Transit Team

Final Destination...

2010-08-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

By the end of Transit Challenge we had...

travelled 10,870 miles (17,494 Km) in Wanda

driven through 22 different countries

done ministry in 10 different countries...

and slept in over 30 different beds...

(which means that we had to pack our bags and the van at least 30 times too!)

Yes...it's the end of our seven month journey and it's definitely been a journey full of challenges, adventures, fun, tears, prayer, excitement, ministry, tiredness and of course - lots of singing!

We have seen God provide for us in so many ways throughout our whole journey, both as a team and individually...and we have all been challenged in many different ways in our own walk with God...

Please pray for us now as we have all gone our separate ways - some of us continuing to work in mission and others going home to figure out the next step...

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do..."

Ephesians 2 v 10

Thank you for coming on the journey with us...

Love

The Transit Team xxx

Cheese and mountains...

2010-08-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

On our way home we stopped at Toni's house in the beautiful Emmental region of Switzerland for two days...There was no mountain climbing like we hoped, due to bad weather, but we did get to experience an open air cinema, explore a castle, visit an Emmental cheese factory and of course, eat an Emmental cheese fondue!

We got to watch the film 'Heidi' in German!

After our time in Switzerland we set off on our last Transit journey as a team up to Belgium for our debrief and arrived just in time for the OM Belgium BBQ...Saturday was spent in rainy Brugge and then two days of debrief and praying for each other before just 5 of us set off back to the UK...

On our way...

2010-08-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

We finished our outreach in Lake Como yesterday and tomorrow we will begin our journey home. First, we will stop in Switzerland for two days to stay at Toni's house (and hopefully climb a Swiss mountain) and then we will drive on to Belgium for our debrief. Please pray for us as we begin our final few journeys - that we can have time to relax in Switzerland and then as we spend some time reflecting on the past seven months...

Lake Como...

2010-08-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

Our ten days in Lake Como have proved that Italy is just as beautiful as it's reputed to be. We've enjoyed the stunning scenery as well as the passion and hospitality of the people, not to mention the food! It's true: pasta really is better in Italy.

Our time was spent doing an outreach in the town. This was the only country we've visited where our outreach was entirely based on street work. This posed a challenge for those of us who find that hard, but the week has highlighted the fact that there are many aspects to, and styles of reaching out. We learnt that praying really is as valuable as speaking to people, that listening is sometimes more necessary than talking, and most of all, our availability is our greatest ability.

"I was personally encouraged by discovering that music could be used by God in this style of outreach too. I was reluctant to play my saxophone on the street because I thought that you had to be really good to carry off street performances and I struggled to see how my average playing would help - it wasn't going to pull in crowds! But once I began to play I enjoyed the freedom of openly worshipping God in a public place and was surprised (and pleased) by the team saying that the music encouraged them as they spoke to people. I was reminded of Belgium, one of our first countries, where we heard that worship through music was powerful and made an impact on a place." (Amy)

A devotion that Tomoko shared on our last morning of planned outreach has certainly been true for us this week: 'But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.' 1 Corinthians 1v 27-29

"I love street Evangelism! - and during our ten day outreach in Lake Como we got to do a lot of it! For a few days we went to the local park and then later on during the week to the Piazza. I had many great conversations; it seemed God answered my prayers of putting me at the right place at the right time. One thing I learnt during this outreach was that I truly need to know who and what I am following. During many conversations it occurred to me that people thought church was just something that you do in your free time and God was just someone you said you believed in. They didn’t realise that believing in God is about having a relationship with him. It caused me to see clearly that the relationship we have with God is really really special and so much more than a church building on Sunday or reading your bible occasionally." (Hannah)

Transform 2010

2010-08-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

The first week of our time in Italy was spent at the Transform 2010 conference near Rome. Hundreds of people gathered from many different countries to take part in a week of worship and teaching before going out into the Mediterranean countries for outreach. This was a really valuable time of input for us and gave us renewed energy for our last outreach which would be in Lake Como in the north of Italy.

