God said Go

Znog

2006-07-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

So we went to Africa. It was cool. Temperaturewise. There was a cloud that sat on Nairobi and made it smell funny. We rode on a bus over a road, which is just a term for ground that is less fit to drive on than any land around it for twenty kilometers. Roads are fun to ride on, especially when you need to utilize the facilities. We stayed in the mountains with the hosts and their chickens and crying dog and we ate lots of good tea. We taught about similes ad nauseum, or until my throat was as dry as a bone. And we also went on safari and saw lots of animals. And lots of grass and even a sausage tree. Seriously, there was a lot of grass. And soon, we went back to London and it is so hot here. But we found a campsite with a movie theatre and a bar and grill and golf course. Standard, you know.

Well on a serious note (this is Joel writing by now by the way), some of you might already know this, but Neil Massie, my cousin, died about 2 weeks ago. During dialisis his heart stopped. Due to the fact that he had already signed a 'do not resussitate (spl?)' form, the doctors were unnable to do anything. Please keep my family in your prayers and know that Neil is now a much happier kid and he is right where he belongs.

Like we said

2006-07-05T23:13:00.000-07:00

yeah, we´ve been staying in a camping resort. And yes, they have sheep and deer, which are undoubtedly the delight of everyone. And there is a disco every night, with lights that do not fail to impress. Barcelona is nice outside of Barcelona. There are pools and grass and even a beach not too far away. We thought this was going to be a camping experience because it was labeled as ´camping´. European camping.
This is probably the last update in a while. We are going to Africa tomorrow. I hope that France wins the World Cup.
And on the note of the 4th of July- two are better than one, which was proven true as Joel was a major helpful friend in getting us both to our campsite when there was sort of a fireworks show going off in my head and a kind of revolution taking place in my stomach.

Good Owls make Bad Pillows

2006-07-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

This morning I awoke to the sunlight creeping over the window sill and nibbling my eyelids. My brain did long division to understand what time it was, and my hands got annoyed and grabbed my digital watch, which told me to go back to sleep. It stays light until after 23:00 and it gets light at 5ish.
We had a church picnic today which lasted all day. Over ten hours of picnicking. What happened at this picnic was so much. French people would come over and say bonjour, and we would say that as well, and then eventually convey that no, we don't actually speak French and we don't really even understand and yes, this is unfortunate, and yes, we've already been in France for over four days and what's the deal? I personally am just afraid of learning new things and suspicious of anything that is not deep fried and pre-packaged and Joel can't learn French after 1998 by law of the Brazilian government and as a duel citizen, you better believe that he must comply.
But in reality, it is all very true, about the communication barrier, but we still were joyed to meet everyone we did. We even met some Americans who had been in France for weeks and weeks and they made us feel better about all kinds of things. We had French pot-luck and wine and carbonated grapefruit juice, which always seems to appear in the guise of something tasty.
There was a sermon in French and a collection of French songs, some of which we knew in English. So we sang as best as we could, mainly looking for 'x'es that we could omit pronunciating. That's the funnest part of France of all- skipping over letters in words. It gives a sense of power and nobility. Something that we don't often see in English, except in gnomes and knights and stuff lighk thate.
There was a pond and it had fish in it. There was also some loccorice alcohol with some water in it that tasted like leprosy medicine. I pretended to drink mine and fed it to the grass.
There were also bugs, but I don't know why.
We played a game with some of the girls there and the rules were vague and the scoring was in French but we won a lot, so I didn't complain but a little.
What a good day, really, and at 4:15 in the morning we start the long walk to BARCELONA, BARCELONA, CATALONIA, TAKE OVER!
Seven more minutes, anyone?
yeah.

vive le frence

2006-07-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well Brazil lost. I can't believe it. What a terrible turn of events...beaten by the same team that knocked us out of the World Cup finals back in 1998. Crap!

I guess I must move on and now submit myself to another team on winning the World Cup. So I will put all my blood, sweat, and tears to the underdog...France. It has been a little fun, I'll have to admit, to be here in France in the midst of there great victory. People parading in the streat, screaming fans heard miles away, and cars zooming by as they honk their horns. France has been good to us.

We have been in the middle of the country and it's all that we could ever have hoped for. We have been used more here than anywhere else so far. We have shovelled gravel, moved boxes, and prepared for tomorrow's church picnic. The missionaries have been pretty amazing and their philosophy on how to approach ministry has been insperational.

