Cesky Krumlov

We're leaving for Czech tomorrow to meet up with one of the other teams. Please pray that this retreat goes well. For resolution to any conflicts the team has had, to rest for them, and for wisdom for Heather and I as we meet with each of them individually and then as a team.

Itinerary Change

Just FYI, Heather and I are in Munich now, not Innsbruck, as our itinerary originally said. The Euro 2008 soccer tournament is going on, and it's based in Austria and Switzerland, so going to Austria wasn't really going to work out--as there were pretty much no places to stay and the city was going to be crazy.

Update from Bergen 2 team

June 6th, 2008

To those that we love,

Concerning Jen Parisi, Grace Urane, Justin Long, and Myself.

Things have gone as they could have expectedly gone... unexpected.
Unexpected in who we met.
Unexpected in where we stayed.
Unexpected on who would get on whose nerves first.
Unexpected in how we would relate.
Unexpected, because God is involved, and he keeps us on our toes.

The morning we left Amsterdam, we sat in on a church service. The church was described as charismatic by those who had referred it to us, and I pondered what that could possibly mean in a context such as Amsterdam.
It was charismatic, alright.
And, it was incredible.

After walking a labyrinth of hallways in the old building we had been lead into, we stepped into the small room where they held their worship gatherings. There was a courtyard whose doors opened up to the room, where children danced with purple flags, and adequate zeal, to the tunes of our worship. The children were the best way to describe that congregation of whites, blacks, teens, and Grandmothers. They held to their faces, lacking in lines of cigarette smoke and sun damage, a freshness and freedom unknown, or at least long forgotten, to much of the city. Probably half of the two hour service consisted of contemporary songs lifting up the name of the Lord - refreshing to say the least - and concluding with a translated dutch message that has stayed with us since. People worshiped with honest passion and reminded us that the church is not dead in Europe, and all places, certainly not Amsterdam.

None of us really knew what to expect of Brussels. It was in many rights a city of surprises. Our arrival was hailed in by deserted streets littered with rubbish, and a hike across the whole of the town to our hostel, which actually turned out to be a hotel. Although we didn't know what to expect of the city, as the location of the European Union, we did expect a bit more sophistication or "quaintness," but... lets just say its not the place to have your honeymoon. Anyway, we show up at our hostel and find that meeting people might be hard, as everyone is segregated to their own separate room. Furthermore, if we can't get to know anyone, its hard to share the gospel. Needless to say, God knew what he was doing.
With nothing to do, we walked to get dinner, hoping to meet some people on the way... We never met anyone. On the way back from realizing that our budget hardly allowed four people to get a cup of soup each, Grace lead us to a point that overlooked the whole city. By the time we had finished with the view, two guys with backpacks were standing next to us.
One of them had a Canadian flag stitched to his bag.
Yup... they were traveling.
As it turns out, they were two brothers from Canada, Jewish (only in the cultural sense, but very well versed), highly intelligent, and extremely friendly. We got along great. Aaron, the older of the two, is studying law and going into his second year of graduate school, and Jonathan is going into his second year undergrad studying philosophy (what do you know, I'm studying that as well).
With these two men, we went into the wee hours of the night dialogging about Sumerian law, the Code of Hammurabi (thank you Dr. Walton), Torah Law, reason, Judaism, and Jesus, and spent the following day traveling Brussels with them, sharing the gospel in great depth and honesty, and learning a whole lot about our Northern neighbors. It was truly an incredible experience - our words were not our own - and it became extremely clear that Wheaton had prepared us more than we ever expected to stand toe-to-toe alongside two very smart and worldly people, and say, "yes, we have learned that... and seen this... and in it all, this Jesus makes sense."
As they left for another city, we said goodbye, handing them C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity," and Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz," all the while feeling that we had really connected.
They were the first to whom we shared the Gospel.

In those first four days, we met numerous people, from Finland, Australia, Missouri, and other lands, and shared the gospel with almost all of them. A thing of great thanksgiving is that our team has been consistently forward about this message that gives us undying hope, and pray that that would continue.

