Day 3: 1st Day of VBS

Recap of Wednesday, July 8:

Day One of VBS & Construction Projects:
We left the hotel at 9am on Wednesday morning to begin our first day of VBS at Children of Promise. We started the morning with devotions with Pastor Charles, and a short team meeting before work began.

Yesterday we referred to the "tuck and roll" incident with Pastor Charles, but we didn't give you many details of what occurred. Our first night in Oradea, Charles tripped on some uneven ground on the way to dinner and had some swelling in his hand that lingered until the next morning. After some concern regarding the swelling, Bob & Caroline (our missionaries in Oradea) took Pastor Charles to the local hospital to get his hand looked at. In Romania, they have socialistic health care, which means everyone receives health care, but in order to receive quality health care you must bribe every doctor, nurse, technician, surgeon, etc. who will be dealing with your case. Included in the post-visit hospital questionnaire, it asks "how much did you pay in bribes?" Thankfully, Caroline was able to arrange for a Christian Doctor to look at Pastor Charles' hand, who did not accept any bribes or charges for his visit. We found out that he has a severely sprained hand, wrist, and fingers. Here in Oradea, we found out that a prescription for medication is called a "recipe", and that no hospitals or pharmacies keep any medical records. You must keep all medical records for yourself, including copies of your "recipes". Charles is scheduled for another appointment on Monday with the orthopedic surgeon. In the midst of everything, he has kept a positive attitude about everything, and has seen God's hand at work in all of this.



Back at Children of Promise, the construction crew laid footers, poured concrete, and painted the fence and gate outside the facility which took most of the day. The VBS crew divided into four areas: Bible (taught by Mishel & Roberta), Games (Matt & Katelynnn), Crafts (Mary, Sarah, Elise), and Music (Alice, Shelby, and Louis). During the first day of VBS, we taught the Roma (gypsie) children that even the stars sing and praise God, and if we don't praise Him that the rocks would cry out (Luke 19:40). They used an illustration of Pop Rocks in water representing how the rocks will cry out. The music crew taught "Jesus loves the little children", "Every move I make", and "Father Abraham" to the children in English, and the children had a great time. In crafts, the children made their own tambourines so that they could praise the Lord in song, and they brought them to music class to use as instruments.


After the conclusion of VBS, a group of Roma girls dressed up some of our girls in their skirts and taught them how to swirl and dance. We had an amazing lunch provided by the volunteers of the Children of Promise facility. After lunch, the VBS team split into two teams. Half of the team pulled weeds in preparation for a soccer field behind the facility, and the other half joined up with the construction crew to continue work on the wall. Charles, Alice, and Elise went shopping with Bob and Caroline to pick up fans for our hotel rooms (since the air conditioning doesn't get cool enough), and on a mission to find an authentic sling for Charles' arm.

After cleaning up from a hard days work, the team walked along the river to Old Town Oradea for dinner, shopping, and some delicious gelato. Some of the youth enjoyed running through the fountains to cool down in the evening heat. After a full evening of fun, we all made our way back to the hotel around 9:30pm just in time to begin fan assembly in each of the rooms.