Yesterday we made our way to Paris. There, we saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, The great Eiffel Tower, and the arc (from a small distance away). Aaron also wants to point out that we saw Mick Jagger on tv. What a crazy city. I have no clue why they call it the city of love. After walking for more than 10 miles, all you begin to think is how much further. Aaron and I, being the stingy "frugal" bumbs that we have always been known to be, decided against the metro for reasons that seems so good and pure at the time. The map seemed to make things seem so nice and convenient that we said to ourselves, "Well, what's the harm in a little exercise." 20 blocks later, just to get to our first destination, we quickly concluded that me made a terrible decision, but it was too late. Paris was a lot of fun, but like most things, it did not come without a price - our legs. We're still having a blast and we will soon make our way to Barcelona. We have a 3 night stay at a hostel a few minutes away from the main city to give us another nice break from the big city.

Aaron and I have set a new goal...to find a message therapy place so we can get a full rubb down. Traveling the world isn't as easy as we thought it was. Plus, we need to relax before we hed to our hard beds in Africa and sleeping with chickens. I hope this finds you well and that you continue to keep us in your prayers. God is truly making his presence know in this trip through the people that we are coming in contact with. Praise the Lord and vive le frence (both in completely separate categories of course).

Zhip Zhap Zhoome!

2006-06-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Leaving Amsterdam, we noticed that we were going south. We proceeded to go south until we came to a place called Brussels. They speak French here. So we got off the train and walked into this place.
Standing in line, I look up to a young woman who asks parle vou ingles? I look at her and wonder why. Joel says English. She says I asked if you spoke english. And she was an American, too.
Talking to her, we realized that we would like to talk to her more. As she was nice and easy to talk to.
Leaving, Joel went to buy us reservations.
Running, I followed Joel and told him to get a later train so that we could talk to the girl, who is named K(C)atie(y). Sorry. And also so that we could watch Brasil. Listening to my suggestion, Joel got a ticket for later.
Returning to our new friend, she takes us around Brussels, the home of the famous little urinator.
Observing and understanding, we find that our friend is a track star from Indiana via Stanford University who speaks beautiful French, has a guide book, buys us waffles, etc.
Searching for dinner, we eventually stop and eat ninjas. Seriously, this is sounding unreal, but it is treu.
Standing at the original Celtic pub, which was shipped from Dublin in 72 via Vietnam, we watch Brasil defeat the formidable Ghana Football Club.
Asking a stranger to take our photo, we pose with our friend and then say goodbye.
Arriving in France on the shnazzy red liner train that is fast, we discover that our connecting train is already gone for the day.
Feeling badly, we desperately search for a payfone that accepts change.
Giving up, we buy a phone card and call our contacts.
Being patient with us, they describe our escape procedure.
Following it, we escape, but only after running and in front of a crazy guy who was arguing with the floor.
Riding the train with a French Rap Duo, we soon arrive in the station for our destination.
Meeting our contact, we are overjoyed.
Sleeping all night, we awoke to day.
Working at digging gravel to clear out a flatter place so that there can potentially be a garden and a guest quarters relaxation area and an exchange of rocks for backhoes with a French neigbor namber Robert at the home of two wonderful people named Carl and Carloine who fed us lunch and dinner, we spent our morning.
Riding with the Frenchman Robert and his wife to their house for yogurt and orange juice, we observe the rural French countryside.
Thinking wow beautiful, we looked on.
Drawing us a map back to the house of our lunch and dinner, they send us on our way.
Taking photos, we go.
Visiting with missionaries from Cameroon, we eat qishe and salade.
Returning to our hosts home, we visit with Jack and Carlos, from Houston.
Kindly hosting us all, Dave tells us about the Black Forest Academy.
Reading this all the way through, you are probably annoyed and confused.
Just know that rural France is quite a site.

