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Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
I've Been Thinking...
Ever since I can remember I have been taught that before Jesus can return to this Earth and take us to eternity with Him things have to get much worse here. With some of the things I see I on the news sometimes I wonder if that is possible. But I remember many people I have talked to through the course of my life believe that a world church will rise up, condemning all other religions and declaring it criminal to worship on a different day. As Adventists we are the minority and have something to fear in losing our day of worship. I don't claim to have the knowledge or wisdom to say whether a world church will happen or not, but none the less a news link that was recently shared on my Facebook wall told me about a proposal by the Catholic church for a world bank. (If you haven't seen this news report click here.) Now, I don't know how skewed this report is, or if it is even true, but it got me thinking; what happens if a world church is created. What are we supposed to do, I remember hearing the stories of running to the hills, but I'd rather not. I don't know about you, but I have come to rather like my friends around me. Adventist or not. And I don't believe that Adventists will be the only ones in Heaven. So why should I run? I listened to a song recently that gave me the answer. DON'T! We are more than a building, more than a pulpit, more than just a bunch of people. We a church, God's church. As it says in Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can stand against us." If you are taking the time to read this, please take the time and listen to this song by a group called Downhere. The song is called Cathedral Made of People. You will find the link to the song to the right of this post, it is under the title Song for Today. I have also put the lyrics below, I encourage you to read along to let the words really sink in.
Remember to turn on your speakers :)
If they shut down the churches,
Where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo
Where would you go?
Where would you go?
We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever can stand against her
If they burned every Bible
What would you know?
If they tore your marked-up pages
How would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal
What would you know?
What would you know?
When they throw you in prison
What will you do?
When they hate you for the things that you know are true
They can tear down this temple,
But they can't touch you.
Remember to turn on your speakers :)
If they shut down the churches,
Where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo
Where would you go?
Where would you go?
We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever can stand against her
If they burned every Bible
What would you know?
If they tore your marked-up pages
How would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal
What would you know?
What would you know?
When they throw you in prison
What will you do?
When they hate you for the things that you know are true
They can tear down this temple,
But they can't touch you.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Stuck between a train door and another train door
Our last day in Madrid was a great day. We had planned on going to the city of Avila, but since we had been going non-stop since Tuesday we decided to have our last day in Madrid be a lazy day. We woke up late and the girls did a little last minute shopping ( ok I did too) then went out to our last night on the town with tapas and boardgames. Yes, boardgames! While searching for a place to eat we came across a place called Cafe Manuela. We noticed the wall of games in the back and a menu of good looking croissant sandwiches. Two big pluses in my book.
Then we were off to the airport, no not the next morning, right after our croissants. Our flight left at 7:10am and we were planning on taking a train to the airport at 4:30, until we were informed that the trains don't start until 6 and the only bus was quite a trek from our hostel, and we weren't doing that again. So Elmer and I decided to spend the night at the airport. The girls again had a different flight, so they got to enjoy one last night in a bed while we "slept" in the airport.
Since we are spending the night in København we contacted an Adventist church a little ways outside the city with free guest rooms. In order to get the key to our room we were supposed to meet up with someone named Josefine. But, we weren't meeting her at the airport, or at the church. We were meeting her at a station somewhere in the middle. As we were approaching the station I called her and told her we were in car 14 and I would wave my hand when I got off the train. We found each other and exchanged pleasantries and a key just as I heard the train whistle scream, "get on or I'm leaving you!" I headed towards the doors as they started shutting. Elmer made it on ok, but with a backpack in front and a backpack behind I am a little thicker than usual. I got caught in the train doors. I have seen enough of Hollywood to know that train doors are like elevators. It your in them when they start closing they open back up. False. These doors close and continue to do so for a good 30 seconds. Here I am half in, and half out. Probably a hilarious sight. When finally the doors did surrender I decided to go ahead and continue inside so as not to delay the train any further.
Now we are in our rather large guest room in Nærum . We will meet the girls tomorrow morning for church at the cafe church. Then its back to Vejlefjord.
This was a great trip.
Vi ses
Then we were off to the airport, no not the next morning, right after our croissants. Our flight left at 7:10am and we were planning on taking a train to the airport at 4:30, until we were informed that the trains don't start until 6 and the only bus was quite a trek from our hostel, and we weren't doing that again. So Elmer and I decided to spend the night at the airport. The girls again had a different flight, so they got to enjoy one last night in a bed while we "slept" in the airport.
