All roads lead to Rome

The Roma crew:
Daniel Robert Koontz, American, WOLBI intern. Laura Wilson, New Zealander, French MK, WOLBI 1st yr. student. Antoine Houle, French Canadian, WOLBI 1st yr. student. Johanna Lutter, German, former WOLBI intern, WOLBI 1st yr. student. Abi Mahon, Canadian, WOLBI 1st yr. student. Mishaela Parker (moi) Brazilian/American MK, WOLBI 1st yr. student.
Mission:
Walk till we drop. See Ancient Rome. Eat gelato...as much as possible. Eat pizza at least once. Find Kim Hagar. Have a picnic. Find cheap travel. Walk to the Mediteranian. Enjoy the sunshine.Find Luigi. Appreciate every moment.
Mission Report:
We Departed from Budapest, Hungary Monday evening March 29, 2010, and Arrived at nearly 10 pm in Roma, Italy. With a renewed burst of adrenaline and a fresh sense of adventure our team of 6 scouted out an appropriate floor space for our airport camp out. Setting up camp in a perfectly magnificent corner on the second floor, we dozed off one by one only to awaken one by one tired, achy, and cold and desperate for anything but a cold marble floor to stretch out on. At long last morning dawned, and not one person remained in our miserable little corner.
With waning energy but expectant spirits we once again set out in search of transportation to our youth hostel. Several hours, many salesmen characters, a couple hikes across the airport, and bus ride with a very helpful, friendly old man later we found our selves walking down an old dirt road to our cabins at the "Country Club Castel Fusano" in Ostia, just 1 euro away from Rome, and 45 min, walk from the Mediterranean. It took all of 2 minutes for us collapse into our oh so very soft warm beds only to awaken several hours later, shower, and set off on our first excursion to Rome.
The fascinating thing about Rome was that the entire time i was there there was never a moment when i walked down a street and couldn't find something impressive, historical, or just flat out beautiful surrounding me. We spent a total of 5 fantastic days in Rome seeing the sights, lounging on the shores of the Mediterranean and picnicking by the ancient monuments that date back to the time Paul and the Apostles walked those very same streets proclaiming the gospel for the very first times.
I thank God constantly as i remember that trip, how we would pray together every morning on the Metro before we did anything else,How he allowed us to live and experience Rome in a way that most never will. What a privilege that a group of friends could walk the footsteps of those who witnessed the life and resurrection of our very best friend and Savior, and that we, his children, could walk those footsteps each day remembering what a rare and precious gift it was to be there.
Photo Archives of the Journey:

our camp out in the Roman international airport...
(Dan, me, Laura, and Abi)

we had a picnic in a park out side the impressive monument designed by Michael Angelo pictured below.
(Me, Abi, Antoine, Laura, and Dan)

Like i said...very impressive monument.

The Spanish Steps...at the time we didn't even realize that these were the Spanish steps...sure glad i stopped to take pictures =)

The Circo Maximo...where Romes chariot races and such were held...like the place in Ben Hur...there's not very much left of the place.
(Antoine, Dan, Laura, Me, Abi, Johanna)

Chillin out above the Ancient Roman ruins watching all the lucky people who actually got to walk through them...see the coliseum in the distance?
(Me)

the girls of the trip...the Coliseum was phenomenal...incredible to think of all the early church saints that went through this place. We just have no idea...
(Laura, Johanna, Me, and Abi)

climbing around the old city...pretending to be statues =) good times
(Me, Dan, Antoine, and Abi)

This picture of Abi and I was taken on one of my favorite nights of the whole trip when we sat out side the Pantheon by the fountain of love, as i later learned, we had a picnic and listened to street performers...it was the type of night that you see in a movie, and I'll never forget it.

walking along the shore of the Mediterranean sea at the sea side town of Ostia, Italia.
(Laura, and Antoine)

The Trevi Fountain.we tried to have a picnic here too...however there was an italian guard with something of an attitude who informed us that the Trevi Fountain was a National monument, not a playground there is no food allowed any where near the fountain. oops =P

I met up with Kimmy in front of the Coliseum...amazing day and I'm soooo glad I got to see her! Talk about worlds colliding!

