2025 HSM Romania Trip
July 23, 2025
A group of 12 students and adults traveled to Romania and spent a week in Sibiu, Romania at the Alpiniș Retreat Center. Here are their reflections on the experience.
My name is Cooper Purvis and I’m a rising senior at Carmel high school. I started this week unsure of what to expect and unclear on how this time would affect me. During my first days at Alpiniş I got to experience the wonderful Romanian landscapes and meet lots of Romanian kids from all across the country. I was able to connect with my new friends in this unique environment and grow my faith with them. I was able to learn about both Christ and the Romanian culture from people with different perspectives and backgrounds. Hearing sermons and stories from other pastors and leaders opened my mind and helped me learn and create new connections with amazing people. This has been a great time for me to grow my faith and create new friendships and stories that will affect me forever.
Hi, my name is Emma Woods and I am going into my junior year at Zionsville High School. This trip to Romania has been the most incredible experience of my life. I am overwhelmed by the Lord’s goodness in the time I have spent here and all of the people who I have prayed, worshiped, and connected with this week. I had the privilege of leading worship alongside very talented people, and I will forever treasure the sound of different languages coming together to worship our one God. This week I have seen the Lord in the most beautiful mountain landscapes and gorgeous skies. I pray that I never forget these moments of intimate worship and the love that I was shown by complete strangers.
Hi, my name is Shauny Deck, and I’m going into my junior year of high school. I didn’t know what to expect from Romania, from who would be there, to what we were doing each day, or even if any of the Romanians spoke English. As a person who very much likes to know the plan, or at least that there is a plan, I was incredibly nervous about the idea of traveling to a foreign country without an inkling of what would happen. However, now I can laugh at the amount of anxiety I felt. Over the last week, I have created amazing friendships with people who are both the same as me and as different from me as possible, immersed myself in God’s creation through hikes, ropes courses, and more, and deepened my preexisting relationships with leaders and peers from ZPC. This has been quite possibly the most incredible week of my life, and the increase of my trust in God that I learned from how well my circumstances turned out despite the uncertainty is just one of many things that I obtained this week that I will carry with me.
Hello, my name is Ethan Young and I am going to be a Sophomore this coming school year. I would like to thank all the people who donated and supported the mission to Romania. The experience here has been absolutely nothing short of surreal and incredible. I have grown so much in my relationship with god and started new friendships with the Romanians here. The people here are the nicest, most kind, down to earth people I have ever met and they love Jesus with all their hearts. I would like to give a big shout out to my interpreters and the Romanians at the camp who made me feel at home. God bless the United States and Romania!
Hi, my name is Sam Perrin and I’ll be in 11th Grade this Fall. My time in Sibiu, Romania at the Alpiniș Retreat Center has been an amazing and very transforming experience. I’ve grown closer to the Lord and connected with a culture I knew little about. Being able to experience the vastness of God’s creation on our hikes and adventures was truly amazing. However, I would feel the most transforming part of the trip was meeting all of the people from across Romania who shared our love for Christ. I learned all about their culture and had to get really good at soccer really fast. I met two little boys, Phillip and Caleb. Although they spoke no English, and I spoke very little Romanian, we connected through laughs, tag, and games. Many of the assumptions I had about this part of the world were proven wrong. Romania is a truly wonderful place and this trip will remain a core memory.
Hi my name is Lily Hochstetler and I will be a senior at ZCHS this coming fall. After our week in Romania, I have felt so much gratitude. I am thankful for this opportunity with these amazing people, and I feel as if my faith has grown abundantly. Sometimes the community in Zionsville is sheltered and I appreciate the difference in the environment. We were surrounded by His beauty all week which proved how vast Gods love is for us. I will remember this week forever and already miss everyone so much!
Hi my name is Joey and I am going to be a sophomore and I went on the mission trip to Alpiniș Romania with ZPC. It was such a surreal experience going on the trip, meeting all sorts of new people, and learning some Romanian along the way. The Romanians were so welcoming and accepting of us and we became really close with them. I felt very connected to God during this trip and I felt like I reconnected with God in so many different ways. I felt like I had been distant from him for a little bit and this trip helped me out so much. Sharing my testimony made me feel very vulnerable and I felt so thankful for everything I have been able to do in my life. It made me feel so close to God, and I am thankful that I shared it. I am thankful for all of the leaders for being patient with us and pushing us to go outside of our comfort zones and try new things. I hope that who get goes on this trip next has as valuable and unforgettable experience as I did. I am so thankful for everyone that gave me the ability to go on this trip through donating toward my trip and giving me this wonderful experience that I will never forget.
Hi my name's Melanie Worzala and I’m going into my senior year of high school at ZCHS. This week I had the amazing opportunity to go to Romania with some of my best friends. Blessed is an understatement. Not only did we spend the week in fellowship and new friendships, but we also challenged ourselves through hikes, rope courses, and a language barrier. What meant the most to me was how we all came from different backgrounds and communities, yet we could all come together to worship the same God. The most moving moment of the trip is when we would worship and the Romanians would worship in Romanian but we were singing in English at the same time.