By Andy Baker
I received a message this week that my friends, Lars, and Lisa Hornberg, are moving back to Sweden after 30 years of impactful ministry in Romania. Lars, and his first wife Linda who died of cancer in 2005, were the founders of Caminul Felix. My dear friend and colleague, Mircea Toca, and his wife Lidia served as parents to 21 children through the ministry of Caminul Felix. Lars, Linda, and Lisa have become valued friends through the years, and I even joked with them at times about our national connectedness as I trace my roots to Sweden, their homeland.
Through the years the Hornberg’s and I had the pleasure of working on several Romanian Orphan Choir tours in the late 1990s and early 2000s. From Lars, I learned the power of vision. His heart’s mission was that every child would have a family. Lars and Linda did not have children of their own, but in the early 1990s they found themselves beginning a ministry that would literally give them hundreds of children that referred to them as Mama and Tata. It was Linda who always encouraged me to consider adoption, and I am forever grateful that she helped plant that desire in my heart, and that my family grew through her influence. It was a great honor that she desired that I be one of three pastors that spoke at her funeral.
This wonderful family had a great vision for seeing the orphan find a new family. I know their lives touched Mircea and Lidia deeply, and helped them find their calling as parents. My wife Gerri and I ended up adopting two beautiful girls through their influence and seeing God at work through the ministry of Caminul Felix, especially through the close relationship we had with Mircea and Lidia and their family was transformative.
When Mircea called me four years ago and asked me what I desired to do with the next twenty years of my life, I never imagined it would be the two of us with our supportive wives carrying on the vision of the Hornberg’s to the African continent. Eternal Families Village in Tanzania presently is home to close to ninety children. Once completed it will be home to one hundred twenty to one hundred thirty children. Two weeks ago, we were able to purchase a second piece of land where the next village for children will be built, and the vision of every child having a family will continue.
I am grateful that my life intersecting with the Toca’s and the Hornberg’s found such significant purpose. But as the Hornberg’s officially retire, and move back to their homeland, I want to commend them for their service in changing the lives of so many children. Their legacy will continue through the ministry of Remember the Children in Tanzania. Thank you for being a part of a legacy that continues as more children begin to find their future in a new family inspired by a loving couple who simply risked living out a vision that God placed in their hearts.