Since we are spending the night in København we contacted an Adventist church a little ways outside the city with free guest rooms. In order to get the key to our room we were supposed to meet up with someone named Josefine. But, we weren't meeting her at the airport, or at the church. We were meeting her at a station somewhere in the middle. As we were approaching the station I called her and told her we were in car 14 and I would wave my hand when I got off the train. We found each other and exchanged pleasantries and a key just as I heard the train whistle scream, "get on or I'm leaving you!" I headed towards the doors as they started shutting. Elmer made it on ok, but with a backpack in front and a backpack behind I am a little thicker than usual. I got caught in the train doors. I have seen enough of Hollywood to know that train doors are like elevators. It your in them when they start closing they open back up. False. These doors close and continue to do so for a good 30 seconds. Here I am half in, and half out. Probably a hilarious sight. When finally the doors did surrender I decided to go ahead and continue inside so as not to delay the train any further.
Now we are in our rather large guest room in Nærum . We will meet the girls tomorrow morning for church at the cafe church. Then its back to Vejlefjord.
This was a great trip.
Vi ses
Again, only this time in Spain...
Our second to last day on our Spain trip were going to take a morning train to Segovia. But when the alarm went off, we didn't listen. So we slept in. When we finally got up and ready it was 12:30. Luckily there are more trains in the afternoon for the lazy tourist bunch.
Segovia is a charming little Spanish city with an interetesting twist; one of the most well preserved Roman aqueducts runs right through the middle of the city.
We had a good time exploring the little streets and emerging into the main plaza where massive cathedral commands respect. The girls did a little shopping then we explored the ruins. On top of the wall on one end of the ruins there was an old man. Not just any old man, National Geographic-cover-status old man. I had to get his picture. Of all the times Elmer, our spanish speaker, came in handy on this trip, this was the time I appreciated his skills most. He translated for me that I was a photographer and wanted his picture to capture the essence of Segovia. He didn't buy it. I don't remember a lot of Spanish but I still pick up words. He wasn't going to get in front of my "machine." So my epic picture didn't happen. Instead I took more pictures of the aqueduct with evening sun on it until it was time to head out. But before we went back Madrid I really wanted a picture of this great Roman artifact at night. The problem was: no tripod. So we took a bus to the commercial center of Segovia looking for a camera store. We got off when we saw a large sports store. No luck. But by the time we were done looking around it was time to head back to the train station for our trip back to Madrid. I wasn't going to have time for my night shot. We were told to take bus 'x' to the station. But when we looked at the time table, such a bus didn't exist. So we started walking. I don't know why this trip involved so much walking. We asked a gas station attendant for directions. She laughed and pointed us down a dark roadway that looked like a freeway offramp. With no other option we headed on (sorry mom). There was nothing here. Literally no civilization. When we were sure we were going to miss our train we came around a corner and saw lights. Lots of them. You could say we all shouted for joy, yes you could say that. We made it just in time, the last train anywhere near our price range left in fifteen minutes.
Another adventurous day exploring the world.
This is why I love traveling.
Segovia is a charming little Spanish city with an interetesting twist; one of the most well preserved Roman aqueducts runs right through the middle of the city.
We had a good time exploring the little streets and emerging into the main plaza where massive cathedral commands respect. The girls did a little shopping then we explored the ruins. On top of the wall on one end of the ruins there was an old man. Not just any old man, National Geographic-cover-status old man. I had to get his picture. Of all the times Elmer, our spanish speaker, came in handy on this trip, this was the time I appreciated his skills most. He translated for me that I was a photographer and wanted his picture to capture the essence of Segovia. He didn't buy it. I don't remember a lot of Spanish but I still pick up words. He wasn't going to get in front of my "machine." So my epic picture didn't happen. Instead I took more pictures of the aqueduct with evening sun on it until it was time to head out. But before we went back Madrid I really wanted a picture of this great Roman artifact at night. The problem was: no tripod. So we took a bus to the commercial center of Segovia looking for a camera store. We got off when we saw a large sports store. No luck. But by the time we were done looking around it was time to head back to the train station for our trip back to Madrid. I wasn't going to have time for my night shot. We were told to take bus 'x' to the station. But when we looked at the time table, such a bus didn't exist. So we started walking. I don't know why this trip involved so much walking. We asked a gas station attendant for directions. She laughed and pointed us down a dark roadway that looked like a freeway offramp. With no other option we headed on (sorry mom). There was nothing here. Literally no civilization. When we were sure we were going to miss our train we came around a corner and saw lights. Lots of them. You could say we all shouted for joy, yes you could say that. We made it just in time, the last train anywhere near our price range left in fifteen minutes.
