Pictures from the trip (Days 1-3)

Friends who came to see us off!

Paul and Kristen

Kayta, Aubrey, and Jenna!

Cassidy - ready to fly!

The Big MT showin off his identifier before passing thru security!

The ladies after an overnight transatlantic flight - still EXCITED!

MT and Hunter ready for flight #2!

Introducing our camp mascot: Magnum Octopus!

Brendo the Merman & Aubs chillin at the airport

All our bags but one guitar case (waiting for the delivery)! Team is in Romania and ready to GO!

Night #1: Dinner at Craiova Church - meeting the Romaniacs!

Night at Youth Park

Meeting new friends!

YES!

Romania has so many sweet fountains!

Yeah Catie! Practicing her Romanian!

Dancin in the Youth Park to the tunes of "Paul & Friends"

The Band - they ROCKED!

Andreea, Michaela, and Brendon

Jimmy teachin us how to "Burn his Birdie" - a new dance move & integral part of our camp theme song we learned today! :)

Mario & Steffi pullin off some killer moves up front!

Paul comparing his bicips with 7 year olds again...

New friends!

Wickity Wickity Wickity Wack...

Shakey face for Jesus

The fellas

A good end to a GREAT night!

(more pictures from the sports & field games coming tomorrow - they are on a different camera)!

Games in the Park

Hey there--it's Jenna and Hailey writing from our host home. It's almost Thursday already here in Romania, and we're still awake... big surprise. :)

Today has been a long day, but it's been fun the whole way. After our last post, we finished getting ready for a night in the park. These preparations involved lots of pumping up dodgeballs, singing songs (lots of worship faves, and a little Justin Biebs), and may or may not have included Brendon wearing a creepy Halloween mask.

After we finished getting ready, it was time to head out to the park, which turned out to be a new park that we'd never seen. It was huge! The park (which everyone in Craiova calls the youth park) had built-in ping-pong tables, chess tables, many tennis and soccer courts and fields, and even a fountain area like the splash park in Middleton! We rented out 3 turf soccer fields, and after a round of get-to-know-you activities, the games began. We had one field of soccer, one of ultimate frisbee, and one that started out as lightening and world cup but ended with a giant game of dodgeball. Somehow (it must have been a God thing) we had enough energy to participate fully in all of the games. It was a great time of meeting potential campers and bonding with everyone involved. Who knew that Larry was so good at ultimate frisbee or that Kayta was such a soccer star???

This year, for the first time, we had the opportunity to use an amphitheatre to promote camp. Paul, Emily, Josh, and I (Jenna) played some fun songs, Kayta introduced camp, we played a fun pull-up game and Megan R, Aubrey, and Matt showed everyone that actions for the camp song, 'Made to Love' by Toby Mac. We gathered a lot of curiosity amongst the crowd that gathered to see what all of the music was about, and we hopefully gained lots of new campers. At the end, Lief and Jimmy wowed the crowd by doing some freestyle rapping onstage!

The evening ended with dinner at 10pm back at church, which we all enjoyed because of our hunger pains that came from not eating for 9 hours while doing lots of physical activity. After dinner, Megan Watts got a spectacular birthday group hug and birthday songs in both Romanian and English! We then headed back to our host homes to get some sleep to prepare for tomorrow, which promises to be another very full day.

Jenna and Hailey

P.S. Pictures {hopefully} soon to follow! Stay tuned for tomorrow!

Shout out to Dan Hershberger from Jenna: Thanks for the travelling buddies you snuck into my suitcase... I especially loved the notes you put with them--who knew that your stormtrooper was born in China? Everyone had a laugh about that. :)

Craiova!!

Hey there, its Kayta, Aubrey, Jessica and Megan W. We are currently at the church in Craiova and just finished up some devotional time. Since we arrived here last night, we have been blessed to meet our host families as well as many amazing student leaders from the church.
We Americans have been paired off (or in a group of four) and went to stay at different families homes around the city. Each house is a little bit different; some hosts live in apartments, others in homes and some don't speak English! It has been an adventure for all of us so far, and the language barrier has been more of an excitement than a struggle. Today we played a lot of get-to-know you games with the Romanian student leaders that brought us a lot closer as a team. Today we are also celebrating Megan W's 17th birthday; we even sang to her in Romanian :) She is currently sitting next to us opening her present! (thanks mom and dad!- Megan)
Yummmmmmmmy! We have been trying lots of new food including our favorite samali (sp?). It is a meat and rice mixture rolled in cabbage and kind of looks like an egg roll. Also, we have had our filling of carbs and meat, bread and sliced meat is served at every meal including breakfast.
Throughout our travels so far a couple team members have gotten new nicknames...
Erik AKA shnookums and Erika
Josh AKA Luda (short for Ludacris)
Brendon AKA mermaid (or merman)
and Matt Tolly AKA the big MTTTTTT

Well Lief is starting to talk again..shockerrr, but I guess we should go. more lataaaaaa
MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL HOMIES!
continue sharing your prayers its so nice to hear them:]

Easy flight to London, boarding for Bucharest!

Quick note to let you know we made the connection in London! Should be in Bucharest in 3.5 hours & Craiova in 7! Thanks for your prayers!

Some pics of the beginning of our journey!

We’re at the Airport in Chicago!

Jessica Florac and Megan Radke here. It’s 6:30pm (Madison Time) or 2:30am (Craiova Time). We have reached the airport in Chicago after a quick stop at Walmart, and then for dinner at the oasis. Our flight leaves at 8:05pm for London. So far, we’ve greatly enjoyed hearing Jimmy play songs on his “traveling guitar” and making friendship bracelets on the bus ride. We checked our bags and got through security without too many troubles. Now we’re just praying all those bags get through to Bucharest. Thank you to our group of supporters that came to wish us off today, it was great to know that you are there for us and excited for our adventure. Please pray for safe travel as we take on this 8-hour flight aboard a very large plane! LOVE YOU ALL!

Awesome Retreat!

This past weekend, our team went up north to a cabin for a retreat. Everyone had a great time!

One of the primary goals was to get to know each other. We had significant talks around a campfire. We played in the lake and took boat rides. We played Catch Phrase (trying to give clues in reference to Harry Potter), Mafia, and other games. We cried together and laughed together. We ate yummy food together. We did a work project to raise funds.

Dinner on Saturday night

Catch Phrase and card games

Fifteen people in the hot tub automatically makes ya close

Another primary goal was to prepare for the trip. We had some cross-cultural training about short-term trips. We watched a 20/20 special about orphans in Romania and how international adoptions were put on hold ten years ago due to corrupt organizations. We broke into our planning/prep teams. We went over our itinerary, camp schedule, and packing list.

Everyone is super excited to head to Romania in a month!

Our big prayer request right now is for our finances. We still need more than $10,000 in the next few weeks. We are trusting God and figuring out ways to creatively fundraise. Thank you for your prayer support! Feel free to leave some comments of encouragement.