It was great to attend the Transform 2010 conference in Rome. Although Italy was the last country on our trip it was very refreshing to be part of a conference with lots of young people who were taking part in their first ever mission trip. Six months of being on the Transit team has been filled with a lot of programmes and performances - sharing with people and ‘being on stage’ was an essential part of our ministry. At Transform I went to a lot of seminars and workshops and just enjoyed the different teachings. Also, the worship times in the evening meetings and the services in the mornings gave me great joy. It was good to receive some input and I felt that I regained some new energy for the last outreach in Como in northern Italy. At Transform there were also people from all over the world and I liked the atmosphere of this international community. I had many good conversations and was also able to see some friends that I had met along the journey of the last two years - first on the Doulos and then travelling across Europe. This conference was a blessing for me. (Bennet)

All roads lead to Rome (via Torre Pellice...!)

2010-07-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

We're on our way to Rome! After a small problem with the van this morning (no petrol!) and only a few hours sleep for most of us, we left Austria behind and began the long journey of toll roads to Italy...It took a long, hot 12 hours before we arrived just in time for dinner with an OM couple - Matt and Rose, at their house in Torre Pellice. Now we'll set off again in just 3 hours time (3am) to begin the second part of our journey to Rome, ready to begin the conference tomorrow evening...

So long...farewell, it's time to say Adieu....

2010-07-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is our last night in Austria, and we can't quite believe how fast these three weeks have gone! Austria always seemed like such a long way away: our penultimate country, and now we leave for Rome in four hours!

Our time in Austria has been beautiful in more ways than one. Austria is a beautiful country and a balanced schedule has given us chance to enjoy this. We have loved swimming in Austria's lakes and climbing its hills. We've also enjoyed some excellent food during our time here, and can heartily commend Austrian barbecues having had about 6 of them during our stay!

Each week here has had a different focus. During our first week we had some cultural training and worked with a local church in Linz. We did some street outreach: talking to people as well as connecting them to the local church through invitations. It was an encouragement to see a Nepali family we invited come to an event run by the church and get connected with people in the church who could speak Nepali.

The children's programme we ran at the Sunday evangelistic service...

In our second week we worked with a different church alongside a short-term team from Finland. We helped the church run a three day event called 'Parkfest' in a local park...This was a fantastic opportunity to connect with the local people - especially since lots of the people came from the Balkan countries we had just visited...Lots of Kosovo and Bosnia flags were face painted! Each day around 60 children came to the park to play games, do craft activities, eat cake, play football, and hopefully build up relationships with the local church members.

At the end of the week we had the opportunity to run the church youth group for around 20 teenagers. Our theme was 'Where do you put your trust?' and Toni had the chance to give the message (for the first time...)

Our final week was spent working with the beginning of a church plant in a nearby town. Again we talked to local people and tried to build up awareness of the church's presence in the town. We were encouraged by how open and willing to talk people were.

One of the hardest things in Austria has been the heat - so...naturally, we found an excellent way to cool down!!

The hills are alive...

2010-07-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

The 27th June was a special day for our team, for two reasons....First of all, we would be leaving Sarajevo behind and driving all the way to Austria to begin our next three weeks of ministry, and secondly, it was the day that Germany would play England in the World Cup...Having three Brits and one German on the team the tension was high all through the journey...each person convinced that their own country would win (though the Brits were slightly less convinced)...The Australian was also hoping England would win - (which could have been something to do with a previous Germany v Australia game...)

We figured that now Wanda was better, we could do the journey in 10 hours easily...However, as it approached 4pm and we were only just approaching the Slovenian border we realised that we would have to just imagine what was happening on the pitch...Stopping at a petrol station in Slovenia we managed to catch the last two minutes of the game, and wish we hadn't - 4-1...! The Brits had been defeated....

However...some more good news was about to follow...as soon as we entered Austria we were able to reconnect again with our Navi-man...The last time we heard from him was in Germany and I don't think that he was happy about being kept in a box for the last 3 months. But let me introduce him properly - his name is Daniel and he is very British. He's quite a sensitive guy and doesn't like it when we make fun of his pronunciation of Austrian street names. He's not so up to date with the short cuts just yet but he has been kept in a box for a while so maybe he's just readjusting to working again. He has a Navi-partner, whose name is Emily, but she always sounds annoyed so we are just sticking with Daniel for the time being. We are very grateful for his return to the van and feel like he has become an eigth member of the team...

Toni reconnecting with Daniel

Our journey took a total of around 15 hours, passing through Croatia and Slovenia before we arrived in Linz, Austria, where we will be until 18th July.