Amsterdam

2006-06-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

On saturday night we had a wild time with Germans in Berlin. We watched Germany beat Sweden in a park with lots of beverages all around and horrible music- it was the worst music ever- it was so bad, it was interesting, but not to listen to. We ate too much curry. And we walked or rode bicycles across the east-west bridge, up the flights of stairs, and into the apartment. The picture on the wall is a painting they did of a dream she had about her head hurt so much and it was like a hand on her head, and so there is a hand instead of a head. And we watched the Mexico game and it was a close game. But then they wanted to argue Bush politics and that I hate.
We rode the trains through Germany all day yesterday and it was hot because the air conditioning was expereincing difficulty. But when we got to the border, and the train split in half and the flags got different and there was oranje and rain and it was nice. In Amsterdam we met a Scottish man who fled the country to avoid having to testify as a witness, so he gave us advice about drugs and Scotland and okay!
But walking through Amsterdam because really we were in the wrong city was not so okay because it rains hard and where do you go? To Haarlem!
And we did and our hosts here have been here since early 60 something. Okay, so we watched the Nederlanders get beat, oh so sad.
But today, we walked around Haarlem and went to Zerfjuklusrsk at the coast and it was a cold day at the beach, and we also went back to Amsterdam in the dry. We watched the Australian tragedy and I ate wok and go! Holland is a place, man!

Setting have been changes

2006-06-26T01:39:00.001-07:00

I changed the settings and now anyone should be able to comment without having to create their own blog. Sorry for the inconvenience. We are now in Harleem, near Amsterdam, and we will soon be posting new stuff...it's Aaron's turn to blog.

German bachelor pad

2006-06-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

So we ended our last day in Liepzig with a bang. After an eventuful night of bowling with the University of Arkansas students and a big heavy set biker dude behind the bar, we spent the night across from a gothic cathedral surrounded by a peaceful park. We made a lot of friends but our trip was destined to go on and we had no choice to part ways. When we arrived in Berlin, we had no clue what to expect. Thankfully, we were greeted by an extremely nice German named Micha who has opened up his home and offered us his own bed for us to sleep on. He has fed us and given us an extremely interesting tour of Berlin. Micha was born during the war and lived most of his life in East Berlin when the wall was still up. He has given us an interesting perspective of what life was before and after the wall fell. We are also amazed at the amount of fans there are here in Berlin. Over 1 million people congregate at the center of town to watch the Germans play and we are about to leave to witness such an occasion. We might have to hold hands to not lose track of one another...just kidding. Berlin has a rich history and its amazing to witness it first hand. Probably the funniest thing we saw yesterday was 50 drunken Germans singing along to a band of 3 singing old Beatle covers. They knew every word but it was obvious that they did not know what they were saying. We have loved Berlin and overlooking the entire city from the largest glass dome in the world. There are a lot of things that happened here first like the first computer, largest contruction sight, largest single building, and the list seems to go on and on. Soon we leave for Amsterdam and we plan to stay a couple of days. For those of you keeping up with our trip, keep sending us emails and words of encouragement...there is nothing like hearing back from you guys and being encouraged that there are people praying for us and sharing in our experience of Europe and soon Africa. Best wished to all.

so so so

2006-06-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

We rode the eurail system and figured it all out. We are genii about that now. But it took burning of the midnight oil. So we crossed the Swiss alps in the middle of the night and talked beer with an ex GI and his wife. The Germans almost got our Chinese friend who had the wrong type of visa.
Germany is efficient and clean, and peaceful, until the actual Germans show up and start drinking beer and watching foosball. Well, they did and it was great fun and we all stood in the rain in K-town and watched Deutchland beat the pants off of the Equator. And then we went to the Tridad-Paraguay game, but not until being treated to a Trinidad parade with whip monsters and dancing, jiggling gold women and a crocozilla and a blood vomiting blue devil who would harass you until you paid him to leave. All of this had a sort of appeal, so we supported Trinidad, and they lost. It was a good game. The stadium was huge and we were in the top corner.
That night was spent bumming around the train station, listening to the drunken Germans continue to chant "Trinidad Tobago, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!" They really liked that song. We tried to help some guy who was an American who got kicked out of his girlfriend's brother's apartment. Mostly we just listened to him vent.
And so we rode the trains all morning, starting at four and ending at 1030, each ride being a blurry experience due to lack of sleep. I don't really know how we got to Leipzig. But we did.
And we saw the game between Iran and Angola, and this time it was an older stadium and we were seven rows up from the field, right next to the goal. It was life like and the players actually seemed like real people. Ha, ha. But of course we knew better than to believe that.
The game ended in a draw and everyone was happy, or at least not ready to fight. Tension grew high in this game, because it was probably the last for both teams. (it was).
Now we stay with a mission family with six friendly kids and a baby and it is good to sleep. Goodnight.

