Romania 2008 ~ Tigmandru

I only had the opportunity to visit Tigmandru once; I wish I had been able to visit again. My time in Tigmandru was one of my first real encounters with extreme poverty. As I looked around the village, I was humbled to realize that in the short time I had been in Romania, I had seen more than some living in the village ever would. And at the same time, I was impressed by the people's work ethic - that they would leave their home for work in another part of the country or a different country to provide personal income, as well as remittance income for their families.
Going to Tigmandru was a wonderful experience. Nelutu, the man running the programs at the church, is an awesome guy. He has an evident passion for God and the people in Tigmandru. His ministry grew out of a terrible car accident he had near the village some years ago. He developed a love and heart for the people then. It was great to hear his stories; it is evident he genuinely cares about the welfare of the adults and children.
Nelutu runs a few clubs out of the church in Tigmandru, and I got to visit those. After he taught a lesson, I did facepainting with the younger kids. I'm really not that good at it, but they didn't seem to mind. I painted unicorns, cats, flowers, etc. It was so neat to witness their excitement!
The teens came later in the evening. Nelutu wasn't there when they first came, so it was a little awkward at first. The teens just stared at us when we walked in. We didn't know what to do, so we grabbed Ker-Plunk out of the stack of games and started teaching ourselves how to play. Two teens came up and joined us, and eventually as we asked, others started joining us, too. Soon we switched to playing Pick-Up Sticks. I never knew such a silly game could be so much fun! We laughed
so hard, and the teens loved it. It wasn't long before everyone was playing with us. We were having so much fun, Nelutu cancelled the lesson and let us have a game night.
As I sat there playing games, I kept wondering where these kids are spiritually. From listening to Nelutu, I know many of them don't have a personal relationship with God; do any? I feel very burdened for them. Please bless the ministries happening here, Lord, and draw these kids to You.