Bosnian Coffee...

2010-07-09T23:23:00.001-07:00

One of the first things we were introduced to when we arrived in Bosnia was Bosnian coffee. This wasn't popular amongst the team as it's quite strong, and there is amusing evidence of our reactions to it earlier on our blog. However, as we experienced more of Bosnia we saw how significant a part coffee plays in the Bosnian culture. We discovered that Bosnians have a strong café culture. The culture here is very much relational, and this is reflected in the amount of time spent in coffee shops; it seems that Bosnians can make a cup of coffee last for hours. Consequently, coffee shops are actually a vital part of OM Bosnia's ministry, and we were able to also experience this during our stay here. When we were first told that we would be going to local coffee shops with the specific purpose of talking to people I was privately filled with dread. I find building a connection with strangers very difficult, and when I imagined going to a coffee shop expressly to talk to strangers I imagined a coffee shop in England. If I were to sit down next to a stranger in an English coffee shop and try to talk to them, they would probably think I was quite strange, and I would feel deeply uncomfortable. However, I underestimated the relational nature of Bosnian culture. People were so eager to talk to us, and so friendly, it was actually really enjoyable, and I experienced a first: having a lengthy, deep conversation with a stranger. It was such a good insight into how OM Bosnia operates and one of the many times on Transit when I have been able to experience local culture in a way I never could as a tourist. (Amy Woods)

Bosnia...

2010-06-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

Bosnia is split into two different parts - one being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is made up of mainly Bosniaks and the other being Republika Srpska, which is made up of mainly Serbians. The border of these two parts runs through Sarajevo. During one of our prayer walks we were able to walk from the Federation of Bosnia into the Republika Srpska. There is still lots of division between these two parts and we were able to spend time praying for reconciliation.

One of our activities during our time in Bosnia was 'Community Time' on an open grass area near to the high street. Each day we went down to this field and did a programme for the local children - Bible stories, drama, games, craft, face painting and balloon modelling. We loved going down and just spending time with the children - especially the gypsy children that came along as we would often see them in the town during the week.

The kids especially liked being face painted as tigers!

As well as the community time on the field, our other main area of ministry was to meet people and talk to them. This could be done quite easily on the street or in one of the many coffee shops.

The World Cup was a great conversation starter! Here is Hannah and Lisa with one of the girls they met on the street...

Fancy a cuppa?

2010-06-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

We heard from many people that Bosnia is a coffee drinking culture, and the team wasted no time in introducing us to Bosnian coffee - This wasn't even the full strength drink - I just hope that they like their tea too!!

We will be in Bosnia until 27th June...

Climb every mountain...

2010-06-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

Journeys in Wanda have become one of the highlights of Transit Challenge! Just before this journey from Kosovo to Bosnia Wanda was a little sick...not knowing that much about car mechanics, all I know is that the bit that holds the front wheels together wasn't in a good condition! Thankfully, there was a garage in Peja we could take it to and so Toni and Adam spent the whole of their day off fixing her up, ready to drive to Bosnia the following day! (I'm pleased to report that Wanda is now in perfectly good health!!)

So, we began our journey, back through the mountains from Peja to Sarajevo -about a ten hour journey - up and down mountains, reaching over 1800m high (5900ft) and higher in some places. Even though the road was so windy, the scenery was absolutely beautiful...

This is where we stopped for lunch...

Some of the scenery along the way...

This photo is taken from a bridge over this river...

Finally, we crossed the border....We were a little worried when we saw this sign - thought we had driven to the wrong country by mistake...but we were in the right place!

We even found our meeting place straight away, without getting lost!...

Between two fires...

2010-06-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

So, this is one of our favourite games at the moment....We learned how to play it in Moldova and it has been called many things, but 'Between two fires' is my favourite! It's kind of like dodgeball...we get all the kids in the middle and then throw a football at them! Great fun!!

This game we played in a village when we went to work with some Roma children. These were probably some of the nicest kids we have worked with in Kosovo...

We also attempted some face painting (on some very sweaty faces...) and balloon modelling with the kids...

As pretty much always, the kids sang with all their hearts - songs about Jesus...they learned a memory verse from the Bible and heard stories about how God loves them and made them special. These children also heard how God has invited them to be a part of his kingdom and the consequence of not accepting His invitation.

