Recent highlights

Hey everybody! I'm really sorry I didn't post last week, but I left for camp and didn't have internet access. :) So in this post, I'm going to be giving you guys some brief highlights from the past few weeks.

Our trip to Thassos, Greece was amazing!! I loved sitting by the beach eating gyros, walking around the seaside town of Potos Beach, and swimming in the Mediterranean (which was the perfect temperature). We also got to experience a wildfire! Lightning struck in four places on the island and started four fires that were merging into each other. two villages were evacuated and the smoke was super heavy. Here are some pictures from those lovely 5 days. :)

The evening sky from our balcony.

Our beach before the fires started.

During the fire, the smoke turned everything hazy and orange.

It obscured the sun!

Gyros were our lunch of choice every day.

I picked up my official visa card! This was September 1st, but I am so thankful for it and just wanted to share that officially with you guys.

SO happy to be holding my real visa card!

Recently, I have started working with Asociatia Don Orione (Don Orione Foundation), which is a foundation that works with everyone from hospice patients to autistic preschoolers. A special part of this ministry deals with children that are so severely disabled they are bedridden. I visited there in August, fell in love with these kids, and haven't looked back since. I spend Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-12pm sitting in the room with five bedridden children (most with muscular dystrophy and unable to communicate).

A great part of working with these children has been getting to know the staff at this foundation who are full-time employees. Asociatia Don Orione is sponsored by the Catholic Church, so most of the workers are nuns. While wheeling two of the children around outside one day, I was able to have a conversation with a nun and one of the more responsive kids about God's creation. This all took place while sitting on the steps of a Catholic chapel eating apples grown on the foundation's property. Definitely a memorable experience. By the way, I'm really sorry, but I can't share pictures of these kids for privacy reasons. 

Another ministry I'm working with is Touched Romania. They work with single mothers who are at risk for abandoning their babies and they also go into a hospital here and run a playroom for children who are hospitalized. I volunteer there on Wednesdays from 10am-3pm. I'm also going to run the Bucharest Half Marathon for this charity on October 9th, because why not? :) 

The group of kids we worked with one Wednesday. The number varies from week to week.

Building a domino run out of Jenga blocks with Flori.

So those have been my favorite times of the past few weeks! I hope you enjoyed reading about what I've been up to. I only have  about a month and a half left of my time here, which is crazy. If you aren't tired of my writing, hop on over to Stepping Forward's 2016 Intern Blog (link HERE) and check out my latest post over there. 

Praises:

-My days are busy again! I'm loving my full fall schedule.

-I'm feeling really great...very fulfilled as I'm finishing up my time here.

Requests:

-Pray for the children I'm working with that are bedridden and sick, that they would recover if possible, and if not, that they would have high quality of life for the rest of their time here.

-Pray for Cami, Steve, Rachael, and David (the full-time missionaries), that they would get energy ad they continue this fall.

Much love,

Maria