The Hungary Project

We are home

2008-08-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well, not our real home. I don't want to panic anyone. Besides, I don't think that we could make a blog entry from heaven. :-)

Our flights went well. We left Sopron on a bus at 8am and the last person got home at 9:50pm, which was a travel time of almost 23 hours. Our only real excitement was an item that Chris carried onto the airplane flights from Vienna to Copenhagen and then Copenhagen to Seattle. At Seattle they would not let him carry it on to the flight to Portland so he had to box it up and check it. It took a bit of time, and we had to travel from one end of the airport to the other. However, we got to our gate with 15 minutes or so to spare.

I have uploaded a few more pictures of Sopron and our flight home for the slide show.

Courtney, the eDot technical coordinator (see post below), provided us with a valuable debriefing the night before we left. Courtney was a youth paster before he went to the mission field and has led many short term missions trips. He coached us through a process of evaluating our experience and how we might share it with others. Thank you, Courtney, for that debriefing and the follow-up worksheet. They have been very helpful. We look forward to sharing how God has been working in our lives through this missions experience.

We hope to have an opportunity to formally share at each one of our churches. If you are interested in knowing the dates of these presentations please contact one of us or send an email to the hungary project.

Home again

2008-08-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hello to all!!

After getting a little sleep, I thought it reasonable to give you more details of our journey across the world. It took almost 24 hours to travel from Sopron, Hungary, to Copenhagen, Denmark, to Seattle, WA, and finally to Portland and back home.

In Vienna, we were hanging out at Starbucks at the airport thinking we were ahead of the game...that is until we realized that our gate changed and found that the line was rather long at the right gate!! :-) We made it through, though, and proceeded to Copenhagen where we enjoyed some rather large burgers! To the right, you'll find the "handsomest guy on the team" with the handsomest burger in Denmark! At least that was our experience!

The trek from Copenhagen to Seattle was actually pretty smooth, then came the entrance into the states and our only real setback through the whole trip: a snow globe. Eric posted a little about this, but here are some more details.

Our stop at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was the shortest layover of all and where we had the most to do. We made it through passport control and customs and were making good time. Then came security. :-( I had bought a snow globe in Vienna for my wife and had travelled with it as a carry-on from Vienna to Seattle for safekeeping. As we went through security in Seattle, the package was flagged. When I told the gal what it was, she says, "Oh, that can't go." As you can imagine, it was a rather sad moment until she said there was no problem checking it and stowing it under the plane for the flight.

That had potential.

Of course, it wasn't nearly as easy as first thought. In the end, all of us travelled outside security again (thanks, guys!!) and Corey and I ran (literally) down two floors to a shop that prepared my package for travel under the plane. We ran back up, picked up the other two guys, headed through security again, took a train to the gate and actually made it with time to spare! Whew!!

Our propeller-driven plane touched down in Portland just past 7:00PM local time (4:00AM Hungary time), and Joel's family were very kind in meeting us there with our travel arrangements. Home again!

The last nine days have been life-changing for all of us, and we are happy and rather excited to bring those changes home with us. Praise the Lord for what He did in Hungary and what He's doing all over the world!! What a mighty God we serve!!

Headed Back

2008-08-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

Operation Laptop has come to a close.

It has been a fantastic experience. There are dozens of stories to tell. Far too many to relay right now at 1AM while typing on a Hungarian keyboard, anyway.

We got to wrap things up this evening with an all-together "closing ceremony." You could feel the energy and passion to spread God's Word as we closed out the conference with what happens to be my favorite worship song, "Mighty To Save." Simply put, it was plain awesome.

This has been a growing experience, no doubt. It has caused me to do a lot of thinking. I know I have benefited. I hope that a few missionaries benefited from our efforts as well.

I look forward to see what the Lord will do in the future. Maybe I'll get to do this again. Maybe not. Who knows? Next time He might be calling you.

