Livada: Day One

Ce Faci?

If you ever happen to stop by the Darina Laguna Hotel in Targu Mures, Romania, make sure that you refresh yourself at the restaurant and order the house specialty mixed platter (including 5 different kinds of meat!).  Lief and Jer destroyed a couple of those tonight… yum. Well, in other news, today in the beautiful city of Targu Mures, we were blessed with the opportunity of checking out Livada Orphan Care. Livada is a well established ministry that our team of Romanians and Americans are interested in checking out due to the fact that it is a good case study for what Open Roads may become in Craiova. Today, half of our team went to a day camp for orphans in the middle of the city, while the other half went to a school run by Livada in Ogra, a town just outside of the city that is almost entirely populated by an undereducated gypsy class.

The Orphan Camp in the city was quite an experience. Each team member was split up into a different group, which gave us some good time a part and a chance to make great new friends! We met a lot of amazing orphans that we played soccer with and made crafts together, although we were slightly disappointed in the small amount of the gospel that was integrated into the day. There were quite a few volunteers from Texas and a few other states that we were able to have great conversations about our similar experiences in Romania.

Everyone who went to Ogra, the school for the Gypsies just outside of Targu Mures, agrees that God is doing big things there through the English teachers and interns working there. We spent most of the day playing games and observing how English classes are conducted. Personally I believe that the coolest part of this Ministry is how the staff was able to incorporate the Gospel into pretty much everything they did. The English lessons involved bible verses.  The games taught good morals, like how to interact properly with others, and helped build community among the Gypsies and staff.  It was apparent that Ogra has build a strong community in that village and it seems like they are getting through to many of the kids that attend, which is SUPER exciting.

Tomorrow the two groups are going to swap what sites they are at so that everyone gets to experience both ministries.  We are pumped to have this opportunity and to continue seeing the ways Christ is moving in Romania.  YAYYYYYYYY GOD!

Hugs and Kisses,

Jeremy and Hunter Bashinos

Shout outs:

Lief and Jeremy: Shout out to God for making meat platters. They are what coax us out of our beds in the morning…

Brianna to the Mad Miss leaders: Good Luck! Hope everything is going well!

Michaela to Mom and Dad: Wow! Y’all have a whole week to yourselves! What in the world are you going to do?? Have fun without us!

Jenna to MegaWatt: I’ll be sure to give Irina and Brianna the biggest hugs ever from you as soon as we get back to Craiova :)

Hunter to Malachi: Dude, so bummed we’re not going to see you while your in town. :/

Hunter to Cassidy: It feels weird being in Romania without you.  Also, not hanging out with you everyday kind of sucks :(.  Miss you.

MEAT PLATTER!!!!

...and, we're back! (sorry for the delay)

Buna Ziua from the train to Targu Mures! It's Jenna and Taylor, and we'd like to start out this blog entry by apologizing for the long wait. We had no Internet at the retreat.. or running water for that matter... But that didn't seem to matter. The retreat has been deemed a great success.

Though all of the students at the retreat lacked earthly parents, we got the chance to tell them that they are passionately loved by their heavenly father. Each night we had sessions that focused on parent-child relationships in the Bible. We studied Abraham's relationship with his son Isaac, Naomi and her adopted daughter Ruth, and the parable of the prodigal son. These talks led to some really great small group discussions that went until at least 1am every night!

For the majority of the day on Saturday and Sunday, we took "field trips" to a nearby palace called Peles and on a hike up a mountain. Saturday's trip to Peles was quite a cultural adventure for us and for the students that had never before visited the area. We had to wear slippers over our shoes... it kind of reminded some of us of the skirts from the 2010 trip to the monastery at Voronet. Yesterday we hiked up to 2000 meters on a beautiful ski run mountain. The hike, though challenging, was full of great conversation and a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. The best part was the trip down-- we got to ride in a gondola instead of killing our knees.

Throughout the retreat, we had an ongoing, friendly food-making competition (that would be part of our "Life Skills" component of camp - allowing teenage & young adult orphans - and us - learn things they never had the chance to learn in the orphanage). On our way to the retreat on Friday, we stopped at a grocery store to plan and shop for our meals. Dinner was an extravagant affair every night as we worked on the life skills of planning, shopping, cooking, budgeting, serving, teamwork and presentation. An offhand idea born out of our brainstorming session Thursday, the meal competition turned out to be one of the best parts of the retreat. No disgusting camp food this year! We had spaghetti, homemade sarmale (Lavina's recipe), apple pie, grilled "carne si cola" and fruit salad served in melon halves. In the end, everyone won (though Daniel still insists that his was the best..); we all worked well in our team and had three delicious dinners.

Last night after some pretty special small group meetings, we had a two-hour long worship jam session and a mafia tournament. The worship was incredible. It would have lasted longer, but 4am was a little to late to keep up the neighbors.

