This is a very brief update of what is going on… what I am doing, have been doing… where I am…
Wow… I don’t know where to start. So much has happened since I last posted… which was when I was camping on an island off the Croatian coast for debrief. Little did I know what the next couple of days had in store and that camping that I was doing was paradise for what I was about to embark on.
We woke up early the next morning (which was Sunday) to a slight mist in the air. I lay in my tent praying the Lord would hold the rain off until we at least got to church. We had about a 2km walk to the ferry dock and another 2km to the church that we were going to. No… that doesn’t seem very far if you are just walking there but the fact that you are carrying bags that weight a ton and the fact that it is at least 100 degrees outside… that walk was miserable. We got on to the ferry to go across to Split to have church and all passed out.
Arriving at the ferry dock, we find out that the ferry to Ancona Italy didn’t leave until 7pm… so we had a full day to hang out, go to church, and eat McDonalds. We hopped onto the ferry ran to the very bottom room and pretty much took it over. We were at the very bottom, very tip of the boat, in other words… we were underwater. So we all crashed there for the night… several people would come down now and then but got pretty freaked out when they saw 23 people that had taken over the whole bottom part of the boat. That was my first night to sleep on a ship… I was a bit nervous and thought I would be a bit closter phobic due to the small room we were in and the fact that my mind was racing with… we are underwater, what if something happens, can this ship really hold all of us… so I laid there and prayed myself to sleep and actually had a good nights rest.
The next morning I woke up and walked out onto the deck of the ship and all I could see was Italy… it was amazing. I have always wanted to go there and the Lord gave me this amazing opportunity to be able to go but not just that but to see the city from the ship was amazing. Though we were only there for a couple of hours I thank the Lord for allowing me to see that beautiful place.
That afternoon we boarded another ferry to head to Greece. This ferry was huge… it has anything and everything you could possibly imagine… a pool, disco bar, restaurants, duty free shops, private rooms, and so much more. After a bit of exploring, private pilots class, a swim in the pool, and setting up our sleep area we had a group bible study on Corinthians.
Here is where we began our study on Paul and to think in just a few short hours, we were going to dock the ship and be walking Paul’s footsteps… what an amazing privilege. Just before the ship docked Satan tried to throw a huge stumbling block in our way. Friske was working on the finances when we discovered that we currently had only $400 in our team account. This was going to get us nowhere. I know that this was Satan trying to stop us because of the adventure we were about to embark on in traveling Paul’s travels.
We came to a group decision that we would trust the Lord to provide the money we needed to keep traveling, but at the same time to be more careful with the money that we currently had… so where did we sleep that night? On the side of the road at the train station… where else? We were traveling with the South Africans, so we decided we would take turn sleeping there and catch the early morning train to ancient Corinth.
Upon arrival at Corinth it was so amazing… it was almost too much to take in. To be standing in the place where Paul walked… to see where he was on trial, the place he had his tent making business, the place he spent about a year and a half of his life. Why would I have such a privilege? I continued to thank that Lord for choosing me and allowing me the opportunity.
If that wasn’t the best… it got better… that night the brown team was dropped off on the side of the road and pointed in the direction of a camp ground… well it was never found, so we decided to throw our sleeping bags on the beach and stay there. The next morning wee left to go to the Athens and stood on the same rock that Paul preached on… Acts 17. WOW… I can’t think of words to explain… amazing.
The next morning at 6am our race to Turkey started… but since we are all trying to crunch our finances all the teams ended up being on the same ferry headed to Turkey. However, that didn’t mean that the race was not a race… we had task to complete along the way…
- (If you haven’t already noticed) we had to update our blog at least 1000 words about our thought’s on John’s letters to the seven churches.
- Buy a postcard and send it to South Africa that said… “You have finished the race. Well done” with a note to ourselves on it that we will get in November.
- Write an old fashion 2 page letter to our mother or other family member and put it in the mail before the finish line.
- Travel to Pergamum (now known as… Bergamum) and spend at least 5 hours there. While we were there we prayed for them and delivered to the city the letter that John wrote to them.
- When we arrived at the 1500BC ancient city Smyrna (today known at Izmir) read the letter John wrote to the 3 million inhabitants. We also had to go on a mission and but Anna Marie a kelim at the Agora Market. In this city we had to spend at least 2 hours.
- The last thing we had to accomplish was… we had to write and perform a skit title First Love. We had to perform this at the Ancient Great Theater in Ephesus and invite and have 10 people there to watch.
When all these task were completed we could stop the clock.
So… yeah we all started out on the same ferry that was 8hrs long that took us to a small island not far from Turkey. We boarded another ferry that took us to the port in Turkey where the true race began. It was a blast traveling, running in to each other and guessing who was first and who was last and catching busses before other teams could. In the end we all had a blast and even helped each other out.
The race (for my team) ended at 12:05am in Bergamum where we were very blessed to have a good nights rest in a bed with a shower. These days beds and showers are something that are not taken forgranted.
If you have kept up… in the last week, I have only slept in a bed 1 time, I have slept on ferries about 4 nights, slept on the beach, on the side of the road at a train station… I have traveled through 4 countries… I have been on 6 ferry boats… and I am now camping near the ocean in Turkey… what more could I ask for?
While we are here in Turkey, we are going to continue the footsteps of Paul, study John and his footsteps, and try and figure out how to get to Egypt. Please pray for us in that. We have no idea how we are getting to Egypt and we leave in like 4 days. Also… pray for our finances to get us to South Africa from Kenya.
Your prayers and support mean everything… thank you.
PS we WON the race…
