Building the House of Grace

Casa Harului is the fullfillment of the vision that God gave to Ben & Maria Medrea while they lived in London during the early nineties.  They had moved there for a better life after the collapse of Communism, but inspite of their desire to stay in the UK they were obedient to what they felt called to and returned to Romania to start building what is now the camp site, on land gifted to them by Maria's mother.  The camp began in 1995 with tents on the hillside which is now the sports field and has grown steadily over the last fifteen years to include the Owner's chalet, Dining Hall and Leaders Chalet, A Male chalet and a Female chalet both including meeting spaces on the ground level, extensive grounds with accessible ramps for wheelchair users, sports fields, two residential chalets just off the camp for private rental and leaders accommodation, and even an outdoor Baptistry overlooking the beautiful foothills of the Carpathian Mountains for those who wish to be Baptised in this special place.

Ben is the brother of Corneliu Medrea who I was working with in Hunedoara at the Bethlehem Christian Centre.  Whilst engaged in separate ministries, they have worked together to found a single charity to umbrella all their activities called the Bethel Humanitarian Foundation.  Gary Torbet, my supervisor and team leader met Ben & Maria the night before his first ever aid trip to Romania and that kick started his work with them and the setting up of Carpathian Aid.  The rest as they say is history. 

Everyone who's been before told me that Casa Harului was a special place and that the feeling of being there cannot be described, but only experienced, and they were right.  I can show you the pictures and try to describe my experiences, but it simply doesn't do the place justice.  The best I can do is to agree with Gary as he says it is a place of God's Annointing and as I say, a point where God's Kingdom touches earth, it really is that special. 

Journey's over, but much to tell

I arrived home on Tuesday this week and have been either hibernating or catching up with family ever since.  However, I'm settling down over the next couple of days to tell you the story of my final week or so in Romania, which includes some of the most special and remarkable memories and stories of the whole eight week trip.  So please keep watching for my final installments before I conclude my First Missionary Journey experience.

House of Grace

House of Grace is the meaning of Casa Harului, and it really lives up to its name as I don't think I've been to a more beautiful and peaceful place in my life.  The scenery is stunning, the people in the camp are amazing and there is this unexplainable factor about the whole place that EVERYONE without execption has said exists here that makes it so special, but nobody can actually describe it.  You really have to be here. 

Whilst I'm able to do this post, I think that at the most, sporadic pictureless post may be all that I can manage for this week here.  There is a price to pay for such a quiet and remote place, and that's slow internet.  The owners Benny and Maria have kindly let me use their computer, but it took me over an hour to be unsuccessful at uploading a picture.  I'm taking pleny pictures though and promise to show you when I get home if I can't find a solution to the internet problem that I find myself in once again.  I had no idea that keeping a blog would be so demanding and challenging.

I arived here on Friday night and have been enjoying observing the end of one of the children's camps here. I say observing, but I was actually asked to lead the team's morniing devotional time today and I have the honour of preaching to the children for their last evening tonight, so it's pretty hands on observation.  There will only be an hour between the kids leaving tomorrow and the disabled families arriving so it will no doubt be all hands on deck to clean and prepare the camp for them.  I'll try to keep you updated as much as I can because I'm finding the experience here extremely profound and affecting, so I'm really keen to share with you even if I can't get the pics uploaded to go with it.

Children & Families

Today I spent some more time with B.C.Cs Social Worker Daniella.  She's involved with families in the community and assists with the health, welfare and education needs of the areas most in need children.  During term time she works in the schools, at the centre's bible and homework clubs, and also liaises between teachers, parents and the children.  I chatted with her and Corneiliu's wife Diana earlier in the week about the specific programmes and the impact they have locally.

Today I went with Daniella to visit two of the families she works with and even after a week of being here, was still shocked by the very poor standards of living they have to endure.  The first visit was to a grandmother who with her husband looks after three grandsons, who's mother died and father abandoned them.  I've met one of the boys at the centre and was very impressed with his ability and enthusiasm for drawing.  It's a passion that he has found and always carries a sketch pad with him.  I told him he could be an Architect or an Artist one day, and I shared my impression with his grandmother today.  Unfortunately for him, it will take a lot more than skill for him to suceed or be recognised for his talent when he's older, even though she hopes to send him for special tuition at an arts school.  He's the oldest of the three and needs to be taught how to take care of and provide for his younger brothers as his grandparents get older and are less able to.   The five of them live in a two room house, again as I stressed the other day, this actually means TWO rooms.  Supplemented only with a tiny kitchen and toilet.  The lady explained to me that her husband and one of the boys on a rotational basis sleep in the second room, which also serves as a dining room, while she and the other two boys sleep on the sofa and chairs in the other room.

