Our friends, Dorothy and Linda Bilsing, from Colorado are here. This morning we took them to Popesti orphanage. We had tons of mail from the Loving Arms team. And, I mean tons. After passing out the mail, about ten kids went into the room where we teach English. I asked Cosmin, a Romanian friend from the Popesti church, to translate

Another question: How did the Loving Arms team get started? Great question from Romi! I told them we first came in 1991 after we saw a video about Romanian orphans. We had a heart for orphans because we had adopted four. I told them about our son Jon and how much he had been abused. They groaned when I told them about Jon’s abuse…the cuts on his face, the skull fractures, the cigarette burns. As when I shared about first seeing the babies in Marghita Hospital, and how I cried, they were very sobered. In 1992, we first saw Popesti (with 300 boys ages 6-18). The dorm had no running water and no inside toilet facilities. The kids leaned forward so to not miss a word of my story.

 Another question: When did Scott and Diane first come? Scott first came in 1996, when Fred and I lived in Budapest . The summer of 2000, Scott brought a team of a dozen or so to run a five day camp in the Black Forest . After returning to Colorado , he told our church about their experiences in Romania at the camp. Diane eagerly waved her hand to say she wanted to be part of the 2001 team. Our grandchildren, (Scott’s children), have been part of the camp ministry since 2000. They have formed some very close relationships with the Popesti kids. Some of the team come with Diane after Christmas each year. We stay connected with the kids year around. This year, we had a team of 26 (not counting us) and 23 had been here before. We do not recruit any more because we have more requests to go than we can take. We also bring more than 20 dish-pack boxes of camp supplies. Team funds and supplies are donated by kind and generous folks who care about the orphans of Popesti.

 Wow! What a time we had. We ended with a fun camp song that one of the team members wrote. Some of the words go like this: “I am becoming beautiful because God is making me beautiful.” The song has hand and body motions and each verse is sung in English and Romanian. I love it each time the kids sing it.

 This afternoon, Fred took Dorothy and Linda to see some older folks in a home in a nearby village called Ciutelec. The home has about 120 residents who, for various reasons, have no families to care for them. Barbro, a local pastor, and some orphan volunteers go each Thursday afternoon. They now have a nice chapel where they have their meetings. This time, the pastor could not go, and the folks who come to the meeting expect some preaching from the Bible. So, Fred brought a short message. He and Dorothy even sang a couple of songs as a duet! As she always does, Barbro served coffee and some light refreshments. After the meeting, the visitors helped move those in wheel chairs to a place of their choosing in the sun or shade. 

 Now, Fred, Dorothy and Linda are visiting Casa Silvia. It is the home built for Silvia, now 13, and four other children who are too handicapped to be adopted. The story is, as children from Casa Alba were adopted one by one, Silvia asked Lars when she would have a family and a home. His heart told him he had to make a place for her. Years ago, we took care of Silvia as a baby in Marghita Hospital . She was sadly neglected. Now, she has her own home and even a special school that FCE has made possible.

 So, this is just another day here in Marghita. In between activities, we had lunch at the volunteer house and chatted with other volunteers and with Lars. Anna is back after a visit with her family in Sweden and ready to jump back into working with the kids at Popesti. She first came to Romania when she was in her teens and has been here for six years. We will be preparing seven kids from Popesti to move into transit homes in Sept …. four boys and three girls.

 Tomorrow morning, Fred, Dorothy and Linda will go shopping in the big market for food for the noon meal. Friday is the big market day here in Marghita. There are outdoor stalls, horse drawn wagons, cows, pigs, chickens, plants, veggies, fruit and clothes. Paprika is sold in large bags along with other spices. The cheese ladies try to get you to sample their cheese – and then to buy some. You don’t want to walk down that aisle unless you are ready to try brinza…white salty cheese, similar to feta.

 For Dorothy and Linda, this was their first full day in Romania . And what an eventful day it was!