We continue to give thanks for all who are praying for us and encouraging us through emails and Facebook messages.  Though weary from traveling so much, we have been strengthened knowing that our REPC family is praying for us.

We left Edinburgh this morning in beautiful sunshine on this travel day as we headed south to London and then on to Paris.  When we arrived in Paris in the afternoon, it was 65 and sunny.  By the time we got to our hotel, which was about 2 hours later, we decided to have dinner at an outdoor cafe near our hotel and then head to the Eiffel Tower, which was a short walk.  We paid the 5 Euros and walked to the top (2nd platform), which was pretty high up.  It gave us an incredible view of Paris by night.  We both expressed a desire to stay a couple of days in all of the cities we have visited to see more of what our missionaries see every day, but we are grateful for the few hours that we have gotten in each city.

Tomorrow we head to Lille by train (our preferred way of travel now) to meet up with Sydnors and then on to Albertville to meet up with the Gassler family.  As I haven’t met these families, I am particularly excited to connect with them.

How sad we were not to be worshipping with our Rivermont EPC family this morning, and yet it was good to worship with our fellow believers in Durham, England.

Before the worship service we got to spend some more time with Robbie and Jane-Ellis over breakfast catching up on the last few years and marveling at God’s faithfulness through them.  It did our heart good to be with them and there three boys.  I think playing with the their three boys tempered some of our homesickness.  While we were doing that, we got to do some much- needed laundry as we get ready for our last leg.

After worship, we got on the train for the hour-and-a-half train ride to Edinburgh, Scotland.  To say that the country side was beautiful does not do it justice.  The countryside is idyllic as it is dotted with sheep, stone walls and stone farm houses.  We even saw an old man walking in a field playing a bagpipe.  From the train, we also saw the ruins of a 500 year-old castle, called Lindisfarne, which is also the name of the island it is built on.  What is significant about Lindisfarne or Holy Island as it is called now is that in 635AD Saint Aidan came from Iona and chose to found his monastery on Lindisfarne. The Christian message flourished here and spread throughout the world.

After arriving into Edinburgh, we got settled into the hotel and then our friend Jay Thomas Hewitt and his wife Andrea, met us at the hotel to go on a walking tour of Edinburgh.  We got to see Eindburgh Castle, which was built in the 11th century and looks over the city of Edinburgh. Battles and sieges were fought over it, royalty lived and died within its walls, and countless generations have been inspired by it.  From there we walked down the Royal Mile, which connects the castle to Hollyrood Palace, which is where the Queen of England stays when she holds court in Edinburgh.  This took us to St. Giles Cathedral, which is the historic City Church of Edinburgh and the Mother Church of Presbyterianism.  The church, which is located on the Royal Mile, has a crown spire towering above the church.

Clay, Jay Thomas and I went to meet Mark Sterling, who is a pastor in the Church of Scotland, for dinner.  Over dinner we talked about the possibilities of starting an EPC Presbytery in Scotland as well as the next steps to explore that possibility.  We were very encouraged by the meeting and have a great deal of respect of Mark and the others.  For the first time in our trip, it rained on us, so Mark was kind enough to drop us off at the hotel.

We head out tomorrow for Paris and a quick break before we see the Sydnors in Lille and the Gasslers in Albertville…

 

 

After making lots of new friends with four of our REPC missionaries, today we visited with some old friends from St. Louis, Robbie and Jane Ellis Griggs.  Robbie served on the pastoral staff of Central Presbyterian Church with Clay and I for six years.  Robbie and his family are in Durham, England, where Robbie is in the middle of getting a PhD at Durham University.  We had lots of fun touring the city including the Griggs boys rolling down the hill near the Cathedral.  They had so much fun that they inspired two young women who were part of a group there, to roll down the hill as well.  It was a sweet thing to behold.  We then went on a tour of the Cathedral, which is the burial place of the Venerable Bede as well as St. Cuthbert.  There were two choirs singing in the Cathedral today and we all wanted to sit down and just listen for hours.

Robbie then took us around town to learn more about the city before we made our way home for dinner.  After dinner, we were able to catch up on one another’s lives since we were last together.  We also have the opportunity to morrow to worship with them before we take off for Edinburgh tomorrow afternoon.

