Do the Bernie!

The weather has been pretty chilly these days. In the morning I am reminded of the Calvin and Hobbes comic where Calvin goes outside, makes a face, and then mentions, "I hate it when my boogers freeze", or something along those lines... :)

The weeks continue to fly by, but each day is a treasure for me, especially as I sense the end approaching. I know it is a long way off, but I cannot help but begin to feel the loss. The more invested I/we become in lives, the more difficult it is to think about leaving. Of course we are excited for home and all the lovely people back there. 

Slowly in our groups we are each receiving more responsibility. In a couple weeks Shari and I will lead our first teen club all alone! It is a little daunting, but exciting. We actually are doing a "culture night" on Tuesday night. Last night we presented the USA. After a brief history and holiday power point, we taught them some American dances :) This included a country line dance, compliments of Amy, the two step, which was taught by Shari, and I showed the video of the Bernie dance--holler! I was a blast seeing the kids get into the dances; it seemed like they each enjoyed at least one of the dances. 

This Saturday is a very exciting time for us students...it is the beginning of our mid-semester break and start of our trip to Italia! Woohoo! All six of us are going and we are all very excited! We will fly into Milan from Romania. After a few hours of sightseeing in Milan, we will take a train to Verona, where we will enjoy dinner. If you didn't know, Verona is the place where part of Letters to Juliet takes place :). After dinner and sightseeing we will hop back on the train and a couple hours later arrive in Venice. We will spend a day or two in Venice, hopefully getting in a gondola ride! After Venice we will head out--by train--to Florence, which is halfway from Venice to Rome. We will spend a day or two there (depending on how long we staying in Venice) and then hop on over to Rome! We will spend the rest of our time in that lovely city. We recently watched a documentary on Michelangelo so we are all very excited to see his work--especially the Sistine Chapel!

Prayer requests:

• Our trip to Italy, that it is a safe trip but also that we have unity in the group! Also that it is a restful experience, as some of us are feeling like we need one. 
• Wisdom for us as we are given the responsibility to plan different activities in our groups.
• Also, something on our hearts is the different clients we are working with. It is hard as the cold comes and we wonder how they will stay warm in the winter, or if they have warm clothing...etc. Please pray for them and the rest of Romania, as it is a hurting country. 
• Finally, that we would keep God as our center through it all.