Europe pics continued...Croatia

We had to take this picture above because it was one of the few times we both were wearing makeup all summer. :) We had just gone to church at a really awesome little baptist church in Zagreb.


Plitivice National Park--It was awesome! There were a ton of waterfalls and lakes and the water was crystal clear.


Heather and me with a few travelers that we met--Riley from Colorado (far left) and Richard from Ireland (right)


We met a bunch more people on the way home from the park and we all went out for the best kebab ever!


Kate from Australia who we hung out with for a few days---she was so much fun!

First day of my internship...

So today was my first day working at Outreach Community Ministries' junior program called Quest. There are about 15-20 students right now in this after school program. While the program meets M-F, I only work Mondays and Wednesdays. We do things like teaching life skills, mentoring, and tutoring. Most students are from minorities from low-income, often dysfunctional families. It is definitely a big (and exhausting) switch from working with Wheaton College students. We have some students who love you right off the bat (one 5th grader made a picture for me today) and we have other students who curse you out right off the bat (didn't happen to me today, but it did to the other interns). Anyway, I would DEFINITELY appreciate your prayers in this. And please pray for the students as well, because the situations that they go home to every night are unbelievably difficult. I am really excited about this ministry, but it is also very new to me, so I will need a lot of prayer. Thanks!

Amsterdam Conference

Quick update: There is a backpacking/Christian hostel ministry conference in Amsterdam in November. Hopefully, hostel ministry people from all over the world will come together to share and discuss what's going on throughout the world and how to do this ministry better. Brian, from the Office of Christian Outreach, will be attending, and I just bought my plane ticket to go, too! YAY! After much debate about whether or not I was going to go, I finally decided that this is something that I really need to be a part of, since it has encompassed much of the last 3 years of my life, and hopefully on some level I will be be involved in the future.

Please pray that this conference will be a time where God is glorified, and the Church around the world is encouraged. Pray that people in hostel ministry around the world are able to attend, and that things will come together in the plans.

So, if anyone wants to come to Europe with me for a week in November, I'd love it! :) (Don't worry--I'm planning on being home for Thanksgiving).

Florida Weekend

Colson's parents moved down to Sanibel Island, Florida this past weekend. Colson and I drove their car down there on Thursday and Friday and then helped them move in a bit...and spent a LOT of time enjoying the hot tub and pool.

No Longer Homeless!

For those of you who have been following this story, Colson has had a bit of housing trouble. The house that he and his roommates were renting was really really bad. They thought that it just needed a good cleaning, but after giving it a good cleaning, they realized that it was in danger of, well, either blowing up or falling down. So they contacted the town and the town came and inspected it. This made the landlords really angry, because now the town knows that they are renting an unsafe place, so the landlords got really mad. Anyway, the landlords weren't willing to make the repairs necessary, so the guys are kicked out of there (which is kind of a good thing). After much frustration, angry landlords, house-hunting, etc., they finally signed on another place today! It's way nicer and it's still within walking distance to campus, and the landlords are definitely better.

So now it's moving day! Again!

Thanks for all your prayers in this!

Budapest, Hungary

We walked around Budapest one night with a girl we met at our hostel, Luciana


On our way to Calvary Chapel Budapest


Hanging out at another cafe


Bathroom signs at the cafe


Relaxing with a little LOTR

Prague, Czech Republic

Eating a much needed hamburger


Statue of Jan Hus-14th century religious reformer who was influenced heavily by Wycliffe. Hus was excommunicated from the Catholic church and burned at the stake for his supposedly heretical ideas.


Yes, this is Heather eating ice cream off the ground. We treated ourselves at dinner one night, and after I had eaten my share of the ice cream, I accidentally knocked the whole thing on the ground before Heather could eat any. Eating off the ground is one of the many things that you do on YHM without any second thought that you would never even consider doing at home.


View of Prague


Studying a map, of course (I really like maps--I'm a nerd, I know)