This past week I got to join my Romanian friend from LU, Philip Luca, and a short term team from North Carolina on a missions trip to Brasov and Rupea! It was so different being on the other side of things on an overseas missions trip and not having to go very far and actually knowing what's going on.
So on Monday I lugged my massive heavy suitcase and bookbag to the metro, then to the bus, all the way to the airport. It was super hot and my arms were sadly really sore for a couple days after dragging my junk all over the city. Anyways, I got to the airport around 5 or so, met up with Philip and Vali, then waited for the whole team to come in. Their flights were super delayed and they got split up, so they didn't all get there until about 7:30 or so and they were completely exhausted after traveling for 24 hours straight. Then we grabbed some food and loaded on the bus for the 3 hour drive to Rupea where we checked into the Motel Liliana and crashed. Wendy was my roommate for the week and we usually stayed up way too long talking haha.
On Tuesday morning, we walked to Emanuel Church in Rupea, the church that Philip's dad started a while ago but now where Calin is the pastor. We did a mini VBS and enjoyed playing soccer and volleyball, making salvation bracelets, coloring, and teaching them Jesus Loves Me sign language. I absolutely loved that I could actually communicate with the kids, even on the most basic level! This started the "Kristina! Kristina! What is he trying to say to me??" Even the kids caught on and started yelling my name when they could communicate through just hand motions. We ate lunch at the church, which Adrianna, Calin's wife prepared, and then we went to a large orphanage in Rupea. I would say there were about 60 kids and it was crazy! We started with a bunch of organized games, but we ended up just all doing our own thing. This was one of my favorite orphanages just because the kids were instantly my best friends since I could talk with them and play with them. That evening we had a church service and Sarah and Kathy shared their testimony's, the teens shared a skit about sin, and Pastor Sean taught about true worship.
Wednesday we had another day VBS in the morning at the same church. We played a bunch of games and colored and learned that we can help our friends. That afternoon, we went to visit a nearby village and citadel. We had to wait to get into the citadel, and during that time we got to know some of the people from the church better and to have a time to pray over Pastor Calin. The citadel was pretty cool and old, built around 1200, and I loved the view of the countryside from the top. Then we went back to the hotel, ate our usual chicken snitel and potatoes meal, and then loaded on the bus again to head to Brasov for the rest of our trip. We checked into Pensiunea Mony where we stayed the rest of the week. Vali, the guy that worked at the front desk the 1st 3 nights became our friend. Sean stayed up talking with him for literally about 5 hours and he had some awesome God conversations with him. Later in the week, he told Sean that he had never seen the kind of kindness he saw in our group throughout the week, and that every time he talked to me he saw that I had an inexplainable peace. This is what missions is all about... showing Christ's love and peace to everyone we come in contact with, even the guy that gives us our keys at the hotel.
Thursday morning after breakfast, we went to a village on the outskirts of town and visited an orphanage for handicapped children. This was one of the most uncomfortable places, but the most rewarding. We played games and colored pictures and had a skit or 2, but the best part was when Wendy read "You are Special" by Max Lucado. It's a children's book about how it doesn't matter what other think about you, the only thing that matters in spending time with your Creator and learning about Him and what He thinks about you. From our group there was not a dry eye at the end of the story. One little boy named Vali especially touched our hearts. He had been severely burned and lost a arm and a leg because of this accident, but he still was probably the most happy kid there and hopped around to everyone. When Wendy choked up while reading the story, he offered his sleeve for her to wipe her tears. Afterwards, he was talking with me & Bobbie, and I asked him if he knew that God loved him. He said yes, God made every person and He loves all of us because we are special. He also said that he prays to God every day. Here we were wanting to show Vali the love of Christ, and yet we were so much more impacted by the joy seen in his smile, even though he has had a very tough life already at the age of about 8.
That afternoon we explored an old fortified Evangelical church and then headed back into town for a church service at one of the larger Baptist churches in Brasov. We sang a lot of hymns, a couple people from our group sang and shared testimonies (which was way out of the comfort zone of most), and Sean preached his worship message again while Philip translated. After church we walked down to the center of town with the cute old cobblestone roads and the city square. This is the area that truly makes it "Probably The Best City in the World." We got a bunch of fancy desserts and shared them as we sat outside one of the the pastry places.