Another adventurous day exploring the world.
This is why I love traveling.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Of sore arms and famous steel...
We have been in Madrid for a few days now, and I must say, it is quite a small city as far as a capital goes. You can easily walk a circle around the center in a couple of hours; depending on how many shops you go into.
During our first couple of days here we walked around the city, got acquainted with the metro system and said hi to tue royal palace. The weather has been an amazing blessing after being stuck in rainy Denmark for the last couple of months.
Yesterday we ventured out of the city and took a train to Toledo. This is the old capital of Spain. It was so quaint and stereotypically spanish. There was an amazing castle and cathedral amidst the numerous tourist shops and sword venders. Toledo is renowned for it's steel and according to lonely planet it is foolish to visit and not come away with some sort of bladed item. So of course that's what I did. Just a short sword with Toledo etched in the blade. Now to get it home...
After the bus ride back I noticed my left arm was sore, I couldn't figure out why until someone said, your camera is probably too heavy. AHAH! So it is. After carrying the beast round for pretty much 4 days straight my arm was trying to tell me to give it a rest...sorry arm, I'm in Spain.
During our first couple of days here we walked around the city, got acquainted with the metro system and said hi to tue royal palace. The weather has been an amazing blessing after being stuck in rainy Denmark for the last couple of months.
Yesterday we ventured out of the city and took a train to Toledo. This is the old capital of Spain. It was so quaint and stereotypically spanish. There was an amazing castle and cathedral amidst the numerous tourist shops and sword venders. Toledo is renowned for it's steel and according to lonely planet it is foolish to visit and not come away with some sort of bladed item. So of course that's what I did. Just a short sword with Toledo etched in the blade. Now to get it home...
After the bus ride back I noticed my left arm was sore, I couldn't figure out why until someone said, your camera is probably too heavy. AHAH! So it is. After carrying the beast round for pretty much 4 days straight my arm was trying to tell me to give it a rest...sorry arm, I'm in Spain.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
The First 24...
Well I was hoping that I didn´t need to make a new post until the middle of the week, but the last 24 hours deserve one. The train to Copehagen and flight to Geneva went flawlessly. Before we left I printed off directions to the Adventist school in Collonges, France. We arrived in Geneva and asked the information desk if the directions seemed right to him. He said yes, but that we were crazy to do it with luggage. But the paper said it was only a mile and a half from where we would get off the bus. He couldn´t believe we wanted to climb such a hill with our backpacks. So taking his advice we asked our options. Option #1: public trasportation/ walk. Option #2: take a taxi ~80 € (one way mind you). Option #3: book a shuttle with him for 40€ (each way). Well my travel pal and I decided we could do option #1. Then we told him we needed to be back at the airport for a 7 am flight. He just laughed. 7am flight, that meant at the airport by 5-5:30. We were informed that if we booked with him, we would have to be picked up at 3:45am. And, public transportation didn´t start running until 5:30am. So again we had our 3 options plus a fourth. We knew that school offered transportation. However I had originally rejected it because it was the most expensive of the options at the time, but for one way it was 50€. So we decided we would just book it when we got to the school that night. The information man was unimpressed with our decision and told us that if we wanted to change our mind to call him by 10pm to book a ride.
