Last Day in Köln

Well, for our last day in Germany half of the group got the chance to go to the zoo with a group of fourth graders. It was very interesting to see the differences in their zoo and ours. For example, we were close enough to the outdoor penguin exhibit to actually touch them. The kids also found it funny that the zoo had a raccoon exhibit. We had a great time and are ready to hang out and play some soccer and ultimate frisbee at the coffee house. God has certainly forged relationships between our students and the German students here. The other group (along with Colton) is back at the all-girl's high school. We will all meet up around 4:00 and do some shopping before heading to a big dinner with all of our new friends who have helped us so much here in Köln. We have about 30 people all together, so it should be a nice party for our last night. After that we will be levying the hostel at about 5:00 am for the airport. We will be back to DFW at 3:20. We will see you all at the end of customs in Terminal D. We have had a great time, but all of to reading this are sorely missed by all of us. So long from Germany, we will see everyone tomorrow.

Snapshots from Day 2

Tomorrow's our last day???????

Our time in India has gone way too fast! Although we miss all of you, we are dreading the goodbyes we will say to our new camp friends tomorrow.  For you mission trip alums, you know the dreaded last goodbye and the resulting tears!

We continued our camp program today with teachings on Jesus as our Provider, our Teacher, and our Healer.  The team did a super job and the skits were great!  The Indian children are so eager to perform their songs and dances for us as well.  Perhaps the most beautiful sound this morning were voices joined together singing, "I could sing of Your love forever" in English and Telegu.  Courageous and sweet American teenagers who gave up their spring break to serve and the precious Indian children so grateful to be held and loved created an amazing melody...some sappy people might have actually cried while they were videotaping :).  As trip leaders, it is difficult to communicate in words how blessed we are by this team!

As we shared together in devotion tonight, it became apparent that the theme was, "I am not the same," as students shared how God has changed them on this trip.  What an amazing time we have had together!  This will probably be our last posting from India as we have a full day tomorrow with camp and a little shopping before we head to the airport to begin our journey back to America tomorrow night.

Our hearts are full!

Busy in Germany

Well, things have really been busy over the past couple of days. On both Monday and Tuesday we split up into two groups to visit some of the schools here in Germany. We have gotten the chance to visit a Christian School, a middle school, an elementary school, and an all-girls high school. [Colton was a little too excited to find himself in that particular group. :-)] the kids have done an awesome job forming relationships with the kids in a short time. We all have lots of new Facebook friends. We have also gotten the chance to really make some great connections for the missionaries on the ground here. In the late afternoons we have been able to hang out at a coffeehouse that two of the missionaries here run as a way to connect to the kids in the area. We are back in schools tomorrow, on our last day here. One group is actually accompanying an English class to the zoo for a field trip God is certainly using the team to do some awesome things. Please continue to pray that God will give us the strength to make it through one more day.

Happy Campers

Today was a very successful first day of VBS for the India team! We went out to the country (passed a couple goat farms en route) to a home for former street children and were met by lots of friendly faces saying, "Hi, brother!" and "Hi, sister!" The kids from the orphanage were our first friends, but we were soon joined by a couple other groups: one from the school we visited the other day and a couple that traveled 16-18 hours to attend camp. Our hosts had set up a large canopy to give us a break from the sun, giving our camp a bit of a big top flair. :)

We played and played and played today: cricket and volleyball and duck-duck-goose and more. Our students were amazing: so full of enthusisasm and energy, so attentive to the kids around them. It was also fun to see their resourcefulness in action as they invented games or built a human boat to illustrate a parable or devised new methods to distribute glue to 15 kids at the same time.

Our team's outpouring of love was a joy to watch, and although we are tired at the end of this day, we are happy campers.

And we are so conscious of the words we sang during a sweet time of worship together tonight: He loves us. We are eager to give out a little bit of that love tomorrow on day #2.

Game Time

It's morning here in Hyderabad, and we are waiting for our bus with suitcases full of craft supplies for today's VBS kick-off. We are expecting about 150 kids and are excited to get going on what we have prepared to do.

It was an honor yesterday to worship with 2 different congregations and in 2 distinctive styles. The morning service we attended was very traditional and conducted in Telugu (language of the state we're in) with women and men seated separately. Our girls wore their punjabis again, and our guys decided to join the club and wear theirs as well. The people were very welcoming, and we really enjoyed the music, the church member's testimonies (hooray for a translator!), and the hospitality of a cold cup of Sprite afterward. Most of the service was a blur of exuberant Telugu, but we did manage to chime in with a "Hallelujah!" every once in a while. :) A couple of our students were able to share their stories as well, and it was fun to be able to share in the goodness of our God with His people here.

After a gourmet lunch at an upscale vegetarian restaurant (including a welcome cup of coffee), we headed to an English evening service at a Baptist church and were met with warm greetings and fresh flowers for each member of the team. We enjoyed a mixture of familiar hymns and new songs as well as a wonderful message on the kingdom of God from Mr. Kathramalla.

We'd love to write more, but the bus just pulled up! We are praying for the team in Germany and can't wait to give everyone a more detailed update when we return. Thank you for your prayers! We are grateful.

Line Dancing with Germans