In August 2010, four young adults participated a mission trip to Romania to work at a summer camp as part of Lehigh Presbytery’s ongoing partnership with the Hungarian Reformed Church in Romania. Read all of their entries.

Let me first say thank you to all those that donated or otherwise supported this trip. It was a mind-blowing experience for me. I had never been to Europe, and my small understanding of this world was limited both to the US and to my less than 20 years of memories. I feel it is important to understand that the nature of the trip wasn’t as salvation or relief to the visited, but as friends coming together across the world and growing in one another. While I know I have grown remarkably through my short experience, I hope that the people we touched and met and worked with grew as well.

And I feel they did. The campers with us learned so much English and got to improve their language skills. Even when we couldn’t communicate, we laughed. I’ve never met kids with such patience before. They understand that in order to achieve something worthwhile, you’ve got to put in time and effort. In that way, and this is silly but simple, learning a difficult craft is like growing the vegetables for dinner. Simultaneously, the kids were just like ours, mischievous and energetic and too cool to sing (not by the end of the week!). It was surreal but comforting to this universality.

We met adults, too, people that carried us through the experience and showed us the splendor of their heritage. The family that ran the camp: Csaba, his wife Ilona, and their daughters Jasmine and Carissa; we made strong friendships with them and were able to experience what it’s like to be a Hungarian family in Romania. We saw the same with Tibor Nagy, our guide, whose children are still only young. But Tibor knows everyone in his village, and worked to build a fellowship hall behind his house, and is a stable, spiritual bastion for everyone around him. He drove us through Hungary after we landed in Budapest, through Romania to the various camps and cities, to the Carpathian Mountains where we learned how glorious and remarkable the Earth is, all the secrets it’s hiding.

I don’t think our trip could have been anything but a spiritual one. The sense of awe looking over the mountains next to the bittersweet joy of hearing a young woman willing to share her story of loss: these things are from God, from the Goodness in Life itself. And if God is Love, then what I felt on that journey, what I shared and received with our greater family across the planet, was Love.

In August 2010, four young adults participated a mission trip to Romania to work at a summer camp as part of Lehigh Presbytery’s ongoing partnership with the Hungarian Reformed Church in Romania. Read all of their entries.

I learned so much about Hungary and Romania. Like that Hungary was split and formed Romania. And the people in Hungary and Romania don’t really get along. But I also learned how wonderful the people are in Romania and Hungary. The people have no problem helping you if you need directions. And the people would invite us into there home and be so kind to us.

The camp was amazing. We got to help with the camp as staff so we got to experience something new. And the campers were able to experience how we work and see the difference from their camp to how we work at Camp Brainerd. The camp was way different than Camp Brainerd. The style of teaching was different and some of the activities were different. An example of one activity is the hot seat where the kids could ask you anything and you would tell them. But we were all there for the same reason and no matter what, learning about God is what matters. The kids were so nice; they tried their best to translate in English when they could. And all the helpers were so great and helpful. When the kids could not understand us or we didn’t understand them, they would translate for us.

The food was so good and fresh, I loved it all. The lunches were so big compared to the lunch we have here in America. And we had soup every day, which was almost always good.

And all the history there was great. I love learning about different historical things in the world. Like learning about the history of the Carpathian mountains and about the Dean and all the leaders of the church.

I’ve learned through others and through devotions that we are all God’s children. We pray to the same God; we believe in the same God. Through each other whether we spoke their language or whether they spoke ours. Through song, prayer, working together, we are all part of God’s family…

In August 2010, four young adults participated a mission trip to Romania to work at a summer camp as part of Lehigh Presbytery’s ongoing partnership with the Hungarian Reformed Church in Romania. Read all of their entries.

Worldwide Ministries of Lehigh Presbytery sent a leader and three young adults on a two week mission trip to Romania. Many of you know that Lehigh Presbytery has a long-time friendship and partnership with the Hungarian Reformed Church in Romania. Part of this partnership is striving to learn more about each other and about how we are connected in Christ, how we are all part of Christ’s family.

One way we try to learn more about each other is by traveling and visiting and working together. For many years, young adults from Romania have come and spent their summer in Lehigh Presbytery, working and volunteering at our Camp Brainerd and living with various host families throughout the region. Worldwide Ministries of Lehigh Presbytery has also sent over groups of young adults for short-term mission experiences, learning more about the country and culture as we visit old friends and as we work along in partnership with some of their camping programs.

This summer was the third young adult group to go to Romania through Worldwide Ministries of Lehigh Presbytery. The group consisted of myself (Kim Ward), a member of the Olivet United Presbyterian Church who served as leader for this trip. We also had Dalton McGary, a member of Olivet United Presbyterian Church of Easton, who is transferring to Kutztown University this year for college; Amanda Hebard, from East Stroudsburg Presbyterian Church. Amanda goes to college down in Georgia, and had to return there 5 days after we got back from Romania; and Brandon Semerod, from United Presbyterian Church of Pottsville. Brandon recently graduated with his master’s degree in Special Education and 10 days after we returned from Romania, left to teach English in China for a whole year.

Each time a group has gone to Romania it has been a little different. Mostly, that is because we work in partnership with our friends in the Hungarian Reformed Church. These trips aren’t us saying, “We want to come on July 15th. Come pick us up at the airport.” Or us saying, “we’re coming to build you a school.” Instead, through partnership, we try our best to make sure that it is a trip that both sides want; that the entire experience is mutual.

This year, we had been invited by my friend Tibor Nagy, a Hungarian Reformed Church minister in Romania, to come and work in partnership with a camp that a friend of his was organizing. So, for the majority of our trip, we worked with a church camp for teenagers. This camp was located in the town of Rupea, in the southeast corner of Transylvania, quite near the edge of the beautiful Carpathian Mountains. The camp was organized by the Dean of the region (he oversees about 35 churches in the region, similar to Steve Shussett’s role in Lehigh Presbytery). He opened his church property (about 2 acres) to teenagers from the surrounding area to come to the camp. We also had about 20 children and adult leaders from Hungary, whose own village had flooded earlier in the summer and who were spending the summer away from home while their families and friends worked to rebuild their village at home. And the remarkable thing about the camp is that it was completely free for all of the children – all in exchange for food from their home churches and families. So we ate – wonderful food – fresh food straight from family gardens and small farms, milk pretty much straight from the cow, and home-baked bread all week long! And the kids got a wonderful week of camp without their families worrying about the cost!

The rest of our time in Romania was spent learning about the country, the culture, the history, and the struggles of being a minority culture and religion in a post-Communist state. My friend Tibor unselfishly gave us four days of his time to give us the grand tour of Eastern Hungary and Transylvania. He drove us everywhere, from the northern reaches of Hungary, with ancient castles overlooking the majestic Danube River, to the breath-taking Carpathian Mountains that make up the southern border of Transylvania. Without too much of a geography and history lesson, people of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Romania live in Transylvania (yes, many castles are advertised as ‘Dracula’s Castle;’ no, we didn’t go there). Transylvania is a beautiful agricultural region that was part of Hungary for over 1000 years. After WWI, the Allies divided up Hungary and gave Transylvania over to Romania. It would be like the United Nations coming into the United States and dividing us up, making the northeast part of French-speaking Canada. The national language was suddenly changed from Hungarian to Romanian, towns and cities were given new Romanian names, and street signs changed into Romania. The national church suddenly became Orthodox, and Reformed religions were placed in the minority. Soon afterwards, Romania became a Communist state, and conditions and freedoms under Communism were very different from anything we in the US can relate to.

So needless to say, it is very important to try to have an understanding of some of the history of the land and how that impacts the people of the Hungarian Reformed Church today. Thankfully, Tibor did a wonderful job, and we all learned a tremendous amount from him.

One thing that was consistent throughout our trip was a daily devotional booklet that each of us had. The devotionals were written by individuals involved with missions or youth ministry throughout Lehigh Presbytery – ministers, youth leaders, past young adult Romania participants, members of the Worldwide Ministries Care Team, many people. We tried, some days more successfully than others, to gather to read and reflect together, as a means of remaining centered, of remembering that we were there for Christ, to lead or serve as Christ himself led us. And each day, as I read (okay . . . as I read on most days) I was usually struck by how God’s words and the reflection that the contributor had written really fit with what we were experiencing. (One writer even wrote about eating Kentucky Fried Chicken during an international mission trip . . . we had just eaten McDonald’s the day before for our first meal in Hungary!).

Psalm 19 reads, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” In the Carpathian Mountains, over 6,000 feet up, it was impossible to not be struck with the beauty of God’s earthly creation. The brilliant blue skies offset with lofty, soft clouds made you feel that God was right there, painting it all for you, to open up the majesty of his heavens. And many, countless times, I heard threats from, mostly from Brandon, that he was going to leave and run away to the Carpathian Mountains, to live in the breathtaking beauty that is God’s creation. (I had to remind him and Amanda and Dalton that I promised their mothers that I would bring them back to the US . . . if you can’t find them around, I’d check the Carpathians first).

And being in a new country, it was easy to get swept up in the beauty of a new and different land, people and culture. But the scary and sometimes intimidating part of that is that things are different in a different country. And probably the biggest struggle is that we don’t speak Hungarian (I speak . . . probably about 5 words [embarrassing after having been there 4 times] and we jokingly deemed Amanda as being fluent on Tuesdays [though she tried pretty hard and actually was quite helpful at translating for the rest of us]).

