Tag Archives: Central Asia

Central Asia – The Blur of Days #7-9 – DLT

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Monday around noon we loaded up the family van & headed to the Be Fine Hotel on the other side of the city… a decent 10 mile trek through midday traffic in a bustling city of 4 million. How long could it take?

2 hours. At least 2 hours. Stop & go traffic. Vehicles playing their own versions of a game resembling Frogger, Tetris, & tag. More close calls than I care to revisit. No accidents seen. Angels on overtime.

Settled into our hotel room with a brief respite before the opening sessions of DLT kicked off. This particular conference is Module 2 of the DLT material, “Marriage & Family” & the topics we covered over the last 3 days include – Discipleship & Leadership Training within the context of:

  • Family – what is it & what are God’s purposes for the family unit? How does God work with family to teach people about Himself & His character & life?
  • Marriage – who gets to define what is the purpose of marriage? What does Scripture have to say about marriage? How do you navigate through cultural & social norms for marriage when they are in conflict with Scripture? (For example, many cultures in Asia embrace the male dominated, female subservient role within marriage, where the husband is the absolute authority & ruler in the relationship, & the wife’s role is to serve the husband (& often the extended family of both sides – hers & her husbands), have children (esp. boys), often being treated more as a servant &/or possession than a partner. In Christ, marriage can be seen elevated to a loving partnership where both parties submit to one another out of reverence for Christ; where the husband takes on the servant leadership role of headship of the wife, laying down his life for her like Christ laid down His life for the church; where the wife willingly submits to her own husband (think 2 cars merging into 1 lane to avoid a crash) – instead of insisting on forcing her way ahead of her husband or into a domineering role over him, she comes alongside & walks with him.
  • the significant roles of the fathers & mothers in establishing & maintaining the identity & direction of the children; the role of spiritual fathers & mothers in providing care, leadership, encouragement, & mentorship in the pursuit of relationship with Christ, esp. for people who haven’t had the support/care of natural parents, or whose parents didn’t know Christ/didn’t teach them about life with Him.
  • the role of the single (unmarried) persons; the ultimate goal for all people for all life isn’t marriage – & singles aren’t to be pitied & treated as pariahs until the day when they could somehow (gasp!) enter into normal life & be married. There is a huge value on the individual in Christ.
  • Balancing family, life, work etc – living in rhythm & rest; embracing the Sabbath as a normative part of life for the Christian disciple;
  • As I’m doing this off the top of my head, I’m forgetting a couple of sections…

As I’m typing this, it is now Wednesday at 6 a.m. We’ll be doing our last sessions of this Central Asian DLT in about 4 hours – over the last 3 days, our schedule has included at least two 3-hour sessions to present the material through a translator, initiate & moderate discussions around the 5 or 6 tables where the participants are scattered 4-6 deep; provide opportunities for meaningful feedback from the participants.

The drain on the brain is real – trying to teach & “facilitate” while attempting to think in simple, easily translatable concepts, avoiding Americanisms & idioms that we rely on for our daily communication without even knowing it. Think:

  • Watching paint dry.
  • Actions speak louder than words.
  • Hang in there.
  • The last straw.

All of these were used this week. Native English (or at least Northern NV Americans) would easily pick up what is being said with each of these phrases… but for the Central Asian for whom English (not American, but English – there is a HUGE difference) is a 3rd or 4th language, it is tough & requires stopping, giving an explanation, re-translations, etc. Add to the mix the nuanced & emotionally charged topics of marriage & family which are often fraught with disappointment, frustrations, & unmet expectations, & you’ve got quite the brain drain.

Add to that 3 meals a day – social & conversational events that require patience, a sense of humor, & more than a few attempts to even get a cursory understanding of the simplest of interactions & you see why & how a person gets fried.

We’re 12 hours ahead of home, which makes for easy math, but not great sleep. We’ve been able to head to bed around 10 each night, often passing out quickly only to reawaken in the middle of the night (I’ve seen the clock turn from 2 to 3 a.m. every night so far) & struggle to get back to sleep before the morning responsibilities kicked in.

After our last session & receiving communion together today, we’ll be packing our bags & (eventually) heading to the airport where we’ll catch a flight to our next destination in the Caucasus where the Russian-language DLT starts tomorrow (Thursday for us – at 2 p.m.) It will wrap up Saturday evening with communion & celebration.

