Poverty and Rain

What a day! Hard to believe it’s already the end of Friday and we’ve been gone over half a week.

Today we had the chance to visit some of the families served by Ethos (a multifaceted ministry that is loosely connected to Open Roads). This opportunity was challenging and eye opening. The families we briefly visited live in extreme poverty. As a veteran of trips to AFE (the school located in a Tegucigalpa dump) I, Ben, was able to draw many parallels to my experiences in Honduras. This was a great experience for me because it brought back memories of families and friends I met in Honduras in years past. In that moment I was able to throw up some prayers for my Honduran friends. Another difficulty of the visit to the homes today was trying to understand why we did it. It felt quite awkward as we stood there and got just a quick snap shot of heir lives. It seemed as if we were simply gawkers. What we learned later on is that these families are sponsored by Ethos Ministry, which means they have ongoing, daily support from them. Although it was our only time to see them, they have meaningful relationships with Romanian Christians. This truth allowed us to see that we were not the “American Saciors” coming to save the day. Instead we got to partner with Ethos and Open Roads who are teaching these people to fish, not just giving them fish. Continue reading

We Made It!

This post is written by two weary travelers (Taletha and Ali), at close to midnight, after over 24 hours of non-stop travel and limited sleep. Please make a note of it.

Hey bros!

WE MADE IT! PRAISE THE LORD! After taking a bus, two planes and another bus (it took us just as long to get from Bucharest to Craiova as it did from O’Hare to Vienna), we have finally arrived at the Ethos neighborhood where we are all staying (our home away from home). We are all here, minus one checked bag with some of the guys’ clothes, which will hopefully make it here tomorrow. They’ll be able to stay fresh until then though :). It was fun for those of us who have been before to reconnect with our friends, it was also a blessing for new friendships to be formed. The planes were comfortable, most of the team was able to get some good sleep, while others stayed up the entire way watching movies and playing games on the individual screens we each had.

Some things to pray for: overall health of our tired team after over 24 hours of travelling, and for our bag to arrive on time (it has Pat’s cheese in it).

Tomorrow begins the camp planning with the Open Roads leadership team, amongst . We are very excited and hope we can get enough sleep now in Azyl, the Ethos Nursing Home to have enough energy to keep up with everyone!  We have settled in and are excited to see what God has in store.

Ali and Taletha (or T, or Wiz Talifa)
It was good to get the old blogging team back together. The two of us writing this wrote a similar post nearly two years ago on our first night in Honduras.

Meet Emily

Hi, my name is Emily. I am going to be a senior at Waunakee High School this year.

 This is my first year going to Romania. I love to sing; that and music has a large impact in my life. I’ve also played many instruments throughout my life, but my favorite is the piano. I’ve attempted just about every sport a girl can play, but have never stuck with one for more than a few years. My favorite food in the whole world, compared to anything else ever created is……*drum roll please*…CHEESE!!!!!!!!!

I want to say thank you to all of the people who donated to this to help make it possible for me and the rest of the team. Also a big shoutout to my youth group leaders E Bossy and Sarah! I couldn’t ask for more loving and caring women in my life to guide me and be there for me through my High School experience. I’ve always really enjoyed and had a passion for helping people in any way I can. Because of this I am extremely excited for this trip! I can’t wait to see how God uses us to work and make a difference in these orphans lives. It is such a blessing.

Meet Dakota

Hey there everyone, Dakota here!  
I’m so excited to be able to be apart of an amazing team of stupendous friends! I’ve heard so many stories (some of them quite funny) about Romania from my good friend and fellow homeschooler Ben C, and it made me want to become a part of this trip. (Homeschoolers be rockin it!) I’ve been going to the HSM Fitchburg Home Group for about a year now. I’m so thankful to all my supporters who helped make this trip happen. 

Some things about me are that, I love longboarding, hiking, biking, and going shopping! If you think it’s easy being tall…your far wrong, I’m 6,6 so doors aren’t fun, I don’t play basketball because I can’t get the ball in the hoop. Thanks for spending 1 3/4 minutes reading my cool bio,

Dakota XD 

Catch y’all later!

Meet Dan

Hey all, Dan here!
I can’t tell you how excited I am to be on the team this year, having heard stories for the past five years about how great this trip is from my siblings. I have gone to Alaska the past two years with Noah (I’m the one on the right in this picture)  

 and those trips really opened up my eyes to the fact that God is present no matter how far you go, whether Alaska, Romania, or anywhere else. I’m psyched to have the opportunity to witness His presence in new ways and places in the next few weeks. I’m looking forward to experiencing what God has planned for me in Romania, and the different ways He’ll show himself through me and those around me. 

See you guys in the comment section!

Meet Cierra

Hello! My name is Cierra (pictured below with messy bun), pronounced as C-air-a, you’d be suprised at how often that gets confused. Anyway, I am going to be senior during this upcoming school year at Waunakee High School. I am so blessed to be given this opportunity to travel with a amazing group of people to do God’s work in Romania. I am incredibly excited! 
Continue reading

Meet Kira

KiraMusic has always been a way for me to connect to God. When I was much younger, and when I was still an only child and my parents worshiped the ground I walked on, (sometimes I miss those days) my mom would take the time to sing me to sleep with hymns she had learned in her youth, and so every night I would fall asleep with songs of God’s love on my heart. In this way, I experienced God first through the faith of my family and the music that they gave me. I continued to find God in music as I grew a bit older.  The first time I consciously felt God’s presence was when I went to “grown-up church” with my parents, probably because I was bored of Sunday school, and instead of having a traditional worship service a cellist came and played a small concert. All I remember from the performance is being in awe of such a soulful instrument. I have since thought that God’s voice must sound like the cello. Continue reading