The second home we visited was in even poorer condition.  Only the 11 year old girl was home, but this was also a family of five, parents and three children.  Except this time, there is only one room, ONE room, which serves as livingroom, bedroom, kitchen, storage, and only a curtain to separate it all from the stomach turning stench of a poorly functioning toilet.  There is a fridge in the room, a bed which the girl and her mother sleep on while her father and two brothers (15 and 3) sleep on the floor in front of it, a cupboard for food and clothes, a small table and a two ring electric stove.  The little girl was still very cheery and happy to have us visit.  She's apparently very clever and is learning English well and other too subjects in spite of her difficult living conditions.  The little girl is invloved in several of the centre's programes which are helping her with her education, but also with food and cleanliness too.  As I said to Daniella as we left, I think that has to be the most severe poverty that I have personally witnessed firsthand with my own eyes.  I would have liked to take photos to show how deparate these situtations were, but it just didn't seem right to ask when this is all they have, and whatever the condition, it was their home.

Sadly, the orphanage visit that I was hoping to be able to do, didn't materialise due to no response being received from the local government through the week, despite the fact that we submitted all the written request paperwork much earlier in the week.  However, I've certainly not been short of experiences during my time in Hunedoara, which is now over as I've rejoined the Scottish Team up in beautiful Vermaga where Casa Harului is located.

Canadian Conclusion

Due to difficulties with internet access and mainly time, my effort to do a daily post on my activities with Summit Church wasn't so successful towards the end.  However, the end of the second and into the third week began to form a pattern of not so much doing new things everyday, but rather continuing and following through on some of the things that I'd already become involved in.  It was really good to do this as I was able to see and experience the progress made and get a clearer picture of the effect of certain ministries.  For example, working on the Evangelism Survey from beginning to agree on appropriate questions, to issuing the survey, then processing some of the results and analysing them.  Another situation was the two men, one of whom was new to the country, and meeting with them a few times to beging building a relationship and helping them integrate into the church, witnessing the beginnings of discipleship.

During the last week, I was able to sit down with each Pastor to discuss their individual role and hear their insights about church life and organisation.  I learned so much from these conversations, but I'm glad I recorded them all so that I can go back to them when I get home because they totalled about six hours altogether.

I always find it difficult to write conclusions as I want to try and keep it concise, without missing out anything important.  I experienced so much in such a short time with Summit, even as a family being part of the congregation for a short time we learned about a different church experience than we're used to.  The most important aspect to remember for me is how welcome we were made to feel in the church family, whether that was for me amongst the staff or when we were part of church activities as a family.  I was particularly impressed by the committment and unity of the staff team.  In a church of now more than 400 people, the team know every family individually between them.  So when it comes to staff meetings on a Tuesday, most needs of the congregation are represented, acknowledge, and if necessary, acted on and prayed for.   Prayer was also a significant and impressive part of the entire work of the staff.  It's very common that after a phone call or a visit, some of the team are called together to pray about a situation, or even if there's something that comes up in someone's work we would gather to pray about it.  You really got a sense that God was an integral part and member of the whole team.  There was also a sense of love and respect for each member of staff and congregation where there is a strong emphasis on and effort put into caring for eachother, but also the same is true in terms of correcting and accountability as well.  I couldn't end this conclusion without saying something about my supervisor, Outreach & Integration Pastor Matt Campbell.  We shared so much in conversation together, lots of hilarity and some great times.  It was a pleasure to work with him and also spend time with his wife Rose and young children Ethan and Anna.  I'm so grateful to him for taking me under his wing and opening his work life to me for a short time.  I really hope we will keep in touch stay friends, and maybe one day he will step onto his ancestor's soil.  Though before he does, I'll need to educate him a bit, especially linguistically and get his Pakistan sounding Scottish accent sorted out.  He can't arrive in glasgow and say Heelo, My name is Meeester Cambool from Scootland!!!  I have much work to do. 

I've never been one for goodbyes and always get a bit sad when I have to leave somewhere, but the love and care I and we felt at Summit, the way the work, together with the wonderful people we spent time with over the month, all made it extrememly difficult to leave.  I was so touched by the experience we shared in there, that I couldn't prevent a few tears rolling down as we took off, almost as if I've absorbed a bit of Canada or the Canadian into me.  I would say it almost felt like I was leaving home, not a foreign land.