Wondering around rome Antoine took it upon himself to find someone named Luigi, he would randomly ask men on the street if their name was Luigi...until finally...he found someone who knew a Luigi...it was the closest we got =)
(Laura, Luigi's son, and Antoine)

We had looooots of gelato on the trip...but this was our best find...a whole kilo of gelato for 9 E!!!!!! jack pot!
(Me, Dan, Abi, gelato people, Laura, Johana...hiding..and Antoine)

The Vatican on Good Friday, I must say this place sort of gave me the chills on good friday...behind us is St. Peters, thats as far as we were allowed to go on Easter weekend.
(Dan, Me, Laura, Abi, Antoine, Johanna)

Official journey conclusion: Mission Accomplished, and the trip of a life time!!! I'll never forget it!

Days go by

So much has happened since Christmas break, and even during Christmas break that I never shared here. Don't worry I won't try to fit it all into one post. But i did feel that I should share a little update on this semester before I launch into my more recent adventures over spring break and departure from Europe.

-My idea of an English Holiday-

That title is sarcastic, I'll let you know right off the bat. Most of you have probably already heard this story, but for those of you who haven't I will attempt to summarize the last leg in my Christmas break journey. Flying out of Spain I was all too aware of the awful snow storms raging all around London area, however when my plane took off as scheduled my worried evaporated and my thoughts were consumed with my Christmas break required reading and thoughts of how I would get from point A (London Gatwick Airport) to point B (the Morton's house where I was planning on staying) once we landed. So needless to say I was just short of speechless when after circling Gatwick for a good hour the pilot announced our plane had been diverted to Bournemouth- the southern coast of England, and even more shocked to hear after sitting on a runway for a couple hours that the airline would do nothing to get us to London or provide longing for the night. So as an 18 year old girl, alone standing outside what I'm convinced is one of the world's smallest airports, with but 10 or so Euros in my pocket, I was pretty scared to find out that the roads and rail lines to London were all shut down. So climbing into a cab with two complete strangers from one of the other 6 flights that were sent to Bournemouth I was able to pull out some money and ended up sharing a travel lodge room with my cab buddies. after a few hours of sleep I headed out the next morning and after a few debit card complications managed pay the ridiculously high train fare to London. Finally feeling like I was back on my feet again I settled in for a relaxing ride up to London with a missionary I met on the way from South Korea. Getting off the train and making my next connection should have been a simple task, and it would have been - had I not forgotten my backpack on the train in my hurry. So making a mad dash back across the Waterloo station on central London I arrived back at my platform just minutes after the train left carrying my backpack and all it's precious cargo away with it. In near tears I explained to the security officer my situation, how my back pack contained not only my most of my schoolbooks, but also my laptop, my Brazilian passport, and a whole bunch of tickets and official papers for insurance and such. The man just looked at my incredulously - unbelieving that I could forget such a thing (obviously i could believe it either!). What followed was one of the most ridiculous days of my life. my definition of ridiculous? Well to me ridiculous could mean a lot of things. Annoying, Difficult, challenging, incredible, awesome, memorable...well this day was ll of those. The security officer stationed me at a cafe, bought me coffee and lunch retuning to me every hour and a half or so to update me on my missing backpack.

I sat in that cafe for around 7 hours, missed all possible transportation to the family I planned to stay with, struggled to give up my will and control over the impossible situations I found myself in, saw how God kept me sane by giving me little things like free hot chocolate, and saw Him reveal himself, his protection, and work as I've never seen him do in my life before. It was a long 7 hours, but God certainly provided for me and in the end my backpack was returned to me with only one or two postcards missing from the front pocket. There is so much more I could share here, but I haven't the time. This adventure literally changed my life when i think about it. It taught me to trust the Lord on a more practical level than I'd ever experienced before, and I know it's something i will not quickly forget!

