Family and Friends-
Wow, its been a crazy past few days. On Saturday I left for Straja Mountain to help lead a Viata Corporate weekend. The Viata team runs Corporate team buildings to raise funds for the FNO and Viata camp. For this weekend we stay in a mountain cabana, which is like a ski lodge and lead the Corporate group on ropes course and rock climbing. So at the end of the weekend on Monday afternoon, we- Ilie, Alex and I - came back to Lupeni for an hour before heading to the Retezet National Park for a national IMPACT youth camping event. In this hour we also grabbed most of the gear and bags of the youth, who had left for the park earlier that morning. We overloaded the FNO mini-truck aka "the popuci" with a huge mound of gear, as we drove the 2-3 hours to the park partial on mountain road we got many stares from peasants working in their field. The next 2 1/2 days we spent in beautiful Retezat wilderness. In all of this I was the only American among many Romanians-a new experience since I got here for most of the events other American volunteers would be with me. Although it was hard at times to be 'the foreigner' it forces me to use my Romanian-and to my surprise I know more than I think (although still I have much more to learn)! It was also a great opportunity to get to know the kids better- most of which I had seem in the valley or at other national IMPACT events. I especially connected with the older high school girls who came. Its exciting to hear them thinking about post-high school plans to go on to further studies. A few youth from the middle school club in Lupeni, which I been getting involved with, also came. It was great to have more interaction with them, since I been missing club lately because of my busy schedule.
In reflection on these past few days one word sticks out- stewardship. Christian living has a lot to do with stewardship. We are stewards of the gifts God gave us to us them in positive ways on this earth for His kingdom, we are stewards of the people around us as they are for us to see them not as we would see them but as God would, we are stewards of the earth (..which the modern church neglects to recognize in my opinion) As a leader I want to be stewards of the physical and emotional safety of the group. Viata will be starting soon, and I will be running the ropes course for the first few weeks. I have the training and feel capable of doing this, but it will be a big responsibility. The safety of the kids at the course will be in my -and the other Viata leaders- hands. How do I approach this responsibility with the stewardship that God demands of us?
Wow, its been a crazy past few days. On Saturday I left for Straja Mountain to help lead a Viata Corporate weekend. The Viata team runs Corporate team buildings to raise funds for the FNO and Viata camp. For this weekend we stay in a mountain cabana, which is like a ski lodge and lead the Corporate group on ropes course and rock climbing. So at the end of the weekend on Monday afternoon, we- Ilie, Alex and I - came back to Lupeni for an hour before heading to the Retezet National Park for a national IMPACT youth camping event. In this hour we also grabbed most of the gear and bags of the youth, who had left for the park earlier that morning. We overloaded the FNO mini-truck aka "the popuci" with a huge mound of gear, as we drove the 2-3 hours to the park partial on mountain road we got many stares from peasants working in their field. The next 2 1/2 days we spent in beautiful Retezat wilderness. In all of this I was the only American among many Romanians-a new experience since I got here for most of the events other American volunteers would be with me. Although it was hard at times to be 'the foreigner' it forces me to use my Romanian-and to my surprise I know more than I think (although still I have much more to learn)! It was also a great opportunity to get to know the kids better- most of which I had seem in the valley or at other national IMPACT events. I especially connected with the older high school girls who came. Its exciting to hear them thinking about post-high school plans to go on to further studies. A few youth from the middle school club in Lupeni, which I been getting involved with, also came. It was great to have more interaction with them, since I been missing club lately because of my busy schedule.
In reflection on these past few days one word sticks out- stewardship. Christian living has a lot to do with stewardship. We are stewards of the gifts God gave us to us them in positive ways on this earth for His kingdom, we are stewards of the people around us as they are for us to see them not as we would see them but as God would, we are stewards of the earth (..which the modern church neglects to recognize in my opinion) As a leader I want to be stewards of the physical and emotional safety of the group. Viata will be starting soon, and I will be running the ropes course for the first few weeks. I have the training and feel capable of doing this, but it will be a big responsibility. The safety of the kids at the course will be in my -and the other Viata leaders- hands. How do I approach this responsibility with the stewardship that God demands of us?