It would be impossible to share with you all in brevity the things that have made these days memorable...eating at McDonald's (the euro menu fits surprisingly well into our budget), stepping off a train onto German soil and having a business man ask us if he could help without our even asking (it turns out that 1)we did needed the help because, unbeknownst to us, we were actually a 2 hour walk from our final destination 2)we would have attempted that walk if it had not been for him, and 3) he was a Christian), and finding that one of my fellow travelers is carrying a loufa and he is not a woman.

I will end with one final story. Kellie is a traveler from London who we met in our final day in Brussels. She is blatantly a spiritual seeker, and after dinner and a couple hours of conversation, has decided to travel with us to Berlin. PLEASE pray that she might be touched in this time beyond conversation, and come to know the Lord.
She is incredible and we have loved every minute of her accent, stories, and honesty.

For us...
Pray for our team dynamics - in a sense, the honeymoon is over and we are beginning to understand how each person ticks. In this humility is key.
Pray for rejuvenation.
And pray that God is glorified, and that people come to know Jesus.

In Peace and Love,
Jeff Smith

Update from Bergen 1 team

Here's an update from one of our teams--Amy, Liz, Stephanie, and Joy:
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Hey ya'll!
It's been more than a week now since our youth hostel ministry team has taken off from Wheaton. And it has been one very long week! Our bodies have been tired and our spirits have been stretched, but God is so good! We have really grown together as a team. Our initial prayers were to be open and honest with each other about personal weaknesses, and over the course of this week we have become one body. I knew that we would become close, but it has been such a blessing to see how God has grown us SO close! A significant bonding time happened in Brussels Airport. We were on our way to Bergen, Norway, and we had decided that it would be cheaper and more convenient to sleep in the airport, rather than to find a hostel. So we had 15 quality hours together camped out on the airport's floor. I knew this summer would be economically limited, but I didn't ever realize the extent of our limited budget. Sometimes after spending the majority of our daily amount of money on a hostel, we ended up only having enough euros for bread and jam. But it's been good. We are learning more about what it means to trust God.

I have found this ministry especially unique in the way that we have met and talked with so many different people. In Barcelona, at a hostel 20 minutes outside of the city center, we met four young people from the UK, one of whom turned out to be a Christian! We had a great time getting to know them, and it was definitely a unique kind of conversation, opening the Bible to talk about the debate over evolution and creation, and often finding ourselves in agreement with another hostel traveler. Our new friend from the UK is named Kai. It would be great if you could pray for him, as he does something very much like us in his own time, speaking God's truth of Jesus Christ to people all over Europe!

This past week of traveling has been good, but very exhausting. It has been difficult to fully understand how to go about sharing Jesus with people when we sometimes only have one or two evenings with them. I've found that it is much more effective with people one on one. While we were staying in Spain, my teammate Joy and I were able to take a hike with a girl from Finland to a church called Tibidabo, which gave us a spectacular view of the city of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea. I was really excited about the chance to talk to Tuija on a personal basis, and I knew that we'd have a lot of time to get into some deep conversation during a long hike. When she told us that she was engaged and would be getting married in a church, we asked her about her church and eventually learned that she is also a very strong Christian! Praise God for leading us to people who have encouraged us as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now we are in Norway. After five airports and two nights of very little sleep, we arrived to Bergen on Saturday. We are so blessed to be working here at the Intermission Hostel. On Thursday, June 12 the hostel officially opens. Until then, we will be setting up the triple decker bunk beds in 'the stable' for the guests and buying large quantities of supplies and food from a store kind of like Costco, called Big Cash. :) The four of us are teaming together with two Norwegian guys, Jørgen and Arne. They are so much fun. The majority of stores in Norway are closed on Sundays, so today after church, Arne and Jørgen cooked us rice porridge for lunch before taking us on a hike up Floyen Mountain. Bergen is gorgeous! Although it was raining a little, we had a beautiful view of the city from the top. Intermission Hostel is cozy, and it is nice to finally know that we're in the same place for 3 weeks. And... we're in good hands.
If you would like to lift us up in prayer, these can get you started!:
-Pray that God would give us boldness in speaking truth to people, truth as to why we are traveling and who is our God!
-Pray that we would continue as a team to confess to each other our weaknesses and our brokenness
-Pray that we would be present...not distracted by things at home back in the States
-Pray specifically for a couple individuals that we have met:
-Patrick, an Australian we ran into on the metro riding to the airport. We were able to share with him our belief in Jesus Christ, but we only had about an hour together. Who knows? God can work through anything.
-Troy, a guy from Canada who came up to us in the Brussels Airport and asked if he could hang out for the night. After he arrived, another guy from Ohio joined too! Troy is just finishing his travels through Europe alone. He seemed to be very thoughtful and open to new things. I wish we hadn't had the need to sleep that night - I would have loved to talk to him more!

