Buna

Hey Everyone,

It has been a few days since the last post, and there is a ton to catch up on. On Thursday, April's team went to Luminitza, which is the orphanage that handles children with special needs. Nate and April worked with a few of the older kids and Kellen and Kelsey worked with the two pre school aged children. Nate also took one of the autistic orphans on a walk with a staff member to a store and bouht him some candy, then they had a pretzel eating race that was quite a hit.

Ryan's team went to Tei, which is a day care center, but a lot of the kids still sleep there and spend a lot of their time there. The kids were adorable and learned about how God changes us, which was illustrated by reading the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, then they made their own butterflies. The kids there were so loving and well behaved, it was a blessing to get to meet them and spend time with them.

After lunch the whole team stayed at the ministry center, where low income families were welcomed for a VBS lesson and games. April was asked to help a few girls who were a part of the "Heart to Heart" program that Children to Love does, with english lessons during some of that time, and she willingly gave her time. The Heart to Heart program is where a CTL staff member works more closely with a smaller group of orphans on a more personal level. She helped the girls and made a strong connection with them and they invited her to go ice skating with them on friday.

On Friday, April, Nate, Kellen and Kelsey, went to Orphanage #6 and made snow men with the preschoolers. Ryan, Christie, Bree, and Larissa went to Sf. Ana and talked about David and Jonathan from the Bible, and how to be a good friend. After the lesson everyone made friendship bracelets.

After lunch the whole team, minus April, went to orphanage #7 where they taught on friendship again, and made more bracelets. Each team member was given multiple bracelets, some even got necklaces, and one team member even got a ring. All of this was so encouraging, just seeing that even though our time there is limited, we are still able to connect a little with each kid we come in contact with and hopefully show God's love to them.

April went ice skating with the girls she had given english lessons to, and continued to strengthen the relationship between CTL and those girls, which was awesome.

On Saturday the team woke up bright and early at 7:20 and got on a train and went to Sinaia. There they toured the Peles Castle, which was teh summer home of King Carol I. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful city. Everything was covered in snow and the team had a great time.

The trip continues to go well and God's hand is definitely upon this group. Thank you so much for all your prayers. I hope you continue to pray. God has for sure been working in our VBS, which we had to rework on the fly a little, but the fact that the kids are loving it is just a testament to how great and powerful our God is. Thanks again for all your prayers, love, and support.

-Team Romania