Trying To Stay Warm While Chile
Here's a list of things we have been learning since arriving in Chile:
We don't need all the ankle socks we've packed
Deputation Diet, No. We're gaining weight from all the good food.
Houses without heat make for long nights
Churches without heat make for longer days
Showers without constant heat make for even shorter showers
The main form of exercise in Chile is salsa dancing
We don't get much exercise
Knowing Spanish isn't needed for acquiring food especially bread
Kissing isn't necessary when you can just touch cheeks
Responding to Tia and Gringo
How to warm up to Maipu (pronounced My-Poo)...the city we live in
How much we like Maipu...Do you like Maipu?
How to worship to techno beats from the 80´s
How to show the people love through working in the church and school
How to get worked by a 10, no 8, no 6, no 2 year old in soccer
How to enjoy the World Cup with the world
Serving God isn't always what you think it would be
Thanks for all your prayers, we'll keep you in ours.
Team Chile
Ester, Michelle, Sarah, Taylor and Thad
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Turkey Update
Dear Friends,
Merhaba from Turkey. Its Krista, Mary, and Jamie here… chillin’ around the kitchen table having some afternoon snack after a day’s work. These last two weeks we have been preparing and teaching English to children though arts and crafts. Today we made some pretty tight dioramas complete with stamps, glitter, and glue, and mod-podge (picture a cereal box with a hold cut in the front like a stage). We are praying that we continue to encourage Bill and Lydia (the long-term missionaries and new business owners.) They have finally gotten some rest and are enjoying a quiet house for a break. Last night, we babysat sleeping baby Josiah so that they could go out. We watched a movie and enjoyed girl time.
We are praying for children to come to the English club whose hearts God has been working on as well as the store. The opening of this store is important for building integrity, to show that two different cultures can work together. It is also important to have believers permanently located here, dealing with ordinary life struggles like raising a family, making a living, etc.
Bill’s friend Ali is an English professor and has requested that we come help out at his company’s English clubs. After kids graduate from high school here, they study for one year and then take a very difficult exam that places them in a university. These classes can help. Starting next week, we’ll switch off going to help out with a couple night classes. We’re excited to go =)
Our friend Mirve, a cute 17 year old girl we met in our store is going out with us tomorrow afternoon to show us around. Mirve hopes to become an English teacher and is in the process of studying on her own for the university exam. We are excited to improve our limited Turkish, especially our very own linguist, Jamie.
We have started a weekly bible study with us three girls, Lydia, and their cousin/our friend Rebekka. Since they’ve been so busy, it’s really nice to spend some time with Lydia apart from a hectic business setting. She’s a lot of fun =)
Last weekend we visited Pamukkale, the limestone-laden hot springs 45 minutes from our house in Denizli. It was packed with people but exciting to wade, play in the cascading waterfalls dribbling over the white rock. It was so near our house, but an entirely different world- the tourist world… a.k.a speedos and string bikini’s (a huge contrast here in Turkey). We also got our first dose of ruins and climbed all over an old theatre in a really fun downpour. Everyone let Krista run around in it before we left, and Jamie and Willem (the cute 6 year-old) joined soon after they saw the fun she was having. The next day we did the water park and got sunburned. It was fun. Bill got dad time with his kids at the park and we helped give Lydia some alone time to rest.
This weekend we are off to Antalya! We’re excited for our weekend touring (Sunday & Monday). We are all doing well and appreciate your prayers.
Love,
Team Turkey
Merhaba from Turkey. Its Krista, Mary, and Jamie here… chillin’ around the kitchen table having some afternoon snack after a day’s work. These last two weeks we have been preparing and teaching English to children though arts and crafts. Today we made some pretty tight dioramas complete with stamps, glitter, and glue, and mod-podge (picture a cereal box with a hold cut in the front like a stage). We are praying that we continue to encourage Bill and Lydia (the long-term missionaries and new business owners.) They have finally gotten some rest and are enjoying a quiet house for a break. Last night, we babysat sleeping baby Josiah so that they could go out. We watched a movie and enjoyed girl time.
We are praying for children to come to the English club whose hearts God has been working on as well as the store. The opening of this store is important for building integrity, to show that two different cultures can work together. It is also important to have believers permanently located here, dealing with ordinary life struggles like raising a family, making a living, etc.
Bill’s friend Ali is an English professor and has requested that we come help out at his company’s English clubs. After kids graduate from high school here, they study for one year and then take a very difficult exam that places them in a university. These classes can help. Starting next week, we’ll switch off going to help out with a couple night classes. We’re excited to go =)
Our friend Mirve, a cute 17 year old girl we met in our store is going out with us tomorrow afternoon to show us around. Mirve hopes to become an English teacher and is in the process of studying on her own for the university exam. We are excited to improve our limited Turkish, especially our very own linguist, Jamie.
We have started a weekly bible study with us three girls, Lydia, and their cousin/our friend Rebekka. Since they’ve been so busy, it’s really nice to spend some time with Lydia apart from a hectic business setting. She’s a lot of fun =)
Last weekend we visited Pamukkale, the limestone-laden hot springs 45 minutes from our house in Denizli. It was packed with people but exciting to wade, play in the cascading waterfalls dribbling over the white rock. It was so near our house, but an entirely different world- the tourist world… a.k.a speedos and string bikini’s (a huge contrast here in Turkey). We also got our first dose of ruins and climbed all over an old theatre in a really fun downpour. Everyone let Krista run around in it before we left, and Jamie and Willem (the cute 6 year-old) joined soon after they saw the fun she was having. The next day we did the water park and got sunburned. It was fun. Bill got dad time with his kids at the park and we helped give Lydia some alone time to rest.
This weekend we are off to Antalya! We’re excited for our weekend touring (Sunday & Monday). We are all doing well and appreciate your prayers.
Love,
Team Turkey
Serbia Update....
