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When In Rome, Fight For Gelato Like The Romans Do!

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:53:35 -0500

So Rome was filled with suprises :) Much like Venice we had SUPERB weather which took us all by suprise! We were all so tired when we finally got to Rome, however we found a pretty reasonable laundro-mat that washed, dried and FOLDED all of our laundry for only 24 euro!!! Me and anna had the opportunity to share our room with three girls from Korea ((LAST NAME FIRST) (AND FOR PICTURE ABOVE LEFT TO RIGHT) - JEONG EUN HEE, KIM JI YOUNG, AND KWAK SEO HYUN) we got to chat it up with them the first night. They have been studying English for a year and they thought their english was terrible, BUT we assured them it was pretty perfect!
Anyway Kim Ji Young was asking us a lot of questions, she seemed very interested in us. Within the first twenty minutes she told us Korea was made up of mainly Buddhist and Christians. She told us she believed in God but didn’t know what to think about the bible! We got to have a pretty light conversation until they were heading to go out in the city. We didn’t get to see much of them the rest of the days there except when we came in and they were already asleep.
The fact that she had brought up the conversation, she was sweet as can be, and we weren’t getting the chance to speak with them or even see them during the day made me want to talk to them that much more. I had been praying that the Lord would allow us to talk to them again. It had come down to the last night - we had not seen them at all, Anna and I were packing away all of our 28 pounds of clothing, and no one was in the room surprisingly. As we were finishing up packing the three girls came in!! We ended up spending the next two hours talking, laughing, and just having fun together.
Ji Young continued in bringing up questions (about our life and what we believe), we had the opportunity of sharing with her. I don’t know exactly what she believed honestly, but i know she wasn’t searching for answers for a reason. They gave us a some lessons in Korean (which i’m currently fluent in...or at least know how to say “KYM-CHEE” instead of saying “cheese” before a picture) Anna and I got to show them pictures of our family and friends (and they loved you all. SERIOUSLY they seemed so sincere!) While looking at our pictures they said they could not find the words to describe us in english. They said “You are so sweet, approachable...no no i don’t know the right words.” It was very sweet, and it really blessed me.
The Lord had answered my prayers in more ways than just allowing me to speak with them and share what i believe with them and the kind words they said. The next morning we exchanged emails and notes we had for each other. It honestly was a strange good-bye, like we were saying by to friends. They said if we ever come to Korea we could stay with them, and the invitation to Alabama was open their way as well! I don’t know what the Lord has in store or what he will continue to do in this situation, i pray that we will have the chance to talk over email and that her interest, if He hasn’t answered her already, will use me to talk a little more with her that way!!!!! So please continue praying, and THANKS already for your prayers it’s totally being felt..
Thats not the only surprise.. when we went to the Coliseum we got fixed up with an english tour guide with a medium sized group. I noticed a guy there who looked EXTREMELY familiar. At our last stop with the tour Neal said that guy totally knows you too he keeps looking at you. So we looked at each other and we both said YOUR FROM MOBILE RIGHT? It ended up he was really good friends with my sister and they went to high school together, his brother and my brother were really good friends and his sister and i played soccer together in high school. ISN’T THAT NUTS! Small world huh? We also got to hang out with a really neat girl named Anna, you can check out some of the other blogs to read up on her. :)
Some of you maybe wondering what i mean by “fight for the gelato as the romans do” well, let me fill you in a little bit on GELATO HEAVEN! So there is a place Gilolitti’s... lets just say ROME HAS TOTALLY OUT DONE ITSELF! You buy a ticket... you walk up to the counter which you cant even see because there is a sworm of people (seriously like 200 people in there.. no kidding it was a mad house) but you buy a ticket you stand in the crowd pushing your way to the ice scream scooper guys and you are holding your ticket up hoping he will grab your ticket next.. you can’t even look at the flavors because everyone is pressed in so tightly.. and then for only 2 euros (except the last day THEY JACKED UP THE PRICE TWENTY CENTS) you get three flavors of THE BEST DADGUM GELATO IN THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (wow..yeah.. i’m that serious!)
THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS! We are coming to an end on this trip and I can’t express how much you all have played a part in why this trip is going so well!!! MISS YOU GUYS AND I LOVE YOU TONS!!!!! :)

So What Exactly Is Going On Here?

