Hello Everyone!

I'm Christine and this is my sister Katharina.

We have spent the last six weeks here in Romania with Restore. Through our friend Ulla Hogrefe, who is a missionary here, we heard about the organization and applied for a short internship. Despite the current Corona situation, God made this possible. We are both incredibly grateful to Helga and the whole team for allowing us to be here. We came with the desire to serve the people in Romania and to learn more about their missionary work. But in truth, Restore has served us more than we could give. It has shaped me so much to see people serving others with their whole lives and hearts. The Restore team has so many different people who come from different countries and cultures, but they have one thing in common. Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Only when we have our eyes on him, is a person able to gratefully serve. The verses of Philippians 2:4-8 have become especially important to me in last weeks. Here it says, "Do not think of your own advantage. Each of you should have the good of the other in mind. Take Jesus Christ as your model:  Although he was equal to God in every way, he did not selfishly cling to being like God.  No, he renounced it and became like a slave: he was born like every other man and was in everything a man like us.  He humbled himself even more deeply and was obedient to God even to death, yes, even to the shameful death on the cross."
 

Other than that, we had so much joy working with the children and youth. We were able to teach the children bible stories and helped to run the youth group. We also enjoyed working in the afterschool program. The Romas poverty, as well as the many difficult family circumstances upset us deeply. A proper approach in this area is not always easy and a lot of wisdom is needed. I always had the most beautiful times and learned the most when I spent a lot of time with people in their own environment. Here I realized again, how important it is to live with the people you want to invest in.       

The more we got to know the children and young people, the more our concern for them grew. What was particularly challenging in this area was that at the beginning we didn't speak a word of Romanian. However, there is one language that everyone in this world understands, the language of love. Especially the children showed us this and they have the ability to let themselves be loved as well. We should definitely learn this from them. We are grateful for the time we had in Romania. Perhaps it won´t be the last time we are in Romania. But until then, we wish God's blessings to the Restore team. 

Christine and Katharina