We’re looking forward to reconnecting with our dear friends who are the overseers for the Eurasian Bible School – people we got to know last year who are meeting us there for the DLT. From what we’ve been told, there are participants coming from several surrounding countries – all who have committed to the 18-month DLT process as they explore formalizing their personal & their churches relationships with Foursquare & either joining or, more often, beginning the process of forming the Foursquare Church in their country of origin. It’s a long & relational process – & I have to say – people are people.

Thank you for your prayers & support – they are helping us through some challenging times & we are seeing God doing some really cool things in healing marriages, providing hope & thoughts of a different & preferable future, in addition to growing as disciples of Christ. After all, what good is our faith if it doesn’t have a transformational effect on us in every area of life, especially in our interpersonal interactions with loved ones & family – both family of origin & chosen.

Central Asia – Day #5 – The Top of the World

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It’s been hot… really hot & today was the most hot. Our hosts wanted to take us out of the city into the nearby mountains to get away for a chunk of the day – both to cool down & also to visit one of this region’s (& all of Central Asia’s) most beautiful areas.

We drove for about 45 minutes out of the city of almost 4 million people, gradually climbing towards the ever present, towering peaks surrounding the valley (Think of it as driving to Tahoe’s West Shore & the Squaw Valley/Palisades resort, or the Heavenly Valley area. This reminded me a LOT of that, esp. because of the gondola ride we ended up taking to the top of the majestic mountains)

Its not like we ever actually got OUT of the city… like most bigger cities, it just keeps going & going, but it did change & as we climbed, it got cooler – think 100 down to 85. We arrived at the base of the Shymbulak Mountain Resort & navigated our way towards the gondolas that promised to take us to the top of the 10 to 11,000 ft mountains. Y&G insisted we go earlier rather than later in the day, both to beat the heat & also the crowds; we experienced little to no people issues or wait times, unlike the Disneyland in summer type lines that were evident when we came down the mountain just a few hours later.

The 4 of us traveled together in the gondola through 3 different stations – total trip UP the mountain took about 45 minutes; we loved the 360 degree views of the surrounding valley & mountain range, although more than once I was wishing for a bigger window to be able to get some of the cool(er) air in.

We spent about 90 minutes at the top top, looking at the glacial remnants evident, the mountain passes leading to the different ‘stans’ & the people from every tribe, tongue & nation, all there to soak in the beauty, enjoy the touristy attractions (hanggliding, food & drink, yurts, & even a collection of BnB’s. It was about 70 up there, which informs you a bit more about the heat of the city. Y told us there is a mountain in the range that is rumored to be > 21,000 feet tall.

Y recommended we take the ski chair-lift style way down the hill – so theBean & I got to experience the slow descent in our very first (& most likely last) time ever being on a chair-lift. My skier of a Bean must have referenced this “first time” 20x throughout the travels down, & we took the time to snap pictures, send Marco Polo videos to loved ones, & generally laugh our way down the hill. Good times.

Had a late lunch at a little piece of Paradise (the name of the restaurant.) We shared a small pepperoni style pizza & a couple of short-ribs, then stopped at a mom n pop store for waters & Coke Zero before making our way to home base. We all took a nap – I slept for at least 3 1/2 hours & have several, very vague memories of theBean coming in to check on me; I eventually woke with a start to her sitting on her bed (we’re in 2 twins in our guest room) looking intently at me. The weight of her gaze & the power of her presence must have woken me :)

By this time it was almost 8 p.m.(!) & I was still full from lunch, so I snacked on some cool watermelon from the the fertile south region of the country, & reviewed my notes for the speech I’m giving today at church. At home we’re in Ecclesiastes so I modified a couple of messages I’ve recently done & put something together from Ecclesiastes 5:18-6:9.  Church starts around 2 & will go to 4:30-5 p.m. Then it’s packing & prep time, complete with a visit to a proper grocery store for any supplies we might need as we head in the morning to the outskirts of the city & the same “Be Fine” Hotel we stayed at with our full team of pastors last year.

Tomorrow starts the CA version of the DLT, & it will go until Wednesday afternoon, at which time we’ll say goodbye to Y&G & fly to the Caucuses for round 2.

It was a great day. Thank you in advance for your prayers & encouragements.

Central Asia – Caucuses – Days #3-5 –

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The 10 (Istanbul) & now 12 (CA) hour time difference, coupled with travel shock & not enough sleep make me doubt how many days we’ve been at this… I’m at the spot where fingers are starting to help with counting the days etc, so maybe later I’ll give it another shot. Bottom line: we’re doing well; mostly rested & settled firmly in Central Asia (CA) , staying for the next 3 days with our new friends, Y & G.

