Ok, so here goes...

Yes, so I've been putting off writing on here because it's still such a massive undertaking to try and talk about/describe the trip. But I don't want to wait too long so I'm going to try and dive in. Part of the problem is I've been trying to figure out what type of format to write in. Should I try and break it up by days? By topic? Just go with a stream of consciousness ramble? None have really "clicked" and that's been a large struggle. So without any overall "plan" on how to write about it all, I'm just going to dive in on the first one and see where it goes. Today's method will be a collection of seemingly random ideas. Enjoy.

*Jennifer and I are now officially representatives of Adopt-A-Child, WOO HOO!!! There is no way to convey the level of excitement I feel over that. We now have packets that we are responsible for and are authorized to seek out opportunities to share about the ministry of AAC. Last Sunday we shared about the trip at church and had 3 kids sponsored, which was amazing. :D Now we are in the process of figuring out the paperwork that needs to be filed when and where, our plan for promotion, and our plan for follow-up. It's exciting.

* I am trying to figure out this whole Skype thing. Apparently this is THE way to contact people in the world of international ministry, so I'm working on it. If you happen to know me and have skype, contact me and we'll get connected.

Now for the trip...

* We flew out of the international terminal at JFK airport in NYC. It was odd to be on American soil and TOTALLY feel like a foreigner. Not bad, just odd. It wasn't a bad experience at all aside from the fact that a seven hour layover is NOT FUN.

* Germany is gorgeous. The architecture, the landscape, everything. We got to ride the autobahn. (No I didn't drive it, but by that point I had been up for about 30 hours and me behind the wheel was not a good idea.) One of the coolest things was just seeing the architecture that was old. I mean, we stood next to a statue that was constructed in 1424... That's 50 years before "Columbus sailed the ocean blue". C'mon, we just don't have that kind of history in our nation. I know the USA hasn't been around that long in terms of the world, and we at times give it lip service. But more often than not we have a view that it's all about us and always has been... that everyone should live how we live, think how we think, etc. But standing next to an almost 600 year old statue is pretty humbling. (Now it was a statue of a wiener dog, and apparently the dog saved it's owner, a royal of some sort. I'm not sure how a wiener dog saves it's owner, perhaps the man ate the dog to survive... but either way he made a statue of it.)

* I need to mention that at the moment I don't have my pictures at my disposal, so you won't get any visual aids on this one. Hopefully next time.

* We didn't do a whole lot of ministry in Germany mostly due to our jet lag. We got in on Sunday, and were up for about 40 hours by the time we went to bed, and then left early on Tuesday. So most of our time was spent trying to recover and sight-see. But it really was one of the best things we could have done, for without that time to recover, we would have been a mess in Albania.

* During our time in Germany, many of the people we met thought we must be from a very large church since they could afford to help pay for our trip. We told them that our church wasn't large, but that they were just a very giving church. This was a great commendation upon our church, but a rather sad commentary on the american church as a whole. There are churches out there with huge congregations and seemingly endless funds... but how are they used? Do we just build bigger and more extravagant buildings filled with more "stuff"? Are we ignoring a better use of our funds in the world around us? Consumerism is the focus of american society, but should it be the church's? Do we need flatscreen tvs in the halls of the church? Do we really need all the lights and flash for worship services? Do people come to our meetings because we have the Love of Christ, or because we have the "stuff"? This train of thought only got stronger as we were in Albania. It was very hard for me to come back and go on with life as before. (See previous post and the Lord of the Rigns quote) I could go off on a huge rant, but I'll stop there for now. I'm sure I'll pick it up later.

* One day in Germany we got to eat a snack at an outdoor cafe. We had waffles and hot chocolate. OH MAN was it good. :D

Ok, that's it for now. Next time I'll pick it up with thoughts on Albania. It may be random or more flowing, I don't know. Hope all is well with you. God bless.

-me