Week 2
Week two went by very quickly. On Monday the girls helped out at a local kindergarten which is sponsored by the church we attended on Sunday. R.J. and I went to work out with one of the local baseball players (George) which included some baseball practice and then lifting weights at his gym. Everybody met up around 6:00 for the EUS meeting. Tuesday we traveled to Novi Sad. Wednesday kindergarten then baseball. Thursday we hung out and greeted Mike (a post-grad from UW who came over to visit the Balkans and talk with some local churches) then went to a local Gypsy community and visited the pastor there. He told us about the difficulties that he is having largely that about 99% of the gypsy population are Muslim the prayer meeting followed by more Salsa dancing at the Fashion Café. The evening was very cool because of the lightening storm with no thunder or rain.
Friday morning the girls left to go to Kosovo for five days. While in Kosovo they worked with a couple other missionaries there and helped run some kids camps. Since the girls were gone we dubbed Friday “Man’s Day” which included a few hours of hanging out at Café Domino which is right down the street from our flat. Then we grabbed some Chinese food and watched an American movie at Slobadan’s flat. After the movie we hung out and walked back home at around 2:00a.m. Saturday the guys returned to Novi Sad so that Mike could take in the sights. We visited both the Catholic Church and also the Serbian Orthodox church in Novi Sad and the fortress. We were also able to see three bridges that were bombed in 1999 in order to disable transportation and communication during the war. The night was topped off with me jumping around and doing flips on a trampoline that was set up in a local park (it was set up as part of some festival and I was the only person above the age of 12 that went jumping). Sunday we visited the Anglican Church which also happens to be the only English speaking church in Belgrade. It was a very interesting service. From my own experience it mirrors the Catholic Church service. After church we headed down to the local African museum for an African festival. The food was great and there some really neat exhibits to look at. The night ended with some fellowship and spending time with some of the guys.
Monday began with our Bible study at Domino Café followed by setting up and preparing for the EUS meeting where Mike gave a talk on “Singleness”. Immediately following EUS we all went to a Blues concert downtown that EUS sponsored. The band was compiled of artists from various countries although most of them were from the U.S. Tuesday was a rather slow day which started out again with our Bible Study. Most of the day was spent helping clean and organize the EUS office and also spending one-on-one time with the students. Wednesday was a pretty exciting day which included the girls returning from Kosovo, some baseball and also a successful 6 on 6 game of American football with a Serbian style barbeque afterwards.
Things have been going very well. Our prayer requests would just be that we are able to continue to meet and connect with Serbians and to be able to love and serve them however that may be. We are also striving to maintain strong communication in order to build and strengthen our relationships here. That is all for now.
Ciao,
Team Serbia a.k.a. Team Dominate
Week two went by very quickly. On Monday the girls helped out at a local kindergarten which is sponsored by the church we attended on Sunday. R.J. and I went to work out with one of the local baseball players (George) which included some baseball practice and then lifting weights at his gym. Everybody met up around 6:00 for the EUS meeting. Tuesday we traveled to Novi Sad. Wednesday kindergarten then baseball. Thursday we hung out and greeted Mike (a post-grad from UW who came over to visit the Balkans and talk with some local churches) then went to a local Gypsy community and visited the pastor there. He told us about the difficulties that he is having largely that about 99% of the gypsy population are Muslim the prayer meeting followed by more Salsa dancing at the Fashion Café. The evening was very cool because of the lightening storm with no thunder or rain.
Friday morning the girls left to go to Kosovo for five days. While in Kosovo they worked with a couple other missionaries there and helped run some kids camps. Since the girls were gone we dubbed Friday “Man’s Day” which included a few hours of hanging out at Café Domino which is right down the street from our flat. Then we grabbed some Chinese food and watched an American movie at Slobadan’s flat. After the movie we hung out and walked back home at around 2:00a.m. Saturday the guys returned to Novi Sad so that Mike could take in the sights. We visited both the Catholic Church and also the Serbian Orthodox church in Novi Sad and the fortress. We were also able to see three bridges that were bombed in 1999 in order to disable transportation and communication during the war. The night was topped off with me jumping around and doing flips on a trampoline that was set up in a local park (it was set up as part of some festival and I was the only person above the age of 12 that went jumping). Sunday we visited the Anglican Church which also happens to be the only English speaking church in Belgrade. It was a very interesting service. From my own experience it mirrors the Catholic Church service. After church we headed down to the local African museum for an African festival. The food was great and there some really neat exhibits to look at. The night ended with some fellowship and spending time with some of the guys.
Monday began with our Bible study at Domino Café followed by setting up and preparing for the EUS meeting where Mike gave a talk on “Singleness”. Immediately following EUS we all went to a Blues concert downtown that EUS sponsored. The band was compiled of artists from various countries although most of them were from the U.S. Tuesday was a rather slow day which started out again with our Bible Study. Most of the day was spent helping clean and organize the EUS office and also spending one-on-one time with the students. Wednesday was a pretty exciting day which included the girls returning from Kosovo, some baseball and also a successful 6 on 6 game of American football with a Serbian style barbeque afterwards.
Things have been going very well. Our prayer requests would just be that we are able to continue to meet and connect with Serbians and to be able to love and serve them however that may be. We are also striving to maintain strong communication in order to build and strengthen our relationships here. That is all for now.
Ciao,
Team Serbia a.k.a. Team Dominate
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
France Update #2
Salut from Roubaix!!
Team France is now writing from the second leg of our Deputation journey. We all made the 3 hour car-ride to Lille (still in France) about four days ago. Our team is spread out among two homes: Alec and Mac are living with an Algerian man named Amar (who we hear is quite the host) in the Centre de Lille, while Riley and Kaitlyn are living in Belgium with a delightful British missionary family. Yes that's right, Belgium! We're only about 100 yards from the French border, but we think it's pretty exciting nonetheless.
