Brown Team Reunion!!!
Finally… after WAY too many hours of travel… the Brown Team has ALL arrived in Mostar, Bosnia… just in time to leave again.
Let me take you back through our travels. Sisson… lucky one that she is… arrived right on time in Split, Croatia and rode with the group on to Mostar and has had a nice time hanging out at the Bible College planning for our ministry time here.
The rest of us are not so lucky. Kim, Paul, Friske, and I reunited at the Tel Aviv airport on the 15th. Kim flew in from South Africa after quite the trip through multiple airports and arrived to our shouts and screams of KIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! … just to properly embarrass her.
J
From there we spent the night in the airport and caught the early flight to Istanbul, Turkey. We all remembered being told there were ferries from Istanbul to Split every day. So we settled in to a hostel in Istanbul to catch up on some much needed sleep. After all… we have plenty of time, right?
The next day we head to a travel agent to book a ferry only to find out… there are no ferries to Split! There is a ferry to Ankana (which is in Italy for those of you who are as uneducated in geography as we are) but it doesn’t leave Istanbul until the very end of this month. That won’t work! So our next option is a train to Belgrade and then surely we will find something from Belgrade to Mostar. We are assured that there are trains and buses running all the time.
So we book the next train for Istanbul, leaving Saturday at 10pm. We then ride for 25 hours on a train all the way to Belgrade. We get off the train at about 11pm and begin to look for a way to go to Mostar. But guess what?! There are no trains to Mostar. Only a bus. And the bus leaves at 10pm… we’re too late. However… unlike the rest of the Racers who are punctual… we got to spend the day in Belgrade – an absolutely amazing city. And HA! We get an extra stamp in our passports…
So after a day in Belgrade we have a rather unenjoyable bus ride to Mostar. This was a five star bus compared to the chicken buses of Guatemala… but when is 10 hours sitting in a chair with no air conditioning ever enjoyable?
Today… we had a glorious reunion with all our teammates (minus Sarah R. and Tauna who are still getting healthy in the states… MISS YOU GUYS!!!). It’s strange how after just a few weeks apart we have missed each other so much. I have no idea how any of us will survive next year without multiple road trips each month!
Tomorrow morning Brown Team heads out with the South Africans to the bushes of Bosnia. One of the ministry opportunities here is an adventure camp for Bosnian youth. The South Africans and some other locals will be leading these kids for a camping adventure for two weeks, building wonderful relationships with them out in the mountains. We Brown Teamers will be with them for the first two weeks to help build the camp. Currently, it’s just a mountain…but after two weeks there will be amazing showers, toilets, tables, anything a good campsite will need… all handmade by us – WorldRace 2006. Nervous,
you say? A little. Can’t say any of us have ever really done this before. But more than that… I’m excited. This is definitely a new adventure I can’t wait to tackle!
After these two weeks we will head in to another town to work with an inner city youth ministry while the South Africans lead the kids camp. We’ll let you know more about that ministry when it comes…
So Mom’s and Dad’s, Aunts, Uncles, Relatives and friends of all kinds of e-mail accounts… no worries. We won’t be in touch for quite a while… but all is well up in the mountains.
So for now… This is Brown Team. Signing off for at least a few weeks…
p.s. Wow. It’s exactly a month since our last blog! Sorry about that… if you didn’t hear about all our adventures these past months, be sure to check out our individual blog sites to see about our travels!
