Rainey Days

Today is my first official "event" on my missionary-itineration schedule. Ken Burtram, the district secretary-treasurer, has invited the missionaries that are currently in the area, to his home in VA for a picnic this afternoon. We were asked to bring a side dish typical of our country of ministry. I made a tomato quiche, which I learned to make from my friend ChiChi. Her recipe isn't exactly measured--its sort of "throw in a little of this" and "leave in the oven long enough to look like that." So we'll see how it turns out (it's in the oven now). I hope it tastes as good as ChiChi's always does! I also bought a baguette in a long paper bag that says " Esprit de France " (Spirit of France) on the side. But I can tell just by looking at it that it's not "real" French bread. For one thing, the crust should be hard on the outside, and its not! I think that this is the closest thing I'll find, though, and ...

For those of you who check my blog regularly, I'm sorry that I didn't update the blog to let you know that I'm home safe and sound. I had no trouble with my flights on Monday, except that my final flight to Baltimore was late coming in. I was really tired when I arrived, but my whole family was there, as well as my pastor and his wife. We all went to a restaurant to eat and I gave out gifts to my nieces. I was too tired to eat much, but I still enjoyed being with my family. On Tuesday morning, I left with my mom, grandmother, sister, sister-in-law, and two nieces (all the women in the family) for the beach. Mom had planned a three-day trip in Ocean City, MD, and we had a fantastic time! Tomorrow, I've got a lot of work to do--so that I can remember that I'm not on permanent vacation here, haha.

Okay, I still didn't fly out. This morning my day began at 6:00 AM, when I got up and get ready once again for a flight I wouldn't be on. After leaving at 7:45 am, we drove two hours in traffic (at least it was less than yesterday), and I managed to get in line at 9:45 am, like they told me to yesterday. The idea: be the first one on the waiting list/standby for the 1:30 pm flight. It was quite a rigamarole getting checked in with my excess baggage (which I had to pay for), but finally I had a blank boarding pass and could go upstairs to the gate. I sat up there until 12:45 pm when the flight began to board, hoping and praying that there would be an open seat. However, the flight was actually overbooked as it was, and some people even were asked to give up their seat on today's flight for tomorrow. I stood there until the very last person got on the plane and it was sure that I would not make it. When I went back downstairs, I met David, who had been working in the dow...

With all the years I've been in missions, traveling around the world, it was bound to happen sometime. . . . I missed my flight today. We left Versailles (south of Paris) at 10:00 am to cross the city to get to the Charles De Gaulle airport (north of Paris); we sat in stop and go traffic for two and half hours, before reaching the airport, where I was told that although my flight had not yet taken off, it was too late to board. I admit, I cried at the desk when the lady told me that. My options were bleak, too: buy a ticket with another airline (at sky-high, last-minute prices--taking a loss on the ticket I hold now) or try standby tomorrow (and possibly the next day and the next day). So, I'm going to show up at the airport early tomorrow morning to be the first one in line for any open standby seats (but she told me that the flight was already overbooked, so I'm praying for a miracle!) In the meantime, I'm spending the night with some missionaries here in Paris, w...

Now that we're coming down to only a few days, I'm starting to get that "freak out" feeling that I'm not going to get everything done! I'm not going to get all my stuff packed into the bags designated/weight limit allowed! I'm going to forget something totally important, like having my mail forwarded! I'm going to get stuck in traffic and miss my plane! (Thursday is a holiday in France) In all honesty, my apt. is nearly empty. There are still the bags, the last minute cleaning supplies, and a few boxes of stuff that didn't go into more organized boxes earlier. I'm cleaned kitchen to a spit-shine level of perfection, and tomorrow I'll clean the rest behind me and leave permanently. Yesterday was my "goodbye" day for most everyone from church. Some of the youth group kids took me out to lunch, and then I was also invited to a home for dinner. In a few minutes, I'm headed to dinner at the youth pastor's house, where I w...

What a joy it is to be here at the Continental Theological Seminary, which is hosting our conference. The campus is beautiful, although hidden in farmlands outside Brussels. Just down the street is the factory for a well-known Belgian chocolate maker (with an outlet store!!!!). Yesterday when I arrived, I was pleased to see a couple that I worked with in Israel years ago, who are here as speakers as well. We caught up on all the news that we possibly could from our mutual friends. This morning I was the first speaker of the day, talking about the basics of Islam, for those in ministry who are unfamiliar with Muslims. How can they reach them, if they know nothing about them? Most of the time, the national churches in Europe are a bit afraid even of the Muslims in their midst, so they overlook them as a target for evangelism. I was trying to lay a groundwork that later speakers then applied to specific areas/issues here in Europe. The world is such a small one! My translator, pictured...