We headed out, ´´Take tram 13´´ so we did. ´´Get off here´´ so we did. Then it said, ´´Take either bus 44 or 45 to the French border. Well we had just missed the 44 so we got on the next 45. A little while into the journey we looked at the map to see how many more stations until we should get off. It was then that we realized that 45 did not go towards the border, but more of a parallel-to-it route. According to the map, if we got off at the end of the line we would be closer to where we needed to be than if we got off right away. So we got off at the end. We asked the bus driver for directions to the border, he of course didn´t speak English, but pointed down a dark road. Then he turned around and headed off the way we came, leaving us in the middle of an intersection somewhere in the French countryside lit by one lonesome streetlight with self-esteem issues. We had no option but to follow the man´s direction. As we were walking I pulled out the GPS to confirm our route. We proceeded the next 2.5 miles across the border and up the hill. I have since discovered it was nearly a 1000ft elevation gain, with our luggage, at 9:45 at night. Our 10pm deadline for guarenteed transportation was soon approaching. I knew we weren´t going to be at the school by 10 pm, so we had make a decision. We didn´t call him back. The rest of our trip I prayed that somehow we would be able to get back to the airport for our flight without having to pay 80€ for a taxi. I didn´t even know if taxi service was 24 hours or not in Switzerland. Our deadline came and went, and we arrived at the school around 10:10. After figuring out our accomodations I asked him if it was still possible to get a ride to the airport in the morning. It didn´t look hopeful, he called a couple of people to no avail. ´´Tell you what,´´ he said, ´´I will take you to the airport in the morning. And you only need to pay me 10€.´´ I just about hugged the man. The next morning we got up and headed to the airport. Apparently, unlike Seattle airport, Geneva is a busy mess at 5:30 in the morning. We got our bags checked as the plane was supposed to be boarding, so more prayers were sent to the Big Guy upstairs about security. We practically walked through! And though we didn´t have a chance to eat a breakfast in the airport they offered free croissants on the plane.
Other than that....pretty uneventful ;)
I had a great time spending a few minutes with friends from Walla Walla like Rachel Logan, Sacha Kravig, Karli Will, and their friend Marjorie.
We are now safely in our hostel in Madrid. Now, must sleep.....hopefully the next 24 hours won´t require a blog post.
We headed out, ´´Take tram 13´´ so we did. ´´Get off here´´ so we did. Then it said, ´´Take either bus 44 or 45 to the French border. Well we had just missed the 44 so we got on the next 45. A little while into the journey we looked at the map to see how many more stations until we should get off. It was then that we realized that 45 did not go towards the border, but more of a parallel-to-it route. According to the map, if we got off at the end of the line we would be closer to where we needed to be than if we got off right away. So we got off at the end. We asked the bus driver for directions to the border, he of course didn´t speak English, but pointed down a dark road. Then he turned around and headed off the way we came, leaving us in the middle of an intersection somewhere in the French countryside lit by one lonesome streetlight with self-esteem issues. We had no option but to follow the man´s direction. As we were walking I pulled out the GPS to confirm our route. We proceeded the next 2.5 miles across the border and up the hill. I have since discovered it was nearly a 1000ft elevation gain, with our luggage, at 9:45 at night. Our 10pm deadline for guarenteed transportation was soon approaching. I knew we weren´t going to be at the school by 10 pm, so we had make a decision. We didn´t call him back. The rest of our trip I prayed that somehow we would be able to get back to the airport for our flight without having to pay 80€ for a taxi. I didn´t even know if taxi service was 24 hours or not in Switzerland. Our deadline came and went, and we arrived at the school around 10:10. After figuring out our accomodations I asked him if it was still possible to get a ride to the airport in the morning. It didn´t look hopeful, he called a couple of people to no avail. ´´Tell you what,´´ he said, ´´I will take you to the airport in the morning. And you only need to pay me 10€.´´ I just about hugged the man. The next morning we got up and headed to the airport. Apparently, unlike Seattle airport, Geneva is a busy mess at 5:30 in the morning. We got our bags checked as the plane was supposed to be boarding, so more prayers were sent to the Big Guy upstairs about security. We practically walked through! And though we didn´t have a chance to eat a breakfast in the airport they offered free croissants on the plane.
Other than that....pretty uneventful ;)
I had a great time spending a few minutes with friends from Walla Walla like Rachel Logan, Sacha Kravig, Karli Will, and their friend Marjorie.
We are now safely in our hostel in Madrid. Now, must sleep.....hopefully the next 24 hours won´t require a blog post.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Efterårsferie
Well, this last week has been filled with the stereotypical bustle that comes just before a break. Efteraarsferie, or Autumn Holiday is next week. The school takes a week to relax and get some well needed rest. As student missionaries we are allowed to travel and leave the school behind for a week. I am fortunate enough to head to Spain! Three other missionaries and myself will be heading into Madrid for the next week. We don't actually have a plan of what we want to see, but you will be updated as we go, since our hostel has free internet! Our train leaves in a little less than 3 hours; I guess I should start packing....
See you soon!
Jeff
See you soon!
Jeff
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