All posts in Europe

Being reformed in the land of the reformation

by noel.piper on May 17, 2012 in Europe with No comments

We are at the end of our time in Europe. We’ve been in Hamburg since Saturday. Johnny preached Sunday morning at The Arche Church.

Then, that evening in the church was the opening session of Evangelium 21 Conference 2012. My pictures are posted now from the service and the conference. Once again, you’ll see some great interpreter shots. This time the interpreter was Christian Wegert, pastor of Arche.

As the statement about Evangelium 21 (The Gospel for the 21st Century) implies, they are a relatively new Gospel Coalition type organization for Germany. Ironically, this land of the Reformation is not an easy place to be a Reformed pastor.

Thanks for your prayers for us while we were here and for your brothers and sisters here as you think of them in the future.

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
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Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
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If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
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I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

What I said in Hamburg

by noel.piper on May 15, 2012 in Europe with No comments

A few days ago, I asked for help from fellow ministry women. Their answers were tremendously challenging to me as I tried to prepare for my presentation yesterday to women here in Hamburg.

One of the challenges was what to do in a short session with so many heartfelt questions and so much wise advice. So how did it all turn out? Find out at NoelPiper.com. There’s a link to audio and photos too.

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this Europe trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
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I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

Moving on too soon

by noel.piper on May 15, 2012 in Europe with No comments

I haven’t had time to tell you all I wanted to about Geneva, and now we’ve been in Hamburg since Saturday evening.

At least, I’ve uploaded all the Geneva photos for you to see.

Flying Bucharest to Geneva, via Munich

Around Geneva

Geneva Bible Institute / Conference

Lunch by Lake Geneva

Walking around the village of Veigy-Foncenex

Calvin’s old city of Geneva

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this Europe trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
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I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

Mothers day here and there

by noel.piper on May 13, 2012 in Europe with No comments

It’s Mothers Day at home in Minneapolis and here in Germany, where we are in Hamburg.

Today I think, of course, of my own mother and of our daughters-in-law, the mothers of our grandchildren. And my heart is soft toward the ones for whom Mothers Day has a large measure of sadness.

You can see some thoughts at my other blog.

What I Learned by Being My Mother’s Daughter

When Mothers Day Isn’t a Celebration

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this Europe trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
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I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

How shall they hear without an interpreter?

by noel.piper on May 11, 2012 in Europe with 2 Comments

Once again, we are thanking God and the conference organizers for the choice of an interpreter who is in tune with Johnny’s theology, energy, and language.

It’s an amazing thing to me to watch a person who can simultaneously hear English and turn it into French so the second there’s a pause in the English, he can immediately begin to communicate the same thought in French, as close to the English that was spoken as French allows. In other words, he’s not delivering a paraphrase, but what was originally spoken.

I’m all the more aware what a gift that is because of an experience I had yesterday. Bill and Cindi and I were at a museum. We had handheld audio devices that guided us in English. For some reason theirs wouldn’t work at one video station. Since we were the only ones there, I listened and relayed aloud what I heard. I could hardly remember from one second to the next what I’d just heard in English so I could repeat it in English.

I was out of breath by the end of the 10-minute film. And to think that Florent Varak is interpreting for an hour or more at a time–not just repeating what he heard, but translating it.

Florent Varak is a pastor in the village of Villeurbanne, France, near Lyon. We’ve enjoyed having a bit of time to visit with Florent and Lori.

 

 

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this Europe trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
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I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

East meets west

by noel.piper on May 10, 2012 in Asia, Europe with No comments

You may have thought that when I came to Europe, I was leaving the  Esther Expedition behind for a while. Not possible. Esther’s world seems to follow me wherever I go.

Joann, my travel companion in China in March, had been fascinated to discover that the Lutheran World Federation in the 1940s operated a charter plane, which they named the St. Paul. Ever since then, she’s been researching the history and story of the Lutheran Airline, as she called it.

Now here’s where east meets west (if you use your imagination). Earlier this week for the second leg of our flight to Geneva, the carrier was a regional affiliate of Lufthansa.

After we arrived, as soon as I had Internet, I emailed Joann: “There is a Lutheran airline–Augsburg Airways–and here’s the plan of salvation they make available to each passenger.” (Augsburg is to Lutherans as Westminster is to Presbyterians–Lutheran churches, colleges, publishers, nursing homes named Augsburg, and now apparently an airline!)

Some discussion of the name followed. Augsburg Airways is obviously ELCA, because LCMS would have been Concordia. Air is good–it’s appropriate that Christians should meet in the air, doncha think? But why Airways when we know there’s just one way?

Enough!

Here’s the scoop Joann just posted on the real flying Lutherans–the ones in China.

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this Europe trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
__________
I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

Beauty spot in my soul

by noel.piper on May 10, 2012 in Europe with 2 Comments

View from our apartment

I love maps (though not as much as my friend Joann, who’d rather watch the plane’s flight path than a movie during a long flight).

One of the pleasures of travel is experiencing geography. Often there are surprises–usually things I could have realized easily, but just haven’t. This trip, for example, I was surprised that Geneva is so close to France that our countryside hotel actually is in France, within sight of the village of Veigy-Foncenex.