On Friday we went to another orphanage in Brasov where they had about 10 kids, some with special needs and some without. We played one of the best games ever there, the musical bookbag game! You have to stand in a circle and pass around a bookbag stuffed with all kinds of articles of clothing, and when the music stops, whoever is holding it has to reach in the bag and put on whatever they draw. It was so hilarious when people got the bikini top and bottom, underwear, and lacy girl shirts! We also played dodgeball, colored, and Wendy shared "You are Special" again. That afternoon we grabbed some food at Real, then went to Vali's church in Sanpetru outside the city to potentially do a mini VBS there. We went out in the street and found a bunch of little boys and started playing a game of soccer with them. We didn't have much time, but after we left we gave them some optical illusions with a tract on the back and they loved them. That evening we went back to the big Baptist church in Brasov and helped with the youth group that they're trying to start up again. We sang a bunch of songs, not just hymns this time, and a couple of the teens shared their testimonies. Then Philip taught a short lesson while translating himself...I've never seen that before! He would say a phrase in English looking towards the Americans, then look the other way and translate it into Romanian. It so messed with my brain since I could understand both and they were both coming from the same voice haha. Then we played a bunch of group games like Never Have I Ever and a game where we had to shuffle around on the chairs in a circle and not let the person in the middle sit in the open seat.
Saturday was our sightseeing day and we had a ton of fun seeing the highlights of Bran and Brasov. We had to catch the bus to Bran at 9am, but we were running a little late, and when Philip saw our bus driving past, he literally took off sprinting to catch the bus! Then all 14 of us started running after him, laughing and panting and flailing, and we succeeding in stopping the bus and all getting on! After about a 30 min bus ride, we got to Bran and took the tour of the Castle which is made famous in the book "Dracula." It was my 2nd time there but I loved seeing the views once again. We spent a while shopping at all the booths for souvenirs, then got on the bus to head back into the city. In Brasov, we walked around the city center again, checked out the shops and the Black Church, and then went up the mountain on cable cars! The cable cars were sweet and so was the view from right next to the Brasov sign that resembles the Hollywood sign on the mountain. We then headed to a restaurant close to our hotel where everyone got to experience some real traditional food such as mici, mamaliga, pork, and even wild boar.
We attended Vali's church in Sanpetru on Sunday where we sang some songs, Elizabeth and I shared testimonies (I only got a little red!), and Sean preached his sermon on worship for the 3rd time. After church we went to Vali's house where he cooked us a meat feast on the grill. We spent the afternoon just chilling and hanging out in his garden area and it was wonderful. Oh, also, Sean got pooped on by a bird flying overhead and it was hilarious. We heard the loud smack on his bald head before we even realized what happened and then he poured hand sanitizer all over his head. We back to Vali's church for the evening service, where we did a couple different hymns, and Philip and Vali each shared a short sermon. Then we went back to the hotel, where Vali showed us a slide show of the camps that New Generations Impact has done, and we discussed how we might be able to be involved in a camp in the future. We debriefed about the week and each shared what we loved about it.
Monday morning the bus left at 8 am to head to Bucharest for their flights home. It was hard to say goodbye to all my new friends, but thankfully they don't live too far from me in the States! Then me & Philip went down to the city square to wait for David Graef to pick me up for camp for the next 2 weeks!
I absolutely loved this week of ministry! I formed great relationships with the team (Lauren, Wendy, Sarah, Bobbie, James, Randall, Kathy, Chelsea, Autumn, Elizabeth, Caitlin, Sean, and Philip) and I had numerous opportunities to have good conversations with them throughout the week, especially traveling everywhere by bus, taxi and walking. They encouraged me so much and I am so grateful for them taking me in and loving me like they did. I loved going to the orphanages and at least for a short time, loving on and talking with the kids. I became a little more confident in my Romanian, and got to talk with all the kids a lot, let alone translating for everyone. It really was such a blessing for me to see the fruits of all of my hard work in Romanian lessons and just the knowledge I've gained since living here! It was also great to be able to support and encourage Vali, and see all that he does with NGI and how much he has truly become a father figure to so many children, and I hope that we can work with him again in the future!
8.17.2011
8.08.2011
London, England
This week I got to add London & Oxford to the list of places I've visited in Europe... I'm so spoiled... I know. But I've gotta take advantage of the opportunities of a lifetime and the fact that I don't have to buy a plane ticket over the Atlantic to see these places! It all began when Kristie had the idea of us girls going on a trip for her birthday since we had a break from camp. And London was chosen pretty much because it has Chipotle. And Krispy Kreme. Oh Kristie... she's been out of America for too long and sometimes you just need a taste of home.