But if you continue to read in Psalm 19, “Day after day [the heavens] pour forth speech . . . Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” And although we didn’t have the words we might have felt we needed, somehow I think we all felt that we could move and love without words. God supplied language and understanding and conveyed friendship through His love. It’s amazing how, with God’s love, simple smiles, simple words, and simple charades can work together to build friendships, family, and lasting memories. One time during lunch, I was sitting across the table from an 8 year-old girl who wasn’t eating anything. I think we were having left over liver with pasta. She knew just a few words of English, so I asked her, “You like?” and pointed to my plate, piled high with my unappetizing meal. She responded, “no.” And refused to eat. I asked her, “Will I like?” She gave me a silly but decided, “no.” I decided that, even if this was the best meal I had ever eaten (I didn’t have high hopes), that I was going to make her laugh to feel better. So I hesitantly took a bite, closed one eye, and made the worst yuck-face I could muster. And I took a second bite, ate it quickly, and discretely looked around the room before giving her another yuck face. Quickly, within just a few bites of not-my-favorite lunch, we were both giggling and cracking up, she coming out of her sadness of not liking lunch, and me finally working my way through what won my prize for the worst lunch all week (most were wonderful, and I loved the cooks and everyone who gave of their time in the kitchen . . . if they ever see this, I’d love some more bread and homemade jam, please!). But with only a few words and a few silly faces, we both had a great lunch, and she did eventually eat.

And all of us who were on the trip could tell you countless story upon story of great moments when we didn’t need words – English or Hungarian – to feel God’s love. Maybe it was getting a hug from someone when we felt homesick, or sharing a cry as a woman from Hungary told – all in Hungarian – of how her house was destroyed in the recent floods, or kicking a soccer ball into our own team’s goal (Brandon was the star . . . for the other team that day) or the simple joy and giggles of exchanging nametags with a little girl and pretending to trade places for the day; whatever it was, I’m sure it was God reaching down and helping us communicate without speech or language.

God’s love also unites us into one family. A favorite quote of mine, roughly paraphrased is, “Wherever you go, God has already been there.” A lot of people, when I tell them that I went on a mission trip this summer, assume that I went somewhere to preach the Gospel like you might see on some street corners or in movies. But the joy of partnership-based missions is realizing just how true it is that God has already been here and that he continues to be here. God is everywhere and his love unites us together as friends, as neighbors, and as His family. And just as Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, “From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. . . . Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” With partnership-based missions, it is important to remember that we are all members of one body; all are members of Christ’s family. Just as we go to help and serve, we also go to learn and grow.

I think probably the most difficult part of experiencing and living in a new culture is to remember just that, that we are all members of one body, all are members of Christ’s family. It is easy to assume that we know best – to put on the attitude that the United States is the best country, that our ways are the right ways, even that our way of setting the table is better than theirs (after 6 days of shaking out tablecloths, it was easy to start thinking that it is easier to wipe down tables after each meal, though not nearly as pretty), or even that our way of cutting the grass is better than theirs (I did learn how to cut the grass using a 6-foot tall sickle, with an 18” blade; no limbs, fingers, nor toes were lost in the process!). But God calls us to be, in Ephesians, “humble and gentle [and] patient.” And in the scripture from Micah it’s even more direct: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

So God is there, God has been there, and God will continue to be there, no matter where “there” is. We go into missions, hopefully not to carryout our own motives, not to relish in our accomplishments in our own plans. But hopefully, with God’s guidance, we go as partners in mission, to walk humbly, to learn what justice and mercy is and how it is needed for all in the world, to be patient and understanding towards each other (especially when you’re traveling together for two straight weeks) and to allow God to guide us. We pray that we have learned and grown. We pray that others have learned and grown likewise. We pray that God was in this journey and that he will continue to bless this partnership. Amen.

Kim Ward

In August 2010, four young adults participated a mission trip to Romania to work at a summer camp as part of Lehigh Presbytery’s ongoing partnership with the Hungarian Reformed Church in Romania. Read all of their entries.

Depart Budapest to Return Home

Devotional

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.
~ Zechariah 4:6b

Soon you will be ending your mission and heading home. It has been a time of discovery, living out your faith in community, serving and loving others and wondering if you made a difference. What will you do with what you have learned? Remember: God often uses us in our weaknesses and not in our strengths as He gently guides us to the next steps.

Personal Story
Twenty years ago I was asked to take two summer interns to Costa Rica and prepare for a short term mission team of 17 arriving two weeks later. I knew very little Spanish. I certainly wasn’t qualified or had any particular training, just a strong desire to go somewhere other than the Supermarket or Kmart. One intern on the airplane asked me to hold his ticket so he wouldn’t lose it. I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into for a month. I had only been to this community once, a year earlier! What did I know about supervising mission interns? What was I thinking when I had said yes? Doubts filled my mind.

