they didn't' know where they would spend eternity.
As we prayed with the teens a few of them had tears running down their cheeks as they were told how much God loves them and what he had planned for their lives.
During the morning activities the kids were split into teams and competed against each other. Our winning team - we took to McDonalds. Some of these kids had never before been in a McDonalds. We were in the van loaded up, ready to go and one of the 12 year old boys who was to be going with us was in his room crying, he wanted to put on clean clothes, a nicer outfit, but he didn't have it. Some of these kids came to camp for a whole week with nothing more than an outfit or two to wear.
However, the dirty clothes were soon forgotten as they walked in McDonalds all smiles.
As the camp kids were leaving to go back home, they would come up and tell us thank you, giving us a big hug goodbye, and a kiss on each cheek.
The next day we headed out to the village to take these children some candy and toys. As we started to pull up they started coming out of their shacks or what looked like abandoned buildings. These kids may not have been clean, they may not have had much at all, but they do have a smile that will melt your heart.
We went from there to a women's shelter. This had women between the ages of 18-30. They had been abandoned as children. Beaten, cut, raped, burned, and left physically and mentally scared. Some of them were so hungry for love and attention, while others have pushed the world away by dressing and acting like a guy. You see on the streets if they appear to be a guy they would be left alone. I will never forget these women and can only imagine what they must have gone through.
Although camp was over and most of the kids had gone, the Casa Shalom kids stayed with us an extra couple of days. One night - in the rain - we had a bond fire with them. Lightening bolts and umbrella's may not be the wisest combo, but we had a great time singing, goofing off, roasting marshmallows, and playing soccer with these 9 kids.
Sunday morning I had been asked to do a short 20 minute thing in their kids church, so after the kids from camp sang a song and did their worship dance, I headed upstairs for a bit.
John was asked to preach during this service. We were at church for 5 1/2 hours this morning. After the service practically every person wanted prayer. They are so hungry for God. They wanted to know if God had anything for them, they wanted to be used by God, asked for patience and wisdom. They wanted us to pray with them, that they would be set free from the nightmares they have had to live, free of generational curses, free from the bondage of witchcraft. Delivered from demonic spirits. These 5 1/2 hours didn't seem so long when God is moving is such an awesome way.
After the service we took the Casa Shalom kids to eat at a nice restaurant, they were so thankful that we did this for them. This is something they otherwise would not have had the opportunity to do.
Our last night with the kids we sat down with them, reminding them to stay strong, to stand up for what they believe. They asked us to keep praying for them, thanked us for teaching them more about Jesus and for playing with them.
This has been a life changing experience, one I will never forget. I thank God that I had the opportunity to go, the experience of doing a camp, and that He chose to use me in the area's He did. That He used us to minister to these children who desperately need so much.