There’s a glimpse of Veigy-Foncenex in the photo at the left. When I walked around in the village, I kept asking myself, Am I taking this picture because it touches the beauty spot in my soul or because I’ve seen such a prototypical village in a travel book and I’m copying it? But who cares. I had a great time and came back with a happy soul.

The Geneva Bible Institute , conducted in the French language, is in the town of Cologny, Switzerland, about a 10-15 minute drive from our accommodations, and even closer to the border with France. So it’s easy to see why many of the Institute’s students and teachers are French.

It’s also a short flight from Algeria and Tunisia, where French is a common 2nd language. So the Institute is in a strategic location.

Please pray for the Gospel-Centered Ministry conference, which began this morning. The 750 attenders include about 250 theological students from schools around Switzerland and France, as well as Francophone people from many other countries.

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
__________
I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

I guess we’re safe

by noel.piper on May 8, 2012 in Europe with 1 Comment

We arrived in Geneva this afternoon. On the drive from the airport to our hotel, I learned something that I don’t remember reading in either  Cultureshock Switzerland: A Survival Guide to Customs & Etiquette or Switzerland – Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture. Maybe it was there, but I surely don’t remember it.

Until last year, every new house construction had to include a basement fallout shelter. Now it’s only required of buildings with more than 38 apartments. It’s not necessary for every new house to have one now, because every town has community fallout shelters and there’s already enough space for 1 million more people than Switzerland’s total population. So I guess there’s room for us visitors, if necessary.

I just arrived, so I’m just watching and learning. It would be presumptuous to try to explain a culture and people I’m not familiar with. But apparently, the Wall Street Journal gave it a try.

As always, I’m counting on my readers who are from Switzerland to chime in here with their thoughts, additions, corrections, etc.

One of the benefits of having so many community shelters is that there’s space going unused until it’s needed. So the Geneva Bible Institute, for example, houses students in community bunker space in Cologny, a Geneva suburb.

The Bible Institute is the venue for the Gospel-Centered Ministry conference, which is what brings Johnny to Geneva this week. Thanks for praying for him and the other speakers and for the students and church leaders who will be attending.

By the way, the inexpensive bunking option for the conference is in the local bunker. Here’s hoping nobody’s claustrophobic.

And here’s praying that we all say to the LORD, “My  refuge and my  fortress, my God, in whom I  trust.”

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
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I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

La revedere (for now)

by noel.piper on May 7, 2012 in Europe with 2 Comments

These have been very special days in Bucharest. As I’ve said, there are more stories to be told and written after we’re home from Europe. But until then, and before we fly away to Geneva, I wanted to point you–via photos–to highlights from our gatherings with believers here.

May 3 – 5 — God Is the Gospel
Conference for church leaders, presented by the Romanian Evangelical Alliance

May 6 — Holy Trinity Baptist Church
Morning Worship Service

May 6 — Don’t Waste Your Life
Evening public gathering of 4500+

It has been sweet to meet people who will be new friends and to have deepened friendships we already had.

It’s been a pleasure to run into people who are friends of Bethlehem Baptist in special ways–like Daniel who worked for a while at the church and like Gina and Florin who are translating Children Desiring God curriculum into Romanian. Look for their pictures.

And it is good to be more aware of ways to pray more specifically for those who are our brothers and sisters here and for those who aren’t (yet).

It may be easy to say goodbye, but it’s hard to do.

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Don’t miss the giveaways for this trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
__________
I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

For a select few–or maybe not so few

by noel.piper on May 7, 2012 in Europe with 9 Comments

Our time in Bucharest is coming to an end. Soon we fly to Geneva for the next part of this Europe trip, and that means this blog will be focused on Switzerland for the next few days.

I’m so thankful for all of you Romanians who’ve told me you’re reading my blog. As I told you, I count on you to straighten me out where I get something wrong. And I need you to stay with me.

I’m not finished with all I want to remember and write about Romania. So please keep reading, whether you’re from Romania or elsewhere. If you subscribe to the blog, it will be easy for you to know when something new is posted, and I’ll have the pleasure of knowing you’re traveling with me.

So the next mystery gift will be to encourage new subscribers. (As always, mystery means I don’t know yet what the gift is, but you’ll like it.)

If you haven’t yet subscribed, here’s what you need to do to be eligible:

  • Use one of the links in the sidebar to the right to subscribe. You can choose whether you want to receive each new post by email or to receive a notification in your feed reader.
  • After you subscribe, comment at this post to tell me so.
If you are already a subscriber, you are eligible for the drawing if someone subscribes because you recommend the blog to them. After that person subscribes, you comment here to confirm that you were the one that sent them.

That’s all there is to it. Deadline is the end of the day wherever you are on May 18. After that, one of you will be chosen randomly to receive the Mystery Prize.

I’ve loved being in Romania with you, whether I’ve met up with you here or you’re visiting via the blog. You’ve taught me a lot. And oh yes, I’ve had fun too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

__________

Don’t miss the giveaways for this trip:

You can see photos from this trip, as they’re uploaded, at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________
Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here.
__________
If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
__________
I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com

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