The Central Europe team landed safely in Sacramento just before midnight on Friday night. Coming back with full hearts after some wild adventures and incredible ministry, we are grateful that the Lord kept them safe and healthy and with lots of stories to share now that they’re home!
Thank you for praying for this team and for following along with their trip! Please continue to pray for them even as they return home and experience reverse culture shock. Pray that they would have time and space to reflect on their experiences both alone and in community with their loved ones, and that the Lord would continue to reveal to them their next steps in life and ministry.
Reach out to your team member to ask them about their experience and learn how you can pray for and support them individually as they re-enter the US! Thank you all!
Hi everyone! Welcome back to our final in-country blog update. It has been a whirlwind of a trip, but there has been so much to reflect on. Starting where the last blog left off, we picked up work again at the farm, excited because we have completed more than our local friends had anticipated! Isaac wants me (Soph) to say that he and Noah weeded a field with a sickle (a “sharp murder tool”), while the rest of the team got leeks and peppers planted just in time, and we were able to plow a field for the next set of crops that will go towards a women’s’ shelter!
After the farm, we started a new camp just for two days, with slightly older kids, and it was amazing as well. We got to worship alongside some very talented musicians in their group, play soccer in a big stadium, make friendship bracelets, and take our Bible skits on their final tour (until we reenact them with you 😉 We arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm for the last day, which made our lesson about Noah’s Ark and the flood very realistic! God knew our lesson plan 😉
Because that was our last camp, we had another round of heartfelt goodbyes. We fell in love with each group of kids this trip, and will carry their names and stories with us from now on. However, we look forward to lifting them up in prayer for years to come, and maybe we’ll meet again!
We have been studying love, patience and faithfulness alongside our campers, and have been learning a lot about ourselves and our faith as this trip comes to a close. We spent yesterday debriefing and decompressing, reflecting on the people and experiences that have made the trip what it is. We are truly grateful to have gotten to this point (and impressed at the lack of fighting even when we are tired! This is truly a dream team). We also got to check out a bath house yesterday and soak in hot springs mineral water!
After debriefing, we got to have a traditional Eastern European dinner last night at a restaurant, celebrating with the family and field workers that have been integral to our ministry and our encouragement. That tasty dinner was followed by a jubilant session of local folk dancing! (not to mention a couple American songs that got slipped in, like Cotton Eyed Joe). It was a sweet and celebratory end to our time here.
Today we all spent the morning cleaning (and the ladies’ apartment was blasting Taylor Swift’s new release to stay motivated). We are finally all packed up! We are at the airport now, full of stories and excited to come home but knowing this place will be hard to leave.
And, on behalf of the students on this team, we adore & want to thank our fearless leaders Farnum and Myrna Smith, the most adventurous, supportive, grounded, and compassionate people we could ever have been blessed by. We know we are your favorite team ever 😉
Thank you, family and friends, for your support and continued prayers as we embark on the last leg of our trip. We will see you soon 🙂 Slava na boga! (Praise God!)
So we were reading the Book of Acts…and we ended up in Greece to visit the Biblical cities of Philippi and Kavala (in Biblical times it was known as Neapolis!).
Honestly, Greece was amazing and we saw so many unique sites in just one day. We all piled into the van at 7:00 AM, tired but stoked, and trucked along for about 4 hours until we reached Lydia’s Baptistery! It’s a historical memorial to Lydia on the land that she was baptized! We even got to touch the river that she was baptized in! It was so cool! Being able to stand in the area that she was baptized in was incredible!
Then, we piled into the van again and drove to the Philippi Museum, which was filled with historical monuments and statues from the Biblical period. Then, we walked outside to tour the ruins of Christian Philippi! This was so cool to walk the same streets and places that Paul did. We also saw the Philippine prison that Paul was held in. Honestly, this was so cool to see where Paul wrote Philippians. He wrote such an encouraging book of the Bible while withstanding discouraging circumstances. And if the weather was anything like it was today, Paul was probably pretty uncomfortable and sweaty. 😂 Anyway, seeing his actual prison cell really put the book of Philippians into perspective for me and gave the book an extra layer of meaning for me.
