It’s hard to envision or understand such extensive brokenness when it is across the world and out of sight. The Lord put me in a place this trip where I can no longer ignore the broken people of Romania. Immediately as I arrived, God opened my eyes. Our first week of camps was with orphans from different boys and girls orphanages. The language barrier was harder than I expected and the heat was unbearable as it sat between 100 to 105 degrees throughout the day, yet the love of Jesus was stronger than any human weakness or distraction. Throughout the week, the Lord tied me to many different kids and they showed me the brokenness of their given lifestyle, their loneliness of abandonment but most of all, the fighting love of Jesus Christ. The second week we worked with the special needs orphans. I had never gone through something so hard yet I had never experienced so much joy and peace from the Lord. The orphans from the special needs orphanages experienced far more hopelessness than I had ever seen and imagined. Their future was stripped of opportunity and there was no one around them to care about the emptiness that they were experiencing. But God still worked. The joy that rippled so brightly through out each of them during times of worship and their acceptance of any sort of love was both so rewarding as well as painfully disturbing. During that week, I grew close with a thirteen year old boy name Gitza. He looked as though he could be generously nine or ten, due to malnutrition, and dealt with extreme special needs. Despite the struggles Gitza and I went through throughout the week, the last bits of camp he stayed by me, holding my hand and pulling me wherever he went with the biggest smile. It’s hard to let go of the relationships I built and the brokenness that I have seen and experienced, yet God’s love and faithfulness have never been so clear to me before. I am so so grateful for all He has taught me this trip and I so look forward to seeing the ways God will use me as His vessel.
This was tough to read. I don’t know how you did it save but for God’s grace as you trusted Him for enduring these challenges. He will use what you gave these kids in His name, not just in their lives, but in yours. I wonder how these experiences will shape your future in nursing.