After a tearful goodbye (even though we'll see everyone in less than a week when we return to Craiova), we left the campers in the care of Cata and Claudia for their journey back home while we barely made our train northwest to Targu Mures.

...annnd it's time for a much needed nap after a long might of mafia. Noapte buna!!


Shoutouts:
Jenna to Catie: Lavi insisted on sitting next to me on the bus again just so he could keep me from sleeping. He misses his partner in crime.
Jenna to Hailey: I miss you!!! It's soooo weird being here without you!:( also: the palm tree pants man has been with us all trip. Just thought that you might want to know.
Jenna to family: I miss you all!!
Taylor to family: Hope Wyoming was fun! Have a great time with Z!
Taylor to Z: I hope the remaining time in WV was fantastic! I bet you are happy to be back home. Love you!
Taylor to momma: please don't forget to check my work schedule for those specific dates. Thanks!
Michaela to Hannah Smith; Brindusa keeps calling me Hannah!
Michaela to Charles: I miss you! And yes, we should buy matching sweaters.
Michaela to Thomas: Have fun at archeology camp!
Michaela to Meagan Smiley: I'm getting some viva for you! I miss you and I should tell you about our trip while kayaking.
Michaela to mom and dad: I miss y'all and I love your comments mom. I have been checking to see if I got into the sociology class, and I still haven't recieved an email, so I don't know.
Team to Emily Quandt: It was Hunter's fault. But seriously, we're really sad about it too!
Jeremy to Dad: The Romanians taught me how to arm wrestle. Prepare to lose.
Big Baby Koesh to *Da fanman swag on deck*: Good luck at Madison Missions! I was looking through my notes from Romania last year and in the note you addressed me as "Hunty Hunt Bar". Wish you were here, bro. We good. (twirling motion)
Hunker to T-Pop: Without you here, everyone tickles me. It sucks... #TickleTolly
Hunter to Caite and Hailey: I miss you guys a lot. Everyone keeps asking about you two. Camp doesn't feel the same without you here:/
Hunter to the Koeshall Clan: Hope all is good there!
Hunter (The Woug) to Kenzie: It's exciting to me that every time a Romanian asks about you I have great news to tell them! Stay strong and keep moving in the right direction. Love you!
Pat and Larry to April, Audra, Anna, Daniel, and Chisa: Hi! We love you and miss you. Sorry we haven't had Internet access at all. Remember you can text us at no charge. (hint, hint)
Jimmy to all the other Blackhawk interns: I miss you guys-- My family!
Jimmy to Lindy: I miss you.
Team to Madison Missions leaders: You guys rock! Good luck this week!
???? to Paul Staats: you're tall and dreamy.

ASO:
Team to Brendon: Where are your daily blog comments??? We're disappointed in you.

Our first day in Craoiva...

BUNNNNA! Hunter Bashinos and Me-HI-ale-a here. Well, some of us are a little tired because last night we heard rustling downstairs in the house we are staying at. Turns out, Jeremy was eating half of a pizza and making a video blog of himself… Someone had jet lag.

However, it felt good to sleep in this morning and start camp planning on a full tank of energy. We spent a lot of the day talking about the logistics involving the retreat. Needless to say, we found out that a little more planning before the trip would have been nice, but reminded each other that this is a vision trip and an opportunity to trust God while trying out different things  (we’ll certainly now know how to plan for a future retreat like this one).  We powered through the camp schedule, hammered in on some of the workshop activities that we will do with the students, and decided on the menus. It should be an interesting and amazing next four days that God is going to unfold before us. Also, Daniel mentioned to us last night that making relationships with these orphans means diving right in and getting in their mess. Looking back on that, that is exactly what our Father did for us. He sent his Son right into our mess in order to make us beautiful. It may not be always easy this week. In fact, it may be really challenging, but God is calling us to jump into their pain and struggles in order to find healing (and not just for them but for healing for every one of us) and make visible the kingdom of God. 

After planning, we met up with old friends and met some new ones at Parc Romanescu.  I (Michaela) have been nervous for sooo long to embrace our old friends. I’m not sure why, but it was weighing me down today. However, when we saw them, all my anxiety was lifted from my heart! Just to hold their hands and laugh at our communication was very uplifting, and I hold these moments dear to my heart. So we spent a few quality hours catching up, playing games, and rowing boats with the campers. 

What better way to end a fantastic first day in Craiova than shaorma at the city fountains?  Wait, there is none.  We chilled on the sidewalk of Ali-ba-ba for approximately an hour and thirty-seven minutes (Yeah, it took that long – they needed to kill a chicken when they saw our group of 30 show up) while our food was being prepared.  It was SO worth the wait.

So what is next you say? Yes the retreat as we already mentioned. But wait, in 4 hours? Yes, it is 1 a.m. and we have to wake up in 4:07:48 hours.  So Noapte Buna!

Shoutouts

Taylor to fam: Have fun in WY!

Taylor to her grandpa: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Jenna to my 3 bros: Thanks for the little friend! I miss you all and I hope home isn’t too boring without me!

