Shopping & Team Prep

Today was a day to get acclimated to the time, learn a little about the culture and prepare for camp.

The team got to sleep in a little today, only having to be ready by 8:30 for breakfast. The problem. We started with meetings to learn about some of the dos and don'ts of camp. Then the team walked to the nearby market to exchange some money and pick up water. Later we had a short meeting to talk about the schedule of camp and main idea. Followed by lunch.

After which, the girls went shopping. Now before you get too excited. I would like to know how impressed I was at their sacrificed. They used almost all of their 2 checked bags for team supplies. Only having 1/4

of a medium sized suitcase for all personal clothing, toiletries, and necessities. They needed to purchase a couple of outfits here so that they can alternate them back and forth throughout camp. After stopping at a number of overpriced, very Euro style shops, we found a store with reasonable outfits we liked very much. I didn't think to take pictures of us in the newclothes, but I'm sure that you will see them throughout camp. We stopped for coffee on the way back, and did a little sight seeing as we walked to the bus stop. The last pictures is the team waiting for the bus to get back to camp.

In the evening we did some craft prep as we cut about 5 to 6 hundred yards of Ribbon/Yarn. We are not done, but got a good start on this. While working I had the privilege of listening to what brought each of the team members to Hope Center this year. As this took well over an hour, I can't type all of what they said. However, it is very clear that God has hand picked each of our team members specifically for this camp. I am so excited for this team.

Tricia, and Morgan joined me to so very rudely interrupt the Ukrainian Tea Party. We didn't mean to be rude, but wanted to meet the counselors. It turned out to be a great time to talk with some of the counselors and get to know them a little better. There where a lot of mouths dropping in unbelief, as many of the people in the group look younger than they really are. It is some of our first steps to bridging the gap between the different groups of people. And we invited them for dinner and ice cream tomorrow night.