Many times I sit and watch the children as they sing and listen, and I wonder how much of what they are hearing and doing really impacts them...how many of them go home after the programme and think about what they just heard? These kids, who are so often rejected by society, really need people who will invest in their lives and encourage them to be more than what other people tell them they can be. Most of all, they need to know with their hearts the never-changing, never-ending love and grace of their saviour...

Uprooted...

2010-06-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

For three days we worked up at a camp, about 1200m high in the mountains. The owners have a big vision for what they want the camp to look like and hopefully aim to hand it over to local believers to run it in the years to come. We were there to help with some construction so, for three days, we dug and moved dirt, chopped firewood, moved trees from the forest, put up another tent for sleeping, made a new parking space, shovelled more dirt and moved a tree!

Here are the team attempting to move the tree...the first time it was put in wheelbarrows...that didn't work so well...!

Here is how it eventually worked!! Rolling it on pipes and wood! A long, slow process...

Success....the tree was finally replanted....Here's an interview with some of the tree movers!

Mountains...mountains and yet more mountains...

2010-06-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

To get from Montenegro to Kosova you basically drive up and up and up a huge mountain...go through some tunnels of rock...drive down a mountain, only to drive back up a huge mountain again! The highest we got was around 1800m where we were met by the friendliest border guards we have come across so far - (I guess there's not that much to do at the top of a mountain except talk to a lovely group of foreigners when they come your way!!)

Stopping for lunch on the side of the road!

This was the highest point of our journey...

The mountains are stunning! The driving is fun! Kosova is beautiful! This is where we will be for the next two weeks...

Montenegro...

2010-06-01T15:07:00.001-07:00

The journey from Albania to Montenegro was probably one of the shortest journeys that we have done in a while – just seven hours! But it went through some of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen! Right through the mountains the whole time until we arrived in a city by the sea in Montenegro.

We would only be in Montenegro for ten days but the time that we spent here was full of new experiences – especially being in a city where there is not yet a church and only one local believer! A lot of time is spent here on building relationships with the local people through activities like an English and German café, football, girl’s club, kids club and of course, going out for coffee and walking by the sea front!

One of the first things we were involved in was a club with some Roma children on the outskirts of the city and a kids club in the old part of the city. By now, we’ve done many many children’s programmes on Transit, but I never get bored of teaching the children how to play British Bulldog, showing dramas, singing songs and teaching Bible stories. Each time is totally different and it is so rewarding to be able to spend time with these children…

For the second half of our time in Montenegro we spent each morning at a Roma family’s home – fixing their roof, painting the bathroom and cleaning…The guy in charge of the household is just 18 years old and has a 15 year old wife and a gorgeous 10 month old baby. He looks after his own family plus his five younger siblings. He faces a tough job looking after everyone, so it was great to be able to help them out in the small way that we could.

Apart from the practical work we also spent time with the children. One of the activities we did with them was to have them decorate some wooden photo frames in which we put pictures of their family. They were so creative, and proud of their work when they had finished!

The second time we did the Roma kids club we taught them the story of the Enormous Turnip and how each person, no matter how small or how big is important to God and that we can all work together as a team. Shortly afterwards, the football disappeared down the hill and into the stream and we watched as the kids formed a human chain to rescue their ball! What great team work!!

Whilst in Montenegro we got to do a couple of things that were a little unexpected! The first was going to watch a volleyball match with some guys from the English café – Germany against Estonia and then Germany against Croatia…(Germany won both times…)

The second thing was climb a mountain – 1600m high (pretty high by British standards!)…The view wasn’t that great from the top but from time to time we were able to see through the cloud to Albania!

The third thing was watching the moon rise…I have never seen this happen – it was beautiful!

Albania...

2010-05-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

We spent two weeks in Albania in two different towns. The first week we spent some time with some Roma children in a day centre. We ran two separate programmes, playing games with the children, teaching them Bible stories, singing songs and doing some craft activities.

We also spent a lot of time in a nearby village, working with the Church there. One of the things we did was a girls club after the Church service. We shared testimonies with the girls, made bead bracelets and played games with them.