Reflecting on friendship

While I have some time, I want to come back as promised to some reflections resulting from the Canada trip.  As the name suggests, this one is about friendship.  We made a lot of new friends during our five week stay in the GTA Greater Toronto Area and beyond, as well as catching up with well established friendships from before. 

Friendships seem to come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and different dynamics.  Some are developed over several years and especially in childhood, you literally grow up together.  Most of the friendships I had in my early life faded after we moved from Dundee to Inverness, but some have been reignited along the way.  The growing up friendships I have are with a small group of the boys from school, who still like to meet up when we all happen to be in the same town on special occasions.  Within that there are the really close confidante relationships where you share a lot in common, in my case its even the same name.  With these relationships, you get to know each other as you go along and as they begin when you're very young, you can look back on the past with common memory.  When you meet people and develop a close friendship as adults, you usually have to rely on stories from each other to build the picture of past memories and the road they've travelled to get to where they are.

In the case of Chris & Sarah, we met when they were in Scotland, and perhaps because we grew up on opposite sides of the world, it was more of an interest to swap stories about childhood and school days, but for the most part these were just that, stories, we had no shared experience of them.  However, just before Chris & Sarah went home three years ago, we went to the Scottish Open in Carnoustie and stayed with Laura's folks in Arbroath.  We had the chance to show them where Laura grew up, meet her family and especially visit and walk round the church where we were married. 

So one of the highlights of our trip was to do the same with them in reverse.  We experienced a Sunday service in the church they were married in, Sarah's home town, and even the house she grew up in and the places both of them visited as children for holidays.  We also got to catch up with their family who had visited in Scotland, but also some who we hadn't met before.  A particularly special moment was being able to walk around the Christian Camp in Blind River where they fell in love as leaders, and as if that wasn't special enough, on our last night we saw the exact spot where they first met by a hotdog stand and later where Chris proposed at Union Railway Station in Toronto's downtown core.

So the gaps are now filled and we can now relate to the experience of their memories.  We experienced so many wonderful things and people in Canada and it's amazing to think that it all springs from Chris & Sarah deciding to come along to an Alpha Course at Hilton church nearly six years ago, for the purpose of meeting new people in the church.  We're so glad they did, and also that we decided that was the right time for us to explore our fatih further.  To begin with we connected individually, then as two couples and now of course as two families as well.  To wax Theological for a second, you might say that it's a trinitarian reflecting friendship.  Thanks so much guys for sharing your lives with us as you have, we're arleady counting down till we might see you again!!

Picnic by the stream

This afternoon, a number of us took some people from the centre's disabled people's support group out in the minibus, to the countryside, to a park area where there is woodland, plenty grass to rund around on and a beautiful refreshing stream that you need to walk across to get there.  One of the things I've loved most over the last few weeks is to be able to engage far more with the natural elements such as swimming in lake and taking in the scenery.  So now I've been able to do this in Romania too.  It was very hot today, so getting my feet wet was a welcome relief.

No sooner were we across the stream and laid out the blankets, most of us were back in the slightly deeper part of it to paddle around and... well it wasn't my intention when I got in...but to soak eachother as well so that nobody got out untill we had no dry patch left on our clothes.  As you'll see from the pics below, we had a lot of fun playing with the ball, soaking everyone and just generally keeping cool.  After that we settled on the grass for a picnic lunch and then some songs with Jonny and Danny playing guitar, and the drum was in attendance too.  We also found time to play some games with the parachute, which was interesting trying to follow the Romanian instructions, but I think I coped not too badly.  I also had a chance to share my experience of disability with one of the ladies in the group.

It was a very special time once again, largely because it was such a simple thing to do, but yet means so much to the people in the group.  Like the girls I blogged about yesterday, none of these families have cars and they very rarely get out, and when they do they have to face bad attitudes in the streets.  Out there by the stream, they could be away from all that, and just relax and enjoy interacting with others.  It's staggering how affordable such an outing is to us in UK terms.  I'm told that the whole of the centre's transport costs (of which this trip is a tiny part) can be paid for by £10.  Our money could provide infinite numbers of these trips for so many more disadvantaged disabled ople.  There's no big plan to put together or programme or regulations and training requirements, it's simply giving people them the most precious gift you could give, TIME!!  It's a gift that is returned 10 fold by seeing and knowing how much they have enjoyed and appreciated it.