Home at last!

After 12 amazing days in Slovakia, lots of new friends, new brothers and sisters in Christ, sweet times, memories, being stretched out of our comfort zone, seeing God work in us, through us, loving people, being loved, giving hugs, getting hugs, laughing, crying,, eating foods we had never heard of, trips to the ice cream stand and the Billa, Fanta, Kofola, Fornetti's, fresh picked cherries, Halushky, Schnitzel, "Signs", Mafia, Ninja, soccer, volleyball, chocolate, back rubs, Budapest, bus trips...we arrived home safely to the cheers, smiles and hugs of loved one and friends. Thanks to all of you who came to the airport to make our homecoming so wonderful! Now, time to get some much needed sleep! We love you all and thank you for all you did to support us and make this trip possible!

Love,

Carol

Last night

Well everyone is calling it a night, our last night in Europe. We are all settled in the bed and breakfast in Budapest after a great day sightseeing in Budapest. This city is unlike anything I have seen before. The castles are magnificent! Many of us have shed our share of tears as we said goodbye to new friends that have found a special place in our hearts. Soon you get to hear the details from your loved ones and friends who spent the last 12 amazing days with us in Slovakia. You should be so proud of them because they were all amazing! Good night and seeyou soon! We love you all! Thanks for praying for us!

A big party in heaven!!

There are four parties going on in heaven and we could not be more excited. Dominic, a 16 year old boys accepted Christ last night at the tea house. He has been here all week and has been loved on by so many in our team and God used that love to start an amazing work in his heart. Brandon had the chance to sit and talk with him about the bible and Jesus last night and by the time the conversation was over, he had prayed to accept Christ! Wow, it was such a joy to see God at work.

Then today, God did an amazing work in the the life of three girls, two aged 13 and one 11, Mema, Jane and Niccola. We have seen them most days either at their school, at VBS or at the tea house and many of us have reached out to them and loved on them. God used Sydney's testimony that she shared at the carnival today to really open Mema's eyes to God's love for her. She started talking with Emma Terlizza and both of her friends with with her. Emma grabbed someone that was fluent in Slovak since the girls did not speak much English and Emma shared the gospel with all of them and loved on them. They seemed to know a good amount about God but did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. Emma and Vera (the Slovak that was interpreting) had the wonderful opportunity to pray with all three girls!! There were so many tears of joy!

Meghan and Chello have been loving on the people here and living like Jesus with them for four years as well as sharing the gospel with many of them. What a blessing to see God working through their faithful service to Him here for the past four years and we are blessed to be part of what God is doing.

I'm sure you can imagine that there is a lot of excitement on our team tonight. We are now at the tea house spending time with our three new sisters, a new brother and a lot of other kids so I have to run now and go love on some great kids.

Thank you again for all your prayers! Our time here has been sweet and we are excited that we will see you in a few days but so sad to leave this great place where God is using us in so many ways!

See you soon!

Carol
(P.S. Dominic is the boy with the blond hair and the three young girls in the other picture are Mema, Jane and Niccola)

Last day visiting school

I can't believe it is already Friday. We went to schools for the last day, talking to the kids, playing Simon says, hang man, pictionary, telephone and heads up seven up. We will do VBS today for the last day. It has been so much fun seeing the smiles on all the children's faces when they see our team coming. Thank you for praying for us. Everyone is doing so great. You would be proud of them! A bunch of us tried delicious homemade pastries this morning. Yum!!! Slovakian pizza is the best and we are snacking on some right now. It's off to VBS soon.

A Trip to the Castle

Today was a little different for us. Instead of working, visiting school and doing VBS, we had a great time touring a castle. We took a three hour bus ride to a beautiful Slovakian castle. Our team seems to have hit a bit of a wall today, they seem tired and some are a bit grumpy. Please pray with us that God energizes us and helps us live above our feelings. We have four more days of ministry and we want to do each one well! We are at the Agape House right now loving on the gypsy kids and that seems to be getting people excited again. This is a really relational trip and everyone is doing a great job loving all these kids! We will encourage everyone to get a good night sleep tonight cause we've probably been staying up later than we should.

I hope you are enjoying being on this incredible journey with us! We are excited to see what else God has in store for us!

:-) Carol

Such an amazing team!

I am so proud of how everyone on the team is doing. We've had two great days spending time in three different schools helping kids learn English, loving on them, playing games with them and just having fun. During the afternoons, we've had two vacation bible schools with lots of kids running around, looking to be loved and get some attention from "The American's". Watching the excitement on the faces of the people on our team as they paint their nails, play soccer, do crafts with the kids..., always trying to show them Jesus love, has made my day! They are all doing such a great job.

I think most of us have adjusted to this crazy new time zone. We are challenged by the rising of the sun around 5 am each morning that shines brightly in our rooms without much of a curtain on the windows!

Thank you all again for praying for us while we are here. We can tell you are praying, as God gives us strength when we are tired, helps us continue to step our of our comfort zone and trust Him.

Tomorrow is a team day for us and we will be going to visit a castle! Many of us are sad we won't see all the kids at VBS but we are looking forward to spending time with each other!

We hope you enjoy just a few more pictures of what's been going on here!

We miss all of you and will see you next week!

Carol

Still going strong!

We broke up into four groups this morning, three groups of five went to teach English at an elementary school and two high schools and one group met at the Agape house to continue with the work projects that we started last week. Everyone is doing such a great job!

Last night we ate Halusky for dinner, a typical Slovakian dish. The best way to describe it is almost like cheesy macaroni and cheese (but not exactly) with sour cream, bacon and kielbasa on it.

We are looking forward to our first VBS this afternoon, playing soccer with the high school students and then time at the Agape House with lots of the kids tonight.

We can feel your prayers for our team! Thanks for them.

Here's a few pictures just to give you an idea of what we've been up to. I hope to update you again soon!

:-)  Carol