The war get stuck, the service continues

Christianity, service, and willingness can be seen in difficult times! While the humanitarian needs are still great, the European Guide and Scout Movement continue to give service!

Let us share with you a testimony of how Scouts serve.

God puts us in front of these sufferings so that we can re-learn to love For two years now, those of us who have not lived through the horrors of communism have been more than ever challenged to reset our priorities and give a living, concrete witness to what it truly means to be a Christian and love our neighbour as ourselves. We did not go through the hardships that our grandparents and parents went through. We have been a privileged generation,

only now facing the fight for truth.

The pandemic and the war at our doorstep are truly a test of how firmly we apply the principles that we have been taught by our parents or mentors, and, if we are Scouts, the principles that we keep repeating loud and clear every morning in camp:A scout duties start at home. A scout is faithful to his country. As a son of Christendom, a scout is proud of his faith and he labours to establish the reign of Christ in all his life and in the world around him.

God does not open our eyes to suffering because he wants us to be sorrowful. In the end,

happiness isn't about not experiencing difficulties and living only in our comfort bubble.

Happiness is about being free - free from addictions, free from whims - so that we have time to show Him our love in concrete ways.

I believe God puts us in front of these sufferings so that we can re-learn to love and to fight for the truth, to wake up. To awaken from a deep sleep one needs to be called by name and shaken a little. This is what He does. He calls us by our name, so that we understand that we are equally responsible for the evil in the world. Each one of us is "the foremost sinner; and if we would truly believe these words that we pronounce before receiving the Lord's Body and Blood, we would be much more humble and we would know that we can do nothing without His blessing.

With the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, I began to understand the great difference

between reciting beautiful verses and living out the demands those words actually require.

I was able to open the door of my house to accommodate, for a short time, two women and three children who were in transit through my city. What a blessing, to get the opportunity to help in this way! So I realized that being a good Christian consists first of all of tiny actions - getting up early to do the groceries, cooking for those who were about to arrive, preparing the best towels for them, offering them good clothes to change from those worn since they left their burning home, preparing a cozy bed, toothbrushes...all these little things that to us are so normal. To sit with them and offer a smile, an encouragement. Each decision required a little effort on my part, but I kept repeating to myself. to love my neighbour as myself.

While the two women showered and rested for a while, I stayed with the three children - a 7 -

month-old baby and two children aged 6 and 8. We drew and colored papers for hours. Then, we taped the best drawings on the walls and made a whole fleet of paper boats out of the rest. We played the guitar, ate chocolate pancakes and I learned to count to 10 in Ukrainian. They had to reach Budapest, then Warsaw, where they had been promised help. They had only a little money, knew no languages other than Ukrainian and Russian, but had an unshakeable confidence.

Now my floor is still full of paper boats, the walls full of drawings of trees and flowers, and my

soul full of emotion and love. I think again and again that these people are a blessing to us... they do in fact teach us what love is and they provide us the opportunity to practice it. It is Jesus who teaches us to bend down and wash our neighbor's feet, and this gesture is not a humiliation, but a grace.

- Lucia Trandafir