We loved our time in Istanbul, & spent the evening soaking up the ambiance, resting in our hotel, & dotting i’s/crossing t’s to depart for the next leg of the trip. After a quick taxi ride, our we headed to the airport 3 hours early, just in case there were snafus. There weren’t any, but its good to be prepared.

The flight from Istanbul to CA left at 12:45 a.m., which meant navigating the airport, late-night. It’s my 2nd experience & my 2nd country having a crack-of-doom departure time, & both experiences have been Vegas-casino like. Super-bright lights, packed terminals, & all the activity & bustle you would associate with the casino night life of city that never sleeps, minus the slots & games. Of course its a peak travel time for a big chunk of the world… its just not a peak travel time experience that I am used to.  Yet.

Seamless travels & a mostly quick 5 hour trip landed us a few minutes before 8 a.m. We navigated customs & baggage over the course of about 90 minutes, & made our way out to meet our host, Y, a local Foursquare pastor & overseer that we met during last year’s trip. Y is a planter of churches, the coordinator of an inter-denominational fellowship of Christian churches throughout the country (& several of the surrounding countries as well.)

Arrived at Y’s home & was met by his wife, G, & a killer breakfast spread. The majority of what we ate came from their garden (fruits & vegetables), their neighbors (farm-fresh eggs), & a collection of dried peaches, raisins, & nuts from nearby countries. CA is super inter-connected.

No sleep the night before + a full belly = waves of overwhelming drowsiness. We excused ourselves to our room & crashed HARD for about 6 hours (!) Woke up discombobulated, but got to reconnect, albeit briefly, our dear friend Al – before he headed to the airport. We’ll see him next Wednesday when we go to the Caucuses.

The power went out around 2 p.m. (a not-usual happening in this next of the woods) so Y&G took us to a local place for dinner for laghman & shashlik. So good – & our conversations & laughter over the food was precious, esp. as we navigate the language barrier using hand gestures, best guesses & translation apps, etc.

Got back to the house to find that the power was back on (!) & there was great rejoicing. Sat around the table for a bit with good chocolate (from Sweden) & hot tea. Planned & plotted the Saturday activity – with the heat (approaching 100F) we are headed to the mountains to take a tram ride up a 10,000 footer to enjoy the views, see the sites, & hang out together.

Also, confirmed that I will be teaching at the afternoon Sunday service (if you’re up at 2 a.m. Sunday, pray for me) & I think I’ll be doing something from Ecclesiastes 5:18-6:9… a spin-off from our current “Meaning of Life” Ecclesiastes series at Hillside. We’ll be heading to the “Be Fine Hostel” on the outskirts of the city sometime Monday morning, & diving into the 1st DLT.

Thank you for your prayers & thank you for your encouragements. We are thankful & daily reminded of the relationships, care, covering, protection, & blessings God HAS & IS providing for us through this process. It’s a joy & an adventure.

Central Asia – Caucuses – Days #1 & #2 – Travel & Istanbul.

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Reno – Seattle – Istanbul.

The first leg of our travels has gone (relatively) smoothly… we left Reno Tuesday afternoon & navigated the SeaTac airport to first find our International terminal (never flown Intl out of Seattle) & then shared a burger at one of the few food places available until our flight was called & we mentally prepared for the 12 hour flight in front of us.

Good news from the start – there was an empty seat in-between theBean & I, although because of where our row was located, we had the rigid metal dividers between us instead of the usual “lift-up” arms, thereby relegating us to the actual territory of our seats. No matter – it was a blessing & a joy to be able to let-down & occupy the extra space. I was able to catch a couple hours of sleep spaced out in 30-45 minute chunks throughout the ‘night’, & the 12 hour flight eventually came to an end as we slowly descended into a city & place that I’ve only read about in history books & seen in movies, & that I never thought I’d actually BE in.

Istanbul is massive – 15 million residents. Architecture that spans every known kingdom & nation that occupied it in its long & storied history (Byzantium or Byzantion to Constantinople to Istanbul). Big pockets of modernity. The whole gamut of people groups, nations, tribes, & tongues. East meets West, literally.

Our bags came – booyah! Navigated the largest baggage carousel system I’ve ever seen in person out to the place where we could order our ride. The research I did last week on transit in Istanbul came in handy as we found our way to the appropriate space to order up a ride-share using a version of Turkish-style Uber. Our driver arrived in about 5 minutes & we were off.

