Poverty and Rain

What a day! Hard to believe it’s already the end of Friday and we’ve been gone over half a week.

Today we had the chance to visit some of the families served by Ethos (a multifaceted ministry that is loosely connected to Open Roads). This opportunity was challenging and eye opening. The families we briefly visited live in extreme poverty. As a veteran of trips to AFE (the school located in a Tegucigalpa dump) I, Ben, was able to draw many parallels to my experiences in Honduras. This was a great experience for me because it brought back memories of families and friends I met in Honduras in years past. In that moment I was able to throw up some prayers for my Honduran friends. Another difficulty of the visit to the homes today was trying to understand why we did it. It felt quite awkward as we stood there and got just a quick snap shot of heir lives. It seemed as if we were simply gawkers. What we learned later on is that these families are sponsored by Ethos Ministry, which means they have ongoing, daily support from them. Although it was our only time to see them, they have meaningful relationships with Romanian Christians. This truth allowed us to see that we were not the “American Saciors” coming to save the day. Instead we got to partner with Ethos and Open Roads who are teaching these people to fish, not just giving them fish.
All week we have been weighed down by the hot sun and sweating buckets in the heat. Temperatures have been close to 100ยฐ! Don’t worry moms, we’ve been drinking crazy amounts of water and staying well hydrated. “A hydrated Ray is a happy Ray” as they say (as Ray says). However, today took an unexpected but very welcome break from the sweltering heat in the form of an unprecedented downpour! The rain began as we were just getting some games started at a beautiful park in Craiova, just after we got to meet our orphan friends for the first time (or reunite with them after a year or two). This was a sweet moment as we got to see the lovely people we will be serving at camp next week! After a few “ร‡e faรง?s” and some “Bines” the skies opened up. For once, rather than asking for more sunscreen and dripping with sweat, we got to run through puddles and dodge rain drops! In a moment that could have been disastrous, we made it a blast! We had the chance to bond with our prospective camper friends in the pouring rain, no better way to connect! Thankfully the rain kept the dragons away.

We love you blog addicts! Thanks for following along and being here with us in spirit and in prayer. We sure can feel them!

Ben and Editor in Chief Noah Pollard

Shout out to all the letter writers! We opened a few today and were uplifted by the support and love. Also to those who have commented! We have such a great time reading them as a team! Shout out again to Kiara for commenting from down under, using your limited wifi to read and comment on our blog. SO to Molly and Sam: thanks for thinking of the dragons. Thankfully we’ve been able to keep them at bay… If we see any we’ll be sure to get some pics with them for you guys. And of course to the mommas- Momma Hersh and Mamma P. We love you guys!

12 thoughts on “Poverty and Rain

  1. Hey guys! Good to hear Ray (and everyone else) is staying hydrated. 100 degree weather can be tough, especially for Wisconsinites.

    Ben and the others who’ve done the Honduras trips: I’m sure you’ll find/have found that despite the differences between the Hondurans and Romanians, there are a ton of similarities too. We all need love, and even though you may not be there for long, there’s time for you to do a ton of loving on the orphans, and vice versa.

    Thanks for the shoutout bros! Glad to hear the flying fire-breathing lizards haven’t been any trouble, and that the letters have been well received. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the camp prep and actual camp. Good luck with everything!

    God bless.

  2. Thanks for continuing your daily posts, Romanian bloggers. They are enjoyable to read and we keep on praying for you. Please pass this comment on to Jimmy – I was doing some work today on a large amount of data aligned horizontally and vertically in neat lines. I could handle the data going vertically, but it made me crazy looking at the numbers horizontally. Can you diagnose my problem? That’s right – Row-mania! Enjoy the trip!

