Come to Reach Feast, Dinner & Auction to Support Student Missions!

Are you coming to Reach Feast? It is next week, on TUESDAY, MARCH 31, and is a spaghetti dinner & silent auction to support Blackhawk student mission trips to Honduras and Romania. This is the one big event we're putting on before the trip along with the Middle School Honduras team.

Apart from being a GREAT TIME, Reach Feast will be raising funds and awareness while introducing the teams for these two trips and partnerships. Everyone is invited to bid on great silent and LIVE auction items, eat delicious food and learn about the trips. Please purchase tickets in advance. Tickets: $10 for each adult; $5 for ages 12 & under.

Purchase at www.blackhawkchurch.org (under What’s New, click on Reach Feast), or just click: PURCHASE TICKETS HERE. You can also purchase tickets in the Blackhawk atrium before/after all services this upcoming Sunday, March 29.

You can see a list of current auction items by clicking here: AUCTION ITEMS. Items include: ownership of a condo timeshare in Vail, CO, autographed framed picture of Brett Favre, weekend getaways to cabins and resorts, spa treatments (massages!), gift certificates to awesome restaurants, work teams of students available to work at your home/business, limo rides, Packers, Badgers, and Mallards tickets, Ultra Zone laser tag birthday party, Madison Symphony Orchestra tickets, rounds of golf, free pizza for a year, gift baskets, and so much more!!

If you are unable to come to Reach Feast (or if you missed it!) but you would like to make a monetary donation to the Romania trip, you can mail a check to Blackhawk Church, 9620 Brader Way, Verona, WI 53593. On the memo line, please include "ROM-0709 - TEAM". (If your contribution is for a team member in particular, please include that person's full name in place of "TEAM").

Thank you so much for your continued support of our team! Hope to see you next Tuesday night!

-Lief and the 2009 Romania Team

Our first post for Romania 2009!

Today was the third meeting of our 2009 team. We've decided to use the same blog from last year to update all our friends, family and supporters along the way. If you'd like to see what the trip and planning will be like, feel free to look back through the posts from last years trip.

We are all very excited and are enjoying getting to know each other a bit as we begin planning. About a third of us were on the team last year and the rest of us are getting quickly caught up. Our team is larger this year - 25 in total - 17 students and 8 adults. I've been encouraged by the community that exists within our team this early on, and I know it will only get stronger.

Keep checking back or subscribe to our rss feed to keep up with what's happening!

Here's a picture from our meeting today:



- Luke Berg

we're back! Be home in less than 3 hours!

p.s.

Flight arrives about 11:30 AM and we hope to be in Madison around 3pm. We'll let you know (via cell call when we leave O'hare) if it will be any different. See you soon!

Our last hours in Budapest

Were sitting in the Budapest airport, only about 20 minutes until we head back. Just wanted to let you all know that everything is on time. We're very sad to be leaving Budapest and Romania but i think we are all excited to be home in our own beds.

Budapest was amazing, reminded me a little of New York City. We ended the trip with a couple hours of debriefing, sharing cool stories from the past two weeks. After that, we headed over to the Szechenyi Baths (natural hot springs) to relax in their "thermal-medicinal" therapeutic waters. Check out the details: http://www.spasbudapest.com/furdo.php. After the baths, we had our last group dinner and Lief made me snort pepper to help me sneeze. Let's just say that didn't go over well. I can't wait to get home and see my family and my dog - and everybody else is feeling that way too, now that we're on our way.

We know we didn't post as much as we would have liked the last few days, but we'll be able to share all of our stories with you on Thursday night.

peace out,
Brianna & the team

Living Large in Budapest

Romania Team Friends and Family,

We apologize it has taken us so long to post. Since beginning the debrief leg of our journey our schedule has been jam packed between digesting all God accomplished in and through us and taking advantage of the choice opportunity to enjoy beautiful Budapest.

Our overnight train ride from Turgus Mures, Romania to Budapest, Hungary was an unexpected blesssing. Most of the team slept for the majority of the 12 hour trip. We arrived in Budapest a bit grimy but replenished physically. Pat made arrangements for the team to stay at a wonderful little hostel nestled near the city center in the Pest section of Budapest. After a well needed hot shower the team hit the town. Budapest is home to over two million people. It dates back to the 8th century and is rich in cultural and historical significance. Along with Prague it is a celebrated stop for anyone desirious of experiencing European highlights. We spent the afternoon debriefing at the city's largest park. Susie is doing a wonderful job leading the team through discussions and exercises designed to allow us to fully appreciate and meditate on the last two weeks while also preparing us to reenter our normal lives. At the center of the park is a large castle. Lief scored us a deal and we enjoyed a fabolous Hungarian feast at a restaurant connected to the castle.

After a hearty night of sleep we attacked the city with vigor this morning. We played the role of tourists and signed up for a bus tour of the city. While we have a few days here it is not nearly enought time to see all the worthy sights. We figured this would be the best way to get the most our of our time. We spent much of the day traveling by double decker bus throughout both Buda and Pest. We had the freedom to get off at any stop for closer examination and explanation. We spent the majority of our time the older Buda part of the city famously known as the castle district. Many of us got to visit and pray in Matthias Church which was built by a king in the 15th century. We also bought some handcrafted gifts by local artisans at a summer craft fair. We concluded out time in Buda by doing some personal debrief on at a citadel that is located by a park far above the city. It was pretty surreal to overlook this beautiful ancient city split by the Danube that holds so many secrets, treasures, and lore. After finishing our bus tour we explored the vast labrinyths under the city by oil lamps and then walked across a bridge that when originally constructed was the first suppension bridge in all of Europe. Lief again scored us an amazing Hungarian feast on a boat anchored in the Danube. The city was lit up like a Christmas tree and provided a breathtaking backdrop to our food and laughter.

Yeah, I know, missionary work is pretty demanding. We recognize that we are living large and that we are indebted to all of you for allowing us this opportunity. Just know that the team deserves it. I cannot begin to tell you how hard they worked and served over the last two weeks. They literally poured out their lives. I am incredibly proud of them. We hope to share the countless stories of how God worked over the next days and weeks. Presently, I have two more minutes before the internet cafe closes and I need close.

We love you and are incredibly grateful for your prayers and support.

Grace and peace.

John for the Romanian Team

Leaving Romania

We just left camp today, it was an amazing experience. We are at an internet cafe in a little town on the Romania-Hungary border called Targus Mures waiting to board an overnight train to Budapest in about an hour. We have a 11 hour train ride ahead of us and our team while is exhagusted they are also encouraged about all God has done over the past week. The stories are many and we look forward to filling in the details during our three day debreif and stay in Budapest when we have more time. Everyone is healthy and well and looking forward to some sleep on the train. Please pray for a safe and restful evening and for our navigation in Eastern Europe for the first time without a native speaker.

A few hours ago we had an emotional goodbye - but we were equally encouraged by how well our two teams bonded and look forward to what that might mean for our continual partnership with the Craiova church.

Off to catch a train -

Grace and peace,

Lief & JR for the team