We are working in Roubaix with Ali Arhab, in a ministry focused on reaching out to the poor and unemployed North African population through street evangelism and games with youth. Yesterday we worked on cleaning up the office and getting it ready for a team of 12 high school students coming in to work from Minnesota. We continue to be overwhelmed by the love and hospitality here. God has a way of blowing expectations out of the water, and I think that in our anxiousness to serve and be useful, we're receiving a lot more encouragement and wisdom from everyone around us than we had anticipated. We are all excited to see how God will work through us, sometimes forgetting that he's working IN us all the while.
The churches here are much smaller than most of us are used to (usually 200 people maximum) but with that comes incredible fellowship. We just all got together at Ali's house to eat couscous (an Algerian staple that we're sure to have our fill of) and later on we're all watching the football (soccer) game. The World Cup is everything in Europe right now, and it's pretty exciting to be here for it!
We all send our love and continue to be especially thankful to all those who are praying for us throughout the summer. Some specific things to pray for:
~ That we will be able to reach out despite the language barrier
~ That we all stay focused of Christ and that our spirits are molded through every situation
~ For the ministry here in Roubaix and that we will serve as an encouragement to Ali and everyone else
Until next week! Que Dieu vous benisse!! (God Bless)
Alec, Mac, Riley & Kaitlyn
Team France is now writing from the second leg of our Deputation journey. We all made the 3 hour car-ride to Lille (still in France) about four days ago. Our team is spread out among two homes: Alec and Mac are living with an Algerian man named Amar (who we hear is quite the host) in the Centre de Lille, while Riley and Kaitlyn are living in Belgium with a delightful British missionary family. Yes that's right, Belgium! We're only about 100 yards from the French border, but we think it's pretty exciting nonetheless.
We are working in Roubaix with Ali Arhab, in a ministry focused on reaching out to the poor and unemployed North African population through street evangelism and games with youth. Yesterday we worked on cleaning up the office and getting it ready for a team of 12 high school students coming in to work from Minnesota. We continue to be overwhelmed by the love and hospitality here. God has a way of blowing expectations out of the water, and I think that in our anxiousness to serve and be useful, we're receiving a lot more encouragement and wisdom from everyone around us than we had anticipated. We are all excited to see how God will work through us, sometimes forgetting that he's working IN us all the while.
The churches here are much smaller than most of us are used to (usually 200 people maximum) but with that comes incredible fellowship. We just all got together at Ali's house to eat couscous (an Algerian staple that we're sure to have our fill of) and later on we're all watching the football (soccer) game. The World Cup is everything in Europe right now, and it's pretty exciting to be here for it!
We all send our love and continue to be especially thankful to all those who are praying for us throughout the summer. Some specific things to pray for:
~ That we will be able to reach out despite the language barrier
~ That we all stay focused of Christ and that our spirits are molded through every situation
~ For the ministry here in Roubaix and that we will serve as an encouragement to Ali and everyone else
Until next week! Que Dieu vous benisse!! (God Bless)
Alec, Mac, Riley & Kaitlyn
Team Sierra Leone has arrived!
Team Sierra Leone has arrived safely. They are doing great, are completely enthused, well taken care of, amazed with the kids and adults, and looking forward to a great experience. We hope to hear more from them soon.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Team Croatia is off!
Jessica and Rachel are on their way to an exciting summer in the tiny town of Fužine, Croatia!
Sretan put moji prijatelji!
Jessica, Hillary, and Rachel
Sretan put moji prijatelji!
Jessica, Hillary, and Rachel
Friday, June 23, 2006
Turkey Pics!
Working at the store, Kreative Kids, getting it ready for opening day! Please pray against discouragement for Bill and Lydia, the family running the store. They are very tired from all the prep work. We love working with them and encouraging them in any way that we can.
We also love their kids!
Team Turkey out for Turkish food!
Malawi update
We tracked down all 10 lost bags from the Malawi team. They should have all their baggage in hand by today or tomorrow.
Welcome to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia...
I recieved a short email from Brenna. The Ethiopia team is officially on the ground in Addis. Their planes were slightly delayed but other than that everything went off well. I'm sure they are very tired so let's pray for recovery and then for enjoyment as they discover Addis and do some orientation training.
Dorm life in India...
An update from Brad:
It has officially been a full week (and some) here in India. The biggest change this week was that on Sunday night we moved from Prem & Rita's house to the hostel at the school. Basically, the school is in a building with a kitchen, cafeteria and art room in the basement, classrooms on the 1st and 2nd floor and the 3rd floor is a hostel (dorm) complete with showers and a "common room." There are four boys staying there right now (a 9 year old, a 14 year old and two 16 year olds); Prem and Rita have had trouble finding a warden to live there to watch after them so we are filling in the role. It was a tough change from the house, which for the most part is pretty nice, to the hostel just because of the general feeling of being back in a dorm with cement walls and bars on the windows. But it is nice, there is a TV in the common room for World Cup watching and the boys are very well behaved, it is also a lot calmer where the school is - Prem and Rita's street can get pretty noisy in the mornings. The school's chef, Albert, lives right next to the school so he comes over and cooks us meals, which have been quite good. The highlight of the experience has definitely been living with Nirup, the 9 year old boy. He is just learning English and can say that his name is Nirup and a few other phrases but for the most part he just parrots whatever you say, and of course none of this is at a normal talking level, it is all at a volume and range that could only be replicated by machine. He's a good kid though, whenever you play guitar he proclaims that you are a 'magician' (musician) and he also complains that there are 'eagles' (mosquitoes) biting him in his room. After a few days he has learned Howard and my name (which sounds like a mumbled version of 'bread') and he can remember Alynena's name for a day but it never sticks after sleep.
So we have spent the week at the school working during the day and playing with the boys and helping them study after school. We have been able to catch some great sunsets as well as some good shots of parrots from the school's roof. On Wednesday our team was hit with some sort of bug which put both Erin and Howard out of comission for the day. They are feeling better but still are not 100%. Today was my day to be out as I think my Malaria medication's "Avoid excessive sun exposure" has finally caught up with me. We rode the school bus back to Prem and Rita's for the weeked which should hopefully be a good chance for us all to relax, rest and recover. We are going to be playing a few worship songs at church this Sunday which should be an experience all by itself. As always, thanks for your concern and prayers for our team.
