When I left I was basically unaware of what the Shalom Community and the Acamps truly were, but when I arrived at the centre of evangelisation HungaRio, in Budapest, I straight away felt right at home, I was welcomed with great smiles from the missionaries. What made me leave was the desire to once again get involved and experience faith in a different way. I have always believed in God but for a long time I had not felt encouraged my the spiritual activities being held at my church, I was disappointed, demotivated and as consequence I only attend mass on days of obligation. Yet I still believed that there was another way, a new path of faith that would help me embrace the spiritual life. And so during this brief and intense week in Budapest, I found myself. I met a lot of people, who like me had never had a positive experience with the church and so I thought: I am not the one who is wrong, but it happens to all, even the missionaries.
The first day the Acamps helped me see with a new pair of eyes the message of God and from the second day on I began to see everything differently.
For the first time I cried during prayer. I couldn’t understand the reason why, I just felt within me a strong force grow, a force that I don’t know for how long I had been hiding without knowing. I felt invaded by the Holy Spirit. This positive energy continued to come out of me in the following days even on this day as I right this testimony I am invaded. I finally understood what is the love of God, what is faith and what it means to pray.
I continued to cry because I had never known a love like this and no one had ever prayed for me in the language of the angels, and I cried tears of joy which washed away all of my scars.
All I had to do was open my heart to God… Talking about it sounds easy, but in the society which we live, more and more individualistic, full of idols and false myths, it is not easy, to be open, to believe. It is easier to think only of ourselves and to not ask questions about life and about tomorrow, but what kind of life is that?
I am and always will me eternally grateful to all those who have followed me along this experience, who understood before I did, that I needed it. I will never forget the last day of the Acamps where one of the missionaries, with that smile that invades your soul, asked me: who is happy? And everyone raised their hand. It a unique and profoundly enriching experience which filled me with hope and love and I cannot wait to have more moments like it so that I am able to keep my heart open to the things that I do and to grow more and more the love for God.
Giulia Rosita – Italy
Translation: Gabriela Gois
Acamps Summer Festival
Date: 7 to 11 August 2019