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.
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
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.
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
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 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
Update: Romanian friends here have confirmed that the mountains in my photos are the Carpathians, and so we were indeed flying over Transylvania at the time.
__________
We had just enough time in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport to walk quickly to our connecting flight to Bucharest. That was really good, because I didn’t have time to test my resistance to the great temptation for Stroopwafels, the Dutch caramel waffle cookies that Talitha and I think of whenever we hear Amsterdam and airport in the same sentence.
We flew over Holland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and most of Romania. Beyond Holland and Germany, I’ve never visited nor given a thought to visiting any of these places. But now, looking down on fluorescent yellow rapeseed fields, red-roofed villages, green river valleys stretching to the horizon, I was thinking, In only a 2-1/2 hour flight, there are 4 nations and who-knows-how-many cultures I want to see, to taste, to hear, to smell.
Unfortunately, in the air there are no “You are now entering ______” signs. So I could only guess which scenery belonged to which country. I think we were over Romania when these mountains caught my attention. They ended abruptly with an escarpment that edged miles of plains. Can anybody tell me if those mountains were in Transylvania? (By the way, I’m proud of you, my readers, that as of today none of you has said that Romania makes you think of Count Dracula.)
You can also take a look at the rest of my flight photos.
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
The final official stop in our Europe itinerary will be Hamburg. I say official, because there is one other day trip we’re planning from Hamburg that I’ll tell you about later. (Hint: I bought The Christian Travelers Guide to Germany through one of the used book sellers at Amazon.)
I’ve never been to Hamburg, although about a hundred years ago, we lived in Germany for 3 years. But that was in Munich, far to the south of Hamburg. I’m looking forward to finding out a bit of how much difference or sameness there is between the two cities.
You know, don’t you, that these trip giveaways are my shameless way of milking you of whatever great advice and experience you can pass on that will make my visit richer? And you know what I’ll give away is a mystery gift because I myself don’t know what it is until I get it at my destination? So here goes with the Hamburg mystery giveaway.
To be eligible, comment at this post with any or all of the following:
Are you German?
Have you ever lived in or visited Hamburg or elsewhere in Germany?
What do you think of when you think of Hamburg or of Germany?
What would you want to do if you were visiting Hamburg?
Is there particular German food one should not miss?
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
Only a couple of days ago, I revealed my secret love of train travel. In that video of my rail travel in China, I threw in some train-window countryside views.
That’s one of the beauties of going by train–seeing the land, the cities, the people, the cows–whatever’s near the tracks. You can see some of that traveling by car, but not so much if you’re the driver.
I’ve done their #6–London to Edinburgh. And I’ve traveled in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and France–though not on the particular lines recommended in the post.
So . . . Trains . . . Beautiful scenery . . . and I’ll be in Europe next month . . .
Whether or not I can travel the particular routes, I am hereby reminded to try to get in some train time. There’s so much to see.
QUESTION FOR YOU: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TRAIN ROUTE, THAT YOU’VE TAKEN OR WISH YOU COULD SOMEDAY??
Since you’ll be traveling along via Tell Me When to Pack, here are some helpful (and humorous but true) tips to life in China via Matador Network.
Look over the article first, then here’s a bit of my personal commentary on the various topics.
Queuing (read, “unruly crowd”)
“Wait until you are firmly wedged between two people . . . and lift your feet off the ground, allowing yourself to be whisked away.” Yes, there are lots of people in China, so this isn’t a surprising situation. Oddly, my one similar experience was in 1972 in Munich. Hordes of otherwise “alles-in-ordnung” Germans were pressing in for the remaining Olympic tickets. I was sure I could have lifted my swollen feet and not hit the floor.
Seems appropriate that this would be the first item in the article, because it reminds me that cultural “oddities” may not be so odd after all.
Dining out
I love the common round tables with the central lazy suzan. Dining in China is a social event. All the food is for everybody at the table. We poor Americans need to realize that Chinese friends pity us. At a restaurant here each person orders his own thing and eats it by himself. How lonely!
Buses
My one bus experience was a rural village-to-village bus. The business motto seems to be “always room for one (or 10) more.” If you’re imagining 2-3 people per seat in the school-bus-type vehicle, you’re mistakenly picturing luxury. The bus might be packed, but at a stop, the door opens and somehow 5-6 more squeeze in with all their bundles. The bus occupants, amoeba-like, ease into new configurations, allowing the multiplication of cells. Oh wait, I guess amoebas are one-celled. Bad metaphor, but you get the idea.
Taxis
It’s pretty amazing to observe anybody who can actually drive in city traffic. Here’s my documentation of how it can take almost 4 minutes to make a left turn–and that’s when the driver knows what he’s doing. If I were driving, I’d still be sitting there.
Accidents
During my last trip to China, Joann and I were in a cafe slurping up our noodles (refer to Dining Out etiquette in the Matador article). Outside the window, we missed the actual collision (read “bumpers touched”), but couldn’t miss the 2 guys nose to nose, apparently just avoiding coming to blows. After a few minutes, for no reason we could see they were back in their cars going on their ways.
The importance of “face”
Back to the bus I mentioned above. My friends and I were near the front of the bus, sitting on large cloth bundles in the aisle facing toward the back of the bus–as if the only non-Chinese on the bus had been placed on stage.
The husband of the couple was carrying their baby, Bjorn, in his Baby Bjorn Carrier. This caused a stir, leading to the following conversation, all in loud Chinese, for the entertainment of the whole bus.
Woman: Why are you carrying the baby?
My friend: My wife carried him for 9 months. Now it’s my turn.
(lots of laughter)
Woman: A Chinese man would never do that.
(nods all around)
My friend: Why not?
Woman: Face.
Her husband, in an effort to recover face: No! It’s because the Chinese women are so thoughtful and helpful, they do it for the husbands.
QUESTION FOR YOU: Anything to add?
__________
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 a product link 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 have used personally or wish I did.
If I take the wings of the morning… even there your hand shall lead me.
About
Noel PIper is a wife, mother of 5, grandmother, world Christian, reader, author and speaker who finds great pleasure in seeing God's hand at work close to home and far away. Noel also blogs at NoelPiper.com.
Search
Subscribe
If you’re shopping anyway…
If you use these links to go shopping, my world Christian travel fund earns a small percentage of what you'd be spending anyway & it doesn't cost you anything extra.
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.
