August 18th

We are having a little Germany Trip get together on the 18th at the Kirk Ranch. It will be good food and fun fellowship. Oh and there will be pictures. Lots of pictures.

Rome in a Day

Below are the pictures from the ancient city. The first is the group in front of the Coliseum and then the rest are the coliseum and Mammertine Prison. We each yesterday on our marathon day.









Today, we saw the Vatican Museum and the rest that goes with the Holy City.










These are just a few of the many shots I took at the Vatican. It was a very good experience with a lot of history in it. The Sistine Chapel was amazing, but no pictures were allowed inside. I'll have to get you a postcard. We leave at at 3 am tonight or tomorrow, it depends on how you look at it, and should be home in the afternoon tired, but happy.

In Rome Now

We woke up this morning and it was still dark. Really dark. Like 3 AM dark. After a quick trip over to Frankfurt we had a 3 hour layover. The kids took advantage of that time and slept all over the place. Then it was on to Rome. We got to Rome about 12:30 PM and thought we would be in and out of the airport since we didn't have to go through customs, but the baggage handlers had a different idea. It took over an hour to get our bags from the whirling spinny thing.

So without a lunch we immediately went on a tour of the Ancient city. It was very cool stuff, but we were hot, tired, thirsty and by the end of the tour, HUNGRY. I'll post some awesome pics tomorrow once I get a free minute.

For dinner we went to a very Italian place that served any number of gross seafood type things for an appetizer. I know I saw little tiny octopi, but I couldn't identify the rest of God's sea creatures on my plate. Then out came a pasta with more sea stuff and while it was good it was still an adventure. Finally, out came the grilled salmon and all was well at my end of the table. The kids ate in varying degrees of like, including some who ate nothing all night.

I'll be back on with pictures and updates tomorrow and then it is off to America in the early hours.

Saturday Night

This evening we journeyed to the center of the city of Leipzig. It is gorgeous as you will see from the pictures. We first enjoyed a very authentic German meal of Schnitzel and then headed to Inner City Leipzig. The photos are random shots of the Inner City and the kids eating at the Schnitzel Culture.











Schnitzel Culture...

A Special Treat

I hope this comes out ok. Turn up your speakers. I got each of the different languages in my group to say that Jesus Christ is Lord in their native tongue. It was so powerful. I get chill bumps remembering the time with them. Here is the video. Some of the girls are hard to hear but the guys come through great.



For those of you keeping an eye on Lufthansa from home, the strike is over and our flights should not see any delays tomorrow AM. Another praise for a week of many praises.

Pictures

These first three pics are of the last worship we went to at the conference. We were a couple of minutes late so we were in the very back of the center. I took this photo trying to give you and idea of how many people there were here. It starts left and goes to the right. The thing you don't see is the 100 or so rows all the way to the front. This place is huge and there are almost 7,000 people officially registered for the conference. WOW!



Here is a group shot in the glass hall before we left the conference for the last time.

Friday night

Here is another short video clip from tonight's worship. It was a great service and we had a chance to unwrap the conference afterwards.



The kids have recovered from their jet lag and are showing signs of life. I took that opportunity to help them digest a little of the information that they have taken in over the last two days. Processing everything they see will help them better apply it to their lives and leave here different kids. We had a great talk tonight and I look forward to tomorrow and another opportunity to visit with the kids. Pray for them today and just have the Lord continue to spur on the charge that is in their hearts right now. It is neat to see. I wish my blog could really show what is going on, but it is impossible to fully experience what I am watching. Pray for the kids to be changed. God has revealed a lot to them through people from all over the world and now they are trying to figure out their place in their communities.



On another note, here is a few photos from out of my hotel window. Very impressive.