So we woke up crazy early Tuesday morning, headed to the ghetto cheap airport of Bucharest, and got in line to check in. But when we went to hand them our passports, Kristie didn't have hers. It was just horrific and she was about to cry. Me and Jenny just stood there and didn't know what to do. But praise God there was another flight out only an hour & a half after ours! So me and Jenny got on our plane, while Kristie got a taxi home, tore the apartment apart looking for her passport, which she left on the scanner after copying it, and then hurried back to the airport to buy another plane ticket. Now if you don't know Kristie, you don't know why this was such a huge deal... She's the designated emailer, texter, and caller to remind everyone to not forget their passports every time we leave the country. She's always on the ball about it. And as we were walking out of our apartment, I even asked all of them, just joking around with Kristie since that's usually her line. And then she forgot her phone and realized when we were in the taxi, so she even was back at the apartment before we made it to the airport. Ioneven know, but it was not a fun experience. And sorry Kristie, but I just had to throw that story in there because I'm sure it will NEVER happen again. :]
This was not the end of our traveling adventures/mistakes. We got to the train station, but there was nothing on the ticket telling you what platform to go to, and there was no one to ask, so we pretty much just got on the train that the most people were waiting for. And it took us into the city, just not to the train station right next to our hostel, so they made us pay for another train ticket & gave us a "fare warning." Which was pretty much a little paper saying we were bad because we weren't on the train our ticket was for. We found it pretty amusing that they had to give us that piece of paper when we clearly would have liked to have gotten on the right train. Anyways, we then easily found our hostel, which was right next to the train station and metro ("The Tube"), checked in and then set out on our 1st adventure... Chipotle, of course. I mean that was our goal in going to London apparently haha. My burrito was yummy, but Kristie says it wasn't as good as in the States, which I wouldn't know since we only have a Moe's in the burg. Then we walked around, went in T.K. Maxx, the European version named after me, checked out Harrods, the massive super expensive mall/department store, then headed to the main center where we could check out Big Ben, the London Eye, & the Houses of Parliament. I got some daylight pics, then we chilled on a bench until the sun went down to get the sweet night shots. I love Kristie and Jenny for letting me have my one request of going to get night pics of the city. :]
The next morning we set out for Krispy Kreme, our #2 reason for going to London! It was just as delicious as I remember, although like 4 times the price than in the States. If you've never lived outside of America for any length of time, you don't know how little tastes of home can make you so happy! After our breakfast of champions, we went to Buckingham Palace, where we caught the changing of the guard. It's apparently a big deal and the guards on horses controlling the crowds and the guards in red suits and the huge hairy hats were pretty entertaining. The queen was in the Palace when we were there because the flag was flying! We then took a stroll along the park to Trafalgar Square, Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives, and then went to Westminster Abbey. We walked on a lot of famous dead peoples' graves, such as Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, David Livingston, Charles Darwin (why the heck was he buried there?), Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, and a million kings and queens. It was also pretty cool that we were walking in the place where almost all the royal coronations and weddings have taken place. And speaking of royal weddings, the city was still obsessed with William & Kate's wedding in April, and there was an exhibit in Westminster Abbey and souvenirs with their wedding picture everywhere. After this, we got on a boat and rode down the river to the Tower Bridge! I've always wanted to ride the boats places, and with our London Passes it was "free!" We then took the tour of the Tower Bridge and got to walk across the top of it which was pretty legit. We then tried to go to dinner at the original Hard Rock Cafe, but after we walked forever to find it and saw the huge line, we decided to find somewhere we could eat sooner since we were pretty hungry. We ended up eating at some bar and grill kind of place where we watched American ESPN and I ate fish and chips and drank free tap water! Then we headed back to the hostel to crash. Speaking of the hostel, it was my 1st experience and it was an over-all good one. There were 2 girls, Claire from Ireland and a girl from Canada, who had internships and stayed in our room the whole time we were there. We stayed in an all girls hostel on the 4th floor, and the only thing I can really complain about is the fact that it was super hot most nights with no A/C and that it was pretty loud all night long, but I was so tired it didn't really matter!
The next morning we took a train out to Windsor Castle, the official royal weekend home of the Queen. It was a very luxurious castle, of course, and I'm sure it would have been a lot prettier from the outside if it wasn't raining the whole time. But I feel like we got the full London experience on our day of rain, clouds, and umbrellas! We then met a friend of Kristie's in the city, and while they caught up over coffee, Jenny and I set out on our own adventure. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral, and I climbed all 568 stairs to the very top! My legs were dying but the pictures were worth it! I've decided that my favorite part of seeing the big cities is getting to go to the top of some tall building and taking pictures from the aerial view. It just puts the whole city in perspective too. Then we rode one of the double decker red buses to the London Tower, which is where they keep the crown jewels which we got to see on display. Then we met up with Kristie, walked around forever again to find someplace to eat, then finally ate at an Italian restaurant that probably had better Italian food than the stuff we had in Rome. Then, once again, Kristie and Jenny let me go downtown to get some night pics of the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge which was pretty much gorgeous.
