It's Gonna Be Worth It

Sometimes songs help us put into words what we are feeling better than we can at the moment. The words of this song spoke to me this week and maybe they will speak to you as well.

I don't understand Your ways
Oh but I will give You my song
Give You all of my praise
You hold on to all my pain
With it You are pulling me closer
And pulling me into Your ways

Now around every corner
And up every mountain
I'm not looking for crowns
Or the water from fountains
I'm desperate in seeking, frantic believing
That the sight of Your face
Is all that I need
I will say to You

It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it all
I believe this
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it all
I believe this

You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it all
I believe this
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it all
I believe this
Lyrics by Rita Springer

More on Romania

These pictures are from one of my favorite days of ministering in Romania. We were allowed to come into an elderly home in Brasov. The employees told our contact that most likely the people there would be mean and unreceptive to us. We prayed before we walked in that God would open the doors for us to minister to them. The very first room we went into we got to sing to two ladies and I just sat down and held one of their hands. Instantly, they begin to light up and speak to us about how happy they were we were there. We got to meet with many more as they flooded to the lounges on their floor. We couldn't have long conversations with most of them because our Romanian was not great, but we just hugged them and held there hands. We sang some more praise songs to them. Some of the women looked like stone statues when they came in and as soon as we began singing and loving on them, they would just cry. They told stories of how no one comes to visit them and how their families do not care for them. By the end, we saw God's presence dwelling in this place and ministering to the forgotten. It was pure joy.

The lady holding me sooo soo close in the above picture was one of my favorite. She was blind. She actually could have the surgery to see again, but could not afford it. Since she was blind and we couldn't speak the same language, we had to communicate in a different way. I was drawn to here when I walked in the room. She was just sitting in a chair and staring off at the wall. I came and put my hand on hers and she immediately grabed me and pulled me close to her. She gave me hugs and kisses and through an interpreter she told me she was so happy I was here. I don't think I have ever experienced love from a complete stranger like that. I was here to minister to her and she was ministering to me! It was quite amazing to see God break down the walls these older people had put up and watch them be joyous and almost youthful again! What a blessing we had the opportunity to be a part of!

Romania Pictures

The beautiful city of Brasov, Romania. It looks like a little fairytale city!

More at the Orphanage.

Some of the orphans we worked with in Valenii.

The small town of Valenii de Munte, Romania.

On the last leg of the Journey!

We are now in Vienna and will leave on Thursday to make the long trek back to Oswego. First we will fly from Vienna (we flew in from Bucharest, Romania yesterday)and stop in Madrid. Then from Madrid we will fly into JFK New York City where we are renting 2 cars to drive to Syracuse. From there we will be picked up by some great volunteers at around 1am to drive the last 45 minutes back to Oswego! We had an amazing time in Romania and I look forward to sharing it all when I have more time and a better keyboard..not a German one! I also will post some pics!

We have arrived!

Thank you all for praying. Our travel has been safe thus far. We finally reached our destination in Romania yesterday morning. We spent 2 days in Vienna after a long drive to NYC from Oswego and a layover in Madrid, Spain. Let's just say we were super tired. God has already blessed us so much. Our guitar (which we are using quite a bit for music ministry in the church and orphanges) did not arrive with us to Vienna. It finally arrived to the airport, but they never delivered it to the hotel. We left for Romania at 5 am and our airline was not yet open, so we didn't think we would get the guitar since it was a different airline. We stop and asked God to help us with this tool we needed for our mission. Low and behold when we got off the plane in Bucharest, Romania there was the guitar! We are now in a small village 2 hours north of Bucharest called Valleni de Munte. We were told we would not be able to take a shower for the 6 days we were here and would in essence be "roughing it". We got here to find we have exceptional accomodations with showers and the heat is not to bad here. Also, a little blessing for Austin and I is that the pastor's daughter and her husband are allowing us to stay with them together in their home!

Yesterday afternoon we got to go to the state orphanage here to play with the girl orphans their. We sang with them and practiced our very bad Romanian. We played games outside and I got to sit and talk with some of the older girl orphans. They are 18-21. Some of them had great English and we talked about what they liked and their relationship with Jesus. We will go back this afternoon. It is such a huge blessing to be there to love on them and give them the attention they are in such need of. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and I will keep this updated. I won't be able to put pictures on until I return, but it is beautiful here. We are in the mountains and there are lots of gardens and animals and some people even travel by horse and buggy! So surreal.