Romania Stole My Heart

By Rachel Holbrook - Romania team memberWords are powerful. They create mental images. If I said ‘car’, you would probably think of the car you drive every day or the car you would own if you had no monetary limits. What about the word ‘Romania’? The reaction I get most often is vampires, creepy castles, and the inevitable question “why would you want to go there?"When I close my eyes and picture Romania, I don’t see the stereotype. I see a people still living in spiritual darkness. I don’t see creepy castles but a land dotted with a history of oppression that is evident in the ruins of castles, fortresses, and abandoned factories. And as for the question of why I would want to go, I go to Romania because that is where God has called me to go.I had been to Romania twice as a teenager on two different missions trips and wanted to go back. But God led me to put these plans on hold for a time. Finally in 2013, God opened the door for me to go to Romania with GE. I can still remember the feeling that I had while driving over the border. It was like I was home at last. It wasn’t the well-behaved church and school kids who stole my heart, it was the filthy, rude, totally-not-listening-to-you Gypsy kids who have that honor. I can remember looking beyond their dirty faces into deep eyes that have seen more sorrow and pain in their short lives than my entire family has seen put together.

I saw something in those beautiful eyes - I saw a longing to be loved.

I wished so often that I could speak their language so that I could tell them about the One who loved them so much that He died for them.

As I learned about the lives of these Romanian children, I began to see how a time in my life when I had felt abandoned was actually God working in me so that I could connect with these kids, many of whom have actually been abandoned. I still remember the lesson I taught where I was able to incorporate my story.Their waning attention was suddenly refocused as they realized that I understood a little of how they felt. It was amazing to finally see how God had been preparing me years before I even thought about Romania in order to give me a way to connect with the Romanian kids.One of my favorite songs has these lyrics: “Break our hearts once again, help us to remember when we were only children hoping for a friend. Won’t you look around? These are the lives that the world has forgotten, waiting for doors of our hearts and our homes to open” (Kings and Queens – Audio Adrenaline). It goes on to say that when we love the least of these then they will shout the name of the King and they will be kings and queens who are wrapped in His majesty. Whenever I hear this song, my mind goes back to the numerous faces of children who are abandoned, being forced into prostitution (even by their own families sometimes).They face problems that my sheltered, privileged self will never face, and yet, somehow, they still have a glimmer of hope in their eyes that someone will love them. Romania is a hard country that is still recovering from Communism. The economy is so bad that the young adults often have to leave the country in order to find work. Human trafficking is common. I saw girls as young as eleven who are being tricked or forced into prostitution. Who will rescue them? The people who care for the souls of the Romanian kids are few and overworked. They love when a team of Christians who actually want to love on the kids they work with year-round comes to help them for just a few weeks. The children love the fact that Americans come halfway around the world to spend time with and love on them. There is one more reason I go to Romania. The Romanian children have stolen my heart…and I don’t mind if they never give it back.Rachel Holbrook lives in Georgia. She plays the piano and helps teach children choir at her church. She loves horses, kids, and coffee, and is forbidden from drinking Monsters by her friends. She is currently preparing to live in Romania for six months to learn the language and work with nationals who are working with children and teens year round. She will also be joining the GE team again this year!