On Friday, we took a bus to Oxford to meet up with Jenny's friend Kendall, who is a missionary in England. He showed us around the quaint city and took us to an awesome Portuguese restaurant where they had yummy chicken and free refill on drinks (this just is unheard of in Europe)! We saw a bunch of the colleges, St. Mary's church where John Wesley preached, Oxford Press, and the Eagle and Child restaurant where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien hung out weekly and wrote their books. We also saw a tiny Baptist church that Kendall helps at and ran into some of his friends there. We walked along this river and it was so pretty and peaceful and quiet, and then we sat in a little shop and drank coffee before we headed back to the city on the bus again. When we got back we hit up the little grocery store for cherry coke & cool ranch doritos for our random meal of things we can't get in Romania.
I woke up at like 5:30 am the next morning, went to the train station, and was once again confused about what train to get on. After asking a couple unhelpful people, I found out I had to take the metro to another station and get on the train to the airport there. So it all went smoothly and I had plenty of time to spare and then I slept the entire 3 hour flight back to Bucharest. I made the journey alone because Jenny & Kristie headed to Dublin for the next couple of days.
So that's what I did... now here's my random thoughts about this trip. It was pretty refreshing being in an English speaking country again, even though I could barely understand their funny accents. We imitated/made fun of them a lot and even spoke Romanian to each other in a British accent which was quite entertaining. It felt like the America of Europe, with such a diverse people group and so many different languages. It was funny how I freaked out whenever I heard Romanian and said "AH! I can understand them!" as if I wasn't in an English speaking country. Another thought... although I've now gotten to visit Paris, Rome, and London, I still would rather live in Bucharest. I have to admit I'm a little biased, but I would hate living in such a tourist city and a place where the pound is worth twice as much as the dollar, but the prices are still the same. Let me tell you, everything was ridiculously expensive and I spent a lot of money on this trip, but I keep telling myself that it was an opportunity of a lifetime and that it was still way cheaper than if I had to buy a plane ticket across the ocean! Another thing that's awesome about living in Bucharest/Europe... all these amazing places are a cheap 3 hour max flight away! So I've definitely taken advantage of that! Anywho, it was an amazing adventure with some amazing friends! The end. :]
So we woke up crazy early Tuesday morning, headed to the ghetto cheap airport of Bucharest, and got in line to check in. But when we went to hand them our passports, Kristie didn't have hers. It was just horrific and she was about to cry. Me and Jenny just stood there and didn't know what to do. But praise God there was another flight out only an hour & a half after ours! So me and Jenny got on our plane, while Kristie got a taxi home, tore the apartment apart looking for her passport, which she left on the scanner after copying it, and then hurried back to the airport to buy another plane ticket. Now if you don't know Kristie, you don't know why this was such a huge deal... She's the designated emailer, texter, and caller to remind everyone to not forget their passports every time we leave the country. She's always on the ball about it. And as we were walking out of our apartment, I even asked all of them, just joking around with Kristie since that's usually her line. And then she forgot her phone and realized when we were in the taxi, so she even was back at the apartment before we made it to the airport. Ioneven know, but it was not a fun experience. And sorry Kristie, but I just had to throw that story in there because I'm sure it will NEVER happen again. :]
This was not the end of our traveling adventures/mistakes. We got to the train station, but there was nothing on the ticket telling you what platform to go to, and there was no one to ask, so we pretty much just got on the train that the most people were waiting for. And it took us into the city, just not to the train station right next to our hostel, so they made us pay for another train ticket & gave us a "fare warning." Which was pretty much a little paper saying we were bad because we weren't on the train our ticket was for. We found it pretty amusing that they had to give us that piece of paper when we clearly would have liked to have gotten on the right train. Anyways, we then easily found our hostel, which was right next to the train station and metro ("The Tube"), checked in and then set out on our 1st adventure... Chipotle, of course. I mean that was our goal in going to London apparently haha. My burrito was yummy, but Kristie says it wasn't as good as in the States, which I wouldn't know since we only have a Moe's in the burg. Then we walked around, went in T.K. Maxx, the European version named after me, checked out Harrods, the massive super expensive mall/department store, then headed to the main center where we could check out Big Ben, the London Eye, & the Houses of Parliament. I got some daylight pics, then we chilled on a bench until the sun went down to get the sweet night shots. I love Kristie and Jenny for letting me have my one request of going to get night pics of the city. :]