At the village there was a showing of the Magdalena film (like the Jesus film) so we went out into the village giving out invitations with some of the girls from the church. The film was shown just after we left, in two separate showings. We heard that 80 people came on the first day and 40 people on the second day!

In the village, some of us also had the chance to go to people's homes and share the gospel with them.

The second week we moved on to a different town, by the sea. Here, the boys had a fun time doing some practical work, digging a ditch! and the girls had fun baking cakes for a worship event with the local church!!

We also helped to run a fun day in a nearby village for primary and secondary children, which was lots of fun!

We have now moved on to Montenegro and will be here for ten days, until the 30th of May.

Wanda on the move...

2010-05-07T03:20:00.000-07:00

After one month it was now time to say goodbye to Moldova and set off on the long long journey to Albania! This would take us three days, two youth hostels, eight border crossings and four countries!

After having a lovely picnic in the countryside of Romania we arrived in Ruse - Bulgaria to stay at the 'English Guest House' which was indeed an English guest house, run by a guy from Manchester!! After telling the boys that their room had only just been built for them that day - we headed out for a kebab (we haven't had one since Germany!!)...

Posing with the Bulgarian Flag...!

The second day we drove all the way across Bulgaria to Sofia and 'Hostel Mostel,' which was a wonderful looking hostel - a converted inn from the 14th century with free pasta in the evening and all you can eat breakfast in the morning...However, when we got to the hostel we were told that they had double booked us, so they didn't actually have any rooms for us after all! They did offer us an alternative though - Gullivers Hostel, which ended up being nearly as lovely!!

The last day of our travel saw us pass through the final three countries and the border crossings that we were slightly worried about! However, we made it through without any problems - not even being stopped by the police once during the whole three days!! and the scenery was beautiful!

This day saw us eat breakfast in Bulgaria, lunch in Macedonia and Dinner in Albania...

Finally, we arrived in Albania and will be here until 20th May...

Transit Team in Action...

2010-05-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Playing ball games with some of the children from the day centre in Crocmaz with the bus 4 life...

Teaching the children how to sing 'He's got the whole world in his hands' in Romanian.

Bus 4 Life

2010-05-02T08:14:00.001-07:00

We spent eight days working with the Bus 4 Life, Travelling round different parts of the Stefan Voda County in the south of Moldova. The bus is used to distribute Christian literature to places that don't have good access to Christian resources. On board the bus there is also a movie screen and so the bus can be used to do programmes for youth and children as well. We often would serve coffee and tea during the day and then do children's programmes outside.

During our time with the bus we worked in two different villages and one larger town. In each place we had children's programmes either in a day centre or Kindergarten and we also attended Church services where we would be expected to sing some songs and share our testimony, as well as presenting Transit Challenge.

Sometimes, if no one came to the bus we would go out into the village and find people to invite - we also did this outside the school so that lots of children would come!! One time we had 125 children turn up for a programme! - It was a little chaotic, but lots of fun!!

With all the children in the village
of Antonesti!

In the village of Slobazia the youth group from the church helped us out a lot - they came tracting with us and helped with the open air evangelism outside the bus.

With the youth group from Slobazia!

One of the children's programmes on the bus. We would often present our countries, share testimonies, sing songs, share the gospel, make crafts and play games.

As well as working with the bus, there was also some sports ministry in each of the three places - usually football training! The guys would play football - sometimes pre-organised and sometimes they would just meet children / youth who wanted to play. At the end of the game there would be a short talk with a testimony or a story.

God is really using the Bus 4 Life in amazing ways...please continue to pray for it as it moves around eastern Europe and comes back to visit Moldova in May...

Hannah's Birthday!!

2010-05-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hannah had a birthday!! We celebrated in style!! She is no longer 18...but is loving every minute of being a 19 year old!!

Spring Caravan...

2010-04-23T02:48:00.000-07:00

The 'Spring Caravan' happened just after the Easter weekend. The plan was to visit four different villages with a children's programme and visits to the elderly - helping with a feeding programme and doing any practical work that was needed. We spent the first day planning our children's programme, which ended up being a tour of the different countries. In each country the children would learn a little about the place then either play a game, sing a song or do a craft activity. We also included Moldova in the programme so that they could show us something from their country before praying for it.

In the village of Ilenuta we were able to visit several elderly people and take them some food and talk to them. The lady on the right is the oldest lady in this village. She is here with her daughter-in-law and great grandson.