Fri, 29 May 2009 04:52:27 -0500

So here we are, our last day in Venice... We have less than two weeks left!!!!! Venice is so beautiful!!!! Right when we got here the weather was perfect!!!!! Just what we had thought this trip was going to be like (WHY?! BECAUSE NEAL TOLD US IT WAS GOING TO BE COOL WEATHER AND IT HAS BEEN ANYTHING BUT COOL!) anyway, it was perfect. We walked all around the city we even got a little lost which was fun! So we finally get to our hostel after we toured the city a little (We had left our luggage in a store-all in the train station.) and finally found our hostel after what seemed like a 10 mile walk with packs on. The hostel is a place for the University students in Venice and there are a FEW spare rooms for back packers. We didn’t see any civilization around though that is FOR SURE! Anyway the weather has been nothing short of perfection, which we were kind of surprised by considering everyone we had talked to said that Venice was just horribly hot right now! But THANK YOU Lord for the PERFECT WEATHER WE HAVE HAD! We have not had to many opportunities to hang out with people, BUT the good Lord is still at work :) We are looking forward to getting to Rome to be with more people!!!!!!!!
The Lord has been revealing himself to me in ways that I was unaware of in the past! I’m reading through John right now and everything I am reading I have read before but it seems different in a way!! He is doing exactly what He promises, “...He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” John 14:21 HE IS SHOWING HIMSELF TO ME AND TO THE REST OF OUR TEAM! HE IS REALLY ALIVE FOLKS! HE IS AN ACTIVE GOD. A PERSONAL GOD. OUR FATHER. :) So everyone THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS!! AS YOU CAN SEE THEY ARE BEING ANSWERED!! THANK YOU LORD! Miss ya and Love ya :)

Paris y Florence

Tue, 26 May 2009 04:51:24 -0500

So let me first apologize for my prolonged blogging, it has been quite the experience over here...and the internet has been very hard to get to! SO RECAP OF PARIS AND FLORENCE!
We made it to Paris!!! So as soon as we got to Paris we had already made some new friends. Twin brothers from Canada Tyler and Zack! We got the chance to actually hang out with them the first night in the hostel. We didn’t get to find out to much about Tyler and Zack but I am trusting the Lord used us in a way we may not even realize!! Paris was an experience. It was so fast paced and kind of hard to meet people! We got to see some beautiful places - Notre Dome, Arch de Triumph, The Eiffel Tower!! We all had the chance of playing in the little park in front of the Eiffel with a little french boy named Andrew. He didn’t speak english, but that didn’t stop us from having fun! Paris was definitely really neat.
Now to Florence!!! We had to take a night train and i was really looking forward to it!! The train was an experience and not exactly what i had in mind! We had a bunkmate who didn’t speak any english so it was very hard to communicate. That was a VERY interesting train ride FOR SURE!
FLORENCE: Florence was a breath of fresh air, exactly what we had all been praying for! The first night we got there we were all sitting at the dinner table and i’d been praying while we were eating and watching all of the other hostelers eat dinner while they mix and mingle with there pals that we would get the chance to hang out with some people! As soon as i finished praying i said, “Man i just want to meet people” and low and behold a lady in front of us turns around and says “HI I’M KIM!” Whattttttttt? Really it was THAT EASY?! So we actually got the chance to hang out with Kim and her friend Jason the rest of the night!!!!! We really got to know a lot about Kim, she is from Seattle, and she is also a christian!!! It was a blessing to hang out with her for sure!!! Kim told Anna and I it was such a blessing to finally get to hang out with girls!! SO THANK YOU LORD FOR ANSWERING OUR PRAYERS!!!! Also, that night Anna and I got the chance to meet a girl in our room named Lee-Ann so we all (Kim and Jason included) stayed up until we got kicked out the court yard playing cards!! It didn’t stop there we got to hang out with them the entire time we were in Florence, and if you read the guys blogs you can read about some of the other people we had the chance to meet!!!! The last day we were there we had the chance to meet some girls in our room who go to Penn State Beth and Laurie! We got talk with them for a while, nothing too in depth but please continue praying for those we had the chance to meet!!!!!!
Thanks SO much for your prayers!!! We are definitely feeling them! The Lord is answering, and he is doing some REALLY awesome things in me and our team!!! He is The Provider :)
NEXT TO VENICE! THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