The next morning we set out for Krispy Kreme, our #2 reason for going to London! It was just as delicious as I remember, although like 4 times the price than in the States. If you've never lived outside of America for any length of time, you don't know how little tastes of home can make you so happy! After our breakfast of champions, we went to Buckingham Palace, where we caught the changing of the guard. It's apparently a big deal and the guards on horses controlling the crowds and the guards in red suits and the huge hairy hats were pretty entertaining. The queen was in the Palace when we were there because the flag was flying! We then took a stroll along the park to Trafalgar Square, Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives, and then went to Westminster Abbey. We walked on a lot of famous dead peoples' graves, such as Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, David Livingston, Charles Darwin (why the heck was he buried there?), Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, and a million kings and queens. It was also pretty cool that we were walking in the place where almost all the royal coronations and weddings have taken place. And speaking of royal weddings, the city was still obsessed with William & Kate's wedding in April, and there was an exhibit in Westminster Abbey and souvenirs with their wedding picture everywhere. After this, we got on a boat and rode down the river to the Tower Bridge! I've always wanted to ride the boats places, and with our London Passes it was "free!" We then took the tour of the Tower Bridge and got to walk across the top of it which was pretty legit. We then tried to go to dinner at the original Hard Rock Cafe, but after we walked forever to find it and saw the huge line, we decided to find somewhere we could eat sooner since we were pretty hungry. We ended up eating at some bar and grill kind of place where we watched American ESPN and I ate fish and chips and drank free tap water! Then we headed back to the hostel to crash. Speaking of the hostel, it was my 1st experience and it was an over-all good one. There were 2 girls, Claire from Ireland and a girl from Canada, who had internships and stayed in our room the whole time we were there. We stayed in an all girls hostel on the 4th floor, and the only thing I can really complain about is the fact that it was super hot most nights with no A/C and that it was pretty loud all night long, but I was so tired it didn't really matter!
The next morning we took a train out to Windsor Castle, the official royal weekend home of the Queen. It was a very luxurious castle, of course, and I'm sure it would have been a lot prettier from the outside if it wasn't raining the whole time. But I feel like we got the full London experience on our day of rain, clouds, and umbrellas! We then met a friend of Kristie's in the city, and while they caught up over coffee, Jenny and I set out on our own adventure. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral, and I climbed all 568 stairs to the very top! My legs were dying but the pictures were worth it! I've decided that my favorite part of seeing the big cities is getting to go to the top of some tall building and taking pictures from the aerial view. It just puts the whole city in perspective too. Then we rode one of the double decker red buses to the London Tower, which is where they keep the crown jewels which we got to see on display. Then we met up with Kristie, walked around forever again to find someplace to eat, then finally ate at an Italian restaurant that probably had better Italian food than the stuff we had in Rome. Then, once again, Kristie and Jenny let me go downtown to get some night pics of the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge which was pretty much gorgeous.
On Friday, we took a bus to Oxford to meet up with Jenny's friend Kendall, who is a missionary in England. He showed us around the quaint city and took us to an awesome Portuguese restaurant where they had yummy chicken and free refill on drinks (this just is unheard of in Europe)! We saw a bunch of the colleges, St. Mary's church where John Wesley preached, Oxford Press, and the Eagle and Child restaurant where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien hung out weekly and wrote their books. We also saw a tiny Baptist church that Kendall helps at and ran into some of his friends there. We walked along this river and it was so pretty and peaceful and quiet, and then we sat in a little shop and drank coffee before we headed back to the city on the bus again. When we got back we hit up the little grocery store for cherry coke & cool ranch doritos for our random meal of things we can't get in Romania.
I woke up at like 5:30 am the next morning, went to the train station, and was once again confused about what train to get on. After asking a couple unhelpful people, I found out I had to take the metro to another station and get on the train to the airport there. So it all went smoothly and I had plenty of time to spare and then I slept the entire 3 hour flight back to Bucharest. I made the journey alone because Jenny & Kristie headed to Dublin for the next couple of days.
So that's what I did... now here's my random thoughts about this trip. It was pretty refreshing being in an English speaking country again, even though I could barely understand their funny accents. We imitated/made fun of them a lot and even spoke Romanian to each other in a British accent which was quite entertaining. It felt like the America of Europe, with such a diverse people group and so many different languages. It was funny how I freaked out whenever I heard Romanian and said "AH! I can understand them!" as if I wasn't in an English speaking country. Another thought... although I've now gotten to visit Paris, Rome, and London, I still would rather live in Bucharest. I have to admit I'm a little biased, but I would hate living in such a tourist city and a place where the pound is worth twice as much as the dollar, but the prices are still the same. Let me tell you, everything was ridiculously expensive and I spent a lot of money on this trip, but I keep telling myself that it was an opportunity of a lifetime and that it was still way cheaper than if I had to buy a plane ticket across the ocean! Another thing that's awesome about living in Bucharest/Europe... all these amazing places are a cheap 3 hour max flight away! So I've definitely taken advantage of that! Anywho, it was an amazing adventure with some amazing friends! The end. :]
8.01.2011
Tabără în România și Ucraina
So we just finished our 1st two weeks of camp for the summer! I'm going to try not to write a book about each, and I'll let the pics (all 3,000 of them) show you what it was like if I ever get through them!