The driver had 4(!) phones mounted on his dash – one for this app, three for him to alternatively talk, text, & browse IG. True story. He weaved expertly through the chaos of rush-hour Istanbul traffic for about 45 minutes until we arrived at our hotel unscathed, no thanks to the tour bus driver that came an inch from clipping the motorcycle driver in front of us as bus driver guy obliviously swerved into our lane, cutting us off, earning him an earful, complete with hand gestures & expressions of extreme disgust from a collection of drivers.

After getting checked in & showered & cleaned up from a long travel day, we walked to a small cafe across the street for a lateish (for us) dinner. Beef sausage & cheese omelettes on an open air patio (it’s hot!) Surrounded by the sights, sounds of traffic & conversation, & smells (big city & cigarettes everywhere) – its a beautiful place. We made our way back to the hotel to wind down with a Hallmark show (thank you VPN.)

Slept most of the night, with a couple hours of wakefulness in the middle of the night. We both went back to sleep around 4:30 & didn’t wake up til 9:20 or so, in time to make it to their (massive) dining room for the complementary breakfast. Eggs, omelette stations, breakfast foods, yogurts, real fruits (best watermelon & plum ever) a collection of coffee & tea stations, & people. From everywhere. Every tribe, tongue, & nation. In a room of approx. 200 people, I clocked 1(!) other American couple. I proudly wore my Pete’s Meat BBQ shirt to breakfast, thankful that it had a cow on it instead of a pig… because pigs are frowned upon in this part of the world.

After breakfast, we went back to our room & read, slept a bit more, & now we’re planning on some foot-travels to a local store to pick up some necessities we didn’t bring with us. The plan is to head back to the airport tonight around 9 pm our time, as our flight heads out at 12:45 a.m. landing in our destination city 8 a.m. ish Friday 7/25.

Thank you for your prayers – we aim to stay in touch using the blog etc. as much as we are able. Looking forward to connecting with our (old & new) friends in Central Asia; we’ve got a few days in the city, staying with a local pastor, until we head out Monday, 7/28 for the 1st Discipleship/Leadership Training (DLT) conference.

CA: Days #9 & #10

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Planes – Trains – & Automobiles… DISCLAIMER: I have lost track of days/time/hours etc. I had to confirm (2x) that it is, actually, Saturday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. as I write this.

AUTOMOBILES: It seems more like 4 or 5 days since we said tearful goodbyes to our hosts & our CA team members sometime around 12:30 a.m. early Friday to make the 45 or so minute trek in our trusty & oh special Toyota Siena van to head to the airport. Each trip in the van with our local drivers was an experience that brought you closer to Jesus… usually in frantic prayer for protection as the drivers whipped in & out of traffic like wanna-be Formula One drivers, going from 0 to whatever the top acceleration speed is of an early 2000’s Siena that has been driven hard for > a decade & a half. Imagine driving down Mt. Rose Hwy in heavy traffic… with Mario Andretti as your driver… a Mario Andretti who believes all his loved ones will die unless he passes EVERY, SINGLE, CAR in front of him… in the next 45 minutes.

PLANES… Made it to the airport with about 3 hours before our flight, meaning we needed to wait to check in, as Lufthansa only opens check in about 2 hours (max) before flight time in this part of CA. Grabbed a flat-white from a storefront & shared a few moments of conversation with the team-members that traveled with us to the airport this morning. Shared time/space/experience gives a great recipe for building relationships; our time together over the last 9 or so days has really bound us together.

Eventually the time came for check-in; got through with no issues & navigated the security line without incident. TheBean & I decided to walk the terminal & discovered it was super-small… kinda had a John Wayne/OC airport feel, so it only took about 15 to circle our whole concourse. Made it to our gate & sat & talked with Teresa, an Aussie now based in SF at a 4square church there, the lone team member traveling on the same flight as us. We talked & I crushed a coldish Coke Zero.

The time for boarding came… & passed. Everyone headed out on this flight gathered around the gate opening in a way that would have made most gate attendants apoplectic; ours seemed to think this was normal & they went about their business checking their paperwork & who knows what else until all of the sudden, out of nowhere, surrounded by increasingly agitated people waiting for the flight, she started scanning boarding documents. No rhyme or reason; just first-come, first-served.  TheBean & I made it to our seats & found that we were in a 2 seat row of our own in Economy – no middle seat for us.