~~My 13th country in a year: POLAND!~~

Every year sing team has on weekend ministry trip this year we spent a weekend in February in Poland a WOL winter camps there here is the letter I sent out to my supporters for the trip with all that happend - once again God proved Himself marvelous beyond my imagination!
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Dear Friends and Family,

             I hope this little update finds you well! I just wanted to thank you all so much for supporting me and the sing team on our missions trip to Poland! God was able to do some awesome things during our long weekend there. I know it is a trip I will never forget.

 (above right: view from the hotel window)

            Sing Team and a few select others set out on our seven hour journey to Poland early Friday morning, winding our way through the mountains of Slovakia and up into the snowy slopes of Zakopane, Poland. We made it there around 3 o’clock without mishap. Thank the Lord, we had heard the horror stories from previous trips! We were soon ushered up to our rooms in a beautiful chalet style hotel that Word of Life Poland had    

rented for the winter conference and camps to follow. Although the weather was somewhat dreary during our stay the scenery that surrounded us looked like something out of a picture book. (below: Fanni, Yana, and I at winter camp)

Our first ministry opportunity was that Friday night where we were able to perform a few songs, translated into polish and then enjoy WOL Poland director Tim Good’s thoughts on the weekend theme: prayer. The next two days of the retreat were something of a blur. Because of the many blizzards across the USA recently the conference speaker was unable to make it until Sunday- the last day. Through out Saturday and Sunday Sing team and all the other staff and students that made the trip with us were stretched to our limits, filling in the empty spaces left by an absentee speaker. We crammed in a few quick practices and threw in a few new songs, solos, and sermons. By God’s grace lives were touched, even under such last minute circumstances. I got the chance to sing part of one of our Hungarian songs in English, our sing team leader Gabor, got to lead a few meetings, and our staff joined with Poland’s to put together several beautiful special numbers. It was great to see how all the details worked out, despite our worries.

            Sunday morning we were all very happy to listen to the intended conference speaker share the thoughts he originally had five hours to share. Of course because of all his traveling issues he only had two hours to communicate what God had placed on his heart. Nevertheless, despite the time crunch, I don’t think there was a person there who was not touched by what he had to say. Also on Sunday Sing team preformed a skit. Some may be familiar with the Lifehouse skit: everything. It is a very moving pantomime about a girl who begins her life in wonder at her creator and the world he created, but then a charming young man comes along and steals her heart. What follows is one thing after another: money, drunkenness, eating disorders, and finally physical abuse and suicide until the young girl realizes what she gave up in the beginning and throws herself toward her Savior, warring against the sins of her past until Jesus steps in and sets her free. If you’d like to see one version of this skit here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_M33GcJAmU Thank the Lord for using our feeble attempts to express his grace to touch other peoples hearts. Some were moved to tears. Many people were challenged to take there lives with the Lord to the next step, and some even to place their lives in His hands. Praise the Lord!

            Of course we also managed to fit in time for fun, including skiing and snowboarding for some, shopping in town, and lots of fellowship. We also got the chance to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau the holocaust concentration camps. Walking through old gas chambers, prisons, and execution sites paints life in a completely different way. It is amazing the cruelty that we are capable of, and I am left even more in awe of a Savior that would die for the likes of us.              (right: the famous gate at Birkenau, Auswitz 2)

            Over all the Poland trip was a time of growth, ministering to others, fun and fellowship with believers from all across the globe. And I just want to thank all of you for investing your time money and prayers in making this possible! The Lord is SO good!                                       

 God bless,

Mishaela

The rain in Spain

I know I said that I doubted that anything could top Germany, but after my adventure on the way to Spain I wasn't looking for anything other than relaxation, and a much needed break from the stress of school and travel, that was exactly what Spain gave me. Before going to Spain, I never would have considered it one of my top locations, however after spending two weeks there I couldn't help but fall in love with the beautiful spanish country side,and the family I stayed with. There was in fact much rain in Spain during my stay there (which I'm told is very rare) but i didn't mind it much most days I stayed dry and warm sipping "fireside coffee" by the fire, and reading my systematic theology book (oh joy!). There were many hours spent with Mrs. Humes and Adrianna watching Larkrise, knitting, talking and knitting some more.
I spent both Christmas and New Years in Spain and absolutely loved it. The Humes family sort of adopted me for the time I was there, and I can't thank them enough for allowing me to be part of their family during the time I was there. Between Christmas and New Years I joined them on a little family vacation to the magnificent Sierra Nevada Mountains in the south of Spain. The scenery was breath taking, it was a trip i will never forget. I spent a lot of time walking, talking with Mrs. Humes and Adrianna, and just thinking. The Lord really knew what i needed over this vacation, and he didn't hesitate a moment giving it to me. Thank-you!