 

Hello everyone.  Greetings from the midlands of England.  Clay and I have enjoyed our day in Cannock with Dorcas Harbin and her ministry team from One Another Ministries.  The day began with me thinking that we were going to miss one of our trains because the connections were too close, but God was gracious to us, as he has been this whole trip, and we made it with plenty of time to spare.  The trip from Hertford to Cannock took about 4 hours, so Dorcas picked us up at about noon.  We headed to a restaurant to meet up with her fellow team members (Robert, Debbie and Twala).  We were very encouraged by the work this team does for Christian workers around Europe and beyond.  They are all very skilled in the areas of counseling missionaries as well as provide leadership training, missionary assessment and organizational development  for missionary organizations among many other things.  Their ministry training center, The White House, is located in Cannock Chase, which is a protected forest providing a beautiful setting for those who stay at the ministry center.  In addition to the six guest rooms, the center has a large board room for smaller trainings with two consultation rooms off to the side.  It has a lobby area where meals are served for visiting Christian workers/missionaries and a large banquet hall that enables them to hold trainings for larger ministry groups as well as meals.  They truly could not have found a more perfect space.  Tonight Clay and I have the whole place to ourselves because there are no guests here tonight.  Dorcas was kind enough to let us stay in our own separate rooms tonight.

After getting to see the White House Ministry Center, we went on a driving tour (that’s right, no walking!!!) of Cannock and several of the surrounding towns, including Litchfield and Stafford.  While in Litchfield we got to tour the Cathedral there, which used to have an Archbishop along with Canterbury and York, but then lost it some time later.  The building that is there now is the third one on that spot and it was built between 1185 and 1335, which makes some of the stones over 800 years old.  We also got to see Shugborough Castle, which is located in Stafford, and was home to the Earl of Lichfield.  It was an impressive building and the grounds were incredibly beautiful.

After our driving tour, Dorcas took Clay and I to her house where she treated us to a delicious dinner of pumpkin soup, cheese and crackers and steak-and-ale pie.  Dorcas truly has the gift of making people feel at home, and we truly felt at home with her.  We leave for Durham tomorrow morning and arrive just after lunch to visit with the Griggs family before heading out the following day to Edinburgh.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us…I (Brett) was able to get some medicine for my sinus infection, so hopefully I will get rid of the infection by the time I get back home.  Despite the crazy schedule, we have been blessed by spending time with our missionaries and feel like we know the ministries so much better.  Thank you so much for sending us!

The One Another Ministries Team (Twala, Dorcas, Debbie, and Robert) and Clay

It’s hard to believe we have been on our journeys for 6 days now.  They have been glorious days getting to know our missionaries and their work better.  Today was another great day as we pulled into Hertford North Train Station where we were met by Sarah Miller.  As you know, Sarah has been in Hertford for almost 4 years working with Young Life International, and it was clear from our time with her that God has been blessing her tireless efforts as she directs an excellent staff and ministers to countless students.

Sarah has many supporters of her ministry here, including Harold and Jane, who have brought Sarah into their home and their lives.  They were kind enough to let us stay in their house as well.  We had the chance to tour their garden before enjoying lunch and tea with them.   They were a delightful couple and clearly love the Lord and young people.

Following lunch, Sarah took us on a walking tour of Hertford, showing us where she meets up with students, where they congregate and several other key places, including Hertford Castle Gate House and the Church of St. Leonard, which is 1,000 years old.  We did manage to find a Starbucks where we got to spend some more time listening to Sarah share her passion for ministry and how God has used Young Life in the lives of these teenagers.  We also got to hear some of the challenges she faces trying to reach these teenagers, and yet God is using her in spite of those challenges.

After dinner, we walked over to the hall and got ready for Club with the other staff and volunteers.  It’s a great group of folks who share Sarah’s love for these teenagers.  The Club meeting had all of the same characteristics of an American Club meeting…high energy, loud singing, funny skits and a compelling message, which was brought by Hannah, who accompanied Sarah last November when she was in Lynchburg.  She talked about sin and had all of the students glued to her, which isn’t an automatic thing, but she, like many of the others, have earned the right to be heard.  That’s where all of that contact time and camp time begin to pay off.

Tomorrow, we are off to Cannock, England to visit Dorcas Harbin.  Good night for now.

We said goodbye to the Bakers this morning after a great visit with them.  From Stockholm, we travelled to London today as we get ready for our United Kingdom leg.  We’ll leave out of London tomorrow morning on our way to see Sarah Miller in Hertford, then Dorcas Harbin in Cannock the next day, then the Griggs in Durham the next day and then some Church of Scotland pastors the following day.

We got to the hotel today at about 3pm and headed to Westminster Abbey to tour this venerable and important church to Presbyterians.  After the tour finished, we decided to stay for the Ash Wednesday service and got to sit in the choir loft behind the boys/men’s choir.  The service was very worshipful and will definitely be one of the trip highlights.  Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed in the Abbey, so we don’t have any pictures to share.  One interesting note is that I (Brett) unknowingly sat next to a royal couple and we both got to pass the peace with them during the service.  We still haven’t figured out yet who they were, but they were definitely part of the Royal Family.

