Missions.

So a few people have asked me what my take on missions is now that I have been immersed in it for almost 2 months now. Do you still want to go into missions full time? How do you feel about short term trips vs. long term trips? Is it everything you thought it would be? Not only are these questions people have been asking me, but I have been asking myself. And the question is "yes". Yes, yes, and yes! Being in Romania for six weeks I have seen almost every aspect that Livada Orphan Care (LOC, or Fundatia LOC) is involved in. I have seen the cry of the child who doesn't want to go back to their orphanage because of untold reasons, the cry of the teen who has been abused and forgotten, and the cry of the baby who can't even crawl and lays in her bed all day at the age of 3! But on the other side, I have seen transformed lives. The life of a man who once lived in the orphanage and has been renewed by Christ and is now pouring his heart back into the kids at the orphanages. The life of the kid who has such a passion for Christ despite the torturing, forgotten life she lives. Although the stuff I face here in Romania is hard, and heartbreaking, it's been beyond beautiful. The past six weeks I have been gone, I have been struggling with the question as to why all this pain and suffering is necessary. And in turn, what am I supposed to do about it? What is my role in this big scheme of things? What is missions all about? 

God has graciously shown me a few things that have answered my questions. Yes, I want to and need to be involved in missions. He said "Go and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:19), and that "religion our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and wisdows" (James 1:27). But the great thing is that I can do that anywhere, it doesn't have to be just in Romania. It can be in the great city of Shawnee, or here in Tirgu-Mures. Why would I not be involved in missions? But missions is hard. I don't understand why the girl on my team was completely shut off and didnt want to talk to anybody, and squirmed like a baby and squealed "no!" when you would go give her a hug. I don't understand suffering and pain. It just doesn't make sense. In John 9 Jesus approaches a man who has been blind since birth, and his disciples ask him why is this guy blind? What did he do to deserve it? (Why is this child neglected, abused, and tormented? What did she do to deserve it?!?) Jesus answered his disciples with "Neither this man nor his parents sinned...but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him". It is incredible to think that everything is used for God's glory, even suffering. This whole earth beats for Him!! I'm so thankful it's for His glory! 

It is true that before I came to Romania I may have thought that missions was definitely all about sharing the Gospel through the words I say and maybe a little bit of action. But throughout these last few weeks in a country where I cannot simply speak and people understand me, I have seen that it is through playing frisbee with a child for hours on end even though you're tired of chasing the frisbee she doesn't know how to throw that the Gospel is shared. It is through cleaning an infected wound on one of your kids knees all week, because he has no concept of cleaning. It's through kicking a soccer ball with a child for hours, even though you're exhausted and sweating like a dog. It's those moments when I am so exhausted, that God always does something beautiful. Now don't get me wrong, sharing the Gospel verbally is definitely important, but faith without deeds is dead (James 2:20).

I only have two more weeks here in Romania, but I'm thankful my mission doesn't end then! Stay tuned for another update about actual camp stuff from the last few weeks...