Mission Trip to Romania

It's been 2 months since I've been to Romania. My heart longs to be reunited with Fr. Remus and the people we served. I realized that I'd never posted anything about the mission trip that turned my life upside down. I had no idea that this mission trip would be one of the first steps in breaking my addiction to cutting. For a week, I didn't once think about myself. It was all about the kids at the orphanage and the people of Turt. Here's my post from my Austria blog.


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When I arrived in Romania, I had no idea what to expect, but I had absolutely no idea that my world was going to be rocked so hard by a small Greek Catholic parish and by a 5-year-old boy named Codrutz and a 9-year-old boy named Bennie. My heart aches because we had to leave. We arrived in Romania hoping to lead people closer to Christ. In the process, they led us closer to Him. Turt, Romania and the Romanian people will always hold a special place in my heart.

It started out with me, Joe, Bill, and Katie arriving on Saturday night in Satu Mare, Romania. We walked out of the train station and were met by Fr. Remus. We drove about an hour and a half to the small farming town of Turt. We stayed in an apartment building near the center of town. On Sunday, we went to the Divine Liturgy (It was a Greek Catholic Church, so it’s not Mass. It’s a Byzantine Rite Liturgy) and then planned the Sunday night catechesis. Bill talked about the Holy Spirit and then the people asked us questions. On Sunday night, the two other members of our team arrived.

Each day began with our team praying Morning Prayer, going to Liturgy, and then having breakfast at Fr. Remus’ apartment. After those 3 things, we would talk about the schedule for the day and go out and take on the world. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we visited the orphanage in the next town over. It was amazing. These kids were so happy to see us. They had so much joy and were so much fun. There were 2 kids I really clicked with: Codrutz and Bennie. Even though we couldn’t understand each other, I was able to love them and they loved me. It changed my life forever.

On Wednesday and Friday evenings, we did prayer ministry after the Stations of the Cross. We first explained to the parishioners what prayer ministry was (thanks to translating by Fr. Remus) and surprisingly, we prayed over people for an hour and a half. Everyone in the church came up to be prayed over. It was awesome. The Lord definitely worked in peoples’ hearts that night. One woman told Fr. Remus that she would remember our prayers for the rest of her life. That moved us all to tears. Even though there was a HUGE language barrier, God is bigger than that and worked like crazy that night.

So much changed in my heart during our time in Romania. I’m going through withdrawal right now, which is apparently pretty common in people after mission trips. I don’t really want to be here in Austria or back home in the States right now. All I want is to be serving the incredible people of Romania. In talking to people on both my mission and the other Romanian mission team, we all miss it a lot. I’m still trying to process all that went on during our time in Romania and I’m sure that will continue to happen for a while. I’m asking for prayers for my heart. Right now, it’s 2 countries away in Romania.

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2 months later, the people of Romania still have my heart. I miss it like crazy and want to go back more than anything in the world. I pray that God may one day allow me to return to Romania.