August 7, 2000

Romanian orphans run deep in the heart of Texans
___By Russ Dilday
___Buckner News Service
___LAPUSZNA, Romania--Bruce Thomas will always remember the boy who asked for a Bible at a summer camp held for Romanian orphans.
___"There was a 13-year-old boy who just kept asking for a Bible," recalled Thomas, missions coordinator for Buckner Orphan Care International. "'Can I have a Bible? Can I

CHILDREN dart under a giant parachute held by other campers and leaders during one of several evangelistic orphan camps held through Buckner Orphan Care International this summer in Romania. More than 1,200 orphans attended the camps. (Photo by Russ Dilday/Buckner)

have a Bible?' he kept asking.
___"At the end of each camp, we have a ceremony and a blessing time, and each child gets a Bible and a gift box or bag," Thomas explained. "When he received his Bible, he wept and promised, 'I'll read it every day.' Later, his group leader led him as he prayed to receive Christ.
___"He ran around the camp screaming, 'I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian,'" Thomas said. "It was the greatest moment and was so real. He was searching for something, and he found a heavenly Father who would never let go."
___Finding someone who won't let go is crucial to the 1,200 orphans who attended Buckner camps this summer in the heavily forested foothills of the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Since 1997, Buckner has provided programming for the evangelistic camps in Romania. The focus of the camps, which are held from early June through mid-August, is to ensure that through Christ, the children who live in the rugged and overcrowded conditions of Romanian orphanages feel eternally significant and special.
___ "The goal is to fulfill Mark 10:13-16, to allow the little children to come to Christ," Thomas said. "We want them to come into his arms. The camps are structured in an age-appropriate and culture-appropriate way for orphans to hear there's a heavenly Father who loves them and wants to adopt them."
___For a child named Nori, the camp appealed to the things many American children might find basic: "I have fun, I play, I eat and do all the things I like. I learn to sing, I learn about God and about love."
___The children who attend these camps need to feel especially loved because "the orphanage environment is a harsh place," Thomas said. "Most of their caregivers love the children, but they're overworked, underpaid and understaffed. We bring them to a camp atmosphere where they can learn they are special and to not only know it, but to feel it. That is why they're here."
___He called the orphans of Romania, reportedly 100,000 in number, "the harassed and helpless, the sheep without a shepherd that Jesus talks about. Some have been harassed physically or emotionally.
___"When they come to camp, they don't know what to expect," he said. "It's a Christian camp, and they come willingly. They are so surprised at the level of love and enthusiasm. There's a full array of creative, thoughtful activities to bring them to Christ, to let them know Christ loves them and to put a genuine human touch on their hearts."
___While the camp format for children most resembles a Vacation Bible School with "a Romanian twist," the youth camps are similar in structure to American youth camps with worship, Bible study, recreation and small groups.
___One important camp strategy is constant, personal prayer for each child, said volunteer coordinator Meredith Neal. Each morning, volunteers and interns gather to pray for each child by name. That strategy is possibly the most life-changing of any at the Buckner camps, she said.
___"During one week, we gathered in a particular room adjoining another room where the orphans sleep," she said. "What we didn't know was the boys were taking turns looking through the keyhole and listening to the prayers. We prayed for each of the children by name in Romanian and English. We had no clue they were watching and listening.
___"On the last day, one of our interns was with one of the boys, who was showing the intern his bed and giving him a tour. He sat down with the intern, put his hands together and said, 'Every morning, we take turns and watch you pray for us before we see you at breakfast.'
___"These little orphan boys--6, 7, 8 years old--are so touched to know they have people praying for them," she said. "It's a glimpse of heaven to them. We're not just here to play games and have fun. It's the Bible stories, the fellowship, building relationships and lifting them up in prayer to God our Father."
___The camps are staffed by a blend of Buckner staff, American and Romanian Christian volunteers and translators. They are held in a former communist indoctrination camp for Romanian youth.
___Volunteers from American churches pay their own way to enlist for one to two weeks of camp leadership.
___High school biology teacher Paula Cogdell, a member of First Baptist Church of Conroe, said that among the children attending one of two camps facilitated by her church, she befriended twin 8-year-old boys who "heard the gospel this week for the first time."
___"That's God at work," she said.
___On the last day of their camp, one of the pair "saw that I was about to get on the bus," she said. "He very forcefully pulled me to his room, where we sat and looked at his Bible. Within a few seconds, he had his face buried in my neck and was smelling me. He wanted to smell a mother.
___"I came over here not knowing we would be those types of role models," she said. "Mothers, father, sisters, brothers, playmates. But we saw so much that these children wanted the human touch. The look on their faces and their appreciation--I couldn't fathom that they could be so loving and caring.
___"I came over here thinking we would be leaving a blessing, but we were taking home the real blessing."
___Along with the blessing came the pain of separation at the end of the camp. Both the orphans and their new American friends wept while clinging to each other until the last possible moment.
___"It was hard to leave," said Conroe volunteer Katie Shanahan, a second grade teacher. "You've grown to love them and cherish them.
___"It was a very unconditional love because they didn't smell good, they weren't the prettiest children, but in our eyes they are the most beautiful creation God made," Shanahan continued. "You may be the only person who has ever loved them. It leaves you with the most empty, helpless feeling. You have showered them with a love in their lives they will never forget."
___As she left, she meditated on a verse out of Joshua that "God will never leave you or forsake you" as she prayed over them. She prayed "that they would know (God) and that we will see them again in heaven."
___"That's the thought I clung to as I saw their little bodies running with the bus and tears in their eyes."
___

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