Brad / Team India
It has officially been a full week (and some) here in India. The biggest change this week was that on Sunday night we moved from Prem & Rita's house to the hostel at the school. Basically, the school is in a building with a kitchen, cafeteria and art room in the basement, classrooms on the 1st and 2nd floor and the 3rd floor is a hostel (dorm) complete with showers and a "common room." There are four boys staying there right now (a 9 year old, a 14 year old and two 16 year olds); Prem and Rita have had trouble finding a warden to live there to watch after them so we are filling in the role. It was a tough change from the house, which for the most part is pretty nice, to the hostel just because of the general feeling of being back in a dorm with cement walls and bars on the windows. But it is nice, there is a TV in the common room for World Cup watching and the boys are very well behaved, it is also a lot calmer where the school is - Prem and Rita's street can get pretty noisy in the mornings. The school's chef, Albert, lives right next to the school so he comes over and cooks us meals, which have been quite good. The highlight of the experience has definitely been living with Nirup, the 9 year old boy. He is just learning English and can say that his name is Nirup and a few other phrases but for the most part he just parrots whatever you say, and of course none of this is at a normal talking level, it is all at a volume and range that could only be replicated by machine. He's a good kid though, whenever you play guitar he proclaims that you are a 'magician' (musician) and he also complains that there are 'eagles' (mosquitoes) biting him in his room. After a few days he has learned Howard and my name (which sounds like a mumbled version of 'bread') and he can remember Alynena's name for a day but it never sticks after sleep.
So we have spent the week at the school working during the day and playing with the boys and helping them study after school. We have been able to catch some great sunsets as well as some good shots of parrots from the school's roof. On Wednesday our team was hit with some sort of bug which put both Erin and Howard out of comission for the day. They are feeling better but still are not 100%. Today was my day to be out as I think my Malaria medication's "Avoid excessive sun exposure" has finally caught up with me. We rode the school bus back to Prem and Rita's for the weeked which should hopefully be a good chance for us all to relax, rest and recover. We are going to be playing a few worship songs at church this Sunday which should be an experience all by itself. As always, thanks for your concern and prayers for our team.
Brad / Team India
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Malawi made it!
I just recieved a shirt phone call from Greta in Malawi. They made it! They don't have their bags yet and that might take a few days, but they are there safe and sound. Pray for their bags, for recovery from the long flights, and for the next days as they start to acclimatize to their new culture and setting.
P.S. Greta, I got the phone number!
P.S. Greta, I got the phone number!
Ethiopia is late...
Apparently the computer system went down in Washington-Dulles and all the check in is now being done by hand. Therefore their plane is going to be a couple hours late into Addis tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Lilongwe...the Long Way!
An email from Greta (6-21):
Hi Brandon and families!
Just emailing to let you all know we are safe and sound as far as Johannesburg. Besides the hiccup we had in the beginning with our delayed flight, everything else has gone pretty smoothly, we made our connecting flights with no trouble at all. Our bags were not quite on top of it as we were however.... They didn't quite make the quick connection from Atlanta to Joburg. The airport told us that they had been rerouted to another South-African flight leaving from JFK, which got into Johannesburg at 5:00 this evening, so we're expecting them to arrive at the hotel very very soon. (It's 6:30 now.)
We just finished up an awesome, awesome tour of the city with a guide that our concierge put us in touch with. It helped us stay awake, for the most part.... but there was some serious nodding off in the backseat on the way home. We're all pretty wiped out, but will be heading to bed SOON.
Thank you for your prayers, they are working. :)
Love to you all,
Greta
P.S. I'll try to send another email once we get to Lilongwe, but I wasn't sure what the internet situation would be there. Know that we are safely in Africa though. We're in Africa!!
Hi Brandon and families!
Just emailing to let you all know we are safe and sound as far as Johannesburg. Besides the hiccup we had in the beginning with our delayed flight, everything else has gone pretty smoothly, we made our connecting flights with no trouble at all. Our bags were not quite on top of it as we were however.... They didn't quite make the quick connection from Atlanta to Joburg. The airport told us that they had been rerouted to another South-African flight leaving from JFK, which got into Johannesburg at 5:00 this evening, so we're expecting them to arrive at the hotel very very soon. (It's 6:30 now.)
We just finished up an awesome, awesome tour of the city with a guide that our concierge put us in touch with. It helped us stay awake, for the most part.... but there was some serious nodding off in the backseat on the way home. We're all pretty wiped out, but will be heading to bed SOON.
Thank you for your prayers, they are working. :)
Love to you all,
Greta
P.S. I'll try to send another email once we get to Lilongwe, but I wasn't sure what the internet situation would be there. Know that we are safely in Africa though. We're in Africa!!
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Zdravo, Serbia!
Hi everyone,
I am excited to share an update about life in Serbia over the course of June 11-20 - I can hardly believe that we have been here over a week! Thank you so much for all of your prayers - we are doing very well here in Belgrade. I wanted to share some photos and also a brief description of the days that we have spent so far here in Belgrade and several other surrounding cities. We also have a number of exciting excursions coming up that will help us learn more about this area and hopefully give us further opportunities to be of service.
