Backpacking Exploring

Last week I went backpacking in the Carpathian mountains! Soon we will be bringing 11 boys on a backpacking trip through the mountains, so we needed to scout out the route and find out everything we needed to know. My friend Matt who I've known since fourth grade flew in the night before along with Richard. JT, who is working on coming as full time staff, came a few days earlier so we could make sure we had all of the right materials. It was an amazing experience and we were really lead by God in all of the planning.

We started at Sinaia, where the Peles Castle is located. We took the cable car up the mountain and headed out from there.

There were many sheep and cows grazing the mountains.

Which way does the trail go?

If you look closely you can see the cross, a 70 foot tall monument to the heroes of WW1. We were constantly in awe of God's creation, everything was so beautiful. This was near the spot where we set up camp the first day - where our plans completely changed. We put up our tents and started cooking when the skies opened up and poured. After that a man drove up to us on a quad and told us we couldn't tent camp anywhere in the park because of bears. We were really surprised since we did lots of research and talked to several people, but he was very forceful so we packed up. It was almost dark so we went to the nearest hostel for the night and tried to figure out what to do. We had planed on tent camping all over so this blew up our entire route.

We talked to the innkeeper who was very helpful and we planned out our next stopping point. This rock formation is called the Sphinx.

We hiked down the other side of the mountain to a place where we heard we could camp in tents, and were blown away by the beauty there.

Our destination was the mountain rescue station. Once we got there we talked to the leader there who was really nice. He allowed us to set up camp within their fenced in area so we'd be safe from bears. He also agreed to let us stay there for three nights with all 16 of us, and we'll be able to use their water, bathroom, and fire pit. He will also find firewood for us and buy us bread for the days we're there. It was so amazing how accommodating these guys were, it had to be God working because everything came together so well. The mountain rescue guys also agreed to tell the boys about what they do and some stories which we are going to tie into our need to be saved by Jesus' sacrifice.

This monastery is very close to our base camp, we will go there and explore the cave behind it with the boys. I talked with the priest there about what we're doing and he said he would give us a discount for the boys to get into the cave. Another God moment.

The new plan is to do day hikes from our base camp at the mountain rescue. We think the boys will be blown away at the beauty of the place and we pray that our discussions will penetrate their hearts.

The morning dew covered the entire valley, as if encasing everything in tiny crystals.

This stunningly beautiful butterfly played hard to get but he finally landed long enough for me to get a great shot.

The last day we took the cable car to Busteni, our final destination for this trip. We went into the house of culture and met a great man who was so excited to tell us stories. He was hosting a recital and he introduced us to the players who were practicing, showed us a big book of signatures of famous people, and played his Transylvanian flute for us. After that we boarded a train back to Bucharest. It was a beautiful ride and a fun experience.

This trip was amazing in so many ways. We enjoyed beautiful scenery, met many nice people, and finalized the plans for when the boys come with us. We asked God to lead us and He definitely did, and now we pray that he continues to lead us when we bring the boys. They will arrive today and we'll leave for the mountains tomorrow morning. Please pray that everything goes well and that this is a life changing experience for the boys.

Scotland Lochs

On Saturday we had the opportunity to travel to some of the countryside and see three different lochs (lakes). First we went to Loch Lomond. The weather was quite overcast at this point. We stopped to have some tea and scones (yumm!) and have a view of the town.

Luss Church, Loch Lomond

Mark and Rebecca in Loch Lomond

After every stop we changed cars so that all the Americans could ride with different Scottish hosts, it was a good way to get to know each couple.

Loch Long (Ship Lake)

Arrochar Church, Loch Long

Loch Fyne, city of Inveraray

Inveraray Castle

Laspic, Maggy, Kirsteen, Jen, Jenny, Rebecca, Mark (Krista)

We took a tour of the castle. Mark was impressed by the large armory.

Inveraray Bridge on Loch Fyne

A wee bit of snow atop a ben (mountain)

Black goats, the wee ones were adorable!

After our road trip we had fish and chips at Wilma and David's flat. We had a great day, it was a wee bit chilly, but it didn't rain. We thoroughly enjoyed our short stay in Scotland. Everyone we met was so friendly and we enjoyed all the hospitality we were treated to!