Today was my day to tour Bruges, Belgium. Located in the northern, Flemish part of Belgium, it is a town with history dating back to the 13th century. Canals run all through the town, leading to the name "Venice of the North." It is a quaint, charming town and I rambled all through the cobblestone streets today, snapping pictures right and left, although today's weather wasn't the best backdrop.

The musical was a rip-roaring success! Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement. There were about 750 people there, most of them unsaved folks who were in church for the first time! The crowd was really fired up, cheering and clapping with the music. They loved it! Several people talked to the pastor afterward, saying how touched they were during the musical, even to the point of tears in some scenes. I was proud to be a part of it. After another night sleeping on the floor of my empty apartment, I drove to Belgium today (nine hours), so at this point, 11:00 pm, I'm ready to collapse here in my hotel room. Two funny things happened to me already in Belgium: one, my chicken pot-pie was served with french fries to sop up the gravy. This is amusing to me because the Belgians invented "french" fries, and the French make fun of them eating french fries all the time. So to be served fries on the side of a normally fry-less meal made me smile. Then second, while ...

This afternoon at 3:30, we will be performing our musical for the church, and frankly, at this point, I'll be get to get it over with! We've been having 8-10 hour rehearsals for the last several weekends, and yesterday's was even more grueling, considering I had gotten up at 6:30 am to start moving out of my apartment. Some of my church friends came to help me and we moved my furniture out to the storage place. We finished that by noon, which was just in time to go to church for the rehearsal that would last until 10 pm! I still have a few boxes, cleaning supplies, my luggage, etc in my apartment, so I went ahead and slept here last night, but I only had a few cushions to sleep on. I thought I would be too uncomfortable to sleep well on the floor like that, but the exhaustion took care of that! Today will be grueling as well, since we will have no break after the morning service. We'll be eating a quick sandwich from 12:00 to 12:25 (according to our director's ...

For the past few months, I've been leading a very small Bible study, in association with the English speaking women's club. There are only two of us women that are Christians, but since we two agree in Jesus's name, He is still in our midst! Lindsay and I have been discussing Ecclesiastes for the past few months and today was our last lesson. Although I'd prepared for the study in advance, I had a slightly different perspective today, because my great-uncle Joe died yesterday. I saw the news on my brother's blog this morning, before I'd even checked my email to find out officially. I spent some time this morning remembering some funny Uncle Joe moments, and I've found myself thinking of my Aunt Kate all day. I pray for her in those moments, that God comforts her in her grief. But I'm thrilled for my uncle Joe, who is with His Savior. I can picture his wide grin right now. The end of Ecclesiastes says that after all the things in life have proven to be ...

I just wrote the longest post and it got erased! AGGGGGH. Okay, yesterday someone told me that I should keep blogging even though I felt like I didn't have much interesting to say, since my life currently revolves around packing and moving. "Just give us something" was the comment. Therefore, in the spirit of Marie Antoinette (since I live in France), if I can't give you bread, I'll give you cake (which means that this is a "fluff" piece!) The work continues. This morning I discovered that the internet no longer works in my apartment, which means that they cancelled the contract, I suppose. And the cell phone company finally caved, after the AG missions dept. sent a letter explaining my "transfer" back to the States. Great! One more thing to cross off the "to do" list. I've rented a moving truck for Sat. morning and lined up friends from work and church to help with the official move. However, I'm moving all the boxes I can in...

My arms were full, balancing the laundry basket full of wet clothes, and unlocking my apartment door at the same time. Just as I entered, I heard a noise in the back bedroom. I froze instantly, and heard another noise. My heart dropped into my stomach. In a split second, I realized that since I've been packing up the apartment, I didn't have any type of weapon nearby to arm myself with, before going to investigate that noise. Everyone in the building knows I'm moving and the other day I got a bit worried that I might be sort of "advertising" to thieves, since I was trying to sell some furniture. I've given half a neighborhood a look at my stuff, if they wanted to "case the joint." I'd just left for an hour to do laundry at the laundromat, and here I was returning and someone was in the apartment. I couldn't remember leaving a window or my balcony door open, but that noise was definitely coming from the back bedroom. I put down the laundry (th...

If I remember the story of Rapunzel correctly (from my paint-with-water book in my childhood), the fairy tale begins with a man who keeps stealing cabbages/vegetables from a witch's garden for his pregnant wife, whose cravings are insatiable. After a few nights, the witch catches the man, and because he is desperate for his wife's cravings, they strike a bargain: the unborn child for the cabbages. What mother in her right mind would trade her child for cabbage? I don't care how bad the cravings are; this seems unbelievable. (I did a little research today and apparently, in olden times, it was believed to be dangerous to deny a pregnant woman any craving--having to do with vitamins, etc.) So admittedly, the guy must have thought his wife would die without the stolen cabbages, but I still think its ridiculous to trade your own offspring for a vegetable of any kind. Why I am thinking about this, you ask? Well, here in France, the system of "bills" is different than i...