Our 1st week of camp was at Lunca Bradului with alfAOmega and Cer Deschis churches. First of all, the campground at Lunca is absolutely gorgeous and in this small valley up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. It just made me so happy to see the stars, walk barefoot in grass, take pictures of all the wildflowers, and that the only noise I fell asleep to every night was the sound of the river that ran through camp. We piled in Hillary and headed up Saturday morning, got there that evening, then had all day Sunday to rest, chill and get ready for the campers to come Monday at lunch time.
So my role at camp is the photographer (which believe it or not, I'm sort of getting tired of taking pictures), and then pretty much whatever else needs to get done. This includes gathering firewood and building/starting the fires for the city folks, setting up games and activities, cleaning and washing dishes, and rearranging the main room for chapel. But my favorite "job" at camp is encouraging the counselors. Every morning an hour before breakfast, we have a meeting with all the counselors, to pray with them and to hear about what God's doing and how we can be praying for them and the counselors. The 1st week, God laid Ana & Anna, who were co-counselors, on my heart. They are both good friends of mine, and I knew this was going to be a very important week for them because they had 3 unsaved girls in their group. So I claimed this cabin for the week, to write notes and encourage Ana & Anna, to specifically ask them throughout the day how they were and about their campers, and to pray like crazy. And I did. God's always working on me and my prayer life, and I feel like at different points He's teaching me how to pray in different ways. This time was mainly that these girls who had already heard the truth and were involved in church would come face to face with God and choose to follow Him wholeheartedly. God answered one of my prayers that I had been praying for a couple weeks, that I would get the opportunity to talk with one specific girl one-on-one. After a chapel that went on forever on Thursday night because we just didn't want to stop singing, I pulled her aside and asked if we could talk somewhere. We bundled up and sat on the balcony in my room and talked for almost 2 hours about God and our lives. She's such a deep thinker and has read half of the Bible just this summer, and she does have faith, but she's still holding back and hasn't completely trusted in God. She's so close, and I believe one day soon she will give her life to Christ, but right now she told me that she can't say she knows 100% that she would go to heaven. Please be praying for her, and the others that were at camp, who are open but still haven't taken the step to completely trust God and give their life to Him.
Here's what a "usual" program for camp looks like: counselor's meeting way too early, breakfast, group devotional time, big game, lunch, free time, challenge activities (zip line, high ropes course, climbing wall, paintball, & team building), dinner, singing, chapel, night game, then lights out at midnight. The food was amazing at Lunca, and I think I ate a loaf of bread a day because it was served at every meal. The devo times were super important times with just their cabin when they studied a small passage on the theme for the day and had to ask/answer questions about it. We had all kinds of fun activities, including a ton of water games, a hunt for the Americans hiding at night, bucket ball, a volleyball, basketball, & soccer tournament, and a skit night when it rained. The challenge activities are awesome and it was cool to see all of the campers push themselves and face some of their fears. Tom was the speaker at chapel and he did an awesome job portraying the gospel. My favorite night was when the power went out because of a storm, and in the dark and the rain God provided a perfect and powerful atmosphere for His gospel to be shared. A couple people got saved this week, and for sure everyone was challenged to take a deeper look at who God is and their personal relationship with Him.
So that's the "brief" recap of the 1st week of camp... now to camp in Ukraine!
Saturday morning we got back in Hillary and drove just over the border to Cernauti, Ukraine for our 2nd week of camp. We had camp at the same conference center/church that we went to in March for the youth conference and worked with Sandu and Pavel again. We didn't have the resources for activities we did at Lunca, but we used the one small field a lot, and somehow everyone mostly stayed clean even though about 30 girls shared the same one shower. Saturday night, a team from the States arrived to help with camp for the week. I loved working with and getting to know Sarah, Rebecca, Josiah, Aaron, Bob & Carla for the week! Sunday was a day of rest and shopping to prepare for the campers coming the next morning. The campers this week were mainly in the 14-16 age group and they came from villages all around Cernauti. This part of Ukraine used to be part of Romania, so thus most all of them still speak Romanian at home. I was really hoping that this week of camp would be great for my speaking to improve, but I really didn't have as many opportunities to just hang out with the campers this week, and also I could barely understand what they were saying! They had a super thick accent, which I think is equivalent to the New Yorker accent in English, and it was so hard even for the Romanians to know what they were saying half of the time. They loved this clapping game called "Peter, Peter, Paul, Paul" (except I can't even try to type how they pronounced it), and when I played they kept picking on me because I kept messing up because I couldn't understand when they were calling out my number! So this was the inside joke with me for the week and whenever a couple of them would see me they'd say "șase, șase, șapte, șapte" because those were my 2 numbers I kept screwing up.
