August & September 2007 - Europe

Sevastopol, Ukraine – I was here August 18-23.  I was blessed to stay in the home of my hosts, Barry & Adrianne Jensen, who have three darling sons – Ben 7, Ray 5, Elliott 3 – and a thriving Bible school that has been going for five years now. It was very HOT when I was there, so we enjoyed several dips in the Black Sea!

I taught about God’s love, forgiveness, and parenting.  Their students attend class four hours a night, four nights a week, most of them after having worked a full day – they are hungry for God!    

The Jensens took me sightseeing almost every day, and one day we went to the ancient Greek ruins of Chersoneses and the Vladimir Cathedral.  Here Adrianne and I are standing in front of a statue of the Apostle Andrew – tradition says that after Jesus died, he brought the Gospel to Crimea here on the Black Sea.

Barry and Adrianne Jensen are doing a wonderful work and being a great blessing to the people of Ukraine.

Berlin, Germany – From Ukraine I flew to Berlin…arrived Friday night August 24 and woke up bright and early on Saturday to teach 6 hours of RHEMA Germany extension classes at a coffee house the Coopers’ church has recently purchased.  I was also blessed to teach at the church on Sunday morning, then a leadership meeting after lunch.

The topic of this weekend of classes was marriage and family, so I taught on marriage and parenting.  Students come from all over eastern Germany to take part in these weekend programs.

In addition to being able to minister to the precious people of eastern Germany, I so enjoyed spending time with my friends, Gary & Gail Cooper.

For a day of sightseeing, my gracious hosts took me to the town of Potsdam just outside of Berlin.  The name may sound familiar to you because it’s where Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill signed the treaty after WWII.  It’s a very historical place, featuring a Russian district, a Dutch district, and the amazing parks and palaces of San Souci (which means “without care”), built by King Fredrick and his descendants in the 1700 and 1800s as their homes-away-from-home.  Here I am outside just one of the palaces.

Limerick, Ireland – I was here from August 28 to September 1…Ireland has every shade of green imaginable, just as I remembered it! 

This is my room at the Bed & Breakfast the Schmitts put me up at when I was there – it was like being in a storybook!  The B & B was out in the country, a working farm…outside every one of my windows were green meadows full of cows and horses, divided by those wonderful wandering rock walls. It was restful and beautiful beyond belief. 

My wonderful hosts Jim & Jan Schmitt have been pastoring in Ireland for eight years now and have done a wonderful job bringing the full gospel to this Catholic-dominated land.  I ministered two nights on parenting, and the people were warm and receptive.

The beautiful Irish countryside.

This is beautiful Adare Manor in the village of Adare, where we had both dinner and lunch on different days.  It’s actually owned by Irish Americans who also added a golf course...just a breathtaking spot.

Paris!  I ended my trip by meeting my cousin Melinda (a missionary in Tanzania, Africa) for 4 days of fun and relaxation.  What can I say about this lovely city?  We enjoyed ourselves to the max!

That’s us on the left bank with the back of the Notre Dame cathedral….on all my trips to Paris, I had never been to left bank or taken a photo from this vantage point, so that was fun for me.

This time we stayed a hotel very near the Eiffel Tower, which meant we walked by it every day and watched it light up every night.