May 3, 2011
-
Determination
Summer camp forever changed the lives of Aysun, Alex, Laurentiu, Lorendana, Anton, Silviu and Razvan, just a few of the many young kids from Cobadin, a Turkish-Gypsy Muslim village. Although reaching the heart of the families within these cultures is very challenging, the fact that the children otherwise would never have an opporutnity to attend summer camp, the parents were very open to allow their kids to come with Kidz Romania team to spend 4 days at camp. One of the many activities the children participated in was Junior Bible Quiz (‘JBQ’) practices where children played fun games to memorize Bible Verses and then recite them in a tournament style game. Unfortunately in the Turkish-Gypsy culture, education is not a priority and parents will even require their children to quit school before the 4th grade in order to work the fields or at home. Despite all this, and the fact that they could not read well, Aysun, Alex, Laurentiu, Lorendana, Anton, Silviu and Razvan were determined to do their best. In fact by the end of the camp, they decided they wanted to be part of a JBQ team during the year and participate in regional tournaments. They returned to Cobadin and worked very hard and prepared for their first official JBQ tournament last fall. November 2010 they showed up at the JBQ tournament with their team and were full of smiles and enthusiasm as the day started. However by the end of the day their enthusiasm wore out and they left discouraged receiving the lowest score and finishing in last place. Kidz Romania team continued to encouage them to keep practicing and memorizing their Bible Verses and to not give up. Once again Aysun, Alex, Laurentiu, Lorendana, Anton, Silviu and Razvan were very determined to not quit and they returned for their second JBQ tournament this past March. These young children who could barely read, raised in a culture where all the odds are against them, rose to the challenge and went from last place to winning first place. We are so proud of all our JBQ kids throughout Romania. Please continue to pray for the children in Romania as they hide God’s word in their heart. JBQ regional tournaments continue throughout the rest of May and first part of June. National JBQ tournament will take place during one of our summer kids camp.
Kidz Romania Team:
Tamara Henkes
Jan Cunningham
Travis Corbell
Gratian Serban
Florentina Gheorghias
Marius Gabar
Playing thumb wars and hanging out with kids from Cobadin