The program was similar to the 1st week, but starting an hour earlier. We had a shorter chapel after breakfast too, along with the normal one in the evening. We had a lot more big team games between the 2 teams, Maximum and Aventura, like scalps with the panty hose on their heads, water games, an obstacle course, bucket ball, code breaker, underground church, and a photo scavenger hunt. With the younger age group, it was different feel and reminded me of going to Word of Life camp all those years in middle school and high school.
While I didn't have any "assigned" counselors this week, God laid on my heart a specific camper. It may have also helped that she has lived in the States for the past 11 years so it was a whole lot easier to talk to her, and that she has an awesome name that happens to be the same as mine, even with a "K." She is 16 and got saved near the beginning of the week! After that she kind of latched on to some of us Americans, and I got a lot of chances to just encourage her and help prepare her for how her life is going to change when she gets back to America at the end of the summer. It's always exciting to see God change a life, and she is one that I definitely want to keep in touch with! There were also a good couple of kids that got saved, and during the testimony time at the end, it was evident to see that God had revealed Himself to a lot of the kids that week. We're praying for a revival in the church in this area to come from these teens, because most all of the churches are super legalistic still and are pushing their teens away, not reaching out to them.
So camp has been amazing so far... there has been some spiritual warfare, but God's definitely God the upper hand in that battle & is changing lives! In 2 weeks we start another session of camp for 3 weeks in a row & I can't wait!
Kristie, Jenny, & I are leaving for London tomorrow... no big deal... it hasn't quite hit me yet! I still can't believe that a country girl like me will have hit up Paris, Rome, AND London by the time I get home. And speaking of home... I will be back in a month!! There wasn't enough room for me to go on the missions trip to Turkey with my church, so I will be coming home on my original flight on September 6th! Of course I have mixed feelings about this... I'm planning on skipping the last week of camp to have a week or so in the city to pack and say goodbye to everyone, but it will still be super hard and emotional for me. But, I'm also getting pretty anxious to get home and be with my family and friends again! So everyone at home... plan on having a party soon after I get back! :]
Our 1st week of camp was at Lunca Bradului with alfAOmega and Cer Deschis churches. First of all, the campground at Lunca is absolutely gorgeous and in this small valley up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. It just made me so happy to see the stars, walk barefoot in grass, take pictures of all the wildflowers, and that the only noise I fell asleep to every night was the sound of the river that ran through camp. We piled in Hillary and headed up Saturday morning, got there that evening, then had all day Sunday to rest, chill and get ready for the campers to come Monday at lunch time.
So my role at camp is the photographer (which believe it or not, I'm sort of getting tired of taking pictures), and then pretty much whatever else needs to get done. This includes gathering firewood and building/starting the fires for the city folks, setting up games and activities, cleaning and washing dishes, and rearranging the main room for chapel. But my favorite "job" at camp is encouraging the counselors. Every morning an hour before breakfast, we have a meeting with all the counselors, to pray with them and to hear about what God's doing and how we can be praying for them and the counselors. The 1st week, God laid Ana & Anna, who were co-counselors, on my heart. They are both good friends of mine, and I knew this was going to be a very important week for them because they had 3 unsaved girls in their group. So I claimed this cabin for the week, to write notes and encourage Ana & Anna, to specifically ask them throughout the day how they were and about their campers, and to pray like crazy. And I did. God's always working on me and my prayer life, and I feel like at different points He's teaching me how to pray in different ways. This time was mainly that these girls who had already heard the truth and were involved in church would come face to face with God and choose to follow Him wholeheartedly. God answered one of my prayers that I had been praying for a couple weeks, that I would get the opportunity to talk with one specific girl one-on-one. After a chapel that went on forever on Thursday night because we just didn't want to stop singing, I pulled her aside and asked if we could talk somewhere. We bundled up and sat on the balcony in my room and talked for almost 2 hours about God and our lives. She's such a deep thinker and has read half of the Bible just this summer, and she does have faith, but she's still holding back and hasn't completely trusted in God. She's so close, and I believe one day soon she will give her life to Christ, but right now she told me that she can't say she knows 100% that she would go to heaven. Please be praying for her, and the others that were at camp, who are open but still haven't taken the step to completely trust God and give their life to Him.