After the service, we came back to the hotel where we met up with World Harvest Missionary and church planter, Chris Hatch, for dinner.  Clay knows Chris from his time at Covenant Seminary.  Chris is planting a multi-cultural church in the heart of Shepherd’s Bush (west London).  They are doing some neat ministry with the homeless and immigrants there in Shepherd’s Bush.  

Thank you for your continued prayers.  Do pray for strength as we begin to travel every day.  We are trying to stay healthy but it is hard when there are so many people and we’re riding so many trains.  We love you all!

We began our morning early, leaving the house at 7:15 to get to Credo Akademin in time to join the students in a chapel service prior to our teaching time.  It was very joyful and worshipful with one of the students sharing a devotional from Mark 10.  We moved into the classroom and after an introduction by Ray, Clay began an excellent presentation on the doctrine of predestination by looking at Ephesians 1:3-14, which shows that the Father plans salvation, the Son accomplishes salvation and the Spirit applies salvation to the believer.  Following his 20 minute presentation we took questions and the students, who were somewhat unfamiliar with predestination, responded with a barrage of very good and thoughtful questions.  This lasted for about an hour plus we had additional one-on-one time afterwards.  We were very encouraged and pray that the students were helped in having a greater view of God’s work in salvation.

We spent some time with the staff of Credo and enjoyed semlas prepared by one of the staff members in honor of Mardi Gras (who knew Swedes celebrated Mardi Gras?).  We also heard a report from a ministry worker who just returned from a trip to Belarus ministering to college students there.

From there we went on a walking tour for the rest of the morning stopping at St. Claire Church, which is a state church (Lutheran) and the Royal Palace to watch the changing of the guard.  We had a good laugh when the announcer said that there wasn’t to be the usual formal changing of the guard but a short and crispy one.  From there we went to eat lunch at the Jerusalem Kebab and Cafe, which was delicious.  We continued our walking tour, which took us through Old Stockholm.  Ray was an unbelievable tour guide noting all of the historical landmarks and events for us.

We got home in time for a delicious dinner with the Bakers and then spent some time praying for them.  It was incredibly special to be with them as it will be with all of our missionaries.  We will be coming back with a much greater appreciation for their work and a better ability to pray and advocate for them.

Tomorrow we are off to London for an afternoon of sightseeing and then dinner with Chris Hatch, who is a pastor and missionary with WHM.  Enjoy the photos…

How naive we were to think that we had licked jet lag with that 13 hour sleep on Saturday night.  I (Brett) think I slept about an hour last night and Clay slept about 5.  Nonetheless, we were greeted with a sunny day and a delicious Norwegian breakfast with Tim at the hotel.  After saying goodbye to Tim, we hopped the shuttle back to the airport and caught our flight to Stockholm.  We took a train into Stockholm from the airport where Ray was waiting for us at the Central Station.  We walked about a mile to his office at Credo Akademin and met several of the staff there including Stefan, whom many of you will remember as a speaker from our 2011 Mission’s Conference.  Ray, Clay and I took a staff member namedMartin to lunch at Sue Ellen’s, which was a great little pub around the corner from their office.  In addition to his work at Credo, Martin is also a part-time pastor in a Lutheran church in the city.  He is interested in furthering his education by attending seminary in the States, possibly at Covenant Seminary, which is Clay’s and my alma mater.  Despite our obvious bias, we were able to help him think through some of his goals and which seminary would be a good fit for him.  Should it work out for him to attend Covenant, we think he would do very well there.

Following lunch, Ray, Clay and I took the subway and bus back to their house where we met up with Kay who was enjoying a much-needed and well-deserved rest from the SHARE Family Education Conference she helped coordinate in Budapest, Hungary.  We spent the afternoon hearing stories from the SHARE conference and how God used the conference to really equip and encourage the families who attended.  Just before supper, we took a long walk around a lake near the Baker’s house that created a Scandanavian-sized hunger, which Ray heartily vanquished by soup, cheese/crackers and vegetables.  We are grateful for the Baker’s hospitality in feeding and lodging us in their home.  Their love for the people of Sweden and God’s work here is so evident in the stories they tell and the life that they live.

Tomorrow we head out early to speak in Ray’s class for their Open Forum.  Pray for us as we talk about the doctrine of predestination, which is something that many are interested in hearing about, possibly for the first time.  Pray that it will deepen and enrich their understanding of God’s grace for them and for us.  We hope to see more of the city tomorrow after class before leaving the following day for London.

