#1: Self-explanatory. What a powerful motto (displayed at the CTL headquarters). Thanks for coming on this journey with us. Thank you for your prayers and support and we hope to partner with you in the future.

#2: For dessert, we had papanasi (pronounced pappa-nahsh) and crepes. Really great as well. Papanasi is essentially a sweet, crispy doughnut flavored with vanilla and a bit of rum...topped with cream and berries. A heavier dish, but certainly worth every bite! However, I'm fairly confident that we walked our dessert off as we raced through the city to get Amie her Bucharest Starbucks mug before the coffeehouse closed for the night (it was a very close call!)!

#3: Well, our last night in Bucharest was certainly a memorable one! The CTL staff sent Victor and Mandy to take us out for dinner at the fancy restaurant "La Mama." I have to admit, I had my doubts from the sound of the name, but this was a really high-class place (Victor even recognized one of the city's most famous DJs sitting at the neighboring table). Great atmosphere, great service, great bathrooms, and even better food. Many of us ordered different things, but my dish was three enormous meatballs with mashed potatoes...delicieux (and very filling)! I couldn't even finish it all because of all the bread, vegetable dip, and salad served before. A great ending to a great week. As shown in the picture, I wasn't the only one who left Bucharest stuffed!

More to come soon! I have not forgotten!

#4: There's a good photo of the gang!! In green are the 9 members of the McKinney team. Please do be praying for the CTL staff as they continue to minister to "the least of these" in Bucharest! Pray for encouragement, pray for strength, and pray for spiritual fruit!

#5: On our first day, Curt told us to be willing to "go all out" (taking risks in boldly making friendships, trying out the language, etc.) because the week would fly by! And was he ever right!! It seemed like we had just arrived in Bucharest when we realized that it was our last day in Romania! Thankfully, we had heeded Curt's advice and had developed some pretty deep friendships and bonds with the kids and CTL staff...making it really hard to say our good-byes! Here Amie, Victor, and Mariel pose for one last photo. Victor was a really neat guy to get to know over the course of the week. He actually grew up in an orphanage as a child and is now doing awesome: charming, knowledgeable (in Romanian culture, the French language, and, um...pick-up lines), and kind, Victor quickly became a favorite among the Americans...and continues to be a source of encouragement and hope to the CTL staff.

#6: Church night! This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip! We had the opportunity to visit a college ministry meeting in a local Bucharest church. As mentioned in the trip blog, it was an amazing thing to meet other college-age Christians that face the same struggles we do (e.g., balancing work and school and spiritual growth, being a bold witness in the university/academic arena, etc.). It was a meeting of fellowship, a meeting of encouragement, a meeting of unity under the banner of Christ. I definitely feel more connected to my Christian brothers and sisters overseas...the "global church" is less abstract and fuzzy; it is more of a concrete reality. We are still in contact today, praying for one another! Pictured (from left to right) is Curt, Ionut (I hope that I spelled that somewhat close...), Iulian (the Romanian college pastor; studied with Curt in seminary), and Doug.

#7: We typically had dinner (and usually lunch) at the ministry center. Mama Maria whipped this up one day: sarmale. This traditional Romanian dish is a cabbage roll stuffed with ground pork. It was served with polenta, a corn based side dish that typically complements the cabbage rolls. The saltiness of the sarmale mixes nicely with the soft texture of the polenta, creating a culinary experience like NO OTHER. We quickly found that Romanians are also very fond of bread (served with almost every dish) and sour cream (used to top soups/stews; to accent the flavor of the sarmale)! We have many fond memories of our meals in the CTL ministry center: laughing, talking, trying (in vain) to help Mama Maria with the dishes (she would NOT let the guests do the cleaning up), and, of course putting such great food in our bellies!

#8: While I'm on the happy subject of food...I would be remiss if I did not mention JOE!!! This Romanian wafer snack was our "staple" throughout the trip. We would eat it at meals, after meals, at evening meetings, in our sleep... We were constantly asking Gianni to buy more and were sorely tempted to take suitcases of them back to the States (along with the culinary master Mama Maria...we ate pretty well in Romania and weren't ready to let go). Sadly, this did not happen, although Amie has relieved our withdrawal symptoms by finding and ordering some online.

#9: Another way to pass the time was to eat (all that rock, paper, scissors can work up a major appetite). Our wonderful guide and translator Madalina had the GREAT idea to grab some pretzels while we waited for the tram.

#10: Before we got to Romania, we were told that we would spend just as much (if not more) time traveling to the orphanage sites as we did actually interacting with the kids. Curt stressed that we needed to be intentional in using this time to encourage the CTL staff, bond with each other, and grow in the Lord. Doug and I probably fall into the second category as we play a fierce game of rock, paper, scissors while waiting for the tram (like a train, but on a single rail that runs through the streets, going where cars go...often the aggressive drivers would (illegally) trail behind the tram to get ahead!). This picture also brings out the weather. Most of the time, it was bright, sunny, and cool (maybe 30-40 degrees). On one day it even got into the 60s!