We were able to stay with different families during our time in Ilenuta. Below is the family that the girls stayed with - Svetlana, Antoni and Natasha. This was a wonderful family to stay with. They liked their animals - to get to the outside toilet we had to negotiate our way past dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, a cow, calf and bull, horse and some pigs! - Quite an adventure!! We had lots of fun trying to communicate with them in Russian/Romanian/English and drawings!!

In the next village of Albinetual Nou we went to help the church with their programme of feeding the elderly. However, when we got there, we were told that one old lady had gone into hospital and so we decided to plough her field instead! For most of us, this was the first time to do this and we had lots of fun! It was hard work though - the old lady would have done it all by herself - she was 77 years old!!

Here is the lovely ploughed field!!

On the Saturday of the Spring Caravan we were able to go to one of the parks in Chisinau to do some evangelism. We were joined by some people from the international church and went to talk to people and give out some tracts. Hannah and I (Lisa) had a very interesting conversation with a young guy called Michael who knew all about religion but had never considered that he could have a personal relationship with God. I was able to share my testimony with him and we prayed with him. The people in Moldova are quite open to talk about religion and each group was able to share the gospel with at least one person.

Sunday was spent in a village called Malcoci where we were part of the church service in the morning and then we did the children's programme in the sunday school.

The children would travel from country to country by different

types of transport. Here they are coming from Moldova to England

by train!!

New bus driver...???

2010-04-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

We would like you to meet our new bus driver - Boris!!

He's very reliable and has lots and lots of energy!!

Rezina....

2010-04-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

The first four days of our time in Moldova we spent with a local ministry team in Rezina, in the north. Here, we spent the first day doing practical work around the church - painting a fence, painting the kerb and taking tape off windows! as well as stopping inbetween to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and play games with the kids!

It was Easter weekend so the church was getting ready for the Easter Sunday service in which the transit team had to sing two songs (It wasn't so bad I don't think!!) After the service there was a children's programme for two hours and then a second service in the evening.

During our time in Rezina we stayed with two local

families...The girls stayed with a wonderful family

and we were able to spend each evening talking, drinking compote (Moldovan fruit juice!) and eating lovely Moldovan chocolate with them!!

Food glorious food!!

2010-04-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

Moldovan food is wonderful!! We are all enjoying it and eating way too much!! Here's a typical Moldovan meal that we have been eating...mmmmmm.......

A tale of Wanda, the Wandering Van....

2010-04-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well, the journey to Moldova took a little longer than expected! - by the end of it we had spent more than 41 hours in the van and travelled through five different countries, stopping off for the night in Hungary and Romania before finally arriving in Moldova on April 1st.

Toni is in the van!!

The adventure began in the Czech Republic, where we got stopped by the police and Toni got taken into this van - turns out we hadn't paid our road tax...were given a fine and sent on our way...!

Slovakia presented us with no problems and we drove on to Hungary...We arrived in Budapest in good time, but our google map did not give us clear directions to our destination so we spent around two hours driving round Budapest and the surrounding area, talking to many people along the way, trying to find the address we needed...Finally, we arrived at the right address, only to find that we were in the wrong city!! Six hours later we arrived at the Csernus family home for dinner - and then spent the next day at Istvans house.

Istvan gave us a tour of Budapest by night!

The last stop on our journey was Romania, and, all was going well here, until we had to use our google map again!! This time however, we thought we would be wise and paid a taxi driver to lead us to our 'villa.' Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all as we ended up waiting in the van outside an abandoned orthodox church for the owner of the villa to turn up - only 3 hours late this time!!

Turns out, we weren't really staying in a villa...like the name suggested, but instead in a random apartment where we all had to squeeze into the tiny kitchen as it was the only place that we were allowed to eat! As the owner told us 'we were VERY lucky to stay in the apartment' even though the boys had to sleep on the floor in the lounge!

Spent the next day in Brasov before setting off on the last leg of the journey - Romania to Moldova...by now we had given up looking for nice places to stop and eat and just stopped on the side of the road....

