I’m home from Romania, III

 

 Click on the pictures to make them larger.

   Today I want to talk about Fr. O. Fr. O was the Romanian priest in our first camp. He is an extraordinary, yet very humble man of God.

Fr. O is 32 years old and is a priest assigned to work with youth at risk. He deals a lot with drug addicted and suicidal youth. He is so passionate about children. He loves them so much. As of right now, he and his wife have no children, but when they do, he will be a wonderful father. In his limited English, he was always saying that “the kingdom of heaven begins with just one child.”

Fr. O bonds with all children immediately. The main reason for this is that Fr. O is a big goof ball and is really 10 years old at heart. At the camp, he was always joking, laughing, and making funny faces. He loves sports and is very competitive! In a soccer match, he even broke his nose. In fact, the bone popped out, but he just pushed it back in. However, within 2 days he was out playing just as roughly!

However, Fr. O. wasn’t all silliness and games. He had a childlike spirit that was full of hunger and thirst that spilled over onto the campers. I believe that he opened up a hunger for God in many of the campers. He showed them that the Orthodox faith was not just one of history and rules, but that the Faith was living and breathing and a part of their everyday life.

Fr. O always thought about others first. One afternoon, I was down. He wanted to cheer me up so much. He started singing me Romanian Orthodox hymns. He also sang some random English songs for me. His singing and care for me warmed my heart and brought me out of my funk.

There was always one song that I requested from him. He taught it to the campers line by line. It is called “Bucura-te Marie.” I think it translates at “Rejoice Mary.” The camp ended with us going to a monastery. He and the children just randomly sang that song at the monastery. I was so mad at myself. I should have thought to record the song being sung in the monastery with the amazing acoustics. But I didn’t think of that until halfway through the song, and for some reason I still didn’t record it then.

However, a couple of day before I left, I surprisingly saw Fr. O at a Holy Unction service at the ASCOR church on the campus of the local university. I took the chance after the service to record him singing it. I also recruited 2 ASCOR students to sing with him. However, while I was recording, I noticed that the students seemed very embarrassed to sing with the priest and didn’t really know the song that well. I felt bad about that. I put the video on youtube. Here is the video.

 

I’m Home From Romania, II

Tonight I will have officially been home for one week. Time really flies. I can’t believe that the same amount of time that I have been home is the same amount of time we spent at each camp. A week at the camp seemed so short, but it also seemed so rich and drawn out. It really is hard to describe in words.
Our first camp was spent with teenagers in the mountains in the small village of Mărişel. The scenery was breathtaking and the accommodations were very nice. We had rented 2 big cabin-like buildings for the camp.

The first day or so I felt out of place. I felt like I didn’t have a purpose. ASCOR (Association of Romanian Orthodox college students) did such a wonderful job of putting on the camp. A few of the Americans had hands-on workshops in the afternoon. Allison led a workshop on making macramé bracelets. Fr. Andrew led a workshop on making replicas of the cathedral made by St. Innocent in Alaska. Deborah led a workshop of making “God’s eye” a craft of the Mexican Indians. Chris and I didn’t have a workshop to present I helped ou Allison in her workshop.

The Romanians ran the camps so perfectly without us that I was tempted to feel like I shouldn’t have even come. However, Fr. Andrew reminded us what the OCMC had said in training. Our number one purpose was to love. That’s it. If we did that, we would have a huge purpose. Fr. Andrew also talked to us about the ministry of presence. Sometimes just our presence can be ministry in of its self. I think that fact that American Orthodox made the effort to come to Romania was enough itself. Many Romanians don’t even know that there are American Orthodox. It brought us together in solidarity.

This made me feel a lot better. I spent time just loving people. I talked with the campers. Many of them spoke English. I played and laughed with them. I also really enjoyed the opportunity at the first camp to stay up late and talk with the ASCOR students and to share my testimony. I felt like we really bonded.

I enjoyed many things about the first camp. I enjoyed the hike into the mountains and seeing the countryside dotted with the traditional Romanian hay stacks. I loved the skits the teenagers put on based on Bible passages. I loved seeing the eyes of some of them open up to God.

 

 

 However, I received more than I ever gave. I learned from the ASCOR students what it meant to be humbled and to serve others. I had been focusing a lot of Philippians Ch 2 that talks about “consider others better than yourself” and “do nothing out of selfish ambition.” The Romanians really put it in practice for me. It was a beautiful witness to see Orthodox young people so active in their faith. It really humbled me.

