It's been awhile since the last post so I thought it would be good to catch you up. Eight days left before we jump on the plane and head for the first leg of the trip. I have taken many of your suggestions and considered them and well, they were interesting.
I thought it would be good to let you know where in the world I'm going and what the month looks like, so here goes. On August 5th we climb aboard and fly to Chicago, then on to Frankfurt, then the last hop to Minsk, Belarus. We are supposed to get in on Thursday the 6th. From there we will motor down the highway to Pinsk, where some of the team will hang out and some will go on toward Brest, Belarus and the camp. The camp is a medical facility (kind of like an Easter seal camp) where kids who have been affected by the Chernobyl tragedy are treated and loved on. The other part of our team will prepare to lead a children's bible school. And I will be all over encouraging pastors and doing whatever they want me to do.
On August 17th we will head back to Minsk and the next day catch our flight to Vienna. After a full day in Vienna some will head back to the USA, the other part of the team will wait one more day to head home. I will catch a flight for Berlin, Germany and spend a couple of days hanging out with Katie Thomas.
Katie is the leader of a team of people who have started a coffee house and Christian resource library. It's a great ministry that is helping Germans regain their spiritual roots. After my two days with Katie I will be heading to Zurich, Switzerland.
In Zurich I will meet up with a young man (he's my age) who I first met in Seattle, WA in 1972. It was at the airport in Seattle. He was an exchange student from Germany and at the last moment the host family he was to stay with backed out and we were asked to take him in. Urs was such a blessing to have as a part of our family for that year. Lots of ups and downs (I was responsible for the downs) but he survived and even became a pastor. Urs and I haven't seen each other in 36 years so it should be a blast. He is now married and has two grown daughters.
I will spend time with Urs as he guides me through Switzerland and Northern Italy and maybe southern France. On Tuesday September 1 I fly back to Vienna and the next day jump on a plane and fly back to Vegas!
So anyone want to go with me? Should be lots of fun and full of great memories. So I'm really doing two separate trips but no way to go home and change all the kinds of clothes I need to take. Lots of slacks, dress shirts and stuff like that the first two weeks and lots of shorts, tropical shirts and obnoxious American tourist paraphernalia the second two weeks.
What am I looking forward to the most? God showing up in some very exciting ways and me being able to recognize God showing up. What am I looking forward to the least? Being away from my favorite people. The first two weeks I will be with some great people and good friends but the second two weeks all strangers except for one person I haven't seen in 36 years.
I would love to share my experiences with some good friends, yet I believe God is wanting me to journey out and do this on my own.
Enough for tonight - anyone want any Swiss chocolate, wine, cheese curds, swiss army knife?
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