Our tenth and final Global Outreach team of the summer is officially back home in the US! Team Eastern Europe worked hard for 2 weeks while getting to have fun as a team and serve the church. Now that they are home, let’s pray for them to get good rest, process their trip, and continue to lean on God in every moment. We ask that the Lord would use this experience to encourage a lasting heart of service to their community locally and abroad. Ask a team member about their experience and listen in to all that God did in and through them over these last two weeks!
It’s hard to believe we’re already at the end of this trip! Today was all about wrapping things up—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We started the morning with breakfast and team devotional, and later by a time of debriefing where we reflected on everything God has done over the past days.
After that, we cleaned up the place where we were staying and had the chance to say a big “mulțumim și la revedere” (thank you and goodbye) to Tibi and Genica—our amazing hosts—and to the local pastor whose church they’re a part of. Their kindness and hospitality truly made this place feel like home.
It’s really cool to think about how many people will be impacted through the work done on that campus—whether it’s youth camps, retreats, or other events, we know God is going to keep moving there.
After packing up, we drove back to the city to stay closer to the airport. And our flight got moved to the later time. Later in the evening, the church we worked with treated us to a super nice thank-you dinner at a restaurant, and Cristi (the missions pastor) came along too. We got to try so many traditional Romanian dishes, and let me just say… papanași for dessert was REALLY GOOD.
After dinner, we took one last walk through Old Town Bucharest, visited some shops for souvenirs, and saw a few more cool things on the way back. We ended the night with card games in one of the hotel rooms and bought a ridiculous amount of bottled water—and really confused the hotel staff just for sure.
hey! it’s me again! karina:) today we started the day with katya’s devotional about the joy of the lord.
then me, danyelle, chris, claire, vincent, and katya started working with pavers on the driveway.
and levi and nate was priming the basketball court prepping to paint it. chris had to put sunscreen on his butt because he got burnt yesterday. it was so hot… we were hot for jesus!! i got more tan on my arms than my legs lolz
katya screeded most of the sand that we had to level out, go katya! and putting the pavers down we finally finished the driveway with the pavers! that was our biggest accomplishment!!
me and katya decided to make traditional ukrainian food for the team. for lunch we made borsch with garlic bread and for dinner we made young potatoes (boiled potatoes with garlic), cabbage salad and chicken drumsticks. as you can tell we like garlic!
later during debrief we were talking about certain things that we were going to miss… and my favorite was when vincent said he was going to miss the ciao juice
we had an awesome day!!! we will miss this campus dearly!!
Today, we started off the morning with a yummy breakfast — I had Coco Bobbles! Then, we had a great devotional from Rebecca, one of our field workers. She gave a timely devotional on God’s supremacy and how He transforms our lives.
Then, it was time to get back to work again! Chris, Katya, Vincent and I were back on paving the driveways…again. But, we did finish two of the rows and we are on the last one! Even though it is tedious work, the Lord has been faithful in the conversations and reflections around the pavers.
Nate, Claire, and Levi were priming the basketball court to paint over the concrete stitches.
Claire helped Rebecca with some tasks around the house that we are staying at.
Everyone worked hard until lunch, and then we were off to the town!
We decided that we were going to go to a monastery in town, but this time, nuns live there! They were so nice and showed us around their home and the churches on the monastery.
Then, we went to go explore a little bit and went a defense tower and castle ruins that was connected to Vlad Tepes (Dracula). The tower had ALOT of stairs, but the view at the top was worth it.
After this, we went to town to attempt to find a gift certificate for the managers of this property and were very unsuccessful. Gift cards are apparently not a thing here. But, we were also dying of thirst, so we stopped for ice cream and drinks, which was refreshing.
After, we came back for dinner to eat some European pizza! It was very yummy and we got to eat with some people from the church in our town. This was an amazing opportunity to get to know those who serve here more and they were so funny! One of the guys looked like Matt Peña and we made jokes about it during dinner.
Then, we all went outside to watch the sunset and had great conversations with one another.
Overall, it was a blessed day and it is hard to believe that we will be home in a few short days. Thank you everyone for praying and supporting us.
After two long weeks and a 24 hour travel day home, the South America B team has officially made it back in the US, safe and healthy! It’s safe to say their trip was life changing in so many ways and the stories they have to share about the ministry they participated in (and the incredible cultural events they experienced) are plentiful! This team received several “best team ever” compliments from their fieldworker overseas because of their positive attitudes and willingness to jump in and serve in any way they could, and we are so proud of them!
