Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Catching Up

Dober Dan(don), Good Morning from Bovec, Slovenia Please accept my apology for not getting posting sooner. There is no wifi in our room and when there has been time it was bed time and I can promise you that I needed my rest. You may not have the time to read it all but I hope you will. I wish I could tell you every little detail and every place that it was evident that God was with us and had gone before us. But I would never get it all written down. For those of you that know me know that I would much rather tell you about it than write it down because you won’t get all the animation. Hee Hee Us while waiting on the Trull's to pick us up from the Wood's in Little Rock. I will start with the beginning of our journey. We left Little Rock about 12:45 on Saturday and headed to Atlanta. We had a short connection time and were very happy that our gate was only about 15 minutes away. Lynn & I left our luggage with the group and ran to get some water. We returned to find they had already called our group to load the plane so we gathered up our stuff and hurried to get find our place only to realize that most of the overhead bins were full. Lynn was able to get his loaded however they were telling me that I would have to check my bag. I went in to pantic mode. I didn’t want to be the ONLY one in our group that had to check a bag. So I begged them to find a place for my bag. Finally they found me a place in the first class section. Whew I was so thankful. When we got to our seats Wayne was receiving his luggage tag. Yep, he had to check his bag. So glad it wasn’t me. Nancy & Wayne eating a snack at the Little Rock Airport. Up, up and away, we were and it seemed like forever until we landed. Our flight was 8:59minutes. It was on an older 767 that didn’t have the amenities of the new planes. Lynn was such a trooper. We were able to get a little sleep. We landed in Munich, Germany we were through customs and clammed Wayne’s bag in less than 15 minutes. How crazy is that!!! We caught a 45 minute train ride to the train station. If you’ve never ridden a train in Europe you won’t really appreciate this. We arrive at the stop and everyone got off except for Lynn. He was at the door trying to get off when the door closed and away he went. You better be in a BIG hurry getting on and off trains in Europe. I had a huge sinking in my stomach as he was whisk away. Gene got on the next train got off at the next stop and there he was. They were back with us on the next train coming our way. The layover was about 2 hours and while we waited we drank Bela Kava (strong coffee with milk I mean really strong coffee), walked around and bought lunch for our next 4 ½ hour train ride through Austria to Villach, Austria where J.P. and Joe would be to pick us up. We boarded the train where there was a huge traffic jam of people trying to find their seat.Finally made it to ours where we had lunch, took a small nap and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. When we got there they were waiting for us. Yea It was so good to see old friends. We loaded up and headed 1 ½ hours to our home away from home. We stopped several time to see the beauty of God and take some pictures. We finally made it to Bovec, checked into our room, headed to eat, then to our briefing then finally to bed. Did I need a bed or what!!! I think Lynn was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Monday we started off by having coffee and sharing from Gods word. I truly love the fact that we are spending time each day to have a word from God. One of the highlights from today is that we drove up this HUGE Mountain. From what we can figure we were about 1400 feet high. The roads were narrow with very sharp curves. I was really scared at times and want to stop but didn’t really want to stop. I am so glad that we kept going. When we stopped I could hardly speak. OK I know that is hard for you to believe but it’s the truth. It was just so beautiful for words to express. At that moment I thought this is as close to God as I will ever be but knowing that I have the ultimate closeness with God. He is with me every minute of every day. WOW what an awesome God I serve. We did encounter a man that must have been having a REAL bad who was really ugly to us. I will have to get Becky to help me give you more of an update on Monday. My brain can only hold so much. Today was an awesome day and I mean really AWESOME!!!! This morning Lynn and I went to have Belacava in town. After that we went into a little bakery where they make fresh bread and pastries every day. We begin to talk with the owner. His name is Remzi . We had a wonderful visit about our families and our business. We exchanged emails and he asked us to come back and make a picture with him. Wow what a beginning to a beautiful day. Later in the day we were in the village of Trenta. Becky and I were distributing literature we rounded the corner and there stood a lady. Becky began to share that we want to give her the words of life and the bible book of John. She was really nice and seemed interested but the language barrier can be hard. After a few minutes she invited us in for coffee, which is almost unheard of in Slovenia. We enjoyed coffee and Becky worked really hard to talk with her. Becky shared with her that she knew Stanka, a lady from the same village of which Alma said she knew. We were able to pray with her and Becky sang In This Very Room in Slovene. The lady was so moved and I began to tear up. I would have cried like a baby but I didn’t want to scare Alma. We said our goodbyes and she gave us some candy. Who loves chocolate???? ME ME ME!!!!!We truly knew that God was with us in that place and he had gone before us preparing Alma for our visit. I hope I never forget this visit and the feeling of the power of God as it was at that moment. The reality is that God is always with me and his power is there at his appointed time. All we have to do is be faithful. We headed back to the car and off to Stanka and Marco’s house to deliver a car seat for the new baby that will be born in about a month, a girl. They have 3 boys, 14, 10, & 8. I had the opportunity to meet them last year while I was here. There a precious family which have apartments for rent to tourist. Gene & Becky came here in 2007 and stayed at their place. That is a whole other story for another day. When we got there we didn’t really think anyone was home but again God did provide. Stanka and the two youngest boys were there. While there Becky shared with her that we met Alma. She let us know that Alma was like a second mother to her. Who would ever believe that? Again we can see the hand of God at work. We had a wonder visit and it was really good to see her. We headed back to Joe & Kim’s to find the guys gone placing another bench on the side of a mountain. That makes 3 benches placed in two days. Lynn was so moved that he said as they prayed over each bench he couldn’t help by tear up. I am so thankful that God allowed him to make this trip. He will tell you that you can’t really grasp what it is like and the darkness in the people here until you experience it firsthand. We have all been changed!!! After supper J.P. and Joe met us and wanted to do our daily debriefing. Our discussion today was to describe our day as a candy bar and why. I want share what everyone choose but I will tell you it is amazing how God is working so differently in each of us yet bringing us all together. That catches us up. I will do my very best to post tomorrow and share the work that the Lord is doing. I don’t want you to miss a thing. Please continue to pray for us, that God will use each of us and that we will be an encouragement to the missionaries and their families. I hope to have an opportunity to load some additional pictures from the previous day. Please be in prayer for our team that God will do a good work in this country as well as continue to do a good work in us. Because He first loved us, Lori

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