Sunday, June 11
We left early on Sunday morning from Seattle and began a series of flights to Belgrade (including layovers in New York and London - not too shabby). Our flights went smoothly, other than Drew forgetting his sweatshirt on the plane at one point... We enjoyed chatting with each other, solving Sodoku puzzles, reading up on Serbia, and sleeping with our little eye masks. ;)
Monday, June 12
We arrived in Belgrade! Our only frustration was that one of RJ's bags was lost, though it was eventually sent from London the following day. We were exhausted, though thrilled to see Samuil and Crystal. Samuil Petrovsky is the Director of EUS (Evangelic University Students) and Crystal is a missionary spending two years in Belgrade (she participated in Deputation two years ago in Sarajevo, Bosnia). They drove us along with our huge bags to our lovely flat in Novi Beograd (New Belgrade), at which point we spent some time settling in (aka sleeping...). We then went to our first EUS meeting at 6pm in Old Belgrade (the main part of the city, near the city center) and met many wonderful students. Samuil's wife, Nada, gave an excellent talk on HIV and AIDS (she is currently completing her residency to become a doctor) and we heard our first Serbian worship songs - we began to realize just how interesting things were going to be, considering we knew no Serbian. However, everyone was so welcoming and kind that we instantly felt at home with the EUS students and staff. After the meeting we had a chance to go to our first Pekapa (bakery) to try various pastries for a snack. Food is quite inexpensive here in Serbia, so we were amazed by the fact that we could get a great snack for about 20-30 dinars each (there is around 70 dinars to $1). When we finally arrived home around midnight, we literally fell into bed...
Tuesday, June 13
We definitely slept in... By the time we all woke up, we were definitely hungry - a visit to the Pekapa was in order again. :) We met up with Crystal and she helped us find our way around the city to a few important places, including Mercator, one of the local grocery stores. We ended the day by going to check out a local baseball tournament taking place, which featured youth teams from a variety of countries. We cheered on the Serbian team, which the boys from our Deptuation team (Drew and RJ) will be working with during our time in Belgrade. We had a wonderful dinner at a pizza place, which gave us another interesting taste of Serbian food. The tomato sauce put on pizza here is basically ketchup and toppings of course are unique. Today was supposed to be our day of rest and adjustment to the area, though we managed to stay fairly busy...
Wednesday, June 14
We started the day with a visit to the American embassy, with the hopes of registering and also being able to cash in our travellers checks (we had about half of our money in travellers checks, which we discovered no one would take...). As we walked to the embassy we walked past a number of the buildings that were bombed by NATO in recent years, which were certainly striking images. There is not much evidence of the bombings most places (at least to the eye of an average tourist, like myself), though the particular street we walked on was the site of a number of government and military buildings that were targeted. Unfortunately the embassy could not help us with the travellers checks, so we headed off on our tour of Belgrade with a wonderful student named Slobodan. Slobo took us everywhere in the city, which really helped us get oriented to the place we are now calling home. We walked by the Parliament building, City Hall, Republic Square, Kalemagdon (the fortress), and many other exciting places. I am including a number of pictures from our walking tour that day, which feature members of our team as well as Slobo. We ended our tour by stopping for some traditional Serbian food at a famous cafe that has been around for many years - so many years that its name is noted as a question mark, because its name has been changed throughout the years with different ownership so many times that no one can keep it straight. Following the tour we had a chance to get pictures for our bus passes, which was a very entertaining experience - we all had to have Serbian smiles... in other words, no smile whatsoever - it was quite difficult for all us of smiley students, although we received lots of scolding from the Serbian woman taking our pictures.
Thursday, June 15
We held our first team Bible study with Samuil! We are studying the gospel of Mark, a chapter a day from now until we leave (excluding weekends... for some rest). We then went to a floating cafe on the Danube River to meet up with Amy, who works for the US State Department here in Belgrade. It was a great opportunity to ask questions of an American who has been living in Serbia for several years now - she was very helpful. We also met Valentino, who is a student from Nis. Drew and I went on an adventure with Boyon to get bus passes for the team - Boyon is very involved with EUS and he is a highly entertaining driver. :) In Serbia it is very common to express your emotions with your car horn... and lanes change in very odd ways sometimes. We then went to a prayer meeting at EUS, which was a wonderful opportunity to pray with students and hear about things going on in their lives. It is very difficult to be a part of the Protestant church in Belgrade, considering Protestantism is often looked at as a sect here in comparison to the Serbian Orthodox church. We are learning a lot about what it means to be a "Christian" in Serbia, in all senses of the word.
Friday, June 16
Today Serbia-Montenegro played Argentina in the World Cup! We had a number of students over for a party to watch the game, though unfortunately the game was not so good... Serbia lost 6-0... though we had a great time hanging out with students (our flat was full of people - twenty or so). After the game, Annika and I went to help Yelena at the EUS office with cleaning - we swept, mopped, washed dishes, etc. We enjoyed getting to know Yelena much more and having a chance to pray with her about our team's needs and also things going on in her life. We were then invited to attend dinner at Samuil and Nada's home, which was wonderful! We had Serbian spaghetti and many other treats, as well as had an opportunity to get to know some of their extended family members. We have been so grateful for their hospitality and support in welcoming us into their home and culture.
Saturday, June 17
We had a chance to sleep in! Our main mission of the day was to make it to Pancevo for a worship concert. We took a small van to Pancevo, enjoyed lunch at a cafe, and then worked our way over to a small church for the concert. The concert featured a wonderful worship team, which included Nada and a number of people from EUS, and it was a great way to share our ministry with the community. The church was a beautiful building that was started by a group of German Christians, though now has transitioned into becoming a Methodist church. Unfortunately it has few members - we had over fifty people there for the concert though! After the concert we headed into the city center of Pancevo for a carnival that was taking place. It was great to walk around and experience the city, which is a very small town in comparison to Belgrade. I spent time with a student named Yasmina, who was from Pancevo, and she told me all about the wonderful city - it was great to have a guide and I hope to see her sometime soon at an EUS meeting in Belgrade (Pancevo is about a twenty minute drive from Belgrade).