Join us in praying for them as they come home and experience reverse culture chock, that this experience would draw them closer to the Lord and give them a clearer picture of their own role in God’s kingdom ministry. Remember to ask a team member to tell you all about their experience in South America!
Our eighth Global Outreach team to return this summer, Southeast Asia B, is officially back home in the US! The team thanks you all for your prayers and support throughout this trip and experience!
Join us in continuing to pray for them now that they are home, asking God to help them settle into new rhythms in the states that are wholly centered on Jesus and drawing near to him every day.
Make sure you ask a team member to tell you all about their experience in Southeast Asia, they have many stories to tell!
Hey everyone, today was a pretty fun day back working on the property! We started our day by sleeping in a little extra today and we all felt rejuvenated from the extra sleep.
We were all pleasantly surprised to wake up to homemade crepes from Levi! He made the best crepes I have ever tasted! Such a blessing!
We then did devotions led by Vincent and it was quite an awesome devotion on encouragement.
Today, we were back to working together on installing the pavers back into the driveway. This was a long process with some challenges and hot sun. We got alot of them done throughout the day and I even had a little friend join me during the installation!
The local camp dog named Luna came to see what we were doing and it was super cute!
Nate and Danyelle made chicken quesadillas and grilled cheese for lunch. We then spent the afternoon getting as far as we could with the pavers and gathered for dinner.
For dinner, we had porkchops and stir fry made by Nate and Danyelle. It was so delicious!
We ended the night by playing some board games and getting some much needed rest.
Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement! God bless, Chris
hellooo! i, claire, am going to recap our day for you! i am only blogging the exciting days apparently, lucky me!
we had to start the day early because we were driving an hour and a half into the city to go to church! i did fall sleep the WHOLE way there. we got to attend a service with the church we are serving for! the service was the longest i have ever sat through- two and a half hours. there were definitely some pros and cons to this though. a pro is that so much happened during this time. we had a few different periods throughout the service for worship which was so beautiful. i loved worshiping at different moments throughout the service rather than just the beginning and it was in another language! it was beautiful to still feel the Holy Spirit when you can’t understand the language. we were able to have a translator but with the service in the church it was really hard to understand which did make the long service a little difficult.
during this service there was a moment where they acknowledged the children who had finished Sunday School for that year (they get a two week break and then go back in their next age group) but all the kids got to go up for acknowledgment and to be prayed over which was really beautiful, and some of the kids sang a worship song after which was SO CUTE. i almost cried.
after church we ate lunch and then got a tour of the church by one of the pastors who is actually in charge of the missionary part of the church. he is such a cool guy and shared with us how they use this space to serve refugees. during the tour we ran into some of the refugees working on things like cooking, and because katya and karina speak ukrainian they were all able to have a conversation! it was so beautiful watching them communicate. the women cooking lit up when the girls came up to them and talked to them. it’s always nice to feel understood and have someone who understands you.
it was amazing to hear how God is using this church to reach others. he also told us of other stories regarding how they got called into this ministry and the struggles they have faced. it was really beautiful to hear their testimony and how God has worked in their community.
after this tour we explored the city. we walked thirty minutes from the church and explored “old town” which is not equivalent to an “old town” in California. it was very busy, the building were old but made new for businesses and restaurants. it was really cool seeing the culture, and it was a different part of the country than where the castle was so the culture was different. we walked around a book store, around some shops, got some coffee, and then got mediterranean food. we got “kabobs” which were like Gyros and they were really good. then we got gelato… again. but it’s so good! i loved it.
this time i stayed awake on the ride home! danyelle, vincent, rebecca, and i had a great conversation! SOMEONE said that they know i’m not feeling good if i’m not talking. i’m not sure how to take that one…
then we made it back home, levi shared a devotional on rest- perfect for today- and we did our daily debrief.