A couple of lost bums

2006-06-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

So the couple of days have been pretty eventful. Besides checking out the local Roman/Tuscan ruins, watching the U.S. vs. Italy game at the local piazza that overlooks the city of Florence (we should have won that game by the way - that last goal was a steal), going 45 min out of the city to check out the small medieval city of Lucca, nothing compares to our experience in the last 2 hours...

Actually before I get into our story too much I can't help but tell you more about Lucca. Lucca is located about 45 min. out of Florence. When Napoleon conquered this area he gave Lucca over to his sister. This is a really awesome place. You can really see her feminine touch (from flowers, to an abundant amount of trees, gardens, piazza's, etc) . The city walls that surround the old city is still standing along with the old city that resides whithin it. The walls are known as the thickest walls in Italy and there is a decent size road that was build on top of them to accommodate pedestrians as well as bikes. For 2.5 Euros, Aaron and I strapped ourselves on top of some bikes (mine had a basket on the front) and we were able to due 3 revolutions around the entire city within an hour. It was beautiful.

Now about our adventure...this week has been the week of vagueness. From directions to simply what is happening next, we have had no clue as to what is going on. We have gotten lost 3-4 times, walked in the entirely wrong direction for 30 min. or more, and have been unable to enter a cathedral due to the fact that we didn't know that we couldn't get in with shorts - all things that we consider extremely avoidable with a bit more communication. Tonight we were dropped off at the Harding University study abroad villa so that we could relax a bit and watch the Brazil soccer match while our clothes were being washed. After finally figuring out the directions on how to use the Italian drier, we decided to head back to our bus stop down the hill. The directions that were given to us was to ''follow the wall until you reach the bus station.'' Needless to say, we never found "the wall". There is a lot to be said about 2 guys walking down a dark skinny road with nothing but two bags draped over their shoulder. Back home we call them bums.
And so basically we had to make decisions at forks in roads in darkness with only lightning bugs and zooming cars and we made all the wrong decisions, which eventually got us home, well not home. We ate hotdog supreme with all things on it and we listened to Phish- italina.
There were black dogs and bull dogs and now were home and on to the next adventuria! YOW!

David and the Jolly Green Gigante

2006-06-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

We went to downtown Florence to see David and all of the penis memorabilia, which I didn't expect to see. Bike shorts, aprons, puzzles, etc. Art, right?
David himself was magnificent because he was so large, yet so proportional, although he had big hands and feet it seemed. Maybe would play a mean forward for the Florentine Fleur de loiszce basketball team.
We saw and ACU t-shirt wearing girl but we didn't talk to her because she was smoking. Ew.
And we saw lots of cathedrals and art- too much for one day because they bleed together.
But we crossed major bridges and saw major things. And rode the buses all over the place. Our directions are always vague and mostly in Italian so we tend to end up in the wrong places.
You can't find a good TV showing soccer here, either.
But the city is interesting and thin. The streets are hard and friendly. And the people are not bad...not bad at all.
Fresh mozzerella looks like wet harboiled eggs and that's all I have to say about that goodness.

Longest 4 days of my life

2006-06-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

Once we arrived in Pisa, Aaron and I were so ready to find a place to lay our head that the idea of finding additional transportation in order to see the leaning tower did not even appeal to us (we spent the night before at the airport). We were so irritable and frustrated that we almost missed our bus (as it was rolling out of the station). Once we arrived in Florence, we quickly made known to the missionary, Scott Baine, that we were in desparate need of sleep. The 7 hour time change has definitely been a little hard to recover from.

After our nap, we went with Scott to one of his classes. He teaches English as a second source of income. It was a lot of fun because we went to a really nice Tuscan home and were able to immerse ourselves a bit into the Italian culture. They have coffee with everything. That night we drove through the old streets of Florence and we were able to see parts of the old city wall. It's amazing, everything here dates back to about 1000 years ago (if not more). What we consider old in America is considered extremely new here...what a contrast to the American way of thinking. Today, we spent most of our day helping them compile hymns. They have been working for nearly 10 years in putting together an Italian hymnal and this weekend is the due date in order to get everything sent to the printers and published. For lunch, we were treated to their seafood cuisine. We couldn't believe it. We had a 4 course meal and we thought the food was never going to stop coming. Tonight we went to a pizzaria to celebrate a birthday of one of the American students who lives here in Florence at the School of the Bible. In fact, we are staying here at the school along with 6-7 other American students who are part of an organization called avantii italia. This is a 2 year committment to the mission field and as far as we can tell they spend a lot of their time teaching english and immersing into the culture as much as possible. They have proven to be very nice and hospitable. Thanks for keeping up with us and don't forget to check the 'picture-link' on the site. We are trying to upload picture all along the way.

