Friday, August 31, 2007

Countdown to Estonia..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1 day

To send the team off in style, Tim Rice - leader of our ground support team - threw a send off dinner for the College Ministry team and a few members from prevous Estonia teams who've gone before us. We filled up on tasty salad, pastas and bread from Maggiano's - thanks, Tim! - and finished off the meal with cheesecake and homemade key lime pie for dessert. After dinner, we took some time to prepare our hearts for the trip with prayer, as well as stories and helpful tips from those who have gone on previous mission trips to Estonia. They shared with us some about the culture and how best to connect with the Estonians, among many other things. The excitement - and crunch time - is building for all of us on the College Ministry team as we count down the days to next Friday, September 7 when we will finally be on our way! Our flight leaves at 4:45pm on 9/7 and will take us overnight to Amsterdam where we have a four hour layover before taking the two-hour flight to Tallinn, the capitol of Estonia. We then have about a two-hour drive to finally arrive in Tartu before 6pm Estonia time, which is seven hours ahead of our EST for those who want to keep up. :-) See photos from the Team Dinner.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Team Retreat at Simpsonwood August 3-4

The team went to Simpsonwood in Norcross GA this weekend (Aug 3-4) for some great planning and bonding time. We shared our testimonies, identified teams to focus on everything from give aways to concert production to the breakfast menu, and just spent some good old fashioned "together" time getting to know each other a little better. This was our first meeting with the band, and we are SO excited to have them as part of the team! See photos from the retreat.