May 31, 2007 - My First Day in Europe

May 31st, 2007

I am doing great. Things are going by very quickly and we head out in the morning. My flight was very good. I was supposed to be the last person on the plane but my seat mate didnt show so I had the window and the next seat to myself - 2 pillows and 2 blankets - I got to stretch out and sleep the entire way. The connection in the netherlands was good as well. The airport is huge and I needed to go through immigration so it took a bit extra time. By the time I got to my gate I had time for a short nap and they called the plane. I only had an hour flight and prayed that I would make the first train connection at 6:10. This too was a God thing. I needed to catch a shuttle to the next terminal and race to the train station. As we disembarked the plane I saw my backpack being unloaded so I knew it made it - they made me check the big one.

I seemed to talk to just the right people at the right time to give me directions in english - the Lord was giving me favor. Once on the train I needed to call Doris to let her know I had arrived in the country and when she could pick me up. I didnt have any time to spare so I couldnt get off the train to find a public phone so I just prayed the Lord would bring me someone with a cell phone and they would be kind enough to make the call. As I sat there a business man took the seat across the aisle from me and laid out all his work, took off his watch and delicately laid his cell phone on the table. Score~~ He didnt look like he wanted to be bothered so I just hoped someone would sit with me and I could strike up that conversation.

A younger father did sit down and didn't even crack a smile. After a pretty long silence one of us started a conversation and it turns out he had a couple of kids, wife and used to teach at the university. He did share some information about a comuter plane that flys out early from Dresden to Frankfurt and I could probably catch it on my way back - this was good information to have. Later he pulled out his laptop and I thought I could possibly e-mail doris but I just didn't feel the freedom to ask.

We had traveled a couple of hours and I was starting to get a bit nervous about being picked up at the train station. The Lord was prodding me to ask the businessman but suddenly I was overcome with shyness and was struggling. He was now packing up his stuff and I felt like I might miss my chance. I looked at the prayers I was reading and the first one was that God would go before us and light our path and the second one was to not be afraid. This was my push and I asked the cell phone fellow if he would make a call for me. He was nice and did but it wouldnt go through. He thought we were too far away and to wait till we got to Leipzig (satanists had all gone home already) The young man was now departing and I gave him a pink ribbon for each of his children - he graciously took them and left with the computer. I now wished had e-mailed "Dana". Once we arrived in Leipzig he tried again and still no connection - it was the wrong number. After a little frantic searching I found the original and had transposed the last 2 numbers. He was very nice and helped me again and we got through.

Dana is German and a bit hard to understand so it was great because he spoke to her in German. After a few calls to clarify where to meet it was settled and the train was a half hour late. She would need to pick me up at 11:30 and this was very short notice since she was over an hour away. This fellow was also going to Dresden and getting off at my same stop. We had a very nice visit for the last hour and he shared quite a bit about his life. Before we left the train I gave him a pink ribbon and blessed him. It was pretty late and he was willing to walk me to the Burger King where Dana would meet me. As we departed I asked his name and it was Stephen. I had to chuckle since last week in my prayer time the Lord had me reading the story of Stephen over and over and He told me that He would have someone at the train station for me.

One other interesting thing was that someone had prayed that two huge angels would accompany me as I traveled. Both of these men were atleast 6 foot 5 inches and Stephen atlest 250 lbs. I did have to wait for Doris for about 20 minutes by myself but I have not felt alone this whole trip. This morning I didnt wake up until noon so I was a bit late for our 1:30 lunch to get to know the team. I believe we are going to gel very well together and it is obvious that the Lord has assembled a complete body with many different gifts that are all necessary. Everyone has such an interesting story.

Most of the following names have been removed to protect their identities :)

Everyone has such an interesting story, "R" and her friend will leave us first then go on to Prauge and onto switzerland - she is doing alot of research about trafficking. "O" is writing his thesis and wants to publish a photojournalistic book on the subject. "S" and "C" are missionaries familiar with the culture and the mafia. Their mafia is different than ours - most things are done to make a living - more like the black market - not so muchlike the Godfather. I ate supper with "Carmel" who is the YWAM director for the eastern europe region - 15 countries. We clicked - I like her and so far this has been amazing. I still dont know what the Lord has planned but it all feels very right.

I will be staying back in Dubi with "O", Doris, and Shalyn at a church to pray more and see what the Lord had for us the last 3 days the others will be returning to the base on Monday. It is 11:08 here and I need to go to bed so I'm not late again.... I am trying to attach some pictures of the base (it is actually located in a castle) called the Water Castle (it once had a mote around it). "Carmel" and I also walked up into the Morovian Church prayer tower and prayed for our trip. You can see three countries from there, Germany, Poland and Czech. The night air was just perfect and I felt like I was in a fairy tail.

The Spiritual Climate here is amazing, so sweet and full of beauty and life - I'm thinking things are going to change tommorrow. Like I said I'm trying to attach pictures but the computers are different here. I got pictures of the Moravian Church (the original 24-7 was burned in WW2) the graveyard where they lay the headstones down so no one is elevated above another - even in death, a picture of the building where the moravian texts are chosen for the entire year and have been since the moravians began in the 1700s. This is such a charming little german town.

I hear that we are still going 24-7 at home. Guys I am seeing what can happen when a community prays, really prays - things change and hearts change. I love you all very much and don't bother with worry - God is in control of this one and you would be more productive to pray.