Sunday, June 18
Our first chance to go to church in Belgrade! We spent the morning at a small church in Belgrade and the evening at another small church in Pancevo. In the morning the boys shared their testimonies with the congregation (with Samuil translating) and in the evening Annika and I shared a favorite verse/words of encouragement (with Boyon translating). The churchs had very different atmospheres, though they were both very unique and we enjoyed meeting many people of all ages. The church we attended in the morning provided us with an incredible lunch and several of the people there invited Annika and I to come volunteer at the Christian kindergarten (for 3-6 year olds - children start school at 7 years old here). It was such a pleasure to meet Christians here in Belgrade and take part in worship services with them. After the evening service we went to visit a student who has a knee injury, Bilyana. She is an amazing girl, who studies music theory and is a concert pianist! She is definitely someone we will be keeping in our prayers, considering her knee is giving her a lot of trouble. Also, she is the only Christian in her family and her parents are very wary of her involvement with church activities - if you could, please pray for her that she will be able to stay positive and maintain a good relationship with her family, despite differences in opinion. We hope to visit her again sometime soon.
Monday, June 19
After our daily Bible study, Annika and I headed to the Christian kindergarten. We absolutely loved all of the children that we met there, although the language barrier proved challenging. When we arrived the children were having an English lesson - they were singing a song about the colors of the rainbow, then "If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands" and finally "Jingle Bells" - it was the first time I have ever heard "Jingle Bells" in summer... Still, it was cute to see all of the children so engaged and excited to learn. We helped them with little craft projects, teaching them to make pop-up books, and helped them with puzzles and other activities. I was particularly drawn to one girl, Emilia, who came up to me with a book about pirates. Unfortunately I could not read any of the book (in Serbian), though we had fun looking at the pictures together and laughing at the silly expressions of the characters. After our time there we went to the EUS meeting, where we led a few icebreakers to start the meeting. The main talk for the meeting was given by an amazing pastor from Montenegro, who has also lived in the United States for quite some time. I enjoyed talking to him for a while after the meeting and we hope to visit him and his family in Montenegro in the coming weeks.
Tuesday, June 20
Today we went to the beautiful city of Novi Sad! Novi Sad is in the province of Vojvodina, which is about an hour to the north of Belgrade. We met up with several EUS leaders, including Vanya and Jacob, who showed us around the city and spoke with us about the needs there. We learned a lot about some of the recent history, such as the NATO bombings, which destroyed the three bridges going into Novi Sad. The bridges have since been rebuilt, though it was intense to see pictures of the devastation caused by the bombings. We visited many churches, the town square, and ultimately the fortress, which is similar to that in Belgrade. The city is smaller than Belgrade, though it has a lot of charm and is described as "the most easterly city in the west and the most westerly city in the east" - quite unique. Annika and I especially enjoyed speaking with Vanya, who is a Serbian woman who was forced to evacuate from her home in Bosnia during the recent conflicts and also very much remembers the recent bombings in Novi Sad. Vanya will be an intern at The Inn at University Presbyterian Church next year, so it was very exciting to meet her and talk about life in Seattle in comparison to life in Novi Sad and other parts of Serbia. We ended the day visiting a large Protestant church in Novi Sad, which was incredibly huge and beautiful - it was built about seven years ago and can hold several hundred people (probably one of the largest churches of its kind in the whole region). We will be taking part in the Sunday service there in the coming weeks. Also, it is worth mentioning the crazy rainstorm we had today. When we were out walking through the town it began to pour like nothing I have ever seen (that is saying a lot, being from Seattle and all). The weather is so warm that we thought it would be a quick drizzle, though it began to pour with huge gusts of wind and even hail! I couldn't believe that it was incredibly hot outside and hailing... The city has very poor drainage, so after the storm a number of streets were flooded and we had to drive on a sidewalk in order to get to the freeway to go home to Belgrade - kind of crazy.
Anyways, we are all here safe and sound! I will look forward to posting another update sometime soon. If you have any comments, feel free to add to this! Next time I will hope to have some of the verses that we have been studying in particular to share as well - I know that God has been sharing a lot with all of us lately through this experience.
Finally, we have some exciting adventures coming up and we would really appreciate your prayers for the following:
- The boys, as they work with the Serbian baseball team to build relationships with team members and also potentially go on tour with them to Croatia in the coming days.
- The girls, as we go to Kosovo on Friday to work with a day camp for refugee children (we will be on the Serbian side) - we expect to return on next Wednesday (June 28).
- EUS, for wonderful meetings that touch the lives of all the students and staff involved.
Thanks so much and we hope all is going well for you!
Monday, June 19, 2006
Update from France:
Bonjour tout le monde!
As team France wraps up week one, we are thrilled to recap our adventures. Our plane ride was delightfully uneventful even though we had an interesting bout with sleeping pills. Apparently those make one a little groggy and loopy... who knew? Upon our arrival in Paris we were met by Pastor Caroline Schrumpf and our fifth team member Sarah Hennigan from Wyoming. She's here with Alongside Ministries and will be joining us for the rest of our mission. She is a huge blessing to us as she is quite proficient in French and has a huge heart for God. We are living in Caroline's family's house in a town called Poissy. We're actually living in an abbey which was built in the 11th century!! The history here blows us away on a daily basis. We spent the first few days acclimating to French culture by visiting Paris (including the Eifel Tower and the Louvre) and indulging in the incredible french cuisine. We have truly been spoiled by the wonderful people here in Poissy. We have been reading through both Proverbs and Luke and we're really seeing God at work. As we turn our prayers towards increased wisdom, we have met many people who have truly opened our eyes to the ministry here and the need for missions in France. The past few days we have been working at La Cause, a ministry which focuses on the blind and adoption. Everyone here has been so wonderful to us, we just pray hat we can bless them as much as they have blessed us. Today was incredible: Caroline's church, l'église reformée de Poissy, held a special service in the abbey garden, followed by a Mechui... a sort of potluck complete with lambs roasting on a spit. We already feel like a part of this community and we all L-O-V-E the kids. Despite the language barrier, we have quickly become attatched to the warm and loving people here. Alec is quite the model French student and has a way of breaking the ice with his favorite phrase: -Peux-j'avoir une forchette?- (Can I have a fork?) We have had a fulfilling and rejeuvenating week here in Poissy, but we're all looking forward to really digging into ministry. This wednesday, Ali will pick us up and tae us to our new home in Roubaix. Thank you for all your prayers... God truly does work through them and He has blessed us all immensely with this opportunity. Until next week, Au Revoir!
