Some of our poverty prevention team members joined a visiting team of 17 Americans from Fourth Presbyterian Church of Maryland in the Carpathian mountains for a week of camp. We served 60 kids in our programs from Arad County.
We had a great time all week playing water games, soccer, and volleyball, making crafts and worshiping by the campfire. Kids had the chance to learn more about God's mighty power, His love for us and the fact that we are all part of His plan!
We want to thank our American friends who helped run the activities, which gave our children a week of fun. The video is just a glimpse of the wonderful moments we spent together!
After the visiting team helped at camp, they spent a day working very hard at a site in a village helping making a dream come true for a family with four kids: owning their own home!
This was the same project pastors Todd Smedley and Corey Gray worked on this spring, along with other pastors and friends of RCE from the US and Romania.
Here are some posts from the teenagers from Fourth Presbyterian about their trip. Thanks again for sending this team!
Hi! Today has been an awesome day. We woke up around 8 and traversed the city of Arad. Beautiful city full of gorgeous cathedral-type buildings and landmarks. Ovi bought us pretzels and McDonald’s ice cream which everyone enjoyed. We then visited a field of sunflowers. Each one was bigger than my head! Our last stop was the camp. We unpacked and then ate lunch with the kids who are all so fun to be around. We played soccer today America vs. Romania. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to beat them but we enjoyed the game immensely. We ate dinner and then proceeded into a time of worship. Overall, it was a great day and I can’t wait to see what new joys and challenges the Lord brings us tomorrow.
Abby V.
We’ve had such a great first day here at the friendship camp. Last night we stayed at the sunshine school and got to camp around noon after getting a chance to see the beautiful buildings in Arad. The kids here are so full of life and excitement and the games we played with them were fun if tiring. We had an American and Romanian soccer match (and lost) but it was great anyways. Looking forward to a great week getting to know the kids.
Claire F.
I hope you are having a relaxing time without us. We are all having a great and fun time with the kids at friendship camp. We have played many fun games and spent a lot of time in the sun. On July 27th, which is today, we got a short break and Ovi took us to hike to a castle where we climbed a few parts of it. After a long march up a mountain, we finally made it to the top. When we got back to camp, we played a lot of water games and did a slip and slide. So far this trip has been a life changing experience and I’m really glad to have gone on it. Miss you, Amy, Gracie, Mom and Dad!
Joey G.
Here at the camp not many children know English. I thought this would be a real problem for me being that I don’t know any Romanian, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I was sitting with a little girl named Myla, one of three sisters at the camp, and we somehow made a system where I would point to an object and and she would tell me how to say it in Romanian. Although I would pronounce the object completely wrong, she encouraged me to keep trying until I got it right. I did forget most of what she taught me, but it turns out that you don’t need to know a language to have fun.
Angela R.
On the last full day at Camp Friendship in Romania there was a complete mix of the Romanians and us (Americans) interacting and enjoying each others companionship. It has been an amazing experience to see how no matter what differences and barriers that might exist between us, our shared faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can unite us all in friendship and fellowship. It has been awesome to be here and serve with RCE.
Jesse R.