Last days

We have had a great last couple of days. Yesterday we went to Vienna for the day and were able to tour the Schonbrunn palace. It was really interesting and BIG! Afterwards we split up to walk around, shop, and some of us got kaiser kreiners. These are huge sausages with cheese inside of a huge piece of bread and they are GOOD.

Today we went to the local baptist church, had lunch together, and returned to the DEPO for a cookout dinner and to meet with the group in Ruzinov that is hopefully the catalyst for a church plant there. It was really encouraging to meet with these fellow. Believers.

Tomorrow, we will be touring Bratislava. We are sad it will be our last day but are excited to see our family back home, too:). Thanks for following along on our journey and most of all, thanks for your support and your prayers--they are invaluable to us!

(unfortunately, I have no pictures to share because I'm blogging on my phone. Thanks for understanding;)

last day at the DEPO

Today was our last day working at the DEPO.  Everything went really well and we were all pretty sad to leave once it was over.  This morning we had our regular morning assembly and after that we had some fun with water balloons.  It definitely felt good to get wet amidst the heat and the kids all loved it. This afternoon, Darius (the leader @ DEPO) pulled out an inflatable basketball goal and a trampoline, which were all very fun for the kids (+the americans;).  We had a cookout this evening after the kids left and closed out our week of working at the DEPO.  The week has been successful and we pray that some of the connections we made with the kids this week will help connect our missionaries to more people, and ultimately be able to build long term relationships with them to share the Gospel.

Tomorrow we are headed to tour Vienna, and some of our new Slovak friends are coming along, so we are all looking forward to that.  Sunday we'll be going to the church connected with the DEPO, touring downtown Bratislava, and meeting with Jason and Charity's community group.

I'll update again soon, probably Sunday.  Thanks for your prayers!

snacks we made for the kids today

bowl full of water

water balloon fun

Jordan showcasing her awesome catching skills

sweet girls

Kayla with Birte + Mirka

trampoline fun

Jacob

Donnie, the camera man

quick update

Once again, today was very similar to our other days at the DEPO.  After our morning assembly and english lessons, some of the girls made collages and the boys played several rounds of capture the flag. This afternoon, some of the guys were able to help take down the barbed-wire from around the DEPO to make it look more inviting and the rest of us hung out with the kids who came and learned to do the wobble (shout-out to you if you know what the wobble is).  After some kick-ball at the park this afternoon, we grabbed some Chinese take-out and now we are all about to crash.  Tomorrow is our last day of camp and we have some pretty fun activities planned, so we should have some fun pictures from that.

Check out our day:

Pastor John likes to make cubes out of matches and taught several of us how to do it

This is the Bible story time in the morning

During the morning assembly

Playing shuffle-your-buns

the de-lish Chinese food we had for dinner tonight


catch y'all tomorrow!

camp @ D.E.P.O....round two

Howdy y'all...all the way from Slovakia.  Today was another day of camp at the D.E.P.0. and we followed the same basic schedule that we did yesterday.  This afternoon we played baseball with the kids and some of our team went prayer walking around the city.  Overall, it has been a great day and I think everyone is almost caught up on sleep.  Please continue to pray for the team and the Slovaks.

Enjoy a few pictures from our day:

...and here we are

We finally made it to Slovakia yesterday--the first group arrived mid-morning and the second group of us arrived last night around 6:00.  One thing is for sure, an extremely prolonged journey makes the arrival that much sweeter :)

Today was the first day of camp for us (the second for the Slovaks) at the DEPO.  We started off with an opening program which included a camp song & a Bible story with a skit.  After that, the kids headed off to english lessons with some of our ladies.  The rest of the morning we hung out, played some foosball and ping pong, made bracelets, and other fun things.

This afternoon we headed to a local park and played games with the kids and tried to recruit more kids to come play with us so that they get plugged into the program at the DEPO.  Plugging kids in means getting kids connected to the our missionaries here, and ultimately plugging their parents in to hopefully share the Gospel with them.

