As I prepare to write this blog, part of me wishes I was still in Romania and everyone around me is aware that my heart is still there I really just did not want to be back at work in River Oaks. But God has really encouraged me this week.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I like my job MOST of the time, but my biggest discouragement is that students will drop out suddenly. It sometimes makes me feel like it is all pointless. However, today I was blessed with two wonderful students back in my life. They were on my heart and in my prayers months after they left, and now today I once again have a chance to be a part of their lives. In a previous blog back in May, I wrote about both these students. Read there backgrounds here http://elamourie.blogspot.com/2008/05/highs-and-lows.html. The first I called Manuel. He read his first book ever in my class and we talked many days as he shared his fears about being a young father. He was kicked out of school for low attendence. He had to work so he could afford to support his son. Today I saw him for the first time since April. He was so excited to see me and told me how his son had grown so much. He still feels graduation is impossible, but he is determined to finish school so he will provide a great life for his son. I am so excited that I get to be part of his life again.
The second was Amanda. One day last May she just stoppped showing up. I knew she had just ended things for good with her "baby's daddy" and was worried where she could be. Today she came back. She could not stop talking about her son and all the time she had spent with him this summer. I know she feels like she can be open and honest with me still and I look forward to continuing to build my relationship with her.
Today also deepen a relationship. A student I had last year came to me today because she is pregnant. Let's call her Maggie. She is so scared and considering her options. She and I talked a lot about adoption but she knows her parents would never let her have that option. They will want her to keep the baby , but she has goals and plans that cannot happen being a teenage mother. They would probably kick her out among other things. We talked about Gladney Adoption Center and I shared what it felt like to be adopted. I was honest with all her questions, even the hard ones. She is thinking things through and I hope and pray I can help her make the decisions she needs to make.
Now I remember why I love to teach :)
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Back to reality...
My apologies for the delay in this blog. Its been a long journey home, which included my laptop finally meeting its end my first day back in Texas. My blog is blocked at work, so I was forced to wait until I found a working computer to write.
Being back in Texas has been very surreal. It turns out I am not a full-time camp counselor, I am an English teacher. That was a harsh realization when my alarm rang Monday morning. It was hard to know a week of camp went by in Romania while I was sleeping away the jet lag. It’s hard to live in an apartment by myself when I spent the entire summer living with many roommates - twenty at the highest point. And most of all, its hard to be away from the kids. I loved getting to know Alina and Ovi, the Livada follow up staff, while in Romania. Not only was their friendship was such a blessing, but I also now can have complete confidence that each child and teenager will have amazing people pouring into them all year long. I trust that I will be back in Romania some day, hopefully someday soon. For now, my connection lives on via e-mail, Facebook, Yahoo Messenger, and most importantly, prayers. I have no idea what God has in mind for my future, no idea what part Romania will play in His plans for my life, but I do know that my heart will forever be connected to Romania and all the staff, translators, and kids I met this summer.
Thank you so much for all of you who read along with my travels and joined me in prayer. For now, this blog will return to my thoughts and adventures in teaching. You are welcome to keep reading, and hopefully someday this will once again transform into a Romania blog.
Being back in Texas has been very surreal. It turns out I am not a full-time camp counselor, I am an English teacher. That was a harsh realization when my alarm rang Monday morning. It was hard to know a week of camp went by in Romania while I was sleeping away the jet lag. It’s hard to live in an apartment by myself when I spent the entire summer living with many roommates - twenty at the highest point. And most of all, its hard to be away from the kids. I loved getting to know Alina and Ovi, the Livada follow up staff, while in Romania. Not only was their friendship was such a blessing, but I also now can have complete confidence that each child and teenager will have amazing people pouring into them all year long. I trust that I will be back in Romania some day, hopefully someday soon. For now, my connection lives on via e-mail, Facebook, Yahoo Messenger, and most importantly, prayers. I have no idea what God has in mind for my future, no idea what part Romania will play in His plans for my life, but I do know that my heart will forever be connected to Romania and all the staff, translators, and kids I met this summer.
