My first trip to Romania was in August of 1990. We spent one week near Braila working in a little village on their church building. We distributed five hundred Romanian New Testaments as well. The second week was spent in Haţeg with Florin Doboş and his dear family. Cipri, Florin’s ten year old son, and Corina, Florin’s eight year old daughter, served as out translators. Brother Florin stayed up into the night pouring over his Romanian/English dictionary in order to communicate. They treated us like kings and met our every need. We had brought several items from our church to give to local children. Brother Florin took us to an orphanage in the tiny village of Rusu, about ten miles away. We handed out Little Debbie snack cakes, but the children had never seen plastic wrappers before and didn’t know how to get at their treats! Pastor Clif Roth began blowing up balloons, but the children kicked them around as soccer balls until they burst causing more crying. But God was good. The ladies at our church had made 53 bean bag toys for the children. There were 52 children in the orphanage! What a thrill to see each child going to their afternoon nap hugging their own new bean bag animal!
