Strasbourg

After Prague, Kendra and I headed accross the length of Germany and crossed into France for our visit to Strasbourg to see our dear friend Faith Collins. We had to change trains 5 times, but everything went so smoothly! One train was significantly delayed so we got there late, but we had nice seats and easy transitions, praise the Lord. Strasbourg is a beautiful city! And even though we were right on the border with Germany, we definitely felt like we were in France.

Faith is a law student at Regent University, and I am proud to be friends with such a dedicated and passionate student who I know will be used mightily for justice in this world. She is doing two summer programs abroad this summer--she just finished one in Israel and now is in Strasbourg. It was exciting to catch up and hear all that God is doing in Faith's life. It is clear that the favor of the Lord rests upon her. It was also a relaxing time. We were only there for a few days, but they were so wonderful.

One day we got to go to Faith's classes with her--my day in Law School! I really enjoyed that. Most of you know what a nerd I am and how much I LOVE school and learning. We got to sit through a class with the former U.S.A. Attorney General and Missouri state Governeor, John Ashcroft. Then we got to hear from a guest lecturer, a magistrate from Italy who has been the cheif counsel on an important case regarding religous expression in Italy. And then we got to hear from another great professor whose name I can't remember at the moment. It was really fascinating and i felt good whenever I was able to follow along somewhat.

We spent some of the time just walking around a bit and seeing the town. It was really enjoyable. I love seeing cathedrals and so enjoyed walking in and looking at everything. We also greatly enjoyed our pastry's from the famous Paul's bakery.

We really enjoyed hanging around the courtyard of the dorm and getting to know the other students, most from Regent, others from Liberty, Ave Maria, and other Christian universities. It really felt like an open door from the Lord to be able to share some of my heart and the things the Lord has been speaking to me so recently. The timing was amazing. I love meeting other believers who are pursing what God has placed on their hearts. We can be such a mutual blessing to one-another. And it was a great privalege for us to be able to answer some of their questions regarding the Holy Spirit, Israel, and Church unity. And I was blessed to see people working so hard and really giving their lives for something greater.
All in all, our time in France was tres magnifique.

Prague--and the scary blog that mom's shouldn't read

After saying goodbye to Maria in Bratislava, we settled in for our journey to Prague. That morning I woke up not feeling so great. I felt slightly feverish, my glands were swollen, and my neck was stiff. I am very happy to say that the feverish feeling left soon enough. I don't remember if I was able to sleep on the train or not. When we arrived in Prague I was feeling a little bit better. We put our bags in the lockers at the train station and set forth to walk around the city for a few hours. It was really enjoyable to just be at our leisure and go wherever we wanted without worrying about a bunch of people. We went to Wencesles Square, walked in a few circles through the maze-like yet enchanting streets, crossed Charles Bridge and walked up towards the castle. Prague is such an amazing city because the charm just does not end. After we made it back to our bags and got on the train to Uvaly we were spent.

We had a little confusion on what stop to get off. We ended up going two stops too far. When we got off finally it was dark and we were in a desolate place with no station, just a platform. We had to cross the tracks in order to get to the platform on the other side. No one was around but a few interesting individuals sitting by the tracks smoking. One of them came running over to us and carried my roller bag accross the tracks and we made it just before the next train. It was such a funny situation; Kendra and I were both glad we were with someone who doesn't freak out easily--and that we were not alone. My advice to the young traveller: use wisdom, be smart, but if you are forced in a situation just know that people are not always what they seem and God is looking out for you. This man got us on the right train and tried really hard through a language barrier to make sure we knew where we were going.

When we arrived in Uvaly we started walking the wrong way (totally my fault--I know I have never had a great sense of direction and should not rely on my memory from a year ago). We decided to turn around and go to the hotel by the train station to use the phone. When we passed the station, we saw Kelsie there looking for us. She had been driving to the train station every half hour to see if we were there. Because we missed our stop and were coming from the opposite direction, the times were off so she didn't see us when we first arrived. We were so glad to find her, especially after she told us that the hotel we were going to try to go use the phone was a lot like the Adam's family.

It was SO nice to arrive at the Mullen's house. We sat at the table for a bit and John kept getting up and bringing more food to the table. I kept saying I was satisfied, but the more food he brought the more I ate. Needless to say, we slept really good that night. When we woke up the first thing we heard was one of the boys telling us he made us breakfast! It was so sweet and great. He had made us eggs and they were already on plates on the table. This day was so nice. Unfortunately, I felt even more sick and spent most of the day napping. Kendra and I both really enjoyed being in a family home and just resting and having conversation--I loved talking with the boys, they are great at conversation. We had planned on going into the city with Kelsie to meet up a team who has been travelling and ministering, but we were so exhausted and my head was so cloudy that we decided to stay at the house. That night we watched "Miss Potter" with the kids--I LOVE that movie. The next morning we got up early to catch the train. We were SO blessed by John and Kelsie's hospitality. Kelsie packed us a "sack lunch" which was A-MA-zing. It consisted of breakfast, two sandwiches for lunch, and several snacks, even two bars of white chocolate. This was such a blessing and really carried us through our day of 5 different trains en route to Strasbourg, France. A big thank you to the Mullen family! We love you guys.

Highlights

Here are some highlights I haven't blogged about yet:

• Prayer meeting at Father Peter's house: On Friday night (July 2) Kendra and I cooked Shabbat dinner for Mike and Beryl and Fr. Peter. This was really fun. Afterwards, several  young people from Slovakia came over for the friday night prayer meeting. This was really special. We got meet such great people--really special  young people who have such a heart for the Lord and to pray in His purposes. I was very blessed to be able to share a little bit of my journey with the Lord and with Gateways and then to join in prayer ministry. The Lord gave me some pictures and words for a few of them and I was so encouraged by seeing what great purposes He has for each of these amazing sisters and brothers in the Lord.

• Other fun things we did included some gardening and seeing the castle ruins at the top of the mountain overlooking the village. From up there we could see Slovakia and the castle in Bratislava. From up there, Kendra and I were able to pray over the city and the region. This is a place with a long history of great bloodshed and we believe that where the enemy has tried to reign, God will have greater glory.

• July 4th celbration! We had the unique experience of celebrating our American Independence day with a few of our British friends :). It was a grand time. Sister Mary Paul is also from Texas, so she, Kendra, and I prepared the feast. We tried to make it as American as possible with hamburgers, potato salad, apple pie, and chocolate chip cookies--yum! We were half American and half British (3:3) yet all was civil and joyful. We prayed for true freedom through Jesus throughout the world. I made everyone watch a you tube video of John Wayne doing a poetic tribute to beautiful America. After dinner we had a time of prayer. They all prayed for Kendra and I and blessed us before we headed out the next morning, and we had the opportunity to pray over each of them. All in all, it was a holiday to remember.

• After saying goodbye to everyone in Hainburg, Kendra and I took the bus into Bratislava. There we were met by Maria, a girl our age who has just completed medical school. We met on Friday night at the prayer meeting and decided to spend a little bit of time together before we caught our train to Prague. We had coffee together and had such a nice time. Maria has a beautiful heart before the Lord and so much passion. We were really blessed by this new friendship. After a few hours together, Kendra and I hopped aboard our next train to Prague.

Here are some more pictures from our time in Hainburg: