Normally Aimee works in the orphanage every morning and at the apartments Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. The apartments give the children who have limited health issued a chance to live in a more family like atmosphere. Each apartment has workers who come on a regular, scheduled basis and the volunteers. There were six boys from the age of almost three to six years old at Tomesti 1. They returned to the apartment from a nearby park as we arrived and were an active, energetic bunch. I left my purse on the entry table and one of the boys unzipped it, unzipped my wallet, and came in carrying my drivers license and credit card! They are a handful for one person and so the help of the volunteers is invaluable. Most of these boys suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome, are small for their age, and have attention issues. Aimee has loved working with her "six boys"!
We stuffed our suitcases with as many toys, blankets, etc. we could and Aimee will distribute them between the orphanage, hospital, and apartments. The Hot Wheel cars are for her boys at Tomesti 1!
This is Aimee with some of the other girls who work in the apartments going home on the bus at the end of their shift.
We left with bittersweet feelings: Happy to have experienced a brief portion of Aimee's internship service and feel the loving spirit of the children, but sad that they were in less than ideal circumstances without loving parents; Wanting to do more, but knowing that in this time and place it was not possible.
A couple of weeks ago I was driving down the freeway listening to an EFY CD when "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" came on. I had been thinking about the children Aimee works with in Romania and wondering what I could do to help besides bring as many things for them as possible. The thought I kept getting was that "I may not be able to make a difference in the life of a Romanian child, but I can make a difference in the life of a child where I live."
I found this quote by President Thomas S Monson that seemed appropriate:
"We are surrounded by those who are in need of our attention, our support, our encouragement, our comfort, our kindness-be they family members, friends, acquainted, or strangers. We are the Lord's hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and lift his children. He is dependent on each of us."
I hope to do a better job on a daily basis of prayerful looking for opportunities to help those in need and then acting on the promptings I receive. Thank you Aimee for acting on the prompting you received to help the children in Romania and influencing not only their lives, but mine as well.
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