It was a great day, and we are looking forward to tomorrow--we're really hoping that we are all caught up on sleep in the morning!

Here's some straight-out-of-the-camera shots to give you a feel for how things went today:

Add caption

this would be ham flavored popcorn--quite the hit over here

RoseAnn finally got to see her grandbaby

finishing up after english lessons

choosing crafts

Ben got in on the bracelet making action too

Ben 

check out our snazzy bracelets w/ Ivanka

Bradley wanted a bracelet too

We managed to get a little olympic watching in too!

The Never-ending Journey

The fun journey continues! We have officially been on our traveling journey for 29 hours and have traveled in an actual airplane a total of 40 minutes...that's right, we're only in Washington D.C.! We were able to catch our flight here this morning and had a 10 hour layover. Our evening flight to Vienna, after several delays, has been further delayed until noon tomorrow. Luckily our airline has agreed to get us a hotel for the night.

So needless to say, there has been A LOT of time in Dulles airport today. Though not the most fun place, we've had plenty laughs, played plenty of Phase 10, read a lot, may have seem RoseAnn dance, and walked through Gates B + C MANY times! Now, we are waiting to get a hotel reservation and to actually get on a plane to Europe tomorrow.

We are all very tired (running on about 2-3 hours of sleep), but in good spirits and definitely ready to get to Bratislava.

In the meantime, let me ask you to pray alongside us for several specific things:

1. A flight and to arrive in Slovakia very soon.

2. Rest for our team. We REALLY need this tonight to be ready and prepared for whatever tomorrow holds (tomorrow could hold anything at this point;)

3. Patience. I asked the whole team what to ask y'all to pray for and this was the number one request (airlines can be difficult!)

4. Monday @ the DEPO; our original plan was to work a camp all week with the kids at the DEPO, but as of now, it doesn't look like we will make it in time for Monday's camp. Pray that we will make it for the camp or that another plan will work out well to fill the slot.

5. That we will do the work the Lord has planned for this week. We are convinced that the Lord either has some kingdom work for us to do in the airport or Satan is trying his best to keep us from getting to Slovakia on time. Whichever is true, we believe the Lord's mission WILL be accomplished and ask that you pray our hearts will be right and prepared for that work.

Thank y'all! Hopefully next time I blog we will be in Bratislava (or at least outside of the U.S.)!

A lil' delay

Hey everyone! So we've hit a little bump in the road tonight on our way to Slovakia. Our flight to Washington D.C. was cancelled due to the storms we've been experiencing tonight.

So we are staying in a hotel near the airport and will be flying out at 6am tomorrow morning and catching a flight to Europe tomorrow evening. We are all safe though and glad to have a bed to sleep in tonight as opposed to a nice airport bench :).

Needless to say, we're still on our way to Slovakia...just arriving a day late;)

Sleep tight, y'all!

Slovakia 2012

Hey RBC (and other friends and family stumbling upon this blog:), the Ridgecrest mission team is heading out to Bratislava, Slovakia this Friday, July 27.  We are all very excited and ready to go!

Here's this year's team:

Ben Francis
Rae Francis
Jordan Garnett
Amy Daughtridge
Sarah Daughtridge
Kayla Terry
Donnie Palmer
RoseAnn Palmer
Caitlin Morris
Bradley Morris

We ask that, as we go, you be in prayer for a few specific things:

1. That Christ Will Be Glorified.  In the Slovaks' lives, our lives, and in the work we are given the opportunity to do.

2. The Slovak People.  Pray that their hearts will be open and receptive to the Gospel.

3. Team Unity.  Pray that our team will be united throughout the ten days we are gone so that we can be an accurate reflection of the Gospel.

4. The Holloways + The Palmers.  These are our career missionaries in Slovakia.  Pray that they will be energized and encouraged throughout the year as they build relationships and share the Gospel with the Slovaks.


Thanks so much in advance for your love, support, and prayers as we go---we treasure your prayers so much!

Check this blog often for updates as we are gone on our trip.