The end of our journey was in sight...we crossed the Romanian border without any problems and thought that we were in Moldova when we saw another border and realised that we had celebrated too early - we had only managed to leave Romania and had not actually entered Moldova yet!!....At the border there was no problem with Hannah's visa....however, they were not happy with Wanda...Turns out that we needed a separate form to prove that we were allowed to drive the van, so, we were sent back to Romania where, after a couple of hours, several phonecalls to Belgium and a visit to two slightly dodgy internet cafes...we headed back to the border to try again....After about two hours, and a slightly scary time where we thought the border guard had either lost our passports or given them out to some random Moldovans, we were allowed through!! All that was left now was the dark and rainy drive to Chisinau on a Moldovan road (which means no sign posts, no lights and not a lot of tarmac!!)

so...five days later, we arrived safely in Moldova! Praise God for an eventful, but safe, journey!!

Wanda did us proud! - she got us all the way from Germany to Moldova without any problems. However, she is a little sick right now - please pray that we can find out what is wrong with her and fix her during our stay here...

On the road again...

2010-03-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we were supposed to leave Halle a week ago, but, we could only get a visa for Moldova for one month instead of 6 weeks, so we stayed in Germany for an extra week and will leave on Sunday to begin the travel to Chisinau, via the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania – altogether we will spend around 30 hours in the van!! Please pray that we get there safely (and don’t get too lost along the way!)....

Spring is here!!

2010-03-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived in Germany!! So, we made the most of the beautiful weather to have a team outing to Thale – it was such a beautiful day – we hiked in a forest, went on a toboggan run (twice!), had a picnic, played some ultimate Frisbee and visited a lovely little town called Quedlinburg! This was all finished off with some wonderful Indian food cooked for us by Selena, one of the OM team here in Halle!

prayer walk

2010-03-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

After being in Jena for one week, we travelled a couple of hours north up to Halle to work with the OM team there. This week was called ‘Pursuing the Presence of God.’
During the week we worked with teenagers and students in various groups, where we shared testimonies, played games, prayed and even did some Scottish dancing!
Two of the days we spent at the ‘Schnitte’ which is in an area of Halle where there are lots of high rise flats. The children can come to the Schnitte for a hot meal each day and then there are various activities for them to do. We prepared two programmes which included testimonies, games, songs, face painting, bead making, drama and parachute games!

View from the 21st floor of a block of flats -during our prayer walk

Face painting with some of the children from the Schnitte

Hannah sharing her testimony

EXTREME DAYS

2010-03-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

“Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 10v38-39

‘A life without compromise for Jesus’ was the theme of the Extreme Days, in which we were joined by 12 teens in the EFG church in Jena, a city in the east of Germany. Every morning, before breakfast, we each had a teen prayer partner who we met with to pray for the day. Then, after morning devotions and breakfast, the teens went off to school. Whilst the teens were at school, the team was able to go into several classes in the local Christian high school and teach a lesson. One of the activities in the lesson involved asking the students about their view of God – if they thought that He had any influence in their lives, and what they thought the purpose of their life was. It was interesting to see their response and, although it was a Christian school, hardly any of the students would say that God had a role to play in their life.

On the Saturday, the teens were involved in outreach during the
day. The first thing was to do some street evangelism, and the group was split up into three separate groups – face painting/balloon modelling, giving out coffee and Bible verses and Bible swapping. It was really encouraging to see the teens so excited about going out to do evangelism in their own city – pray that this enthusiasm will continue and they will be challenged to share their faith with the people around them.

The second part of the outreach was to go into an old people’s home where we had two separate groups. The first group went to talk to the old people, play games with them and share stories. The second group had prepared a 30 minute programme which involved drama, worship, prayer and testimonies. We then gave out flowers with Bible verses to each person.

The team with some of the teens from the week

Traveling to Germany

2010-03-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Our transit van!!

2010-03-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

Pure Praise concert

2010-02-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

Last night the team went to Pure Praise, a worhsip concert to advertise the 'Transform 2010' conference.

Since 'Transform 2010' is in Italy we created an Italian themed stand and made biscotti. The concert was in both Flemish and English and we were able to enjoy it in between talking to people about Transform.

Morning study

2010-02-27T02:37:00.000-08:00

During our weekly Core Study we focused on "Living in Submission to the Body of Christ".

It was enjoyable and a helful topic for the team.

Adam has a cold.

He took bitter medicine!

Please pray for him and the teams health.

