Romania

Romania

If you've read my first two posts you'll already know a few things, 1) I have a lot of typos and 2) Romania (located in Eastern Europe)
has stolen a decent chunk of my heart due to my experiences there last year.  Honestly, it's extremely difficult to put my love for Romania into words.  Those of you who have been on similar trips around the world or to Romania with Open Roads in the past will understand.  The way I described it in my first post is the simplest way to do it.  God's presence is obvious and He is moving in BIG ways there.

A little background and more information on what we will be doing in Romania and why I'm choosing to go back this summer.   Romanians suffered under oppressive communist dictatorship during the Soviet occupation in the late 1900’s (as recent as 1989).  As a result, countless children ended up in state-run orphanages.  Today, these orphans are adults. Adults left with scars, both physical and emotional, resulting from horrendous living conditions in state run orphanages.  Our role in these orphan's lives is to simply show them God's love.  Tragically, love is a foreign concept to many of the orphans we'll be working with due to their upbringing in the orphanages, so we aim to show them love of the purest kind: the love of God.

In Romania, we have the opportunity to partner with an organization called Open Roads.  Although we only get to be with and love on our orphan friends for two weeks, Open Roads is with them all year round.  With that being said, another wonderful aspect and goal of our trip is to bring encouragement and validation to the group of Romanian leaders who work with the orphans year round, loving on them and sharing the gospel. Together, Romanian Open Roads leaders and our team from America will be putting on a week long camp for Romanian orphans.  We are hopping the pond on Tuesday (the 28th of July) which means camp is in just two weeks!

Last year, my biggest worry heading into the trip was the idea that I would be continuously comparing Romania to past trips to Honduras, a country and people I fell in love with early in high school.  As it turned out, I had no issues staying present, a truth I can only attribute to God, keeping me focussed and all in where I was at.  This year, my biggest worry is very similar.  Rather than looking back and comparing to past trips, I'm worried about looking ahead and thinking of my gap year adventure next year.  Doing so could rob the chance for God to work through me completely during my time in Romania.

After experiencing God's power last year, I am much more confident that He will show up again and allow me to be fully present while in Romania.  Another bolt of confidence comes from the fact that I am beyond excited to return to Romania and reunite with my brothers and sisters in Christ that I got to know last year.  I am feeling much more excited than nervous or scared to return.  I can't wait to see what God will do this time around in Romania.

While in Romania, I won't be posting here on my blog, but the Romania team will be keeping up a blog chronicling what we are up to while on the ground.  The link for our blog is hsmromaniagoteam.wordpress.com (side note: COMMENTS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED! We read them out as a large group and love to know that people back home are following along).

If you missed the opportunity to support the Romania team this summer (the trip is now fully funded), I'm still in need of support for my adventure next year! Here's the link to give: https://www.leadertreks.org/about/give/.  Currently, however, prayer for the Romania team in general and specifically for God to keep me in the present on focussed where I'm at while on the ground is more necessary than financial support.

Thank you for reading and for your continued prayers!


Benjamin Hershberger

Madison Missions 2015

From Student to Leader

My team playing with kids and doing some gardening at the
Boys and Girls Club in Madison.

Last week I had the opportunity to lead a group of five middle school student from Sunday to Friday through a program my home church, Blackhawk, puts on called Madison Missions.  The premise of the camp or program is to get middle school students serving in the Madison community.  Throughout the week, the students and leaders essentially live at Blackhawk church, sleeping in the church and showering at local fitness clubs.  The students are broken up into about ten different groups with 5-7 students in each group.  During the week, each group has two service projects each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Projects range from working at a food pantry garden pulling weeds, to serving at a hospice center helping run bingo, to delivering food for meals on wheels.

Me and my team participating in Mad Mish the summer after
my 7th grade year.  I'm on the left in the yellow Brewers shirt.

As a middle school student, I participated in Madison Missions three times, each opportunity I had.  During my time in middle school as a student, Madison Missions sparked my love for service and mission work.  In recent years, that spark has turned into a flame and has become my passion and eventually has lead to me taking a gap year to do mission work!  Having leaders pour into me for a week straight and having the chance to learn from such fantastic adults as a young, impressionable, teenage boy left such a huge mark on my life, I jumped at the first chance I had to return the favor.  That chance was last week!  After being poured into by adult leaders at Blackhawk for so many years, I finally was able to be an adult leader myself.

I got to spend my week last week leading a team of five young middle school students who are in the same shoes I was in just a few short years ago.  The week was not an easy one by any stretch of the mind.  As a student, I never saw all the work that went into making youth ministries and Madison Missions in particular happen.  After putting in the work as a leader and seeing the other side, I have become more grateful for all the leaders that have poured into me over the years and shaped me into the man I am becoming.  Although the week was a difficult one, it was also extremely rewarding.  I got to see God work in big ways last week, through fellow leaders, students, and through myself.

My team this year, chilling in the back of a
pickup truck after working hard in the
Blackhawk food pantry gardens.

The week was an affirming one, as I've been thinking and praying about going into ministry in the coming years.  Last week was my first opportunity to take a leadership role as an adult in youth ministry and I had the time of my life!  Leading this past week has me even more excited for next year (as if that was possible) because I will have more opportunities to lead throughout the year and will learn how to be a more effective and Godly leader.

Thank you for reading and supporting me.  Continued support financially and through prayer would be greatly appreciated!  Here is the link once again for online giving: https://www.leadertreks.org/about/give/.


Because of Him,


Benjamin Hershberger