After touring the museum, we had the BEST Gyros in the entire world. They were so delicious!
Next, we were heading to Kavala. We all hiked up to a fortress way on top of the hill and saw the most breathtaking views of Kavala. We had fun climbing through the fortress, which was from the time of Paul!
Then, we were free to explore the city! We roamed the streets, looking at souvenir shops, trying interesting Greek Frappes, and swimming in the Mediterranean!
We then stopped in a cool coffee shop and bought coffee grounds!
For dinner, we accidentally walked onto the pier, thinking that’s where dinner was, but lo and behold, it was not the right destination. However, we got some great pictures out of the escapade!
Luckily, the dinner location was quite close and we all tried amazing Greek food! However, Sophia was not a fan of harvesting the shrimp herself…
Now, the day has come to a close and we stayed in a great AirBnB. Experiencing Greece on our rest day was such an amazing experience!
But don’t worry, it has not been all play and in the last few days since the last update, we have worked hard on finishing up our second VBS Camp! We have made great relationships and have been blessed with the opportunity to make an impact on these children though the Lord! ❤️
To my friends and family, I love and miss you so much! Also, you can rest assured that I have been diligent in closing my bags when walking around so I have yet to get anything stolen. Love y’all! ❤️
-Danyelle
Things to pray for:
continued strength, as I think a lot of us are starting to become very tired
That our last VBS would be fruitful and make a lasting impact on these children!
Hello family and friends! Welcome back to another day of Central European storytime. This is Sophia speaking, coming at you live from home base on our apartment couch. It was another long and wonderful day in the grassy hills of our host country. We kicked it off by meeting at 6am to work on the farm (no doubt this blows the minds of most of our loved ones 😉 We were able to beat the heat thankfully, as half of us cleared a field while the other half weeded the greenhouses and planted some new vegetables like bell peppers! Knowing that this farm will directly benefit a women’s shelter ministry keeps us motivated even as we dodge snails, repair stubborn rakes, and dream of our beds. Heading back to the apartment after was glorious, and we may never take a shower for granted again.
Next up was buffet-style lunch at one of our favorite local cafes (I ate a savory crepe and tomato-feta salad, yum) and then we headed to visit the gift shop in our church next door. The next hour or two were free for us to explore, and we made sure to investigate snacks at the grocery store, clothing boutiques, and obviously the local gelato stand as we experienced more of the lovely town.
Finally, we loaded back into the van to roll to the second camp location, mildly torturing each other with riddles and camp games and singing as we enjoyed the countryside. Honestly, we were nervous to start over, but we are also excited to see who God has put in our path. And, thankfully, He’s keeping us busy with another welcoming and wild group of kiddos and teens to spend time with.
After our evening drive home, the ladies were blessed with a subsequent challenge of our door lock being jammed, which was solved relatively quickly but I am including for the comedic value of our frustrations (check the selfie).
All in all, we have been more than blessed so far by the hospitality and beauty of the culture here. Every day is full of people and places that grow us and show us new ways God is moving as we learn to better study and live out the Gospel and love the people around us. Plus, we’re inching closer and closer to having the alphabet here memorized, and can at least hold a conversation in the local language. We are beyond grateful for each other (even on the long days), for the field workers and translators that partner with us, and for the prayers and support of the people we love. And, we are slowly getting better at European futbol. Love you x2 family!
Hey everyone! The last two days have been extremely eventful and packed full of adventures, ministry, and more!
We started Thursday off by sleeping in till around 8:30 am and began planning our last and final day of VBS in a small nearby town around 9:30 am. After all of the preparation of skits, crafts, and games, we headed out to a quick lunch at a local restaurant where we tried several new desserts that are common favorites here.