Mac, Alec, Riley & Kaitlyn
As team France wraps up week one, we are thrilled to recap our adventures. Our plane ride was delightfully uneventful even though we had an interesting bout with sleeping pills. Apparently those make one a little groggy and loopy... who knew? Upon our arrival in Paris we were met by Pastor Caroline Schrumpf and our fifth team member Sarah Hennigan from Wyoming. She's here with Alongside Ministries and will be joining us for the rest of our mission. She is a huge blessing to us as she is quite proficient in French and has a huge heart for God. We are living in Caroline's family's house in a town called Poissy. We're actually living in an abbey which was built in the 11th century!! The history here blows us away on a daily basis. We spent the first few days acclimating to French culture by visiting Paris (including the Eifel Tower and the Louvre) and indulging in the incredible french cuisine. We have truly been spoiled by the wonderful people here in Poissy. We have been reading through both Proverbs and Luke and we're really seeing God at work. As we turn our prayers towards increased wisdom, we have met many people who have truly opened our eyes to the ministry here and the need for missions in France. The past few days we have been working at La Cause, a ministry which focuses on the blind and adoption. Everyone here has been so wonderful to us, we just pray hat we can bless them as much as they have blessed us. Today was incredible: Caroline's church, l'église reformée de Poissy, held a special service in the abbey garden, followed by a Mechui... a sort of potluck complete with lambs roasting on a spit. We already feel like a part of this community and we all L-O-V-E the kids. Despite the language barrier, we have quickly become attatched to the warm and loving people here. Alec is quite the model French student and has a way of breaking the ice with his favorite phrase: -Peux-j'avoir une forchette?- (Can I have a fork?) We have had a fulfilling and rejeuvenating week here in Poissy, but we're all looking forward to really digging into ministry. This wednesday, Ali will pick us up and tae us to our new home in Roubaix. Thank you for all your prayers... God truly does work through them and He has blessed us all immensely with this opportunity. Until next week, Au Revoir!
Mac, Alec, Riley & Kaitlyn
France Update
Bonjour tout le monde! As team France wraps up week one, we are thrilled to recap our adventures. Our plane ride was delightfully uneventful even though we had an interesting bout with sleeping pills. Apparently those make one a little groggy and loopy... who knew? Upon our arrival in Paris we were met by Pastor Caroline Schrumpf and our fifth team member Sarah Hennigan from Wyoming. She's here with Alongside Ministries and will be joining us for the rest of our mission. She is a huge blessing to us as she is quite proficient in French and has a huge heart for God. We are living in Caroline's family's house in a town called Poissy. We're actually living in an abbey which was built in the 11th century!! The history here blows us away on a daily basis. We spent the first few days acclimating to French culture by visiting Paris (including the Eifel Tower and the Louvre) and indulging in the incredible french cuisine. We have truly been spoiled by the wonderful people here in Poissy. We have been reading through both Proverbs and Luke and we're really seeing God at work. As we turn our prayers towards increased wisdom, we have met many people who have truly opened our eyes to the ministry here and the need for missions in France. The past few days we have been working at La Cause, a ministry which focuses on the blind and adoption. Everyone here has been so wonderful to us, we just pray hat we can bless them as much as they have blessed us. Today was incredible: Caroline's church, l'église reformée de Poissy, held a special service in the abbey garden, followed by a Mechui... a sort of potluck complete with lambs roasting on a spit. We already feel like a part of this community and we all L-O-V-E the kids. Despite the language barrier, we have quickly become attatched to the warm and loving people here. Alec is quite the model French student and has a way of breaking the ice with his favorite phrase: (Can I have a fork?) We have had a fulfilling and rejeuvenating week here in Poissy, but we're all looking forward to really digging into ministry. This wednesday, Ali will pick us up and tae us to our new home in Roubaix. Thank you for all your prayers... God truly does work through them and He has blessed us all immensely with this opportunity.Until next week,Au Revoir!Mac, Alec, Riley & Kaitlyn
Chile has arrived!
An email from Thad:
Hey just want to let you know that we made it down Chile safely. Ester made it in the country fine and its super laid back down here which is really nice. Taylor and I are living together with Gustovo and Patti, then Sarah and Ester are together and Michelle is on her own in a nearby house.
Your Favorite Chile Team
Sarah, Michelle, Ester, Taylor and Thad
Hey just want to let you know that we made it down Chile safely. Ester made it in the country fine and its super laid back down here which is really nice. Taylor and I are living together with Gustovo and Patti, then Sarah and Ester are together and Michelle is on her own in a nearby house.
Your Favorite Chile Team
Sarah, Michelle, Ester, Taylor and Thad
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Pizza and Waffles in Bangalore
An email from Brad:
Team India is in India. We arrived safe and sound with all our bags and our spirtis high early Thursday morning. We met Prem and were quickly given a crash course in Bangalore traffic, which was quite the experience. Thursday was our jet lag catch up / get settled day which was much needed. On Friday we were able to go to Asha Kiran for a tour and meet the children. They were all very welcoming right off the start, it was avery warm welcome and we are all very excited to get to take part in the amazing things God is doing there. On Friday we also met a guy named Nick from England who is also working at the school. He will be joining us on our adventures and so far as made a very good, alebit foreign, addition to our team. Other than that we have just been trying to adjust to the culture and time difference. So far the food has been very mild (we've had pizza and waffles even) and for the most part we've been able to stomach it all. Prem is giving us a tour of Bangalore later this afternoon which should be very cool. Our team prayer requests would be that we could just be fully utilized at Asha Kiran and we could make the most of our time here as we search for our place in God's great plan. We are very excited for the upcoming weeks and look forward to becoming more aware of God's kingdom and workings so far from our home. We thank you for all your support.