Thank you so much for all of you who read along with my travels and joined me in prayer. For now, this blog will return to my thoughts and adventures in teaching. You are welcome to keep reading, and hopefully someday this will once again transform into a Romania blog.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Week 6- Franta
I am not even sure how to put this week into words, but I will try. This week was by far the most emotional, partly because the kids on my team were very emotional, but also because many moments my thoughts would dwell on the fact that it would be my last week in Romania. It was an amazing week to end on and I learned so much, but it took a lot out of everyone.
Going into the week some team members prayed that I would be blessed with opportunities to minister to teenage girls (so far aside from the Casa week last week my groups are teenage boys and younger girls). The very first day I was a little worried because our group had one girl, Meli, and four leaders. But God answered my prayer with four teenage girls: Meli, 17; Ana Maria who went by Usagi, 17; and her sister Lora, 14; and Erika, 20 (but she counts as a teenager in my book). Our team also had Erika’s boyfriend who came attached to her, Tranifur, and then Jonas, 18.
The very first day our team had some issues. Meli was the only one there that day and she burst into tears when the team lists were read. One of the translators, Dora, did an amazing job calming her d
own. She was upset because she didn’t like the girls on our team and she was separated from her boyfriend. Since she was the only one on the team I was worried she would not want to do anything. Not only did she do all the cheers, she played so well in the games that after the first day our team was in 1st place. Meli’s father died a while back and Rick, on our team members, was amazing at stepping in and loving her like a father would. He of course shared that even if he could not be there, God was her father. She and I talked about the fact that I was adopted and her struggles with why things happen. I am not sure how God used any of my words, but she listened. She struggles so much with believing in a God she cannot see. One of my prayers for her was that she would be able to feel His presence and know He is real.
Usagi and Lora were sisters and both were
so quiet at first. They didn’t want to cheer or participate. The two of them and Meli spend most their time at the campfire smoking. I spent most of the first day with the smokers praying for opportunities, and God provided. I found out that both Meli and Usagi knew a little English. Usagi also listened to my story about being adopted and from that moment on, we really connected. She invited me down to the fire pit to chat with them each time they went to smoke. She understood English and I understood most Romanian, but both of us were not very good at speaking,
so I spoke English and she responded in Romanian. It actually worked really well. Usagi was really into Japanese animation, hence her name change. She and Lora both had their hearts softened and began to sing the songs, listen to the messages, and just act like kids. Lora made the same progress and connected really well with the other American team member, Rachel, who was only 12. The two of them played volleyball the entire time and she started acting 14 again. After the first day, she didn’t join her sister at the smoking pit any longer- she just wanted to play.
Jonas is hard to describe. He brought me a CD with his picture on it and started talking in Romanian. I understood something about him looking handsome, but I couldn’t get the rest. Apparently he was just telling me how good looking he was. He loved to sing Manile (Roman
ian music) but didn’t want to sing “God songs”. He did however have compassionate heart. Isaiah was on crutches all week and Jonas was literally at his side constantly during the days. After Isaiah left, he clung to me and I am pretty sure he kissed my cheek at least a total of 50 times during the course of the week. He did stay to listen to the last message, the one that talked about having a relationship with God. My prayer for him is that those words will just continue to come back to him.
The couple, Erika and Trandifur, both stayed together the entire time and didn’t really want to participate in anything. I did however get opportunities to talk to both of them each meal. Thursday morning was really difficult though. The two fought and Erika would not say a word to anyone. I just sat with her for a while and prayed for her in English, then finally took her to the doctor. The two of them and Meli’s boyfriend actually got sent home for some other issues, which I was afraid would discourage our team, but they stuck together. Even Meli, who was crushed that her boyfriend had to leave, was able to pull things together to play the games and listen to Brian’s message. When Thursday night hit, each one of them cried the as the first words of prayers came out of our mouths. I have never connected so much to the entire team. It was amazing. Overall we finished 2nd, which was a great end to such an emotional week for each of them. The goodbyes were some of the hardest I’ve had to do, but I know God will continue to work in each of their lives.