 This is the town I stayed in where the Humes live, just outside of Madrid. This particular picture was taken from the Iternational school that they work at. For those of you from Brasil, it is a ACSI school similar to AVA only bigger, and in many ways more similar to your typical US school.
This is Adrianna and I  on the way down to the Sierra Nevadas. the view from the road was incredible. I was supposed to be reading homework during this four hour journey, I didn't get very far- most of my time was spent staring out the window. I cannot help but marvel at God's creation. His workmanship is so evident in this little corner of the world...you'll see what I'm talking about the more pictures you see =)


sitting on the terrace of the house we stayed in in the quaint village of La Calahorra, which is surrounded by majestic mountains and the home of a 16th century castle (as you can see) the town looked like something out of a movie...I absolutely loved it!

One day we were supposed to go skiing but due to the cloud covering the mountain top and the 100 mph winds the slope were closed, but we had a good time hanging out at the top of the world at a little theme park type thing they had there and taking lots of crazy pictures!

Eventually the skies did clear somewhat but by that time we were ready to head back down to normal altitudes but it was pretty cool to be up above the clouds. Now I don't know what it feels like at the top of Mt. Everest but I imagine if it's anything like that felt, it must be astounding!

 

This was the ski town at the top of the mountain

You are resplendent with light, more majestic than mountains -Psalms

Back in La Calahora Mrs. Humes, Adrianna hiked up the hill to the castle gazing at all the breath taking scenery and talking. It was so good. I have to stop here and say something about these ladies. God has used them in awesome ways in my life, and the funny thing is i don't think they know it. the challenged me in my thinking, reminded me of the power of prayer, and the spiritual battle surrounding us everyday, that only intensifies when we drop our guard, get proud, and consequently render ourselves weak. It seems there is a particular attack on those of us who a just going off on our own, still unsure and often times facing our own questions and doubts and struggles for the first time- alone. Being reminded of that battle and being fully aware of the potential outcomes gave me my fire back in a way, made me want to fight it, and made me want to win. For those us here now at WOLBI Hungary I highly doubt that any of us could look back over the school year so far and not acknowledge that we are often times at war here. The good thing for those of us who hold tight to our savior-is we know that our battle has already been won. =) And in the process of that battle God has the habit of sharpening us for his use, or as mrs. Humes put it -wetting our clay pots down so that he can reshape and re mold them into what he wants us to be for his Honor and Glory. Of course no one likes to be squeezed and punched and all the tears in the process, but always keep in mind something beyond me is happening here- it's hard for a reason and the ending is going to be a miracle of God's design.

We even made it to the Mediterranean sea!!!

NEW YEARS!!!!!! HAPPY 2010

New years was an interesting celebration. we were together with several other missionary families. One of the traditions there is eating one grape at the strike of 12 on new years eve. then if you choke on any of the grapes you will have "bad luck" on the corresponding month of the new year. Lucky for me I don't really believe in luck, but it was fun to look around at everyone attempting to fit 12 grapes in the mouth at once =)

~Duetchland~

Waking up in the very early hours of December the 14th I had that irresistible sense of excitement, a little bit of nervousness, and perhaps a touch of wonder i get when ever I'm about to set out on a journey. This time was a little different though, not only because we woke up very very late and were in quite a rush to get out the door, but also because this journey was one that I had only ever dreamed I would be taking. I was the first person to arrive at the airport that morning, and I promptly set up camp on one of the vacant benches where I slept, read, and chatted for the next five hours of waiting.