Jenna to Ben: Have a good time in St. Thomas!

Jenna to Jessie and Olan: I’m looking forward to the poem!

Team to 2011 Romania team: We love you all!

Michaela to Catie: Iazman kept talking about the burrito you are bringing him some day. I love you!

Michaela to Cassidy: Thanks for the other friend! Right now Jenna’s friend and ours are holding hands upstairs! I have a pic.

Michaela to fam: I love you! Thanks mom for all the comments!

Hunter and Michaela to the gang (you know who you are): Hope ya’ll are keeping it classy while we are gone! #GoBigOrGoHome #GassidySwag #<

Brianna to mom: HAPPY 29^th BIRTHDAY!

Jimmy to chipotle: Hope you are still in business when I get home.

Jimmy to parents: You are the best ever!

Jeremy to mom: LOVE YOU!

Jeremy to dad, little bro: good luck at all city swim meet!

Jeremy to eric: Have fun at Madison Missions AGAIN

Jeremy to Paige: Hope you don’t have strep any more!

Lief to everyone: How’s it goin?

Michaela’s lame joke of the day: “Lief, do you have your vision goggles on??? (long pause)… cause this is a vision trip…”. Proceeds to laugh for legitimately 5 minutes…

Craiova is close now!

The layover in London was easy... we even saw some olympic events out the airplane window (or at least we'd like to believe so). Now aboard our second leg flight. One short nap & we'll be hugging and catching up with old friends at Otepeni airport in Bucharest!

On the plane... the journey begins!

Here we go! Viva Romania!!!!

We appreciate your prayers!

început

The journey has begun. We all want to say thank you to everybody who was at Blackhawk this morning to send us off. It was encouraging to be surrounded by so many people who love and support us as we started our grand adventure. God was present in all of you and your prayers will be precious to us for then next two and a half weeks. (Special shoutout to Craig and Linda for driving us safely to the airport and getting honked at by that crazy lady behind you.)

Airports are interesting. There aren't many other places on earth where this many random people will cross paths. The entire world intersects in an airport, and though we may not know anybody's background, there are an infinite number of moments when our stories intersect. Maybe it's tripping over somebody's bag and apologizing, or showing grace to an angry person in line, or perhaps it is as simple as overhearing somebody say something special to a person they love. These moments, though small and seemingly insignificant, do make an impact on us and others. Our prayer for this trip is that every breath we take would be glorifying to our Father, showing His character and His grace. We know quite well that we will fall short of this because of our sin, but what the heck, we're going for it! The diversity of an airport is also a picture of our Father's kingdom filled with all different types of people and stories. One of the coolest parts about serving the Lord in another country is having a chance to worship in multiple languages at the same time. The unintelligible sound of mixed language music is one of the most aurally delicious noises in the world. Our God is big. We are small. But His spirit in us will do amazing things.

We aren't bringing anything new to Romania. God is there, and we are ready to be used by Him to experience eternal change in hearts and lives, for them and for us.

Keep reading for the next couple weeks for windows into this mission God has given us. Laughter and tears will certainly be in your near future. We love you all!

ROMANIA 2012 - VISION TRIP TO LIVADA (IN TARGU MURES) & OPEN ROADS (IN CRAIOVA)

Hey Everyone! Michaela Johnke here! Well we are busy preparing for our trip back to Craiova this summer and are super excited for what God has in store for us! I am particularly excited to return because last summer really changed how I looked at the world and other people. I was so blessed to create relationships with Romanians and I have been able to learn about their lives and who they are as God's people. God has given me a passion to seek justice and show love to orphans, not only Romanians but to all people around the world. The young men and women that I met last summer have truly inspired me with their amazing ability to celebrate the people they have around them and love people for the beautiful person they are.

We, Blackhawk High School Ministry, have been truly blessed with an opportunity to partner with Open Roads which is a ministry that provides support, teaches life and job skills, and teaches Jesus' love to young Romanians who have grown up in the orphanage and now have nowhere to go or anyone to turn to.

This year we are taking only a small "vision team" and are going to dream about the future of Open Roads and our partnership with them, as well as the potential for a partnership with a similar ministry in another part of Romania. We will travel to Targu Mures where we will visit a ministry called Livada Orphan Care (www.livada.org/). Livada has been a ministry for the past 12 years. We are excited to see the things they have been doing in their community and use that knowledge to go back and dream and envision the future of Open Roads, and look at a possible partnership with Livada for our ministries. We are also going to be attending a retreat with orphans from the Craiova area where we will help teach basic life skills and, most importantly, develop trustworthy relationships.

SO, we are very excited to return to Romania and build upon the friendships we already have, and to create new ones. We hope to dream big, and partner with Open Roads to minister to the orphans of Romania, but we also hope to be changed by the inspiring people we will encounter. We ask for your prayers and thoughts as we begin our journey back to the place and friends we love dearly.

Here's a picture of this years vision team: