Mission Trips
VBS - Romania, Summer 2006

In Romania I learned things that I didn’t expect to learn.  “Sure,” I thought, “I’ll be going here, half way around the world, and doing a Vacation Bible School, just like I do at home.”  But that wasn’t it at all; I got so much more out this experience.  I am grateful for all of my fortune, being born in America, but here in such a fast-paced world we lose sight of what is really important in life, helping each other, and most importantly, loving each other.  This experience opened my superficial eyes and I can now see things much more clearly. – Kimber Hughes, 15 years old

My husband and I have been in the ministry since 1993 and he has been on several mission trips.  I always told him that if God had meant for me to fly I would have been born with wings on my back.  He told me one day that I was safer in the air on a plane in God’s will than I was sitting on the couch in the living room.  So, of course, God convicted me and laid Romania on my heart as my first mission trip.  We went over in July to do a Vacation Bible School and I wasn’t sure what to expect.  First we arrived in Arad and stayed at the Servant’s House and I have never been treated with so much love and humbleness as I was there.  We went to church with Ani the Sunday that we arrived and left on Monday to go to the Village of Chisindia, where we stayed with a Dodu & Rodica, their daughter, Maria, and Grandpa.  It was hard to get used to their customs at first, they wouldn’t let us do anything, and they did everything for us.  The family was absolutely wonderful to us and our translators.  We started our VBS on Tuesday and went through Saturday; we averaged about 35 kids from 2 to 18 years old.  Each day we had Gabe, one of the translators, start off with a song and a game, then Jolene had a lesson, sometimes we had the puppets to tell the story, then I had a craft for them to make that went along with the lesson, and then Jeff ended with the Plan of Salvation.  We had about 16 kids to raise their hand to receive Christ as their Savior.  The kids really enjoyed VBS and wanted to stay each day after it was over and just talk.  I left my heart in Chisindia with the Family we stayed with and with the Children.  We also got to see the Village and some of the people there, I have never known what it was like to really do with out things, such as an inside toilet, but I learned to manage with some of the American conveniences and I learned that not only are we a very Blessed Nation but we are also very spoiled.  I lived for one week with a family that showed me what it was to really be a servant of the Lord and to be happy that He chose to love me and be my Savior.  If you have never been on a mission trip, even here in the states, you should go and learn what Jesus really did for us on that Old Rugged Cross.  The Lord willing, I will go back to Romania again this summer.  Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Ps. 37:4 – Julie Mizell, Isabel Baptist Church.

The first time God called me to Romania was the summer of 2004, I knew then my heart would always stay there.  This past summer, 2006, I was able to return to Romania and on this trip God revealed an ugly truth to me.  I had become lazy and spoiled!  God showed me what a true servant of The Lord was, and everything I have done was nothing in comparison.

As we arrived in Chisindia, we were met with warm and eager hearts and, to them, a king’s meal, something that to our standards is just the norm.  Dodu & Mrs. Rodica, the family we stayed with, made sure we never did without anything.  Their everyday work was not done with our modern day devices.  Their meals were cooked on a fire stove outside, they had farm work, gardening, canning, cows to milk, grass to cut for hay (with a sling blade), everyday house work, fulltime jobs in town (they took the week off without pay), and still made sure seven extra guest were made to feel like kings and queens, all of this and much more each day with only their hands and the love in their hearts.  This meant bed time for them was after midnight and wakeup was before dawn each day.  I only saw the family eat once out of the seven days we spent with them.  I think late at night, after we retired, they ate what was left over.  Knowing this made it hard for us to eat each day, but no matter what we ate they still filled our plates full, for you see it would have been an insult not to eat what they put on your plate.  All of this and much more was done without complaining and with a happy and willing heart to serve the Lord.  This reminded me of the sacrifices Jesus made willingly for us.

Here in the U.S. we take so many things, and so many people, for granted and we expect or demand to be treated a certain way.  We are so busy trying to keep up with the Jones’s, and our own children argue about emptying the dishwasher, not to mention how we complain about what little time we do give God each week.

Maybe next time we find ourselves not having time for God, we could remember the time He sacrificed for us. – Jolene Rhodus, Isabel Baptist Church