Monday, February 27, 2006
aviano, italy...
yes, i am in italy. i can't believe it. actually, these last few days we've been w/americans mostly who work on military base here. but we've had the most amazing things happening. it's pretty difficult to explain but i'll try to encapsulate a tiny bit of it.
basically, at the beginning of tour we thought there was no chance of going to italy since we were having enough trouble trying to work out our itinerary to fit performances already scheduled in germany, austria, poland, and lithuania. however, in the first week of mission, two weeks of performances in austria cancelled out. suddenly, we found ourselves dreaming about the possible reality of going to italy. then we started praying about it. then we talked w/the office and got the green light to go thinking that it was a great place to look for short notice school work opportunities b/c of the spontanaiety of the culture.
then we get here and find out that schools are on vacation and life revolves around the big Carnivale in Venice at this time of the year. total red light on school work.
next we find our housing plans collapse because the hosts we were supposed to stay w/on thursday became very ill. so wednesday liliana's making call after call from records that are five yrs old. we reach a church who's never heard of CP but says "yes, i think we can take care of your housing for two nights." well 2 nights becomes 2 more nights b/c housing falls thru again! we end up performing at their church and another church in the area. they bless the socks off of us not only w/their incredible financial generosity but also their immensely kind hearts. so 2 more nights becomes 2 more nights and all kinds of possibilites have opened up for us.
i can't even begin about how incredible ministry's been here. there are more little stories w/in this that i hope i'll be able to share w/y'all. i might need some reminding tho.
tomorrow we go to venice! yea!!!
yes, i am in italy. i can't believe it. actually, these last few days we've been w/americans mostly who work on military base here. but we've had the most amazing things happening. it's pretty difficult to explain but i'll try to encapsulate a tiny bit of it.
basically, at the beginning of tour we thought there was no chance of going to italy since we were having enough trouble trying to work out our itinerary to fit performances already scheduled in germany, austria, poland, and lithuania. however, in the first week of mission, two weeks of performances in austria cancelled out. suddenly, we found ourselves dreaming about the possible reality of going to italy. then we started praying about it. then we talked w/the office and got the green light to go thinking that it was a great place to look for short notice school work opportunities b/c of the spontanaiety of the culture.
then we get here and find out that schools are on vacation and life revolves around the big Carnivale in Venice at this time of the year. total red light on school work.
next we find our housing plans collapse because the hosts we were supposed to stay w/on thursday became very ill. so wednesday liliana's making call after call from records that are five yrs old. we reach a church who's never heard of CP but says "yes, i think we can take care of your housing for two nights." well 2 nights becomes 2 more nights b/c housing falls thru again! we end up performing at their church and another church in the area. they bless the socks off of us not only w/their incredible financial generosity but also their immensely kind hearts. so 2 more nights becomes 2 more nights and all kinds of possibilites have opened up for us.
i can't even begin about how incredible ministry's been here. there are more little stories w/in this that i hope i'll be able to share w/y'all. i might need some reminding tho.
tomorrow we go to venice! yea!!!
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
once upon a time there were three princesses...
and their names were liliana, petra and amy. and they toured all over europe spreading the good news of their King...
as promised, i'll explain the "princess" thing. the lady praying for us (alison whismore) shared that she saw us as princesses-- daughters of the King. And wherever we went, we went as His ambassadors representing Him. she said "when you get a no from people, if they refuse to meet with you, it's not a 'no' to you-- they're missing out on an opportunity to meet with the King." I just thought that was really cool and we're holding on to it. rather than it elevating our egos, I find it rather humbling. see, it has nothing to do with my own abilities or giftings-- it has everything to do with the positions we've merely inherited. it's about the King-- not us. our royalty has to do with being adopted by the King-- not what we've done by our own merit.
we've had some pretty cool things spoken over us individually too. things about this being a harvest year for us and about this being a new season. but it's really hard to see that right now. yesterday was a really rough day for the three of us. it had nothing to do w-it being Valentine's Day. It had everything to do with it being a very rough and sluggish start to mission for us. we've now been on the road for two weeks and we haven't had a single ministry opportunity (as far as drama ministry). taking on a language i have no desire to learn has also been difficult. i don't really have a special love for Germany and Austria the way I have a burning passion for ministry in Poland. i've had to cancel performances i had confirmed in Poland for performances that ended up cancelling on us in Germany. it's just been really rough. but we're just trying to make the best of things.
thank goodness (thank God) we came home to a special surprise last night. there was a bouquet of tulips in our favorite colors (unbeknownst to them)-- purple, red, and orange--along with butter cookies, fizzy water, and a very sweet card from our hosts. very thoughtful. i#ve never had anything like that for V-Day actually. (boyfriends have only lasted through Octobers! hah!)