  3. So glad you got some rain.Sounds like God is already impacting your hearts.As I have told Alyssa we are blessed to have been born into the family’s we have.I pray that you will be able in some small way to show that people do care and that people do love because God Loves us. I can’t wait to hear all about the games and fun times you will have at camp showing the Romanians that fun is fun no matter what language you speak. Thinking of you all and praying for the heat to go down. Sending hugs from Wisconsin.
    Momma P
    PS. I love you Alyssa

  4. Team-

    I am so happy to hear that you are having a great time and learning a lot. Just from this blog post I can tell that God is doing crazy things in and around each of you guys. I miss all of you a ton and can’t wait to read more of your blog posts (I will be expecting more and will be reading them while on family vacation so make them good!),

    Ali: Girlfriend I miss you so dang much ๐Ÿ˜‰ I am so blessed to have such a God-loving, adventurous, caring, and open girl to call my best friend. I wouldn’t have it any other way! I really hope that you brought my letters with you and gave them to a leader…. and now I can’t wait for you to read yours.

    Alyssa: Chica! What’s up?! I think it goes without saying that I miss having you at my side/front/back like we were backpacking. You are so wise and God-loving and I have no doubt in my mind that God will use you in many ways throughout your trip. Please try to keep Ali in line, I know she can get pretty crazy (oh and don’t let her near any lockers).

    Ben: First, awesome blog post! Second, I am so so sorry that we couldn’t find a time to get together before you left. I miss hanging out and having fun together but I know you are having an amazing time in Romania. It is so amazing to hear you are finding connections between Romania and Honduras. I admire your ability to find the positives in that aspect and even use that time to pray for our Honduran friends. Remember to not have too much fun without me (jk) and stay open to all God is doing.

    Well I hope you guys continue having an awesome time but don’t forget about all your Wisconsin friends here at home. It’s kind of crazy to think that as I am writing this my friends are halfway across the world. Stay safe and love you all,

    Madtown (Madison Pincombe)

  5. Awesome post Ben and Noah – felt like we were there with you. Keep them coming! And keep dancing in that rain (literally and metaphorically) whenever you get the chance! Sending all kinds of love from Wisconsin!!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Great to hear from you all and what God is teaching you, ho it is like to Honduras! Poverty is hard to observe and can make you feel powerless to help. May you invest fully in the people who’e path you cross today and each day.

    The running in puddle with new and old friends can make for good memories and friendship building. Praying for you all today!

    Missing you, Taletha! It is strangely quiet around here. ๐Ÿ™‚ See I am commenting!

    Keep investing in each other and your new friends while you keep drinking, praying and sleeping!

    Taletha’s Mom (Dyann!)

  7. Loved your post Ben H. I visited Honduras when I was 5 years old, the images of poverty that I saw have been with me ever since. There are somethings you will always carry with you, for the better. Poverty and hunger know no boundaries, neither does God’s love for His children. God is cultivating a great work in all of you through this experience in Romania. Hugs to all!

  8. Ayyyy squad, so excited to hear BIG things are happening there! Imagining everyone dancing together as God cracked open the sky made me smile. That sounds like an incredible moment full of love. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Glad everyone is staying hydrated and that the dragons have yet to bother you! If they do however, I feel like Cabbage could take them on using his selfie stick as a sword. (Just an idea.)

    Lots of love and big, big hugs,
    Molls

  9. Thanks for painting a picture of your day! Sounds like the rain came at just the right time. Curious, no?

    Thinking and praying for you guys. Hopefully there are no green mood rings. But better that than clear, I guess.

    Q: Why did Snape stand in the middle of the road?

    Lots of love,
    JP and ME

    PS. A: So you’ll never know which side he’s on.

  10. A few weeks ago, I was quite dehydrated in India, with my legs muscles cramping up badly, dry skin, chills, dizziness, headache etc. I was drinking tons and tons of water. But I was not getting enough salt and potassium to replenish what I lost in sweat. In Asia our daily temperatures averaged between 95 and 113 every day with very high humidity.
    Advise:
    1) dry to find sport drinks with electrolytes to drink (similar to gatorade)
    2) eat bananas with the potassium
    3) eat salty foods

    Praying for you all daily!
    Dawn Dorning

  11. Sounds like God is up to some awesome things already! Excited to see and hear how that continues the rest of the trip. Praying for you guys tons!

    SO to my little bro – come home soon. Listening to dirty gangsta’ rap just isn’t the same without you!

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