Flight was about 30 minutes late taking off, but we made good time to the first stop, then had a record speed reload with passengers headed to our destination for the day: Frankfurt. It was about 7 1/2 uneventful hours in the air – a daytime-ish flight, not really conducive for sleeping, so I watched a couple of movies, read my books, & ate selections of whatever foods that were brought to us… including a sample of the very worst sandwich in the history of sandwiches… a fact that has been confirmed by theBean, a normally positive woman who, I discovered after 36 years together, is capable of incredible negativity when it comes to disappointment associated with food, unmet expectations, & esp. those sandwiches.

NOTE: we’ve been sitting so much (flights, meetings, services,) over the last 9 days that, after this flight, my tailbone & seat feel like they are severely bruised. Coming to a standing position & then sitting back down has been excruciating. It got better through the day (walking helped) but still is a pain in the rear.

BUSES… Landed in Frankfurt around 11;45 a.m. local time (3 hours earlier than where we were in CA,) & grabbed our luggage & eventually made our way towards where we thought the buses might be located. NOTE: Because of construction, our normal & easy routine of ‘get on a train at the airport & head towards Baden-Baden’ was instead a “find the replacement bus station, which is different from the regular bus station, get on the correct replacement bus which will take you an hour down the road to the Mannheim Main Train station at which point you’ll then get on a train & continue to your destination.’

And we couldn’t find it.

I was hangry & had not slept in > 24 hours, so my hangry was at DEFCON 2; I was alert enough to recognize it, but not alert nor coherent enough to fully contain it. An impromptu stop at McDonald’s helped (yay Double Cheese Double meat Royale,) but we were still stymied on how to get to the “Replacement Bus” station. Doesn’t help that the FRAPORT is as big as the entire city of Fernley.

In our impaired states, we finally navigated to a DB travel center & found a very direct & very pointy German who gave us directions to the Replacement Bus center. Instructions that, point of order, didn’t fully make sense at the time, but after getting a clarifying couple of pieces of input from a very helpful airport worker, we were able to understand & apply. Navigated all the way down to where our Replacement Bus stop was, & discovered it was directly outside a Starbucks. Since we had a good 90 minutes to kill, we grabbed some iced drinks & sat in comfy chairs in blessed cool silence.

TheBean & I got on our bus – it was not a ‘normal’ bus, but more like a deluxe charter bus, with A/C & a WC in the back. TheBean slept for the hour it took to get to Mannheim; I read & tried to stay awake… feeling like if I slept I’d not be able to wake up fully.

TRAINS… 

The Replacement Bus stop was about 1/4 mile from the Main Station, so we dragged our bags through the streets of Mannheim along with the other passengers. Found our track & had another Coke Zero while trying to determine where we needed to stand on the long concrete spit that made up the train station & loading area. (Gotta get on the right wagon…)

A little helper gave us the direction we needed & we made it onto our correct wagon & found our seats. (Close to them at least. They were taken, but the ones next to them weren’t. A different Louie might have asked for MY seat, the one I was assigned by the Man. This Louie, hangry tired Burnt Toasty Louie just thought about it while taking identical & available seats right across from the ones we’d been assigned.

It was a quick trip & < half hour until we had to hustle off our train at Track 2 & drag-run our bags to Track 12, all in the space of 5 minutes. And we made it.

But…

There was no space for me to sit, nor to put the bags. So I stood off to the side of the exit on the train, along with a few close strangers, & sweated profusely while waiting til the 75 minutes & several stops were done & we would arrive in Achern to see our Julia.

AUTOMOBILES #2… 

We made it to Achern & I shuffled off the train, literally dripping w/sweat, trying not to look miserable – because I wasn’t. Just sweaty. At this point, I was almost past  feeling anything. Just wanted to get to Julia’s.

She & her mama, Pia, were at the station & helped us wheel our bags through the small-town station in Achern. We loaded our bags into their cars & drove the short 10 or so minutes to Julia’s flat. She lives on the 3rd floor, so we dragged our stuff upstairs & got settled &  showered.

Julia, Pia, & TheBean made tacos & then we sat around the table & ate & laughed & enjoyed catching up. We talk on a pretty regular basis with Julia via Marco Polo, we our catching up curve isn’t too great. Tacos were on point.

Cleaned up from dinner & hung out, trying desperately to stay up as late as possible before going to sleep so as to get on the local time… we made it to 8:20 pm & dragged ourselves into bed & promptly crashed.

