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Dawn's Visit
Anyone who goes away for a week is faced with the inevitable questions on their return; have you had a good time? How was it? Have you enjoyed yourself? I have had all those questions since I returned from Romania and if I am completely honest I still can’t find the words to answer them. Humbling it definitely was but uplifting, encouraging, challenging, emotional all come it to it somewhere as well (and that’s not an exhaustive list!).
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When I went out to Romania last year for the first time, I stayed within the city for the whole visit; spent time with the children and with Max and Gabi getting to know things from the other side. It was good and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. This time, however, we went out into some of the villages in the mountains to deliver some food and clothes to families in need. One family had 12 children, between the ages of 6 and 30. Mercifully they were not all living at home because there is no way there would be room for the whole family to live in the space they had available. Their living room/dining room/kitchen (one room) was a not much bigger than my kitchen. They could not afford to heat more than one room so the family all slept in one bedroom, off the living room where the cooker/fire was. They took us out to the barn where they had 4 piglets, 1 pig, 1 horse (to pull the cart), 1 calf and 1 cow. The barn was not much bigger than 2 stables. Despite how little they had for themselves, they showed us the room they had donated as a church meeting room; small, sparsely furnished and very cold. Their benches were even harder than some pews I know! How many of us would be prepared to turn out to such primitive conditions?
The children went to school either in the village, in the central village or in Cluj depending on their age. Normally a mini-bus would take the children to school, unless it was broken or could not get through because of the weather. Did that deter the children from going to school? No way; they just picked up their bags and walked, across country through whatever weather conditions prevailed at the time. I know many children and teenagers who given all those conditions would simply roll over in their beds and wait for the weather to improve. The family showed such contentment with all that they had. There appeared to be no desire for material gain, be that in animals, land, money or gadgets. They accepted what they had and simply “got on with life”.
On a patch of land 300 sq. mtrs, donated by this family, stands the shell of a church. It’s by no means finished but its well on the way. It stands as a testimony to their desire to serve God, to find contentment in Him, with all that He provided them with, living by faith and being obedient to His call. That was a humbling experience but it also helped me regain perspective on so many things, to refocus my sights, not on my wish list but on God, because in Him there are riches unfathomable to man. Dawn Appleton, CCM Charity Support Manager
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