A Few Endings

Today is the day for a few endings.
First off, I want to wrap up my camp stories with my very favorite memory of the entire week... The last full day of camp arrived and Melissa announced to the kids at breakfast that we would be having a masquerade ball that night. They were absolutely ecstatic! For their craft projects, the kids made shields, swords, crowns and masks, all bedazzled and feathered and colored to the hilt. It was a sea of glitter, feathers, and markers, I assure you. When it was all said and done, however, everyone was looking like royalty. To complete the look, Melissa gave all the kids costumes in every possible combination and color. Little girls ran around in pink, purple, and red dresses, complimented by tiaras, and the boys donned helmets, breastplates, and crowns with excitement. As soon as evening came, we cranked up the music and all the little princes, knights, and princesses danced around the pavilion. We passed the evening with dancing, singing, funny skits, and the like; it was great fun. The defining moment, however, came when a slow song started playing and one of the little girls motioned me over to dance with her. What a picture of grace and pure joy she was. As we danced, she would sway her dress from side to side; she looked so adorable in that red velvet princess dress. When she would twirl, she would do so with as much grace as her little feet would allow; her long blonde hair which she had done with such care for this night would spin behind her. She was beautiful from head to toe and one look at her face said that on this night, she felt beautiful. You could see it in her eyes; you could tell by how she moved. It was that night that it finally hit me - we were making a difference in these little lives. It absolutely blew me away. I saw a picture of God's love as I danced with that little girl and I was profoundly impacted. She was extravagantly loved just like I am extravagantly loved by our Father God. It moved me to tears and I don't think I will ever forget.
The second thing we wrapped up today was the first leg of our Romanian journey. Two of our teammates flew home today (we'll miss you guys!) leaving just the girls and scott to make our way from Bucharest to Constanta. Pa pa, Bucharest, hello southern Romania. On our way to Constanta, we stopped in the village of Medgidia to meet up with a man named Sali who is reaching the Romanian/Turkish Muslims with the gospel. What an experience! He relayed his testimony to us of how he first came to know Christ and it was unbelievably moving. I'll spare his story the injustice of my retelling but I can say with complete honesty that I have never met a more passionate, sincere person in my life. God is blessing him abundantly and his ministry is bringing many muslims to Christ but the best part of it all is that he is only 24 years old! Imagine the impact potential... Meeting him was definitely a highlight of my trip thus far.
God is doing some amazing things in and around our team and I am so excited to see what else He has in store for us during our time here.