Here's what a "usual" program for camp looks like: counselor's meeting way too early, breakfast, group devotional time, big game, lunch, free time, challenge activities (zip line, high ropes course, climbing wall, paintball, & team building), dinner, singing, chapel, night game, then lights out at midnight. The food was amazing at Lunca, and I think I ate a loaf of bread a day because it was served at every meal. The devo times were super important times with just their cabin when they studied a small passage on the theme for the day and had to ask/answer questions about it. We had all kinds of fun activities, including a ton of water games, a hunt for the Americans hiding at night, bucket ball, a volleyball, basketball, & soccer tournament, and a skit night when it rained. The challenge activities are awesome and it was cool to see all of the campers push themselves and face some of their fears. Tom was the speaker at chapel and he did an awesome job portraying the gospel. My favorite night was when the power went out because of a storm, and in the dark and the rain God provided a perfect and powerful atmosphere for His gospel to be shared. A couple people got saved this week, and for sure everyone was challenged to take a deeper look at who God is and their personal relationship with Him.
So that's the "brief" recap of the 1st week of camp... now to camp in Ukraine!
Saturday morning we got back in Hillary and drove just over the border to Cernauti, Ukraine for our 2nd week of camp. We had camp at the same conference center/church that we went to in March for the youth conference and worked with Sandu and Pavel again. We didn't have the resources for activities we did at Lunca, but we used the one small field a lot, and somehow everyone mostly stayed clean even though about 30 girls shared the same one shower. Saturday night, a team from the States arrived to help with camp for the week. I loved working with and getting to know Sarah, Rebecca, Josiah, Aaron, Bob & Carla for the week! Sunday was a day of rest and shopping to prepare for the campers coming the next morning. The campers this week were mainly in the 14-16 age group and they came from villages all around Cernauti. This part of Ukraine used to be part of Romania, so thus most all of them still speak Romanian at home. I was really hoping that this week of camp would be great for my speaking to improve, but I really didn't have as many opportunities to just hang out with the campers this week, and also I could barely understand what they were saying! They had a super thick accent, which I think is equivalent to the New Yorker accent in English, and it was so hard even for the Romanians to know what they were saying half of the time. They loved this clapping game called "Peter, Peter, Paul, Paul" (except I can't even try to type how they pronounced it), and when I played they kept picking on me because I kept messing up because I couldn't understand when they were calling out my number! So this was the inside joke with me for the week and whenever a couple of them would see me they'd say "șase, șase, șapte, șapte" because those were my 2 numbers I kept screwing up.
The program was similar to the 1st week, but starting an hour earlier. We had a shorter chapel after breakfast too, along with the normal one in the evening. We had a lot more big team games between the 2 teams, Maximum and Aventura, like scalps with the panty hose on their heads, water games, an obstacle course, bucket ball, code breaker, underground church, and a photo scavenger hunt. With the younger age group, it was different feel and reminded me of going to Word of Life camp all those years in middle school and high school.
While I didn't have any "assigned" counselors this week, God laid on my heart a specific camper. It may have also helped that she has lived in the States for the past 11 years so it was a whole lot easier to talk to her, and that she has an awesome name that happens to be the same as mine, even with a "K." She is 16 and got saved near the beginning of the week! After that she kind of latched on to some of us Americans, and I got a lot of chances to just encourage her and help prepare her for how her life is going to change when she gets back to America at the end of the summer. It's always exciting to see God change a life, and she is one that I definitely want to keep in touch with! There were also a good couple of kids that got saved, and during the testimony time at the end, it was evident to see that God had revealed Himself to a lot of the kids that week. We're praying for a revival in the church in this area to come from these teens, because most all of the churches are super legalistic still and are pushing their teens away, not reaching out to them.
So camp has been amazing so far... there has been some spiritual warfare, but God's definitely God the upper hand in that battle & is changing lives! In 2 weeks we start another session of camp for 3 weeks in a row & I can't wait!
Kristie, Jenny, & I are leaving for London tomorrow... no big deal... it hasn't quite hit me yet! I still can't believe that a country girl like me will have hit up Paris, Rome, AND London by the time I get home. And speaking of home... I will be back in a month!! There wasn't enough room for me to go on the missions trip to Turkey with my church, so I will be coming home on my original flight on September 6th! Of course I have mixed feelings about this... I'm planning on skipping the last week of camp to have a week or so in the city to pack and say goodbye to everyone, but it will still be super hard and emotional for me. But, I'm also getting pretty anxious to get home and be with my family and friends again! So everyone at home... plan on having a party soon after I get back! :]
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