The home where I stayed had an 18 year old college student living with his mother and stepfather. He seemed angry I was there. I was probably sleeping in his bed. He had to work weekends at a bakery for the bus fare to get to classes during the week. His mother had said I was a missionary from the United States. He thought I just wanted a cheap vacation. I couldn’t preach. I didn’t know the language. What kind of missionary was that?

My second night I pulled out a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle and began showing the family how to put pieces together….no language needed. Slowly, he became involved. We applauded when someone fitted in a piece. It was obvious no one had ever done this before. We started with the border, we searched the floor for missing pieces, and we looked at the photo of a beautiful western mountain scene pointing to the colors. We spent hours together, smiling, laughing and sharing.

Our interns asked him to help them plan for our team and he was surprised. All the North Americans he had ever met never would have asked for help. He became good friends with the young male intern.

A year later when I returned to Tirrases he had switched his major from Accounting to English. We talked more deeply that second visit. He was eager to use his new language skills. He was chosen to come to Bethlehem for an internship to prepare groups from his congregation for our international church to church partnership. He grew even more as he stayed in my home, called me Mom, and was loved and mentored by many at our church.

Today, my Tico son Max and my intern Jeff work as full time missionaries. Looking back on that summer I realize now that it had God’s fingerprints all over it.

When people ask me what was the most important thing I ever did on a short term mission I tell them I put together a puzzle!

A smile, a relationship, a willingness to let God use you here or there, wherever He plants you is all that is required. No special talent or training necessary. Just be open to the Holy Spirit and just be you.

Some words from Mother Theresa
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, just feed one.”
“Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.”

Personal Reflection: Take time to think about the people you have met. Pray for them.
When were you the most joyful this mission? What touched your heart?
How can you share your experience with others?
How can you use this experience in the future?

Jan Marsh, Elder
First Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem
Lehigh Presbytery Worldwide Ministries Care Team

Thanksgiving

They have all arrived home safely.

Thank you for your prayers during their travels.

If you wish to have Kim or Dalton speak at your church about their mission trip, please contact Kim Ward at or the Presbytery office at 610-391-9020 or .

In August 2010, four young adults participated a mission trip to Romania to work at a summer camp as part of Lehigh Presbytery’s ongoing partnership with the Hungarian Reformed Church in Romania. Read all of their entries.

Camp!

Devotional

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
~ Romans 8:28

Often I look at where I am at any particular moment and wonder how I got there and what were “they” (or I) thinking? And yet, whatever the situation, somehow it manages to work out. Sometimes it works out with remarkable results. It’s what I have gotten into the habit of calling a “God thing.”

God things happen not as miracles or blessings. God things are a series of events that when put together show us God’s astonishing presence in our everyday lives. For instance, how many of you thought a trip to Romania was on your agenda for this year? Who of you planned on being here sharing and receiving? My guess is that many varied, and perhaps even mundane, events or conversations came together to put you where you are. The effect that this trip will have on all concerned will be like the ripples of a stone thrown in water. There surely will be a big initial “splash,” but the smiles, the touches, the laughter, the community, the love shared will go on and on.

You may wonder what effect you are having in the world. Are you causing more stress than you are relieving? Are you creating additional concerns to the people you visit? Are you really doing any good at all? I believe god’s answer is simply and magnificently that He sent you. You don’t know where this God thing will go. You don’t know who it will touch, or why, or what the result will be. You just need to believe that God sent you for a reason and that all you do serves God’s needs. So go, continue to touch the world where God has placed you. For “all things work together for good.”

Pat Stanek
First Presbyterian Church, Easton
Lehigh Presbytery Worldwide Ministries Care Team
Devotional written for the Young Adult 2006 Trip

Mission Blog

A great big “Hello” from Romania!!!

Camp is quickly ending, and it has been an amazing, memorable, and growing experience for the four of us and hopefully also for the wonderful friends and mission partners we have made over the past few days! At the ending campfire last night, the sense of community and the sense of God’s presence with us was evident through the many good-bye hugs (and struggles to learn the European way to kiss each cheek), the sharing of songs both Hungarian and English, and the glimmer of tears that showed just how meaningful the week has been to everyone. Even though we may not share the language (though Amanda is fluent on Tuesdays), we quickly learned that a simple smile, simple words, and simple actions, combined with God’s love, can bridge even the toughest language barriers!

Today we will start our long journey back home. Csaba and Ilona, the IKE (YMCA) leaders from Romania, will drive us back to Budapest (11 hours), where we will spend the night. Tomorrow we head for the airport for our 10-hour flight back to New York.

We want to thank all of you for all of your prayers and support. We can’t wait to get home and to share our stories and pictures with all of you!

God Bless,
Kim, Amanda, Brandon, and Dalton
Lehigh Presbytery Romania Young Adult 2010 Team