Hello!

Today I think I'll tell you all about Romania and my love for it. I can remember when I was about eight years old and sitting in my prims class (it was a girls bible class) and my teachers were telling us about Romania and the orphans there. They told us all about how poor they were and how we were going to raise money to send to the missionary's there. I remember hearing about the children that had no parents. It broke my heart. Ever since that day I have had a love for the country of Romania.

So before I go on I would like to give you just a little background on the country.
Romania is located in eastern Europe. Like most Eastern European countries Romania was communist. It was a communist country from 1947 to 1996. Now it has a social democratic government. They are a very poor country and are into National debt up to 13.7 billion dollars. Since the economy is so poor many family's are not able to feed all of their children so there are many abandon children, so as you can imagine the orphanages are over flowing. They also have a really big problem with the trafficking of girls and young children. Romania wants to enter the European Union but, before they can they must deal with some of these problems. So they are working and have seen some change.

I have had the opportunity to go to Romania twice. Both times I went with a woman's team to do a woman's conference. Both times were amazing. It was so cool to get to go to a country that I had wanted to go to since I was a little girl.

The first time I didn't get to go to an orphanage. But the second time I went (which was last march) I was able to go to an orphanage. One of my dreams had come true. I went to an orphanage in Romania. It was so heart breaking. All of the kids were just starving for love and attention. They would come up to me and give me hugs and kisses. They would just hang on me. I had a camera with me and all of the kids are very photogenic. So I have tons pictures of all these kids. They all would pose so well (I will post some for all of you to see). They are all such beautiful children. Oh I can't understand how anyone could just abandon them. The orphanage was home to about one hundred and fifty to two hundred kids. When I left I felt like crying. All of those kids broke my heart. It just deepened my love for the children there. Just thinking about it even now makes me want to cry.

I love the country of Romania. I love the People so much. They are all so friendly. God is doing amazing things in Romania. When I was there I was excited to see how much the church that I had gone to last time had grown. I am excited to see what God in the store for the future of this country. I can't wait until the Lord allows me to go again. Well I have told you about my love for the country of Romania. Has God laid a country on your heart? Tell me about it. I love hearing about different countries.

God Bless you all,
Amy Searles