Clay and I wish that you all were here to witness the beauty of Trondheim.  It is simply gorgeous…the mountains, the fjord, the colorful houses and the cobblestone streets of downtown.  As I mentioned in my blog from yesterday, Tim fixed us a Norwegian dinner Saturday night, which consisted of karbonater (like salisbury steak), sausage, broccoli, and mashed vegetables (rutabaga, carrots, and potatoes).  The picture probably doesn’t do justice for how tasty and filling the meal was.

This delicious meal was followed by a great night’s sleep.  We went to bed around 9 and despite a couple of snoring issues (yes, your pastors snore!), we got up at 10 the next morning.  I think the last time either one of us slept that much was as teenagers.  In fact, we slept so late that we almost missed the morning worship service at Tim’s church.

When we walked into the sanctuary we were greeted by the pastor, Ulf Magne, who actually will be leaving this church for a church in Lillehammer soon, and Tim.  Not knowing where to sit, we did a very un-Presbyterian thing and headed up front and sat in the corner.  We hadn’t been there for more than 5 minutes when Tim came over and told us, you might want to move as this is the Russian corner.  We had a good laugh and thought, no matter where you go, you always have to be careful where your sitting in a worship service.  It turns out that this church has a very international feel.  There is a contingent of Russians, actually Ukranians and Lithuanians, who sit in that corner and have the service translated for them.  You also have some Iranians, Burmese and a few other nationalities worshipping there.  We were grateful to have had the service translated into English for us by David’s father, Don, who is one of the leaders in the church.  So you have the service spoken in Norwegian with two sets of translations going on at the same time.  Incredible!  The service was joyful, the singing was heartfelt and the preaching gospel-centered.

Following the service, we enjoyed a time of Fellowship over coffee and cakes, Tim took us on a 2 mile walk up to a revolving restaurant at the top of the city.  Not only was the food excellent, we got to see the entire city, and it was even more beautiful than what we saw driving through town.  Following our lunch we walked over to the university where Tim and members of the church as well as a mission team from the US, will be holding a week-long outreach called, Skeptics Week, next week.  We prayed in front of the main building that the Lord would use this week to draw many to himself.  From there, we walked into downtown Trondheim and walked around many of the cobblestone streets before finally landing at a coffee house, where we had one of the best chai lattes we’ve ever had.  We ended the night back at our hotel where we talked about the last couple of months for Tim here and then spent some great time praying for Tim and his transition back to Lynchburg.

Tomorrow, we take a plane to Stockholm from Trondheim where we’ll be with the Bakers for a couple of days.  Ray has asked us to lead an Open Forum for one of his classes on Tuesday.  The Open Forum is a time for discussing a number of topics not generally covered by Ray but the students are interested in. Our topic is predestination, so that should hopefully provide for some interesting discussion.

Thank you for continually lifting us up in prayer.  We are blessed and encouraged by them.

Pastor Brett, along with Pastor Clay

The Sanctuary of the Church

Pastor Clay and I arrived in Trondheim a little after 3:00pm local time (9am Lyncbhurg time) after flying from Washington D.C. to London to Oslo and finally to Trondheim.  We will be meeting up with Tim Sosin, one of our REPC covenant children and missionary here, for a Norwegian-style dinner.  

We are grateful for an uneventful trip over with one particular blessing that averted a travel nightmare.  If you’ve been in Terminal 5 at Heathrow, you know how massive a place that is. I thought our plane to Oslo would be just down the way, since I assumed that the concourse we came in on was the only one in Terminal 5.  I was wrong.  There are three concourses and while we came in on Concourse B, we needed to get to Concourse A.   Well as we deplaned, there was a One World Alliance agent who had been sent to help us get to our gate.  Somebody was looking after us!!! As we were following him down corridors and up and and down elevators and through an other security check, we realized that had it not been for this gentleman, we would surely have missed our connecting flight to Oslo.  It was nice having someone who knew the procedure and the terminal layout who could guide us through, so that we made it to our gate with several minutes to spare.  

Tomorrow, we will be worshipping with Tim in the church he serves in through ABWE.  After worship, we will grab some pizza for lunch and tour Trondheim. What we have already seen of Trondheim on our way in from the airport is that it is a beautiful Scandanavian seaport that is located right on one of the many inlets of the Atlantic.  It is surrounded by towering mountains reminding us of home :-).  The weather here is much milder than I would have thought.  The high was in the mid 40’s today and will be so tomorrow.  I’m hoping to take some pictures tomorrow so I post them, but here is one from the internet that gives you a good shot of the city.