After finishing our lunch and tasty desserts we headed out to an old monastery way up in the mountains. This ornate monastery was absolutely gorgeous and we were all left in awe. When entering the church we all gazed up at the artwork that covered the walls and ceiling which depicted many different Bible stories. We later learned from one of our fearless leaders, Farnum, that this artwork was there because back when the Church was made many people could not read, but they could learn the Bible stories by observing the art.
Leaving the Monastery we headed to our last night of VBS in our first location. It went so well and many of us received gifts and paintings from the kids who we have spent the last three days with. Before we left we gifted the pastor with many new soccer balls, volley balls, and basketballs and he told us that many of the children in that town had been praying for new balls and that our gifts were an answer to prayer.
Once the VBS came to an end we all reluctantly piled into our van with some tears shed and sad hearts, but at the same time we felt encouraged and ready to see what God had for us at our next location.
During our drive home we reflected on the VBS, the relationships we had built, and the fact that there is a strong possibility that some of those kids are going to play soccer in the pro leagues some day. We were all sad, but we knew that God had moved during our time there.
We can’t wait to see what God is going to do with the rest of our time here!
We decided to start the day early for a hike in town. Guided by a local friend from the church who also translates for us we were able to walk straight from our apartment to amazing sights. We had constant photo stops while going up the mountain that overlooks the town during sunrise. It was beautiful making all the stairs very worth it. At the top we saw “Baba Yaga’s” house and a fortress built in the 4th century and partially destroyed by the Ottoman empire in the 15th century.
We stopped at the bakery on our walk back for banitsa and streusel arriving just in time to leave for the farm. We weeded greenhouses and cleared a field there. The farm grows lots of produce for the local girls home, Roma people, and the Ukrainian refugees here. The team had fun especially gardening and weed whacking.
We took a tired van ride back for “the best ever” showers and then lunch.
We were also gifted chocolates from the 93 year old in town that we sang happy birthday to yesterday.
We spent the rest of the afternoon planning VBS and playing games till driving out to the Roma community. We arrived to the kids waiting on the church steps waving. Today’s camp went amazing, the kids all loved the activities especially game time. There were also lots of laughs during our interactive skit where we splashed them while they were the animals aboard Noah’s Ark. While we were discussing patience one kid said he had to be patient to wait till it was time to come back to VBS today. We ended the day with a home cooked local meal at the church and a discussion of how great everyone thought the day went. We are all grateful for another amazing day here and looking forward to tomorrow for day 3 of 3 of our first VBS of the trip.
Hey guys! My name is Hailey and I’m taking over the blog to tell you about our day today! We started off at home by learning about the history of the Roma culture and developed a greater sense of understanding for their resilient community. On our way out for the day, we sang happy birthday to a 93 year old friend of the local pastor. I wished her happy birthday in the local language and she loved that! Later we walked through downtown to go to lunch which was so fun and pretty! I had Moussaka and a giant bread roll and it was my favorite local meal yet which was so cool because then we got it for dinner… but this time it was homemade and even better!
In the evening we went to a church in the Roma community and did crafts with the local kids and a Bible lesson that taught them about God’s love for them. It was so much fun and they were so engaged! One of my favorite parts was when we went outside and played soccer with some of the boys!! We don’t speak a lot of the language and they speak only some English, so it was fun trying to figure out what we were all saying while we played! Isaac, Noah, Sophia, and I need to brush up on soccer skills! All in all it was so much fun and I can’t wait to go back tomorrow!
Special hello to my mom, Casey, Michael, and Lea! I’m having so much fun guys! I love you!
Hello all! Today was our second morning over here, and tomorrow we’ll get to jump right into ministry with the kids! Today wasn’t as much exploration as it was prep work, but these are the kind of days that we’ll need in order to most effectively spread the Gospel.