So Long Gyros, Hello Crepes

Wed, 20 May 2009 04:50:10 -0500

So long Athens. What a neat place. It was in about a thousand ways different from Amsterdam. Our hostel was completely different for sure. Most of the people in Amsterdam were christians which was tight and I thank the Lord for the fellowship we had.
However, when we got to Athens we found out our hostel wasn’t just a hostel is was also a very "happening" bar and we arrived just in time to get a sneak peak of what most of the other people in the hostel were in Athens for.
Most of our fellow hostelers were only there for a night. But we got to meet a lot of people from Canada Australia and New Zealand. It was a difficult few days in that we didn't get the chance to have real conversations with a lot of people. However the Lord didn't disappoint us, LIKE ALWAYS :) We got to see a BEAUTIFUL city where our friend Paul traveled and took a stand for OUR KING :) We also had the chance to hang with a guy from canada one night at dinner. We spent a whole day with a girl from none other than Mobile, Al and a fellow graduate of Murphy High School (which for those who don't know that's where I went) She was a few years older than me but we knew a lot of the same folks. Neal had a cool opportunity to talk with her (while Anna and I were trying to ship here 100lb shoes home)
So keep praying for the people we talk to and that even if it's a short conversation that Gods love is just pouring out in ways that we may not even know. Our God works in mysterious ways :) Anna and I got to talk with an Aussie girl named Courtney last night probably for an hour or so just good conversation learning about each other and our cultures (she gave me vegemite which is a very popular food in Australia it’s a lot like there peanut butter BUT it smells HORRIBLE but I will try my best to like it since
She gave it to me!). We our actually on the plane heading to Paris now and I pray we have a better experience than The B team(Rusty’s) ;) but really. Thanks for your prayers our world is in desperate need of some sweet REAL love from OUR SAVIOR. He has been opening my eyes to many things. Thanks for your prayers there welcomed ANYTIME :)
Au revior

Day 3!!

Thu, 14 May 2009 04:14:15 -0500

So today is our third day in Europe! Amsterdam is definitely different from ANYWHERE I’ve ever been!! Even from the moment I got here The Lord has been opening my eyes to how much I am truly blessed. I was born in a christian family, going to church regularly, more sheltered than the rest of the world but not a bad sheltered, a sheltered I think the rest of the world should look into!! I am very thankful for that, I knew things like The Red Light District were out there but I HAD NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!!
We have gotten to do a lot of neat things so far!! Meeting people is my favorite, I have met people from ALL over already and I’ve been here for three days! Yesterday me and few others from the YHM group went to a bible discussion in the hostel and had the chance to meet a few people from Hong Kong, different places in Holland, and people from the US(California,Colorado,Illinois, and Seattle).... It has really blown me away to see how many christians we have met here! Even Neal has said it has been a lot (and he knows more than me:) ) But really it’s been unreal, like even today we went to Corrie Ten Boom’s house in Harleem and the sweet dutch lady giving our tour was speaking a lot of truth just telling the story and even when I got to talk to her for a few minutes before we left. The group from Colorado is actually doing the same thing we are in Holland, Czech Republic, and Germany! Thats pretty nuts huh?
Besides meeting people, we have gotten to see alot of things! We got to go to the Ann Frank house, It was SO COOL!!!! We went to The World Press Photo Exhibit, which was INSANE, it is the a gallery of photos that the US press isn’t aloud to show because of the restrictions!! Today we went to Keukenhof Gardens IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! The most beautiful flowers i’ve ever seen!! WELL I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING MORE PEOPLE AND I AM EXCITED TO SEE WHAT THE LORD IS DOING!!