Woke up around 8 a.m. & had coffee & read. Ended up going back to bed around 10 a.m. & sleeping for another couple of hours. Woke up around 12:30 p.m. & theBean & Julia made brunch – brown bread, eggs, cheese, salami, etc, & ate to our hearts content. TheBean made our grocery list & brushed up on my teaching notes for Church tomorrow at Die Arche Ottersweier; – aka “The Arc of Ottersweier.”

We went with Julia to the store; spent about 45 minutes shopping (I love shopping in German grocery stores) & came back to her flat & put away the groceries.

And then I sat down to blog. So there we are.

Thank you for your prayers. Thankful for food. Good sleep. Time with chosen family. Gracious wife. That hangry doesn’t last forever. And fans that blow a steady stream of air over you.

CA: Day #8

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Last full day of DLT began with breakfast & discussion-heavy presentations. I love the discussion elements because we got to hear from people with a varied background what it might look like to them to put their faith into practice; it allows you to get beyond the acquisition of information into the practical application of a Christ-following life.

For example – as a part of the marriage & relationships module of DLT, we spent a chunk of time processing through polygamy… something that is a fairly common (& accepted) practice in many parts of Central Asia – & especially among Muslims. In a local church context, Christ-followers need to have an understanding & consistent Biblical ethic on navigating polygamy when it involves people in it coming to Christ. It’s not like a newly-saved individual with their wives can be instructed, “just keep wife #1 & divorce the rest.” To do so could be catastrophic for those women cast off in the name of fidelity to the Christian faith, as a divorced woman in many of these cultures would have next to no rights, no viable means of support or living, & most likely no opportunities for remarriage. So what might be suggested is something like “2nd generation monogamy;” where the next generations of new Christians would be taught Scriptural principles around marriage (1 husband/1 wife) while the 1st generation family learns to live in a new reality following Jesus with remnants & reminders of ‘the old ways.’ Definitely a lot to think about.. & lots of fascinating discussions.

Our team was told we would have a late night as we were volunteered by our hosts to minister to our DLT attendees in prophetic prayer starting at 9 p.m. So theBean & I took advantage of our afternoon break (1:30-3 p.m.) to rest, read, & recharge. And by that I mean we crashed hard. HARD. I don’t know what it was that woke me up, but when I looked at my watch, it was 3:05 & we were late to the session. I didn’t have a clue WHO I was, let alone WHERE I was, & it took about 20 minutes for my brain to adequately reset to the point that I could gainfully participate in the happenings in our session.

Haven’t been sleeping great… waking up between 5-6 a.m.& not able to go back to sleep which is ok unless you are going to bed late… which we are. Naps have been helpful but today really hit me with a hammer.

Navigated the last afternoon session & had an opportunity to talk with/pray with a team of people from the northern part of the country: G, O, V, & S. After 20 years of pastoring in the same city/area, they are in the process of trying to decide what their next phase of life & ministry will be, as they lean towards starting a new church a few miles down the road. People are people… so similar to the plans, hopes & dreams you might hear about at home, with added intrigue & the challenges that come specifically targeted at each of us.

After dinner, (7-9 p.m.)  we decided to rest some more in preparation for our late night… I lightly napped & read (I’m on my 3rd paperback) & eventually got up & got ready about 8:45 p.m. Felt a little like burnt toast, but we took the time to pray for energy & to thank God in advance for giving us what we’d need over the next couple of hours as we prayed for our new friends from a variety of CA countries.

There was a brief message/encouragement, & then our team was divided into 4 groups of 2 or 3 & sent to the 4 corners of the room. The DLT attendees were instructed to get together with the people from their city/church/region &/or country & identify different things that they wanted to receive prayer for: things going well; points of need; areas of struggle; etc. Some instrumental worship music was put on & people began to make their way to the corners of the room. It wasn’t like they were standing in lines; they were encouraged to talk & pray with each other in the middle of the room, & then to make their way to a corner for prayer when the opportunity presented itself.

Got to partner with theBean & Will – pastor from Atascadero – as wave after wave of people came for prayer. Some readily identified specific requests, like “We need a place to meet that is authorized by the government,” or “We need workers to help us in our mission,” or “We need to know what we’re supposed to do next.” Others left it intentionally vague & asked us just to pray “as the Holy Spirit leads.”