We found rice crackers, it tastes like Japanese food so this made Tomoko happy!

Bennet also likes it so we ate alot!

Tienen ministry (day two)

2010-02-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

We started to worship through singing in the town center, a local TV crew came and filmed us, they were making a documentary of the town trying to advertise it.

We shared the gospel with a lot of people.
More than 5 people accepted Jesus as their Savior in this day.
Only God could do that.

Thank you God for using us to share God's word to save people.
Please pray for Tienen.

Training and Practical work

2010-02-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our "home"!

2010-02-26T12:51:00.001-08:00

Bennet's family visited us!

We were very happy to meet them.

Church visit

2010-02-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

We visited a Flemish Church on Sunday morning.

This Church has been supporting OM and its ministry for a long time.

We did a short presentation about an up coming conference in Italy called 'Transform 2010.'

Tomoko also shared how she got into missions.

After service we spoke with some of the young people and encouraged them to get out there and serve God.

Practical work and homeless ministry...

2010-02-19T12:38:00.000-08:00

Practical work Guys cleaned outside and girls cleaned inside of building.

We bought a lot of food for homeless people.

Thank you for your support in our ministry.

Preparing food for homeless ministry with joy.

80 sandwiches, 50 bananas, 30 apples, 9 boxes of biscuits, 9 thermos bottles of tea and coffee.

We are really happy to bless the people.

Our Doulos friend Daniel (France) joined us. He could talk with the people in their language and listen to them. And he translated for us. Many young men are there. They did drugs and lost everything. They want someone to listen to their story.

Lisa can speak French as well. She met Rebecca who is the only one homeless woman in this area. Lisa was able to help her.

Tomoko met a man from Iran. He Lived in Japan for 7 years so he can speak Japanese very well. He is intelligence but now he is homeless for 10 years in Belgium. He was happy to talk with Tomoko in Japanese. This was a first time he spoke with Japanese in Belgium. After the conversation, she prayed for him. He was happy with it.

Give thanks to God for He brought us to bless the homeless people in Belgium.

Please pray for their salvation.

We hope that we will go there again.

Transit "chocolate" challenge

2010-02-17T13:34:00.001-08:00

Lisa's birthday/relaxation

2010-02-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

Who said missionaries were always serious??

Our pirate leader on her birthday treasure hunt!

There are actually such things as indoor sparklers, so we lit them... outside!

Kids club

2010-02-17T12:30:00.000-08:00

Performing a drama for kids pretending to know and understand the language and getting the action in right timing to the Flemish narration!

The club had a valentine/love theme with the message that Jesus loves us!

Talk with locals

2010-02-16T13:51:00.000-08:00

Amy talked with local musicians.

They sang for her.

We met local jugglers in the park.

We played juggling together. Toni tried to play the didgeridoo. Tomoko learned a new skill of poi from them. Adam shared what are we doing in Europe. We enjoyed to spend time with them.

We talked with a lot of people in Brussels. And we found that Belgian is very nice and kind.

Exploration outing to Brussels minus Hannah :(

2010-02-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

Traveling to Belgium

2010-02-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

I DIDN'T THINK EUROPE WAS A MISSION FIELD

2010-02-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

Upon news of the decommissioning of the Doulos, Tomoko was asked whether she wanted to go to Europe with OM. "I didn't think Europe was a mission field," said Tomoko (Japan). "I thought there were many Christians in Europe!"

As Tomoko prayed about it, God spoke to her. One day, while unloading books for Logos Hope, she heard God clearly tell her that she should join the Transit Challenge team. There were only a few days left and six team members had already been accepted. There was only one space left, but within two days, her placement was approved.

"The transition time has been quite challenging," said Tomoko, "but I am look forward to leaving for Belgium this Sunday. I am excited about the ministry we will be involved in over the next few months in Europe."

Pray that God would use the Transit Challenge team to encourage local churches and OM teams in 7 countries over the next 7 months.

International Night in UK

2010-02-12T11:07:00.000-08:00

Face painting and magic tricks

2010-02-12T04:21:00.000-08:00

We learned face painting and magic tricks.

Adam tried to put a long nail in his nose. That's amazing!

I'm happy that we can use new skill for the youth ministry.

Kids ministry training

2010-02-11T11:30:00.000-08:00