September 20, 2010. Monday morning.

Funny. I woke up this morning and Ozd, Romania, not only seemed thousands of miles away, it seemed like weeks away. Perhaps ten hour’s flying time and sitting around in airports for hours puts distance on places and events.

For breakfast, I decided to forego cold cereal, meats, cheese and fresh veggies that were our usual breakfast menu in Ozd, and to indulge in eggs, bacon and toast eaten in a warm and comfortable breakfast room. Even the glass of fresh orange juice reminded me that this morning I was eating at home! I didn’t even mind walking the dog after breakfast. After all, it was just two blocks vesus the 2/3 mile trek we made from the Bonus Pastor Therapy Center to 84 Upper Street in Ozd where we ate every meal.

		Don’t get me wrong. I’m certainly not complaining about the walking exercise or the food in Ozd. It was prepared with love and attention to our tastes by well-experienced cooks. And, let’s face it, they did the work. All the fifteen of us had to do was take a walk, sit down and enjoy it.

Generally speaking, Ozd was a happy place. After devotions at meals we were heard to sing “I’ve got the Joy” and “Happy all the Time!” I feel that knowing you’re volunteering for a great cause puts the joy into a day’s work – and work projects we did! We managed to build walls, dig a drainage ditch and install a tile roof on a new three-stall storage garage; build a bathroom in the castle, restore the floors of two rooms in the castle, and do several painting and white-washing jobs. And after a long, tiring day’s work, we found fun in trying to beat each other in a game of “Farkle.”



There were some serious moments too. Our first night in Ozd we met with the men who were living at the Therapy Center. We introduced ourselves to them and they spoke (through Joco, our interpreter) to us. We heard their stories of how alcohol and drugs ruined their lives and how they were trying to find new life in Ozd. One young man, in particular, who we noticed was sobbing during our devotions, stayed after the meeting to share his story of how his girlfriend was killed in an accident, and how drugs took over his life – becoming his God. Since he spoke very good English we were able to communicate with him, attempt to show God’s love and pardon, and ended the emotional moments with a prayer and a laying-on of hands. We know this had an impact on him since he was the one man who, at our time of our departure, came up to every member of the team and shared a handshake or a hug.

We were also shown how volunteering impacts the lives of a family who were on the staff of Bonus Pastor. For the past three years Brendon Wheeler, his wife Lorraine, and their five children, left the comforts of home and a good banking job in London, to serve as Volunteer Coordinator in Ozd. Brendon, a soft-spoken man originally from New Zealand, now uses his brawn and brain as he shows, by example, how to accomplish many of the necessary projects around the Bonus Pastor property – paying for many of the projects out of his own pocket.



It was a pleasure to socialize with the Wheeler family every day at lunch time. Their young boys quickly “adopted” the LaGrave team who patiently and lovingly listened to their jokes and stories. They obviously missed the opportunity to speak English with people in Ozd and relished every opportunity to cuddle up to a LaGrave team member to talk about their day’s events.


We closed our ten day Romanian adventure (between 5-16 September) with our own celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Using bits of our breakfast bread and locally-grown grape juice, we met in the assembly room of the Therapy Center, along with Brendon and Lorraine, where we not only shared communion (led by Bill Stroo), but also had moments of reflection on the days we had spent in Ozd.

We realized that we had been walking and working together with the Bonus Pastor (Good Shepherd) all along the way.

		Jerry Kruyf, team leader