Camp Varatec

Tucked away in the beautiful rolling hills of northeast Romania is a place of rest and relaxation; of fun and laughter; and of rehabilitation and encouragement.

This is Camp Varatec - a camp for people with disabilities.  Aside from the lovely views in every direction, it isn't a luxurious facility.  The cabins are simple, but wheelchair-accessible.  No manicured grounds, only bricked pathways. It is the  programs that are offered here to build self reliance and self confidence; it is the staff and volunteers at Motivation Romania Foundation who are devoted to helping the handicapped that make it special. 

The cabins have weathered over the past few years and needed refinishing. So we got approval to purchase power sanders, sealer, stain and all the sanding and painting supplies to do the job. We also purchased all the food to feed the workers for 2 days.

President Hill gave his blessing to recruit 6 missionaries and 3 church members from nearby Iasi (pronounced "Yawsh") to help. Humanitarian missionaries, Elder and Sister McGovern also drove over from Moldova to participate.

When we arrived on Thursday morning at 9:00, these sweet ladies in the kitchen had breakfast ready. The son of the lady in blue is a wheelchair user and works for Motivation Romania.  MR director, Cristian, told us that it had poured rain the night before, and was amazed that everything was dry this morning, including the grounds!  We knew God was smiling on this project. Motivation's team had already eaten and had started working, so we quickly ate and joined crew.

Two cabins had already been sanded, so sealing could begin, while sanding continued on the others.

Elder McGovern took care of all the sealer and stain, keeping buckets filled, brushes cleaned and  materials ready.

Until some sturdy scaffolding was built, Randy and Elder McGovern steadied some rather rickety looking ladders for the missionaries.

This fellow worked all day, right along with the rest of us. The forecast was sunny and 30 degrees C.

Once the scaffolding was up, the work went a lot quicker and safer!

The young people worked steadily and happily all day.  We were so proud of them!

McGovern's were such troopers - if only his old US secret service colleagues could see him now!

Randy helped build and move scaffolding and ladders.  His management skills kept workers organized and moving along.

Vicky pitched in with whatever was needed: helping in the kitchen, bringing everyone cool water to drink, or as seen here, the lovely job of cleaning bird droppings off all the railings. Hey! Somebody had to do it!

A hearty lunch was a served after one of the missionaries offered a blessing on the food. He also prayed that the good weather would continue and that everyone would be safe.

In the afternoon Vicky and Sister McGovern, talked girl talk while taking turns with the power sander. Women love power tools! Just then clouds rolled in and thunder rumbled, but we know it was because of a humble missionary's prayer that the storm rolled right past us, just cooling the air so we all were more comfortable as we continued to work.

By the end of day one, all three cabins on one side were sanded, sealed and stained. The building in the foreground was just done last year, so did not need to be done.

The cabins on the other side were all sanded and the far one sealed and partly stained.  The work went so well that it was decided that the large building with the kitchen and conference room could be done.  It wasn't originally in the plan. A great day's work from the teams: 15 from MR and 13 of us.

A very hungry group enjoyed the evening meal. Then a campfire was built and Cristian challenged us to a sing-song competition.

He led his team with gusto.

Vicky figured "No problem!" Unfortunately, the young people never heard of the oldie goldies she knew and Randy and Vicky didn't know the words to the songs they knew.  We made a valiant effort though.

At one point we all sang our national anthems.  But there was no question about which team had won. We slept comfortably in the cabins that night.

Day two rose bright and clear and everyone tackled the work with enthusiasm. The peaks and fascia boards were the last parts to be finished on the cabins. Our intrepid missionaries were on the job.

But Cristian had had a bad dream that someone got hurt, so he insisted the missionaries use safety precautions.

On his step stool, Cristian figured he wouldn't have too far to fall.

Both teams worked on the cabins, finishing off the ramps, stairs and railings and then attacked the large building.  Everything was finished by 2:30 in the afternoon. Again, a delicious meal was served when the work was all finished. Cristian expressed his gratitude to our team for the wonderful project and all the help we had given.  On our behalf, Randy expressed our delight in being able to participate and wished them God's blessings as Motivation Romania continues their great work for people with disabilities. 

We stopped to take a group picture before changing our clothes, shaking hands, giving hugs and saying our goodbyes. Then we loaded up the vehicles and headed down the road to Iasi.

There is a famous monastery close to Camp Varatec, so we stopped to have a tour, admiring the carved wooden doors at the entrance.

Elder Taylor looks at a painting of John the Baptist.

Vicky and Elder Eaton posed by the original site of something or other... Nuns were singing and reciting scriptures or readings of some kind over loudspeakers that could be heard throughout the compound. We learned that there are 700 nuns living at the monastery and the surrounding community. We didn't stay long, but it was an interesting visit. 

After an ice cream bar for the road, we drove to our church in Iasi, where we dropped off the young people and missionaries, said our thanks and goodbyes to them all.  The McGovern's headed back to Moldova and we set our GPS for Bucharest. We loved this project!