As my plane approached Stuttgart I caught my first glimpses of the wintry wonderland that would be my home for the next week. Since Stuttgart was not my final destination however, I had to get on the metro and go to the train station where I could purchase tickets to Saabrucken. As most of you probably know I speak little to nothing in german, so the purchasing of a ticket was being a rather complicated procedure, until a very nice young man came over, promptly told me I looked rather confused, and offered his help. About a minute later I stood there with tickets in had, and looking up to thank my helper, found that he had disappeared. I've labeled him my angel in disguise. My first European train experience proved to be a very pleasant one as I rushed on to Saarbrucken where my friend Hanna picked me up when I arrived. What followed was one of the most memorable weeks of my life.

The next morning, a Tuesday, Hanna and I took of on a walk through her little village and the surrounding coutryside, where I took so many pictures Hanna made a point of laughing at me for it. But how could I help myself!? I was in Germany, where I had always wanted to go, trekking through light snow and hills unlike any other place I had been. Granted all the places I've lived have been rather flat, Between the Amazon and Kansas you don't get very many mountains or even hills for that matter. That evening we explored the town and visited the Christmas market, where we pointed and laughed as, with much fanfare, Santa Clause pulled by eight reindeer flew over the market from one roof top to the next. Europe's Christmas markets go all out!

(Middle: Saarbrucken, Bottom: Christmas market!)

Wednesday proved to be a relaxing day of relaxing by the fireside, reading, and movies topped of by an evening spent with Hanna's discipleship group at a traditional all you can eat "flammkuchen hause" Flammkuchen is something very similar to pizza, only it has a very thin crust and usually doesn't have tomatoe sause.
There are all kinds of different toppings including sweet ones. It was delicious! After having a gift exchange and the group leaders home (they even got something for me!) we headed home to Hanna's for a good nights rest to be followed the next morning by one of the most cherished moments of that leg of my journey.

Thursday morning I woke up to a light fluffy snow falling down out side my window, and so was thrilled when Hanna's mom drove us out to the stables to go horse back riding.  The Krumm's have a few horses since Hanna's mother works with disabled children and horse back riding as a kind of therapy. Hanna led the horse up and around through ever snowier fields, leaving my hands free to take even more pictures of all the white hills dotted with horses grazing.

 Friday was our day on the town. After spending the morning ice skating, and making complete fools of ourselves we headed home only to return that after noon for a very productive afternoon of shopping. One thing that I love about europe, and especially this little town is that very little of our shopping time was spent in malls, it was all set on two or three shop lines streets that we would walk down, peering in windows and getting a few breaths of fresh air in between stores. It was lovely. I suppose it's something similar to the "plazas" they are starting to build now in the States instead of malls. Or perhaps it's always like that in bigger cities. At any rate I was a very happy girl by the time we had enjoyed a little break at a cafe and headed home again.

Saturday was Hanna's birthday! So we made a delicious breakfast complete with home made coffee cake, all sorts of german breads, lunch meats, fruit, yogurt, coffee, juice, and more. The night before I suppose God had decided to give Hanna, or rather me a wonderful gift of heaps and heaps of snow, that coated all the world around tuning everything into a glittering wonderland. So after the guests had left Hanna and  I headed out on our snow walk from her village to the next one, and back. If Hanna thought I had taken too many pictures on our first walk, she was in for a surprise during this little excursion where I only returned the camera to my coat pocket when the lens got so cold it very nearly had a coat of frost over it. The evening was followed by a delicious meal out at a fancy resturant to celebrate Hanna's birthday.

Sunday was my last morning in Saarbrucken, and the beginning of a new adventure, as all who have read my blog are well aware of. My time in Germany was one of the best weeks of my life, I'm not sure I'll be able to top that excursion for a long time! I was able to spend time with one of my great friends, stand in awe of God's beautiful creation (in this case many times the snow-which I like to think was falling at times just because He knew how special it was to me) delicious food ( with veggies!!!!!!!=D ) and as I have said memories to last me a life time. It couldn't have been a better beginning to my vacation.