Well, the August Team has finished 2 weeks of work concluding with 6 days of Camp Discovery for 45 children from the Prichindel Orphanage in Cluj-Napoca. The camp itself was amazing as it was lead by Brian Raney, Christy Pengilly and Ali McGregor. Everyone had a great time and are extremely tired. The games, crafts, Bible stories, “show-times”, food and “campy stuff” was well organized and fun…

The team will begin the long trip back tomorrow night around this time. They will have a chance to do some evaluation tomorrow as well as see the some of the city. Thank you all for your support and encouragement!

Bob Fukumoto, for the Team

Greetings again from Romania.

The team here is doing very well after a day with 40 orphans from an orphanage located in the very small village of Ilisua. We rented a bus and took them to the big city of Cluj which is 2 hours away. Most had never been to a city of any size. We had a tour of the city, a picnic in the park, and finished with a swim in a public pool. None of the children had been in a pool but had only swam in the local river. The children cried when the bus pulled away from us while we stood at the entrance to the pool. It was very sad. Sorry that I didn’t get pictures onto my laptop in time for this but I have included pictures from yesterday when we ran some programs in Ilisua. I have also included a group shot of those who participated in our “Volunteer retreat”. Thank-you to the Steve & Glynis Fowler, Doug & Lori Schinkel, Debbie Vorsteveld, and Johnny Fukumoto for making the trip over to counsel and lead sessions. Missing was Joni Allardyce who had to miss the trip due to illness. Also thanks to my wife Jan who was here the week before to help us prepare and take children from the Prichindel Orphanage swimming….. Finally, I have included a picture of some much needed medicine and first aid kits that we were able to present to Dr. Stefan Morar at Ilisua. These were donated by Dr. Caldwell of Cobourg and Connie Allardyce.
Camp Discovery starts Friday and runs until Wednesday next week. There will be 45 orphans (12 special needs) and 40 workers. Everyone is very excited!!!
Enjoy the pics!
Bob Fukumoto

Greetings from Romania.

The team arrived safely late Saturday night with all baggage and donations intact! To this point we have re-sorted our 15 hockey bags and are on our way by train to the Beclean and Ilisua orphanages, which are about 2 hours away. After 3 days there, we will rent a bus and bring 40 children from Ilisua to Cluj (where we are based) and take them swimming and do some program and food for them. Then they will return by bus to Ilisua and we will prepare for 6 days of Camp Discovery. There will be about 45 children (including 12 special needs) and 40 volunteers/teachers/Canadians etc. helping out. I hope to get some pictures up this Friday…. Thanks for thinking of us!!!!
Bob Fukumoto (for the team)

Hello from Romania. It is almost 40 degrees here!
Fortunately we have the privilege of helping take some
children swimming! Here are a few “special needs
children” from the Prichindel orphanage… They were
so happy to be swimming in this weather… but also
happy to have so much attention. Truly this was a
treat for Jan who works so much with these children in
Toronto. Debbie Vorsteveld is having a great time with
the children as well and they have really responded to
her love…

Thursday we pick up Johnny and go to Beclean and then
on Friday take the children from Ilisua on a picnic…
I am really seeing how little these children have to
in the summer…. Its a privilege to provide something
different for them.

Thanks for thinking of us.
Bob for Jan and Debbie

We arrived home safely at Pearson Airport around 1:30pm Wednesday to the open arms of many parents, relatives and friends. A welcome sight and reunion! Airport reunions are always exciting it seems.

The mission trip went by quick even though the concensus was that the beginning seemed so long ago. We were involved at the Beclean Central Placement and the Ilisua Preventorul Tuberculolul for the first 5 days in Romania. These and Prichindel are orphanages that we work at every time we are in Romania. Then went to the city of Cluj-Napoca where we alternated between the Gradinita Special Needs School, city prison, elderly care center, and Prichindel Casa De Copii for the remaining time. Here are a few observations….

* The team was well organized, prepared and led by Joni Allardyce and her ministry team of Joel Allen and Stephanie Grumett.
* They were a very personal team who were able to focus in on connecting with individual orphans and needy people.
* Dina and her Romanian ministry team did a fantastic job keeping overall ministries and schedules organized in order to make the most of time. This is sometimes taken for granted as much time is often lost in missions because of disorganized schedules and poor
communication.
* Each Canadian came face to face daily with real people and circumstances that break God’s heart. This included about 500 children, elderly, hospitalized and prisoners.
* Program included: music, crafts, cook-outs, drama, bible stories and personal testimonies.
* The Romania Project saw 3 new volunteers added to Dina’s team and an increase in the depth of relational support for her team.
* Support and encouragement from friends and family was very strong and finances for the trip were fully raised.
* Please continue to pray for team members to “process” what they experienced and follow-up on children and youth whom they committed themselves to.