it was a great day, i got to see the Lord move in this country and spend more time with my team! ~Claire
Today, we sadly hopped on our first flight of three. We are spending the night in the same city as the beginning of the trip, but at a different hotel. Most of us slept on the plane (about a 2-hour flight) since it left at 6:45 am. We brought our stuff to the hotel, then went on a 45-minute walk along the beach and did some shopping on the way to this vegan restaurant that Diane and Dave wanted to go to… And then, the power cut out. So we ended up eating there anyway, and it was actually pretty good, just without air conditioning and semi in the dark. We all still had a good time. Dave ordered us a car back to the hotel, and we ended up in a clown car situation… we managed to fit 10 passengers into an SUV that had seats enough for four, plus a trunk with room for four… so two of us were on someone’s lap. It was such a funny experience. When we got back to the hotel, we had some free time, so some people went to the pool, others did some shopping. Me? I took a nap. We got dinner on the beach, shared and debriefed our last two weeks, and we did some more shopping at a convenience store before we all fizzled out and headed to bed. Before I forget, Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there! -Elise
Today we woke up a bit earlier to leave at 7:45 AM. Breakfast at this hotel is not always bussin. There aren’t many varieties of food to eat here, but we’ve gotten creative and combined what’s available into what I like to call a sandwich—which actually tastes pretty good. All in all, I’m sure we all know and feel blessed to be able to go about the beginning of the day with a full stomach.
Today is also the next big game!
Americanos vs. South Americans.
Yesterday we lost the exhibition scrimmage, but today we’re back and ready to make our families back home proud.
8:30 AM – We picked up the kids from their house and headed toward their campus. On the way, I lost in a game where they have to guess my number at the same time I say it. So, I had to tie my shoes and hop out of the bus—which was pretty light work compared to the other girl who lost and had to hop on one foot for a quarter mile.
8:58 AM – We played some volleyball, then started a small 5-on-5 scrimmage before the big game. We won 2–0. The kids are really good—but we have an Albert. Albert is our all-star straight from the Jessup soccer team.
9:30 AM – The big game then began. The goals were electric. The passes were legendary. And the sportsmanship was God-glorifying. After a hard-fought battle full of fake injuries, fouls, and glory… we won 7–6. Albert was great at pushing the front lines and even scored, Kenzie was an amazing goalie, and everyone else held it down on defense and team plays.
11:30 AM – On the way to the market to drop off the kids, some of the South American girls started doing fun, catchy clapping songs on the bus. Derek also got everyone to start singing songs from Moana. The vibes were very good, and everyone was sharing their snacks.
12:40 PM – We arrived at an outdoor city square market and started looking around. We saw a weird cross with skulls on it, some pretty neat local trinkets, and some street performers playing music and doing an interesting slow-motion dance fight.
Cole and Albert got some paintings from a very nice older lady who looked like she came straight out of the Disney movie Coco. I got a wooden cross necklace and a pearl-looking bracelet for my beautiful future wife Mi—hopefully she’ll like it.
Unfortunately, a lot of the vendors were selling secular items, but we can pray for them.
We then took a 15-minute walk back to the hotel.
2:45 PM – When we got back, the group packed up for tomorrow and rested. After I packed, Cole and I found secret roof access and went to the very top.
4:06 PM – We went down a bit lower to the pool and started playing cards.
5:00 PM – After meeting up in the lobby, the minority vetoed the majority vote from last night and decided we’d go to all-you-can-eat sushi instead of steak. I was very disappointed that we’ve forgotten our republic ways since coming to South America.
5:30 PM – We walked to a coffee shop called Millie Cuca and had some kind of sweet crumble cookies and coffee. Everyone was falling in love with a raspberry cookie Taylor got. Kenzie also had everyone share a “buffalo”—just a random interesting thing that’s happened to us.
The most interesting ones were:
• Cole wanted to be president when he was a child and used to dress up every Halloween in a suit.
• Grace was asked in 1st grade by a classmate if she would marry him.
6:00 PM – When we got back to the hotel, we played a high-stakes card game called Poop Head where there’s only one loser. The final two were Cole and Erica, and sadly Erica lost—so she had to wear the poop head hat. We played again and Kenzie lost.
7:00 PM – We arrived at the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant, and Kenzie wore the poop head bucket hat like a champ. The restaurant didn’t allow outside drinks, which we didn’t like since they make you pay for water refills—pretty strange compared to the U.S.
7:32 PM – Cole spilled his miso soup. 🙁
Side note: It’s crazy how cheap all-you-can-eat restaurants are here.
9:15 PM – After getting back from sushi, we stayed in the lobby and played Code Names.
After Code Names the group met up on the roof. It was pretty high up so we had to be careful. Derek liked getting close to the edge to take pictures which got everyone nervous. But overall it was a fun time of doing photo shoots together.
Side note: I was standing a couple feet from the edge of the roof, and I could just feel a lot of fear because of how high it was and how easy it is to slip and fall. And it made me think about the fear of persecuted Christian’s feel with how close death or something horrible is. And being on the roof felt like I could get a taste of the fear that I want to overcome in the world for the glory of God and just how much I need to trust him.
