Romania 2009

So I have just spent 2 weeks with 15 members of the church youth group (that of course includes Maurice) in a little village called Parhida, just off the Hungarian border in Romania. I received from God far more than I thought I would on this trip, as I continue through this journey I am on. It should be no surprise of course, as I remember God speaking to me before I left to expect more of him.

During the first week, everyday began with a beautifully designed study of 2 Corinthians that Maurice did, that give us an image to carry with us each day such as being the fragrance of Christ. We then split into 2 groups doing kids clubs in Parhida and Nuyved where between the two, over 100 children came!

I was part of the Nuyved group, and we were caught off guard when we found over 15 teenagers in our club. So we had to adapt quickly and 'wing' a programme for them. As it turned out, when we were put in a position where we weren't prepared, we found ourselves relying more on God to deliver, and as I am well discovering, unlike us He never fails.

We instantly developed a real chemsitry with this group without really having to do anything complicated. We played games, shared the Word of God, sang, and simply just hung out. It was hard to leave but we found a great sense of God's purposes for this trip, as we found out that one of the translators is in the process of setting up a permanent youth group after their experiences over the week. Please continue to pray for this

Later in the afternoon, we visited many locals, just sharing with each other and bringing small gifts of food parcels. It gave a real sense of our theme for the church services, "the body of Christ". We would often sing, and during one of the visits after singing Seek ye first, the lady said that the world "Hallelujah" transcends all languages. For some reason we then sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Just the chorus of course, but it moved this lady to tears. It was a special moment, little did Cohen know when he wrote this song that it would be claimed for the kingdom of God in a small house in the middle of Romania.

We were then usually treated to some of Hungary's finest cuisine, as we were spoilt by Andrea, our host. This was followed by one of the highlights of the trip, the "man shower". This included the boys stripping down to their togs and getting washed under tap and hose.


Over the second weekend we spent a few days living wildly in the bush 3 hours from Parhida. There was much apprehension within the group, as they all wondered how they would cope without some of the things we formally considered "basic needs". However I was so impressed with the attitude of the whole group, as we all got stuck into everything we were asked to do. The team grew closer, as we exerted testorone together chopping wood, as we gazed upon the stars beside the campfire, as we all stepped out of our comfort zones and did crazy things like jumping into dirty water.

Finally, on a personal level I have learnt so much here. I have learned much from our hosts about the freedom that comes in Christ, something I may share later. I have learned how ridiculous some of my insecurities are. And as maurice challenged us with on our last night, I have learned that God is able. I pray that we will all be more like Joshua & Caleb (Joshua 4), and return from enemy territory to say, "yep, with God we can do this, anything is possible", even in the refugee camps in the Congo.

faith begats faith

As I return from my travels in Africa and move on to Romania with the youth group, I'm feeling rather emotionless. I do not feel sorrow, I do not feel joy, just overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I'm having to take in, in such a short space of time, with no time in between to digest it all.

One thing I have learnt though is that...

faith begats faith

I'll explain what I mean. Simply put that means, the more faith one exercises the more faith one receives. When I try to step out in faith, the more faith I have that God can do more immeasurably that I can imagine. The more I resist the urge to say silent and speak the word of God, the more daring I become for the kingdom. The more I hand over my burdens to God, the more and more I see Him move in my life.

Faith itself is described as a Spiritual gift in 1 Cor 12. I believe everyone has a measure of this gift in their lives, for example it takes some faith just to believe in Jesus Christ. But like any Spiritual gift, you have to practice at it in order for it to improve. It requires a step of faith just to act out a gift.

So my prayer for Romania for myself and indeed all the youth is that we will step out in faith, speaking out God's word, prophesying, praying without ceasing, loving unconditionally, claiming the Kingdom of God, in order to grow in even more faith. If it requires only the faith of a mustard seed to move a mountain, just imagine what God could do with a group of 15 young people (one not so young! =D ) who are growing their faith everyday by exercising faith. God bless you and see you in 2 weeks.

the Servant Heart

The first thing I wanna do on this my final blog of Rwanda, is honour our dear friend Vincent. Vincent is hired by the landlord of the house we stay in to look after the place while he's not around. A simple form of property management if you like, and Vincent seems very happy to have this job. But he goes above and beyond what he is expected to do. He has helped us cook nearly every night; if we leave our bedroom door open even for 5 seconds, he's straight in there and has our clothes washed before we know it.

I often feel bad about this fact, but also have learned so much from him about what it is to be a silent servant. He never makes a noise about his good deeds, in fact he goes as far as to hide them from the people he does them for. There is no limits for his servant attitude either as he often insists when we actually do our own cleaning, that he does it for us. It has been a pleasure knowing this guy and I pray that his faith in God grows abundantly.

This week, we spent a couple of days writing our report on what we have seen, including long term and short term actions for each of the cooperatives. Hopefully they are God led and will prove useful. Dave also got to give his Sexual Education class which went down with a bundle of laughs with the young people. You wouldn't believe some of the questions asked. I also got to share some of my IT knowledge and have begun to design a short teaching course for CJ.

Mark arrived yesterday, and by means of celebration for his arrival and mine & dave's departure we had everyone around for dinner. It was an amazing night of fun food & fellowship. There really is something about sitting down and having a meal together that crosses all kinds of cultural and linguistic divides.

Today I visited the last cooperative that I will get to see, but it was one of the most moving. This was a group mostly made up of genocide survivor widows. They have applied for a CJ grant but as yet CJ can not find a partner to support this so big prayer is needed to get this group off their feet and earning some capital. It's important for their general welfare, it's important for the children's education, it's important just to change the general mentality of trauma, something that still seriously and deeply affects these people.

We heard of terrifying testimoneys of how some escaped the genocide. One lady in particular beautifully shared with us often fighting back the tears for over 30 minutes. Her story began with the genocide soldiers coming into her house and beating her, but yet choosing not to kill her. She was then seperated from her family, husband and children, being dragged to different cities again being beaten and raped several times, but yet for some reason still alive. Finally when the genocide was over she found 2 of her children, and the entire rest of her family dead. It was only by the grace of God and the kindness of a few people that she is alive today to tell her story. I can not process this kind of pain. She still has amazing faith, and she longs for the day that God will restore her in paradise. I want her to know that Jesus wants to bring this restoration into her life today, and wants to use her testimoney to change lives everywhere.

As we left a lady prayed for us. Little did she know that when she prayed about our finances that it was quite prophetic as all of Dave, Luke and myself are trusting in God to provide for our near future! As I leave Rwanda I pray that someday, this place (and indeed Ireland) will bear a great witness for Christ all around the world, a beacon of hope and peace to areas of deep hatred and pain. I leave tomorrow on a gruesome 11 hour bus journey, followed by another all day plane journey so please bear me, and more importantly Rwanda (and the people we have met) in your prayers.