As always, below are the photos...
Going into the week some team members prayed that I would be blessed with opportunities to minister to teenage girls (so far aside from the Casa week last week my groups are teenage boys and younger girls). The very first day I was a little worried because our group had one girl, Meli, and four leaders. But God answered my prayer with four teenage girls: Meli, 17; Ana Maria who went by Usagi, 17; and her sister Lora, 14; and Erika, 20 (but she counts as a teenager in my book). Our team also had Erika’s boyfriend who came attached to her, Tranifur, and then Jonas, 18.
The very first day our team had some issues. Meli was the only one there that day and she burst into tears when the team lists were read. One of the translators, Dora, did an amazing job calming her d
own. She was upset because she didn’t like the girls on our team and she was separated from her boyfriend. Since she was the only one on the team I was worried she would not want to do anything. Not only did she do all the cheers, she played so well in the games that after the first day our team was in 1st place. Meli’s father died a while back and Rick, on our team members, was amazing at stepping in and loving her like a father would. He of course shared that even if he could not be there, God was her father. She and I talked about the fact that I was adopted and her struggles with why things happen. I am not sure how God used any of my words, but she listened. She struggles so much with believing in a God she cannot see. One of my prayers for her was that she would be able to feel His presence and know He is real.Usagi and Lora were sisters and both were
so quiet at first. They didn’t want to cheer or participate. The two of them and Meli spend most their time at the campfire smoking. I spent most of the first day with the smokers praying for opportunities, and God provided. I found out that both Meli and Usagi knew a little English. Usagi also listened to my story about being adopted and from that moment on, we really connected. She invited me down to the fire pit to chat with them each time they went to smoke. She understood English and I understood most Romanian, but both of us were not very good at speaking,
so I spoke English and she responded in Romanian. It actually worked really well. Usagi was really into Japanese animation, hence her name change. She and Lora both had their hearts softened and began to sing the songs, listen to the messages, and just act like kids. Lora made the same progress and connected really well with the other American team member, Rachel, who was only 12. The two of them played volleyball the entire time and she started acting 14 again. After the first day, she didn’t join her sister at the smoking pit any longer- she just wanted to play.Jonas is hard to describe. He brought me a CD with his picture on it and started talking in Romanian. I understood something about him looking handsome, but I couldn’t get the rest. Apparently he was just telling me how good looking he was. He loved to sing Manile (Roman
ian music) but didn’t want to sing “God songs”. He did however have compassionate heart. Isaiah was on crutches all week and Jonas was literally at his side constantly during the days. After Isaiah left, he clung to me and I am pretty sure he kissed my cheek at least a total of 50 times during the course of the week. He did stay to listen to the last message, the one that talked about having a relationship with God. My prayer for him is that those words will just continue to come back to him.The couple, Erika and Trandifur, both stayed together the entire time and didn’t really want to participate in anything. I did however get opportunities to talk to both of them each meal. Thursday morning was really difficult though. The two fought and Erika would not say a word to anyone. I just sat with her for a while and prayed for her in English, then finally took her to the doctor. The two of them and Meli’s boyfriend actually got sent home for some other issues, which I was afraid would discourage our team, but they stuck together. Even Meli, who was crushed that her boyfriend had to leave, was able to pull things together to play the games and listen to Brian’s message. When Thursday night hit, each one of them cried the as the first words of prayers came out of our mouths. I have never connected so much to the entire team. It was amazing. Overall we finished 2nd, which was a great end to such an emotional week for each of them. The goodbyes were some of the hardest I’ve had to do, but I know God will continue to work in each of their lives.
As always, below are the photos...
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| RO Week 6 Franta |
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