A group from our church recently went to do a Basic Seminar and Children's Institute at a Romanian church in Georgia. Mr. Ouatu did the translation for the seminar, while Kevin Weston headed up the CI. We also had the pleasure of having Andrew Ouatu from Chicago to help out. The Ceausu and the Waltman families also came down from Tennessee to help out. Working with all the kids was a whole ton of work, but it was definitely worth it. The Lord was really working throughout the whole time, and I think everything went a lot better than any of us were expecting.

I'm going to post the pictures from the trip and try to keep them as a little bit of a timeline of everything that happened. Quite a few of the pictures Andrew and Johnny Ouatu, and Darleen Waltman took. Kyle took a number of them too.

Thursday, April 3rd


Here are Kevin, Justin and I waiting for our flight at LAX. Notice all the energy Kevn has in the picture...he definitely didn't look that way at the end of the trip. ;)


When we arrived in Georgia, they divided us into smaller groups to stay in the different homes. Kevin, Stephen, Kyle and I were fortunate enough to be able to stay together... and we had one of the minivans! As you can see in the picture above though, the housing situation wasn't exactly the best.


No really, this is where we stayed... and there was plenty of room for all of us! I had to go down two flights of stairs to get from the room Stephen and I were in room to get to Kevin and Kyle's room. Our hosts were extremely nice, and they always made sure we had plenty of food. :)

Friday, April 4th

On Friday we spent the day preparing for the Seminar and CI, and then in the evening we did the CI while the first session of the seminar played.


Here some of us are setting up a projector for the seminar. This picture was a tad posed, but we really did do this. :)


Here Kevin is doing the CI training, while we all listen attentively. You want to be prepared for those small group times... some of them would go way overtime.

Andrew, Stephen and I had to do an inventory of all the books for the book table.


The church.


The view looking out from the church. It rained off and on while we were there.


Ok, we weren't very stressed yet at this point. ;)

I don't have any pictures of the CI this night because we were all way too busy to be taking pictures. :)

Saturday, April 5th

I think this was the hardest day any of us had. We had the seminar and CI all day, and our lunch break was cut down from an hour and a half to twenty minutes. The fact that all the kids had a bunch of sweets for a snack didn't help to calm things down either. ;)

Here is Johnny with his team.


Here is Andrew Ouatu's team in large assembly.


Kevin and Kyle doing the parachute skit.


A small meeting at the end of the day. We were all quite tired at this point. :)

Sunday, April 6th

On Sunday we had the pleasure of going to a Romanian church service. It is very interesting listening to a service in a different language. You can pick up a few words here and there, but not much else. Directly after the service we had Sunday School, and they split us all into different classes and had us talk (some more than others). We only had to talk for a few minutes in the class I was in as they had another lesson. I think Kyle had to give a 5 point sermon in his...

Stephen getting ready in the morning. We had a king sized bed... Kevin and Kyle only got a queen sized bed. ;)


Working on some crafts.


One of our crafts was the "Chain of Command". They were supposed to make a small paper chain and write their authorities on the different chains. They liked making the chains so much that we ended up with a HUGE paper chain, with a bunch of smaller ones. I didn't stop them... I couldn't have asked for a better time killer. ;)


Working diligently on the chain.


Playing hangman. You can see some of the other chains in this picture.


Two of the kids in my class.

After we finished on Sunday night, we all drove up to Tennessee to the Ceausu's house...

Monday, April 7th

...we got there around 3:30am. And then we slept till around 10:40. :)


After we all woke up, we went to Cades Cove in the Smokey Mountains.


Getting ready to go...


There were quite a few deer there.


A scenic shot.


Another scenic shot.

The majority of our group next to a waterfall.


The waterfall we hiked to.

Driving back around the loop.

Another scenic shot.

Tuesday, April 8th


On Tuesday morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.


All the guys (except Kyle who took the picture).


On our way to Fort Loudoun after breakfast.


Fort Loudoun.


A shot of the fort.


Timmy catching a frisbee. I love this picture. :D


We played ultimate frisbee while everyone took turns out on the boat.


The two Benjamins and Andrews.


After we got back from the fort and lake, we went to the Waltman's house for dinner. We all had fun playing games, talking and singing.

Wednesday, April 9th

Eating breakfast and talking on the Ceausu's porch.


Singing some songs.


Around 11 we headed back to Georgia.


We took the scenic route. :)


Andrew and I taking a break from sitting in the car.


On our way again.

Thursday, April 10th


On Thursday we had extra time after the CI training and before the CI, so we were able to play another game of ultimate frisbee. ;)


Here was our team for the game.


Action shot.


Everyone a little tired afterwards.


Kevin and Emily leading some songs. The kids really loved some of the songs, so they were great ways to fill up time. :) During the small team times they would want to take turns singing them to me.


Thursday was the smallest night as we didn't have the seminar because they were watching something else.


It may have been the smallest night, but we had one of the best skits. :)

Friday, April 11th

We had some spare time on Friday morning so we went to visit the Biblical Ministries Worldwide headquarters. They know Kevin, so they gave us a little tour around their offices.


And then they had a cake for Kevin as it was his birthday. :)


After that we went over to one of the host's house for the rest of the day till the seminar that evening.


We played some air hockey.


Pool...


Had another party for Kevin...


Ate some cake... :)


And played some more games.


In the evening we had another session. I have to post this picture of me in this skit because I wasn't really up there much. ;) Actually, I would have rather not been in any skits... they are much more fun to watch. I also had a few kids on my team that needed someone sitting next to them...


Small team time.

Saturday, April 12th


It was raining really hard on Saturday morning, so people were a little late.

There was a wedding at a different church that day that a lot of the families went to, so there weren't as many kids. It made it a lot easier on us. :)


Kyle and Kevin in one of their many classic two-man skits.

Sunday, April 13th


After church and a session on Sunday, we went to a nearby park. We took a little walk.


And then played a little more ultimate frisbee.


I love the last two shots... we look so intense. :)


A group shot after the game. We meant to get one when we were in our dress clothes, but we forgot.

Kyle signing one of his hundreds of autographs. ;)


Getting ready for the parent presentation.


Kyle leading large assembly.

A group picture of my team right before we all left

We all left back for home on Sunday night and Monday morning. It was definitely a great trip and the Lord really blessed us all throughout it.