Thank you so much for your interest in our trip this summer. We have already seen the bare dirt of Europe, and sometimes it hasn't been beautiful. But God works in brokenness, and we pray that He will heal the confusion and pain of the people in Europe, everywhere from the Red Light District of Amsterdam to the cold tile floors of Brussels Airport.
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4-7)

Peace to you through Jesus Christ!
Love you all,
Amy
(living in community with Joy, Liz, and Stephanie)

Prayer Request

So Heather and I are traveling to Switzerland tomorrow. We're both really excited because the hostel looks sweet. Please pray for safety and energy as we travel. Also, pray that we meet people in the hostel there that we talk to.

On a different note, if you think of it, please pray for healing in my back. It has started hurting again, like it did about a month ago, and it's pretty difficult to move around easily, much less carry around a 45 lb. backpack.

Grenoble, France

Bonjour!
Heather and I are in Grenoble, France. All of the YHMers have been sent off on their respective teams, so now it's just the two of us! Our time with everyone in Amsterdam was awesome, but very exhausting. Our time in Grenoble has been restful thus far (I slept until about 1pm today) and I think we're beginning to get our energy back after leading 10 other people across the Atlantic.

We had a bit of time getting to Grenoble, but things have worked out awesomely. We got directions from several amazing French people, one who even used his cell phone and called our hostel for us, another who gave us his number in case we got lost and needed help again, and another who took out his map and gave us very detailed and exact directions (and I got to practice a little French in the process--but mostly I just said "je ne sais pas"). I had even told Heather right before we met the map guy that if I only had a map to look at, we would be fine. Then, about 30 seconds later, this guy pulls out his city map.

We finally made it to our hostel, which is a little out of the way of the center of the city, but it's all good. We navigated the bus lines this afternoon and now here we are. Our goal today is to spend time in prayer for the other teams that are now all over Europe (Amsterdam, Brussels, and somewhere in Spain). We also need to find a grocery store because we went food shopping in Amsterdam for stuff that would last us about 3 days and of course left it all in the hostel. So, needless to say, we're a little behind on our food budget, but I think we'll be fine.

That's about it for now. Please be in prayer for all the YHMers and for Heather and I. We are both still trying to recover from a very busy time in Amsterdam. Pray for strength and rest. Also pray that God will show us how to best support the other teams wherever they are. Pray for travel logistics, as our next city is somewhat in the middle of nowhere I think. Pray also that we can meet travelers and build relationships and share the Gospel with them.

I hope you are all doing well! Please update me on all of your lives, too!
Miss you and love you,
Sarah

We're Here!

Just wanted to write a quick note to say that we are all alive here in Amsterdam. All of the traveling went extremely smoothly, which is awesome (and unusual). It's a huge answer to prayer that we have had virtually no problems from planes, to baggage, to where to find food, to finding the hostel--oh wait. Heather and I wandered around the city for an hour and a half and then finally found it. :) But it was no big deal and we are all here now.

We are here for tomorrow and then we all head to our separate places on Sunday.
Thanks for your prayers!