There is one very special person that touched me more than anyone else. He was the Romanian priest working at the first camp. However, a whole blog will have to be devoted to him alone. Stay tuned for more…

I’m Home from Romania

Can it be, is it really a new post from Faith at operationmeaning?  Oh my, I think it is. 

I have just returned from 3 weeks in Romania with the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, and for almost a month before I left I didn’t write anything.  So, I think it is time to break the almost 2 month silence.

This mission trip was indeed very special to me.  Although it was my not my first mission trip, ( In 1999, I spent 8 weeks in Ukraine and in 2001-2002, I spent 10 months in Ukraine.) it was my first mission trip as an Orthodox Christian. I will try to give you a quick overview. Lord willing more blogs will follow with details.

The main purpose of the mission trip was to work with two youth camps: one camp for teenagers 14-18 and the other camp for children 9-14.  To go on this trip was a stretch for me in some ways.  I usually have no interaction with children except my 4 year old and 6 year old nephews. I really don’t understand teenagers and young children, and I have never really thought that I had a gift to work with them. But it is always good to venture out of your comfort zone, so I thought that I would give it a try.

The camps were well organized.  The American team, which consisted of a 19 year old female, a 29 year old female (me), a 39 year old male, a 51 year old woman, and a 68 year old priest who just celebrated 40 years as a priest, were extra at the camps. We didn’t not organize them at all.

The camps were organized by ASCOR (the Association of Orthodox Christian Students in Romania).  I was so impressed by these young college students. Most of them were in their very early 20s. They organized the camp and ran a tight ship with the children. They were so self-sacrificing and dedicated to their faith.

Most people in Romania are Orthodox. However, the Church is loosing the youth rapidly.  There are few programs in the Church to teach the children about their Faith.  Many people go to church, but they don’t really know the tenants behind the Faith. Part of this is due to the persecution of the Church during the Communist times.  Also, now many of the youth want to become Westernized. Many are obsessed with American movies and music.  Many of the youth somehow see the Orthodox faith as outdated and not an option in their increasinlgy more Western world.

The Protestants take advantage of this situation.  Many Americans come over from the US and try to convert the Orthodox.  They are more equipped with youth programs and are more rockish and contemporary.  The Orthodox youth are not well versed in the theology of their Faith so they are unable to defend Orthodoxy and often get converted in the process.

However, the winds of change in the Orthodox Church in Romania are changing. Bishop Vasilly of the Cluj area is very concerned about the youth. He has even hired one of the ASCOR students who recently graduated to run youth programs. The youth camps are some of the fruits of his desire to see the youth trained in the faith. These youth camps have been in existence for around 4 years.

The campers at the camps are a mixed group. Some are dedicated Orthodox Christians, some are Orthodox Christians who go to church but do not really know a lot about their Faith, some are from other denomiations, and some do not go to church at all.

Here was the basic structure for both of the camps. 

Morning prayers with a priest, breakfast, one hour lecture led by the priest, one hour discussion groups let by the ASCOR students, a couple of hours for sports, lunch, a couple of hours of free time, workshops (They had several workshops to choose from. They learned how to make rope crosses, glue icons, make prayer ropes and the Americans offered a couple of craft workshops which I will talk about later), free time, Vespers with a priest, supper, organized games, singing time, recognition of the camper of the day, and then lights out at 11:00 pm.

Besides the 2 camps, I got to visit the full time minsitries of OCMC long term missionaries to Romania: Floyd and Ancuta (sp?) Franz.  Floyd runs a day program for drug and alcohol addicts. His ministry is involved heavily in counseling the substance abusers and rehabiliating them.  His wife’s minsitry is that of a day home for at risk children under the ages of 2 years old.  The center takes cares of them for up to 12 hours a day.  They bathe the children, feed them, and clothe them.  A mother can take advantage of this program if she is actively seeking employment or education. The center also offers extensive counseling to the mothers because many of them were orphans and have abandonment issues of their own.  The program works heavily with the mothers in in abandonment prevention, so that the mothers won’t harm and abandon their own children.  To lear more about their ministries visit www.ocmc.org.

Our team was also blessed to visit 3 monasteries  (2 women monasteries and one male monastery) and participate in the Divine Liturgy at 2 of them.   We also got to experience the Feast of the Transfiguration at a village church and spend the afternoon with him and his wife. The priest is a young priest who has only been a priest for 8 months.  He was the priest for the 2nd week of camp with the younger children. He speaks fluent English. 

Well, there is a lot more to say.  This is just a basic outline of my trip.  I hope to post soon more about what exactly our team did and what I learned.