Glasgow

The second day of our trip to Scotland we toured and shopped around Glasgow, Kirsteen's home town. First we took a bus tour of the city on a double decker bus. It was raining on and off but that didn't stop Mark from sitting outside on the top level. It was worth the peril because when the rain let up he was able to take pictures that couldn't be taken from inside. The tour lasted nearly an hour and a half so we were able to see all of the main attractions there.

The city chamber in a square filled with monuments

The clock tower in merchant square

The Doulton Fountain, the largest terra-cotta fountain in the world, near the People's Palace

Glasgow University

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum

A typical city street with classic architecture and lots of shopping

A classic building with a tin roof

After the tour we ate at a chinese buffet and went shopping. The girls found some interesting hats and were joined by a fun loving woman who wanted to be in the picture.

A rainbow seen from Kirsteen's church in the evening

In the evening we had a birthday party for Kirsteen at her church with her friends and family. After the nice meal there were three desserts to chose from, Mark had one of each plus an extra piece of his favorite, then we had cake. There certainly was never a shortage of food on our trip!

After dinner we played some fun games

And got tangled in a web of yarn. The most fun of the night came when our Scottish friends were making the plans for the next day, trying to figure out who was going, how many cars to take, what to do for food, what route to take, where to meet in the morning... we were all laughing uncontrollably by the end.

Edinburgh

This past weekend we had the opportunity to take a wee vacation to Scotland. It was a chance to meet more people involved with Heart 2 Heart Scotland and relax before the business of spring and summer ministry. We arrived late Wednesday night and left Sunday. Thursday we went to Edinburgh and spent the day there. We met Leslie for lunch at the Filling Station and after that we headed up to the castle.

Jen, Krista, Scottish man, Kirsteen, Rebecca, Jenny, and Mark behind the camera :)

The Edinburgh Castle, view from the bus

The Castle

One of the beautiful views from the castle

Another nice view

Scottish National War Memorial

The other side of the war memorial

Krista and Jenny, it was their first time in Scotland as well as ours

Mark and Rebecca being traditional tourists of the UK

Along the Royal Mile

St. Giles Cathedral

The Palace of Holyrood House (Royal Residence of the Queen)

And to top it all off, pink sheep! Sorry that the picture is not very good, but if you click on it, you will see the sheep a wee bit better. We had dinner at Wanda and Brian's house, a delicious meal and they even snuck some haggis into it!

Last Days In California

After visiting the San Diego Zoo we flew up to Sacramento to visit our friends Sarah & Marci, who we met at camp in Romania last year. We always have fun hanging out with them so we figured since we would be in California already it would be great to see them again. Sunday we went to their church and met their pastors, and one prayed for us during church which was really nice. Many people from their church have gone to Romania with H2H so there was a get together that night for them to share their experiences. We really enjoyed meeting them and hearing their stories and it worked out great because we were able to share what we are doing with them. Talk about God's timing that there would be a Romania team get together right when we were there.

We toured around the Sacramento area and looked at a large cathedral there. It was huge and very beautiful.

The inside looks bigger than you would think from looking at the outside.

We went and saw the old part of Sacramento which is still in the style of the old west gold rush town. It was very neat and had a totally different feel from the rest of the city.

Lastly we went to see some really big trees at the Calaveras State Park. Seeing the giant sequoias has been one thing that we really wanted to do for a long time so it was great that we got the chance this time.

Sarah, Marci, and Rebecca liked the river running through the park, talk about pristine nature.

If the pine-cones are this big then how big must the trees be?!?

Yeah, that's big, these trees are so amazing!

This is the biggest tree in the park. It was worth the 5 mile round trip hike to see it. This tree may be around 2000 years old, is 250 feet tall and 25 feet in diameter! It is hard to even imagine but as you can see it is real and is very impressive.

Our trip to California was awesome, we learned a lot about what to expect in Romania and had a great time with friends. We are now looking forward to our commissioning at church tomorrow (Sunday August 30) and the get together we are having afterwards. Please come if you can, we'd love to see you there. Our commissioning will happen at the 9:00 and 10:45 services and the get together will be at 12:00 at FairHaven Ministries, 2900 Baldwin St, Hudsonville, MI.