Thank you for your continued interest and support of this team and The Romania Project in general!

Bob

From what I have heard the team has landed safely and are resting from their long travel back home. Thank you for all the prayer and support you have given during this amazing experience. Bob will be posting an entry shortly to update all of you on the time spent in Romania with some more recent pictures and stories.

Thanks again,
Taylor Neill (for the team)

Its Sunday night here in Romania. We spent Saturday morning at the Prichindel Orphanage playing games and doing some crafts. We will do a big cookout for about 80 kids there on Tuesday afternoon. The children at this place are very well known to us many of them get to come to our summer camp in August. It is always exciting to be with them.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Elderly care center where we gave out some bananas and conversed with some seniors who are bedridden. It was sad to hear some of their life stories through translators. They are very lonely as you can imagine.

Today, we went to a Baptist church where the service was over 2 hours long. Not too bad by Romania standards! We also had some meetings today to help the team debrief.

We have 2 days left of ministry which will include being at Prichindel 2 times and the special needs school & prison once each. Full days before we take a mini bus ride to the Budapest Airport Tuesday night for our flight to Paris early Wednesday.

This will probably be our last posting but we Thank You for being with is on this journey.

We also wish our mothers a Happy Mothers Day!

Bob, for the team

(Sorry for the slight delay - Taylor)

Yesterday we spent the day taking the 25 elderly people on a day trip in the mountains…. The team did amazing. Most had never worked with the elderly before…. These seniors are forgotten and they were visibly moved that some young people were taking them on a day trip and listening to them and asking questions through translaters!

Today, half of us went to work at a special needs school and the other half went to work with young offenders (no pictures for that)… Both ministries were amazing! Our team did an excellent job in both cases.

In late afternoon we went to work at “prichindel casa de copi” which is an orphanage in Cluj-Napoca.

The team is doing great and becoming very close as they share their lives with the needy and each other….. wish you were all here!

Thanks for your support!
Bob, for the team

Good evening from Romania. As we write we have just returned home via the train from our five-day stay in the city of Beclean. While in Beclean we worked with some incredibly special kids at the Children’s homes in Beclean and Ilisua and also with the adults at the Beclean mental hospital.

God has been so faithful in keeping us safe, healthy and energized. Our time has been filled with great joy and memories that are sure to stay in our hearts and minds for the rest of our lives.

It is amazing to stand back and take in all that God is doing in and through our team. From the moment that our team and the kids connected, our team has loved selflessly both in Beclean and Ilisua.

It has been great to also get to know the teachers and workers at the various ministries as well. Gaining insight into the history of the children and the children’s homes have given us a greater appreciation for the work that is being done through the lives of the workers.

Each day we have taken the time to sit back and take in the activities of the day and the ways that God has worked through the laughter or smile of a child or the ways that they have allowed us to share in their lives.

In addition we have made inroads relationally with both the doctor and director of Ilisua which we hope will open more doors in the near future.

As we think of the past five days we are so grateful for all that God has done. We anticipate the things that are ahead of us for our remaining time here.

Over the next few days we will be working with the elderly care centre, the youth prison, a special needs school and Prichindel Children’s Home.

We will be sure to keep you updated. With full hearts we say thank you for your love, prayers and support.

Joni Allardyce for the team

PS: One of the pictures is taken at some Roman ruins which are in Ilisua and dating back to the first century. Ilisua was right on the farthest boundary of the Roman empire!

Friends,

We arrived safely in Romania early Saturday morning around 5am at the Beclean Orphanage after departing from Toronto over 36 hours earlier. We then slept till noon and went out to meet the kids after lunch. We then prepared our activities for Sunday. Our time today in Ilisua was very good. We had a church service and then a cookout with games and sports. Our team was very moved by the warmth and need for love that the children displayed. There are over 100 orphans at this home and it is quite overwhelming to see the needs. The team is doing well and worked very hard with the children. Tonight we came back to the Beclean Orphanage and did a “talent show” for the children here. We finished off with a talk on Peace. Our schedule will be very similar for Monday and Tuesday. Then we head back to Cluj-Napoca on Wednesday. I hope to report again at that time with pictures!

Until then, Thank you for being with us.

Bob Fukumoto