We opened up this morning with our team and all got to wake up to some of Isaac’s coffee, something he has a bit of talent for! After getting up and ready enjoying the natural beauty here, we had some of our ministry leaders come over and give us an orientation on the culture over here. There were laughs shared and tears shed learning about all of the unique things and hardships that these folk suffer through, and a fire was lit inside all of us ready to serve to the best of our ability tomorrow.
We then at at a cafeteria styled restaurant where the food was great, and we got to relax at. After a lunch we had some locals who will work alongside us this trip teach us the language, and we spent a significant amount of time learning to count to 10 and learn some important snippets to help talk to the children.
We then moved onto preparing our first day of VBS for tomorrow, with getting down our skit, music selections, craft and game ready for the day! After spending that time till dinner finishing our work, we enjoyed some more time team bonding and sharing in Banitsa, a local popular pastry here that was incredibly well made!
Getting to see the work that everyone is putting into this as well as talents shining where we hadn’t expected has been such a blessing, and a great joy experiencing the growth we’ve had even as a team these last few days. We look forward to spreading the Gospel, and ask for your continued prayer for our strength and rest and the impact our message will have on these children.
We have made it to our location in Central Europe after 31 hours of travel! Luckily, we landed in the evening so we are adjusting to the time difference well! Today was a Sunday, so we started off our day with breakfast, then we attended a church! We are staying pretty close to this church, so we walked and it took about 20 minutes. Fun Fact, our location is full of Roman ruins, so we were able to see one on our way to the church!
Once we made it to church, we were greeted by many people and they cultivates such a welcoming environment! They played some worship songs in their language and then Isaac, Liana and I were able to lead them through two worship songs, “The Blessing” and “10,000 Reasons.”
Being able to lead worship in a different country and hearing people sing to the Lord in different languages is an experience I will keep with me forever! I am so thankful the Lord gave me that opportunity.
Then, Sophia gave a little testimony to the church about why we are here and what we are doing! She did amazing and was the first of us to volunteer to give a testimony! Even more amazing, she introduced herself in the language here!
Overall, the church service was amazing! The people there were incredibly welcoming and it was a great experience to hear a message in the language.
After church, we ate pizza from a place named “Friends!” (Yes, like the TV show! It was super to cool to see that here and the pizza was AMAZING. Best pizza ever!)
After that, we walked around the Cherry Festival! We got to see pieces made from the locals and we bought the best cherries! They were absolutely delicious.
After the Cherry Festival, we went back to our apartment for a few hours and all of us took a glorious nap…so glorious that all of us were a little sad to wake up. However, being awoken from our nap was made worth it by our next activity!
After our naps, we had the opportunity to go to a Roma Gypsy community and walked through it. We even saw a Roma wedding right in the street!
After walking through the community, we had the opportunity to hang out with the children of this Roma community. That was an amazing experience! We were able to show love to these children. There were a group of us coloring with the kids and a group of us playing outside.
At first, it was a little awkward because of the language barrier but once we split into groups based on the activity, it seemed less awkward! I was inside coloring with the kids and through that experience, I was able to practice the language! One of the girls even had a similar name to mine, which was kind of cool! It really touched my heart to be able to play with these children and show them love of Christ that is within us. When one girl left, she even gave me a hug!
We ended the day with planning for our upcoming VBS (3 of them, to be exact) and then watching an episode of The Chosen, as one of the episodes described one of our Bible stories!
I know this ended up being a little long, but there were so many great things that happened today that I had to share all of it!
I love you all and miss you very much!
-Danyelle
Prayer Requests:
Continued strength and rest
That the VBS’ would be fruitful!
Continued bonding for our team
Also, enjoy this picture of all us attempting the “Slavic Squat”
The team safely arrived at their destination in Central Europe early Saturday morning (CA time), ready to get settled, take showers, and get some sleep!
Join us in praying for them to get some good rest tonight and wake up with fresh energy to jump right into their ministry!
We will update again in a couple days when we have a post ready from the team.
