Update #2 Eastern Europe

Hey guys! Danyelle here. 🙂 Today was a pretty quiet and chill day! We were mainly still recovering from jet lag, but we did start a few of the tasks here. We were also limited in what we could do because of an Orthodox holiday and we were not allowed to work outside.  

We started the morning with some yummy breakfast (German cereal, fruit, and toast). Most of the boys unintentionally woke up together at 4:00 am and they were able to do their devotions. Us girls slept in until 8:00 am, but we all kept waking up in the middle of the night…except Claire. She was out cold the whole night despite us girls accidentally dropping our water bottles and turning on the wrong light. 

Anyway, we finished lunch and then Matt, our fieldworker, led us in a devotional. We then Nate Mao…he did not enjoy at first but he quickly got the hang of it. After a couple of games of Mao, we were able to speak with the missions pastor of the church here, Cristi, and he shared that sometimes the way in which we view success in missions or trips like this one in the American mindset: “how many people did I share the Gospel with?” “how many people were saved?” “what did we do?” However, the Lord views it differently and we often do not get to see the fruit of our labor. The Lord views it as a bigger picture and sees how the work He has planned for us impacts the future of the organizations.  This was a really sweet session in which many of us were able to gain new perspective on the work we will be doing on this trip. 

After we finished the meeting with Cristi, Katya , Claire and Vincent went shopping to prepare for food. While they were gone, Chris, Karina, and I got to play games with his son. We played Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and they claimed that apparently, I slap too hard. I think they were slightly dramatic, but the kid did say that he thought he was going to have to go to the hospital because of the game (he didn’t) (he also kept roasting me the entire game). 

When they arrived back at the hotel, the boys went to the country’s version of a Home Depot to pick up materials for some of the projects that we will be doing. The girls stayed back to do some cleaning. 

Then, we hung out for a while until dinner was ready. Katya and Vincent made stuffed peppers, which was very yummy! Then, we celebrated Vincent’s birthday with cake and non-alcoholic bubbly. 

To end the night, we debriefed the day and some of us played games until 11:30 pm. 

Overall, it was a chill day and we now feel rested enough to start working!

See you later! 

• Danyelle 🙂