Really cool how in every situation, specific things came to mind to pray for; sometimes related to the request; other times out of left field. The one that stood out to me the most was a group of 5 from the northeast of the country. They are all 30-something & are all 1st generation Christians. They don’t have elders in the faith in their area to look up to, to be discipled by, to learn from. They have the Bible & each other (as well as the confederation of other pastors spread waaay out in this vast land.) They prayed for spiritual parents: fathers & mothers in the faith to come alongside to help them grow in knowledge, experience, & perspective. They want so desperately to do well in making disciples & to not mar people with their unnecessary mistakes caused by inexperience &/or lack of good Bible teaching/practice.

As I listened to them talk, I was overwhelmed with emotion – they see themselves as inadequate & know all the things they DON’T have & WISH they did. They feel alone & desperate for help – for divine intervention in the form of people, elders, to stand alongside them & encourage them in the Way of Jesus. And I had a deep sense (& prayed about) God’s great love & joy that He has for these people; for their pure hearts, simple obedience, & active fatih… a faith that doesn’t wait until they know ALL there is to know on a topic before they start living it out. I felt like I could see in the spirit realm & when I looked at them, I saw warriors (not in a natural conflict/war kind of way,) but warriors who are battle tested in spiritual things. I saw God shaping them & making them to be the very thing they were praying for in there desperation… spiritual fathers & mothers. And though they may be 1st generation Christians, the first ones in their area of CA, they have what they need because they continue to see the One who will supply all their needs according to His provision.

So sweet to hear their prayers & their thanks at being able to be a part of the DLT: to learn from others & to grow in things of God that they would be able to do the same for others in their own place.

I was deeply moved & affected by this group, & I will continue to be praying for them long after we get home.

Finally wrapped up our prayer times around 11:30 – thankful for translation team – & made our way back to our room. We were pretty wired still (pretty normal for nights like this,) so we sat up & (finally) got the WiFi to work well enough to watch a show on Amazon & nurse a CA Coke Zero. Eventually nodded off around 1:30 or so (according to the FitBit) & (unfortunately) woke up at 5:30 again.

We’ll be leaving the hotel & headed to the airport around 2 a.m. tonight (8/9 – & technically Friday); then we have a flight & a bus/train ride to get to our Julia’s home in Germany. It might be a minute before I get to catch up on Day #9 & #10 – but – thank you for your continued prayers. Please join me in praying for these precious people of CA… & give thanks for the God who hears & responds… the same God who HEARS you & RESPONDS to you in your needs as well.

CA: Day #3

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I woke up this morning at about 3 & couldn’t go back to sleep, so I read for about an hour & then tried again. Next thing I knew it was 9:30 a.m. & I was alone in the room. I threw on some clothes to get down to breakfast before our vans left at 11. Sat with theBean & Will from Atascadero; they talked & I ate my oatmeal & a sausage, egg, & cheese omelette. Ever have those mornings when you don’t have any words to offer & you just need to BE & drink your coffee & get something in your belly & pray that you don’t sound as snippy & grumpy as your voice sounds in your own ears? That was me this morning… Coffee from the MOJ helped, but I definitely felt discombobulated for a while.

The team headed out to our ‘mountain trek’ in a collection of 3 vans; theBean & I in different vans. Our driver was T; a guy I met years ago through FB world, through a mutual German/Kazakh friend, Eddy Dueck. I’d been trying to find some Russian language translation for some songs John P was writing. Very cool to hang out & get to know him a bit on the drive. We headed into the foothills of some pretty big mountains & went on a short (1 mile or so) hike, straight up a canyon to one of a series of waterfalls. At the first waterfall I sat with one of our guides, a pastor from the local Church named Al who is about 33 years old. We spent about 30 minutes talking about life & ministry & how relationships are the foundation of both. I shared with him my saying that it takes shared time, space, & experience to build relationships; he has a similar philosophy: share food, clothes, & experiences to build relationships.

We have had a definite connection & I told theBean it reminds me of the first time God spoke to me about our connections with brand new friends in Germany in 1997. We will see what comes & what develops, but at least right now it feels like I have a much better idea about God’s ongoing direction for our lives with coming to CA…

The team drove down from the foothills to a local restaurant on the side of a hill. It was really cool (atmosphere, not temperature. it is hot as hot right now) & had a long table for us all to gather around. Several rounds of appetizers, (breads, pasties, meat salads, eggplant dishes, tomatoes & vinegar,) were followed by the main dish, which consisted of rice (think pilaf style) with shredded lamb, boiled quail eggs, & round slices of horse sausage. I tried the horsey: it was meaty.

NOTE: Coke Zero is a delicacy & tastes like heaven in the heat of the day. Lots of mineral water keeps us hydrated. Probably going to walk to a local market for couple 1 liter  Coke Zerios (the biggest they got).

We went over to the local host church & gathered in one of the rooms where we got to hear the story of our host team leader; spent some time hanging out, talking & then praying for him, & now we’re back at the hotel for a 1 hour recharge & rest. In about 30 minutes we head out for a night tour of the city. Evidently we’re going to get in a gondola that goes over the city so we can get a (literal) birds-eye view.

The tentative plan for tomorrow includes breakfast & the MOJ; trips to several ‘rehab homes’ set up for men, women & kids, & just women as they work through addiction, homelessness, gaining job skills, etc.  There is some sort of service tomorrow night & but its hard to think that far ahead right now.

Step by step.

Thanks for your prayers & your patience – I’m posting when I have the time & space to do so, & my brain is still catching up with the 12 hour time difference.

Central Asia Mission – Days #1 & #2

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We started our 24 hours of travel on Tuesday with the 1st of 3 flights. All of our scheduled connections & connecting flights were too close together (from 40-80 minutes each) but it was beyond our control to change. So, we purposed to be present, to be positive, & to “roll with” whatever our travels brought us. (NOTE: as we “rolled with” our travel curveballs, never did we actually, nor will we ever “Roll Tide.” But I digress.)

Flight out of Denver to Frankfurt was delayed by an hour; the “trip alert” software used by our airline let us know while we were still IN Denver that we’d miss our Frankfurt to our “final destination in Central Asia that shall remain unnamed throughout this series of blogposts other than calling it ‘Central Asia’ or “CA” for short, per the request of said hosts in CA.”) We purposed to stick with our chosen “be present/positive/& roll with it” motto. Got very little sleep on the almost 9 hour flight due to a very loud 18 month old in the row next to us & also (most likely) the excitement of the trip.

Upon arrival in Frankfurt, we found that even though we’d left Denver an hour later than scheduled, we still made our scheduled arrival time. Yay.

And then we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting for our gate to open.

And then we got news that we were assigned to a “bus gate” meaning we got to drive for 20 minutes in the plane to an empty spot where we’d be picked up by buses & transported to the terminal where we’d then scan our boarding passes, & — theoretically — get on OTHER buses & drive to another open area with a plane headed to CA.

And it took > 90 minutes.

And yet… we still made the flight to CA because our flight was delayed by > 90 minutes.

But our travel app, powered by the latest greatest versions of AI, informed us that our Bags were possibly missing & that they MAY have taken an earlier flight to our destination. But not for sure.

No worries. We had our carryon backpacks with supplies for 3 Louie outfits (black polos & shorts for the win!). TheBean prayed for an upgrade on the flight, & I must say, I wasn’t too hopeful (man of great faith!) only to find out that we were indeed upgraded to Premiere Economy, which meant MUCH bigger, recliner-lite style seat with footrest & menus. Thank you Jesus. Made for a much more comfortable flight, albeit with just A little tiny bit of sleep on a ‘daytime’ flight.

Eventually we Made it to CA at just before midnight Wednesday, & noted that we are exactly 12 hours ahead of home on the clock. So when it is 7 am in CA, it is 7 pm the previous night at home. (My brain still feels silly at this point, so I needed to talk that out.) Met up with Teresa, a team member from a church in the Bay (by way of Australia) & got our BAGS(!) from the baggage claim; navigated customs & met our driver, a wonderful man named S that spoke no English but used his translator app to communicate with us while driving us to the hotel. (Adventures in Driving in CA.)

Hotel is super-nice & very Soviet-era chic. Spacious room, incredible A/C & big Euro style bath & shower. Headed to bed around 1:45 am & slept fitfully til about 7:30 (4 good hours or so). Made our way to the breakfast area & had several cups of premium coffee made by the Machine of Joy. I ate beef vienna looking sausages & oatmeal w/raisings. Tried the yogurt only to find it was sour cream. Talked w/Teresa & theBean for a couple hours, milking our access to the Machine of Joy (MOJ)… the ladies stayed to talk & I decided to tour the exercise room & sauna area, which I plan to hit later today.

Only thing on the agenda is lunch & team-time from 1:30 – 4 p.m. The rest of the day is dedicated to rest & getting acclimated to CA.

Very thankful for traveling mercies. Made connections in SPITE of all sorts of rumors & threats of missing them, & got our BAGS even though the Machines told us we most likely wouldn’t. (Don’t trust SkyNet. Ever.)  God is already answering prayers, & we are both looking forward to our time here with our team & new friends.