and their names were liliana, petra and amy. and they toured all over europe spreading the good news of their King...
as promised, i'll explain the "princess" thing. the lady praying for us (alison whismore) shared that she saw us as princesses-- daughters of the King. And wherever we went, we went as His ambassadors representing Him. she said "when you get a no from people, if they refuse to meet with you, it's not a 'no' to you-- they're missing out on an opportunity to meet with the King." I just thought that was really cool and we're holding on to it. rather than it elevating our egos, I find it rather humbling. see, it has nothing to do with my own abilities or giftings-- it has everything to do with the positions we've merely inherited. it's about the King-- not us. our royalty has to do with being adopted by the King-- not what we've done by our own merit.
we've had some pretty cool things spoken over us individually too. things about this being a harvest year for us and about this being a new season. but it's really hard to see that right now. yesterday was a really rough day for the three of us. it had nothing to do w-it being Valentine's Day. It had everything to do with it being a very rough and sluggish start to mission for us. we've now been on the road for two weeks and we haven't had a single ministry opportunity (as far as drama ministry). taking on a language i have no desire to learn has also been difficult. i don't really have a special love for Germany and Austria the way I have a burning passion for ministry in Poland. i've had to cancel performances i had confirmed in Poland for performances that ended up cancelling on us in Germany. it's just been really rough. but we're just trying to make the best of things.
thank goodness (thank God) we came home to a special surprise last night. there was a bouquet of tulips in our favorite colors (unbeknownst to them)-- purple, red, and orange--along with butter cookies, fizzy water, and a very sweet card from our hosts. very thoughtful. i#ve never had anything like that for V-Day actually. (boyfriends have only lasted through Octobers! hah!)
Sunday, February 12, 2006
boy how things change...
gosh it's felt like forever since i've last blogged. so much has happened. last time i wrote i was just getting ready to leave LA for germany for Cov. Players training expecting to be in Poland by the first of February. Well, it's now the 12th of February and I'm still in Germany and although I'm still headed for Poland, I won't be there until late March and I'll be taking a slight detour...through Austria and Italy first.
yeah. i'm still leading a team to Poland but it's been combined with a team that covers Austria, Italy, and Southeast Germany (--technically we also cover Hungary, Slovakia, and Lichtenstein---try finding that on your map-- but we won't be going to those countries this misison). to make a long story short, we just don't have enough people to keep all the teams running so we had to combine two teams. at least I get to go to Italy if all goes as planned-- next Monday!!!
it's been tough. we've had to do alot of detective work to piece together information on performances and records left. we've had a lot of cancellations too as not everyone's been able to reschedule dates since we obviously have to move things around. there's been alot of frustration and craziness. but there have been perks too-- like cancellations working in our favor making it possible to clear up our calendar to go to Italy. And the huge perk of a wonderful unit. It's awesome to tour w/two fabulous sisters-- Petra and Liliana. Petra was w/me last mission and she's been a huge support. Liliana is one of my best friends in CP and we're like soul sisters. We're co-leading the unit and it's nice to have someone to share my burdens with. The three of us enjoy each other's company very much. We received a really cool word about being "princesses" right before we started mission. more on that next time!
gosh it's felt like forever since i've last blogged. so much has happened. last time i wrote i was just getting ready to leave LA for germany for Cov. Players training expecting to be in Poland by the first of February. Well, it's now the 12th of February and I'm still in Germany and although I'm still headed for Poland, I won't be there until late March and I'll be taking a slight detour...through Austria and Italy first.
yeah. i'm still leading a team to Poland but it's been combined with a team that covers Austria, Italy, and Southeast Germany (--technically we also cover Hungary, Slovakia, and Lichtenstein---try finding that on your map-- but we won't be going to those countries this misison). to make a long story short, we just don't have enough people to keep all the teams running so we had to combine two teams. at least I get to go to Italy if all goes as planned-- next Monday!!!
it's been tough. we've had to do alot of detective work to piece together information on performances and records left. we've had a lot of cancellations too as not everyone's been able to reschedule dates since we obviously have to move things around. there's been alot of frustration and craziness. but there have been perks too-- like cancellations working in our favor making it possible to clear up our calendar to go to Italy. And the huge perk of a wonderful unit. It's awesome to tour w/two fabulous sisters-- Petra and Liliana. Petra was w/me last mission and she's been a huge support. Liliana is one of my best friends in CP and we're like soul sisters. We're co-leading the unit and it's nice to have someone to share my burdens with. The three of us enjoy each other's company very much. We received a really cool word about being "princesses" right before we started mission. more on that next time!