Weird

2006-06-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

Okay so the best way to contact me, aaron, is to email me at reelsmartdolphin@hotmail.com.
So Leah, you do that if you havent or whomever this is directed at.
As an update, we are in Stansted airport and we are about to fly to Pisa Italy in five hours. It is 2 in the morning. I haven't slept more than 1 hour since 6 in the morning on Monday. We spent all day in London. It was hot and confusing, and it was rainy and nice, and it was interesting. We watched Brazil and Croatia play. We ate hamburgers in a pub until the electricity went out. All the sights were seen. Like Big Ben etc. This doesn't seem weird to me, but it seems like the longest day of my life. The people are slim and well dressed. They spend lots of time in the proverbial English parklife. There are lots of parks and I wish I had a soccer ball. There were huge birds and they lived in Duck Pond. Its easy to get run over by traffic. Its hard to carry a backpack all day. Okay, that's about it. There was an altercation at the bus station. Someone wanted to see the manager. Some girls from Northern California helped us get dowtown. That's all.

Ready?

2006-06-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

Well, the day of much anticipation is finally here. I (joel) will be leaving today for Dallas. There, I will spend a day at Cassie Grant's apartment gearing up to go. Tomorrow morning, I will meet up with Aaron at the airport as he makes his way back from Cancun, Mexico. That's right, you heard it correctly. The guy went to Cancun before undertaking a 2 month long world trip. It's a rough life.

Yesterday was a pretty eventful day. On top of getting ready for the trip, my brother Jared and now my new sister April got married yesterday. What an amazing experience it was to see my middle brother getting married to such a beautiful and god-fearing woman. Probably my favorite thing about their wedding was how laid back and comfortable the whole evening seemed to be. It's always so sad to be a part of wedding in which everyone is so involved that they never REALLY get to enjoy the whole experience. Congratulations April and Jared and I can't wait to see you guys working life out together.

I hope everyone will take part in our adventure because we would not have this opportunity if it were not for our friends and family. God bless you guys and I would love to hear from yall all along the way and don't forget to check out 'picture-link' in order to check out our posted pictures. We will be updating the site any chance we get. Adios, hermanos(as).

Our Plans...

2006-06-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

Most of you guys know this, but Aaron and I are about to embark in a new and unknown adventure as we seek out God's will and paving our path through the enourmous continents of Europe and Africa. Yes, we do have an idea as to where we are going, but we have no clue as to what is in store for us. From one day to the next our basic necessities (food and housing) will be souly dependent upon the people we come across and whatever life seems to put in front of us. We are super excited, scared beyond belief, and questioning whether this is really happening or not. You see, we've been planning this for about 2 years and we've been playing around with this idea for about 4 years. So just to give you guys an idea and let you know basically everything I know, this is what we have planned: 1. Fly to London - where we will then get a connecting flight to Florence, Italy 2 days later, 2. We plan to stay with missionaries in Italy for 5 days, 3. go to the World cup in Germany ( which we have two tickets to Angola vs. Iran and Trinidad vs. Paraguay) both on the 20th and 21st of June. 3. We plan to make our way to the Netherlands where we will spend 2 days, 4. We will make our way down to France where we will spend about 4 days helping missionaries build part of their home, Then to Spain for a week or more completely on our own, 5. We fly to London so that we can then get a flight to Africa - where we plan to stay 10 days living in a tribe and part of our time in Nairobi, 6. We fly back to London where we will spend 2 weeks or so in the UK (Ireland, Scotland, Britan, maybe Whales), 7. And then back to the good old U.S. of A. Goodness I get tired just by typing it.

Well now that you have an idea, keep us in your prayers and don't be shy about checking out the blog and checking out the 'picture-link' in order to see pictures which we plan to post whenever we have the option. Any type of encouragement would be awesome and 'encouraged'. I hope everyone the best and I do hope you enjoy checking up on us from time to time. All along the way we will let you know whether a trip like this is worth it or not (especially for those of you thinking about maybe doing something like this). Peace and God bless you guys.

P.S. -> We leave from Dallas on the 12th (Monday) at noon-ish

Whom do you root?

2006-06-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

Here we go

2006-06-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we just started the blog and we leave in a week.
Allright!