Brad / Team India
Team India is in India. We arrived safe and sound with all our bags and our spirtis high early Thursday morning. We met Prem and were quickly given a crash course in Bangalore traffic, which was quite the experience. Thursday was our jet lag catch up / get settled day which was much needed. On Friday we were able to go to Asha Kiran for a tour and meet the children. They were all very welcoming right off the start, it was avery warm welcome and we are all very excited to get to take part in the amazing things God is doing there. On Friday we also met a guy named Nick from England who is also working at the school. He will be joining us on our adventures and so far as made a very good, alebit foreign, addition to our team. Other than that we have just been trying to adjust to the culture and time difference. So far the food has been very mild (we've had pizza and waffles even) and for the most part we've been able to stomach it all. Prem is giving us a tour of Bangalore later this afternoon which should be very cool. Our team prayer requests would be that we could just be fully utilized at Asha Kiran and we could make the most of our time here as we search for our place in God's great plan. We are very excited for the upcoming weeks and look forward to becoming more aware of God's kingdom and workings so far from our home. We thank you for all your support.
Brad / Team India
Friday, June 16, 2006
Turkey update from Jamie...
The trip here was the longest one I've ever take on planes. We started in Seattle, our plane was supposed to leave at 9:25pm, got delayed until 11:45pm. So they tell us we won't make our connecting flight once we reach London to get to Istanbul. They reroute us through Frankfurt, Germany but, once we get to London, we realize the flight to Isantabul has also been delayed a couple hours so we would have made it. Too late to change our tickets because our flight to Germany leaves so soon. So, we get on another plane and head off again. Once in Frankfurt, we are informed we will not be able to get to our plane to Istanbul in time as it is in another terminal. So British Airways put us up in a hotel for the night. It was a pretty nice hotel near the airport. We didn't get to see much of Frankfurt though because it was almost midnight by the time we got to our hotel and we had to leave again at 5:45am to catch our next flight. It was Mary's birthday that day so we decided to celebrate by searching for cake or some sort of food, but all we found was the hotel bar which was only serving drinks. So we drank some "coke" and went to bed for a few hours. We made our flight to Istanbul, although the process of making sure our luggage was coming with us sent us on a wild goose chase all over the airport. We got to Istanbul around 11:30am to find they had only lost one of our 8 bags. At one point in this airport I heard "Mr. Jamie Paxton, please come to the information counter" coming over the loud speakers. I assumed that was Verna trying to find us. She did and took care of our luggage problem, then proceeded to book our next flight to Denizli. Unfortunately, this flight wasn't leaving for another 6.5 hours, and then got delayed 45 minutes more. BUT - we finally made it to Denizli, and had to take an hour bus ride to get to our house. That's a long story. Sorry if it's somewhat boring. Right now I'm sitting in our house in Denizli. It is so nice. We are spoiled. I can't wait to start working with Bill and Lydia, the family that is starting the business here. We met them last night and I really like them!I'll try to get some pictures on here at some point. Yay Turkey!
Thursday, June 15, 2006
India has arrived...
Here is an email I recieved from Prem (their host)
Hi Brandon,
The team has arrived safely as per the schedule. They are all in good spirit. Today they are relaxing and having some orientation in the evening. Tomorrow they will visit the school and from Monday they will have some sort of routine. We are also planning for their outstation trips during the week ends before they leave
Prem James
Also, a funny story. Brad Fulkerson's mother called me last night wondering if I had heard about the team's arrival yet. I said I had. But then I had to call her back and apologize because I realized that I was thinking of Serbia and Turkey, and that I hadn't heard from them yet. Well not 60 seconds goes by after hanging up with her when lo and behold, a call from Brad the man himself saying they'd arrived safely! What timing! My apologies to Mrs. Fulkerson again. :)
Hi Brandon,
The team has arrived safely as per the schedule. They are all in good spirit. Today they are relaxing and having some orientation in the evening. Tomorrow they will visit the school and from Monday they will have some sort of routine. We are also planning for their outstation trips during the week ends before they leave
Prem James
Also, a funny story. Brad Fulkerson's mother called me last night wondering if I had heard about the team's arrival yet. I said I had. But then I had to call her back and apologize because I realized that I was thinking of Serbia and Turkey, and that I hadn't heard from them yet. Well not 60 seconds goes by after hanging up with her when lo and behold, a call from Brad the man himself saying they'd arrived safely! What timing! My apologies to Mrs. Fulkerson again. :)
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Pray for Serbia
Drew called today. They are having some troubles cashing their traveler's checks. Pray that they would find a place that accepts them.
They Made It!
I recieved a call from Krista today. They made it and are now, finally, at their final destination. All I could hear was laughter in the background so it sounded like they were all good... probably the tired giggles if you ask me!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Turkey is stuck!
Well, Turkey has had quite an adventure. When they checked in last night their flight from Seattle to London was delayed 2 and a half hours. Therefore they were going to miss their connection in London. They had to re-book flights and go from Seattle, to London, to Frankfurt, then finally to Istanbul, arriving two hours late. Well, they got to Germany and their flight out of whack again. Now they are spending the night in Frankfurt and will be arriving in Istanbul at 11:25 am tomorrow, (the 14th). They also have to get their flight from Istanbul to another part of the country changed. In total they will have a day to a day and half of more traveling then planned. Pray for rest!
Monday, June 12, 2006
France has arrived!
I recieved a call from Riley. Shes says they are safe and sound on the ground in Paris. They are a little tired but ready to start practicing French!
Serbia has arrived!
Email from Drew:
Brandon,
We arrived in Serbia around 2:00 this afternoon (it is now almost 10). We just finished with the EUS (college ministry service). I believe that we are going to try and give you a call soon but just in case we can't tonight we will get back to you in the next day or so.
Team Serbia
Brandon,
We arrived in Serbia around 2:00 this afternoon (it is now almost 10). We just finished with the EUS (college ministry service). I believe that we are going to try and give you a call soon but just in case we can't tonight we will get back to you in the next day or so.
Team Serbia
Sunday, June 11, 2006
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