Back in Texas... for now

Thank you for your prayer! On Monday, I arrived safely at DFW after 22 hours of travel. Yep, that's right!! I do not recommend that but it worked.

I will mainly relay to you that after spending only 2 days in Germany, each separated by 2 weeks, Kandern is home. That is a tough transition to make to have to shift gears back to Fort Worth and finishing the support process, but it is highly motivating!

The conferences were amazing and allow me to focus on what the Lord has called us to do in Western Europe. Again, thank you for your prayers. Our next prayer letter will give a bit of detail about the highlights of my time in Budapest.

Heading back to Germany

The Operations Leadership Connection, Global Technology Leaders, Trainer's Training and Communications meetings are all over. Two weeks, two hotels, 4 Conferences and 7 meals at the Adler Hotel and we are headed home. By we, I mean my boss, Bill Sundstrom and me, are in the Budapest airport. After a stop in Zurich, we will take a train to Basel, then head to Kandern. Oh, how wonderful that statement will be when I get to meet Jana there and stay!

So, what did I learn? What was the purpose of all of this? What I am I taking back? However you ask that, here is what I took from this:

Day 3 of Conference #3 (Budapest)

The OLC is a 4 day conference and we have begun day 3. We spent time singing worship songs to the Lord and praying this morning. I would consider that today is a most blessed day! Each day has started in much the same way but our table spent some time really searching ourselves to answer some questions posed to us. I will not go into our discussion, but the questioned asked to us were under the heading "What is the greatest challenge to Biblical Leadership?"

Lewis - Two Kinds of People

"There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, Thy will be done, and those to whom God says, All right, then, have it your way."

~ C. S. Lewis

Riots in Budapest, Hungary (and Thailand)

Don't worry! We were not affected at all! I did not even know about it until this morning. However, I am happy that I headed home very early yesterday. I had considered staying downtown to take pictures of the lights of Budapest at night. If you were not aware, the following link help you out: Hungary Police Retake Television Building Amid Riots

Despite the fact that we were not affected, please pray for Hungary. It is a rather touchy issue with the Prime Minister if Hungary.

Revised 14:39, 19 September 2006
Email from my dad after seeing the headlines: "First, flying out of the UK in the midst of terrorist plots. Now, a front row seat for riots."

I would add our anniversary to that list as well. Maybe I should stay home more!!

Revised 19:29, 19 September 2006
These headlines are coming quickly today. Please pray for Thailand as well. The military has launched a coup to take over the government. (Thai Military Launches Coup to Remove PM Thaksin) Our next GTL and MinistryNet, as of now, are planned for Bangkok, Thailand next April.

Operations Conference Begins

After a weekend (Sunday and Monday) off, we are all returning to the Budapest office for the Operations Conference. As you may remember, this is the conference that I am a little hazy on. I am not sure exactly what we will discuss or what the schedule looks like. Much like the Tech meetings, we are going to discuss Strategic Planning (figuring out where we are going and how to get there) but beyond that, I am not sure.

So, since there is not much to tell you about where we are going, I will fill you in on what we have done.

GTL Conference Has Begun (in Budapest)

The Trainers Training ended Wednesday and the Global Tech Leadership conference has begun. Well, we started yesterday. What do I enjoy most about being in a tech role at Crusade? We start each day with a devotional lead by one of our members. My boss lead yesterday out of Hebrews 11 and 12. The theme was a familiar one to my church, what gets you out of bed in the morning? Very good start!

Beautiful Site

This morning, as I arrived early to the office, I noticed the creation around us... I just thought I would pass that along to you!

 

Webcam of Budapest

If you would like to see what Budapest looks like right now, you can see it via webcam at this link: Budapest Webcam

It is real time, but you have to hit the "refresh" button every now and then to update it. Enjoy!

Trainer's Training - Day 2

After a great introduction to the philosophy and method yesterday, we were thrown into the fire today! I was first to go at 9:15 AM sharp. One hour, me, powerpoint and about 3 "trainees" and 6 Tech Leaders (gurus). That is not exactly the crowd you would normally want, especially if you are brand new to it! However, everything went very well!!!

Happy 7th Anniversary

Today is our 7th Wedding Anniversary!

In Budapest for the Trainer's Training

As you may have guessed, I am in Budapest! Thank the Lord. In my previous post, I speculated on 6 airports, 6 countries and 2 trainstations... well, I was right!!

The training has begun and so far, it is very fruitful...

Festival in Kandern

After travelling from London to Basel, my boss picked me up at the Basel airport and took me back to Kandern. It was truly a treat since Kandern is having a festival called Buda Festival "Budefest". That means Booth Festival... there were tons of booths setup from clubs and groups, such as Kandern Football Club, Ping Pong club, etc. The booths had food and drink for very inexpensive prices!!! I have some pictures that I will post to the site very soon, but for now, I will tell you I had a great time for my second time in Kandern.

2 treats that I will share with you were getting to see our future apartment and going to church with the Millers. First, the people that have the apartment now invited me in to see it in person. I loved seeing it from pictures, but the pictures did not come close to doing it justice!! I loved it! We will post pictures when we move in.

As for the church, everything was in German but Anna Miller was so kind and translated everything for me!! The people were very warm and welcoming even though I could not understand a thing going on.

I have 1 more leg to go before reaching Budapest... well, sort of... a train from Basel to Zurich, then a flight from Zurich to Budapest. Updates coming soon!!!

In the quiet town of Kandern

Thad is safe and sound in Kandern for the night. Apparently, there was a fall festival this evening that he was able to attend where he sampled some delicious German fare. He was also able to walk through our future apartment and was very pleased. I'm sure he will try to post an update tomorrow before he makes his way to Hungary.

Half Price

I realized that I did not share a praise that answered a prayer request we have had for the past couple of weeks. We were praying for financial provision to help with buying a plane ticket for Thad's trip to Hungary. When Thad booked his plane flight, he booked the least expensive that he could find. When he went to actually pay for his ticket (online), the cost ended up being half of what the website said it would be. He called American to check and make sure that he was booked on the correct flight and that there were no strange issues. All that they could tell was that for some reason the website charged him half of the fare!?! Their computers and systems showed that his ticket should have cost him more, but that he was also booked for the flight!! Praise God!!

JFK Airport in New York

There is not much to report just yet, mainly just to say that leg #1 (DFW to NY) went very smoothly. I have about 2 hours until my flight leaves for London. I arrive there tomorrow morning(London time). After a layover, my journey leads me to Basel, Switzerland. My boss will pick me up there and I will get to stay in Kandern Saturday night. Then we depart for Zurich, where we will fly to Budapest. If I am counting correctly, this weekend, I will visit 6 airports, perhaps 2 train stations and 6 countries (US, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary). I am excited!! More to come later... next stop England!

Budapest, Technology, Packing and Thad

Seeing the packed boxes stacked neatly brings warmth to my heart. Why? Packed boxes mean we are leaving soon. Jana has done a wonderful job organizing and packing all of our things. It is fortunate that Jana is gifted with this skill since tomorrow morning, she will be holding down the fort for nearly 2 and a half weeks. With that in mind, Jana needs much prayer as she is tackling the packing and the remainder of our support while I am gone.

Now, where am I going, you ask?

"Crazy Buys" in Photo Gallery

Some photos of "shopping" (more like gawking!!) in a London Supermarket are now posted in the photo gallery.

Update on August and September

If you would like to know what life for me has been like the past 2 to 3 weeks, here are some photos to share with you:

Notice the Cowboy Hats!!

I have so many praises to share with you that are represented in these two photos!