41 laptops & 15 countries

2008-08-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

Before we left home I wrote, "Think of the impact! By solving computer problems we will enable the missionaries to focus more time on building relationships and spreading the gospel. We will be impacting the spread of the gospel throughout Europe! This is so exciting. To know that God can use my skill set to impact the spread of the gospel is incredible."

We have indeed impacted the spread of the gospel throughout Europe. Here is a list of the countries where the GEM missionaries who brought in their laptops live and work.

Croatia
France
Czech Republic
Portugal
Romania
Sweden
Germany
Hungary
Spain
Netherlands
Austria
Russia
Finland

And, even North Africa and the USA.

Getting Ready to Travel Home

2008-08-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, this is Corey, doing my first blog of the trip. :-) I have spent all my free time correcting assignments for the online classes I am teaching. I want to thank my workmates, Marcia Thompson and Wendy Davis for taking over most of my teaching responsibilities for this week; otherwise I would not have been able to come on this trip.

It is almost midnight on the last night of our stay here in Sopron, Hungary. Tomorrow morning we catch the bus at 8:10 AM to travel to the Vienna Airport. Time has very little meaning when you have jet lag!! One night near the beginning of the trip, Eric and I got up about 3 AM to start working since apparently no more sleep was anywhere to be found. Last night I stayed up until about 3 AM working on my online teaching. I am not sure what time zone I am right now!

The grounds around our hotel are beautiful. Here are a couple of pictures.

I am just awestruck by the gratitude of the missionaries for the help we have provided. Although from our perspective it was an absolute joy to help solve their computer problems (and have great times visiting and learning about their ministries and lives), we were given thanks again and again in many ways for the computer help we were able to provide. They had us stand up in the final conference gathering and publically thanked us for coming and thanked our families and those who supported us for enabling us to come. Also, besides the many thanks given by many individuals, one person said to me, "they sure clapped enthusiastically for you!"

In these few short days we have made a number of friendships with people from all over Europe. We had some very good conversations with people from Germany, Croatia, Ukraine, and the U.S. The foreign travel and seeing new sites is fascinating and fun, but it is the people we met here that will most affect my view of this trip. It is touching to see their sincerity, dedication, sacrifice, and passion for the gospel in Europe. I hope I will not forget this.

GEM tells us "Thank You"

2008-08-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today has been another full day. Our goal was to be done by 5:30. We had a bit of a last minute rush but we finished on time. At 5:30 we ate dinner and then attended the final session at 7:00. We were given a round of applause, kind words, and a card for our service. The entire GEM family has been gracious and kind throughout our time with them. The card is signed by GEM's president and his wife.

Ask us

2008-08-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Some things we have learned about and from the missionaries can't be posted on a blog. This white space is in honor of the missionaries we have met; their sacrifices, their struggles; their secret journeys; and more...

Ask us in person. We want to share more with you.

Fun for geeks

2008-08-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

The Internet has gone down at least once every day. It has never been down long enough to prevent our continued progress though. However, when it went down on Saturday evening we were a bit concerned. The front desk person told us, "tomorrow." Since tomorrow was Sunday, meaning our last day to do laptop work and possibly a day when a technician would not come out to help, we had our doubts. After some effort we convinced the front desk guys to let us inside the hotel's server room. We were surprised at the sophistication of the equipment. In the picture you can see the rack mount and in the background the video surveillance feeds.

If you are not a geek you may not understand the significance of getting into a server room. Just take a look at the faces in the picture. Those guys are up to something--like the cat who just ate the canary.

The staff even left us alone in the server room. We did not touch anything. We knew better. However, it was cool getting to see the server room. Eventually the staff chased us out. I think it was after one of them called the manager.

The Internet eventually came back up Saturday evening and we were able to do some more work. I called it a night about 12:30am. I think Chris and Joel headed to bed about 1am, and Corey did not make it to bed until 2:30am because he was fulfilling his online teaching responsibilities.

Visiting the post office

2008-08-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

There are no pictures for this post because I was chased out of the post office when I pulled out my camera. The entire experience was exciting like that.

My father asked me to send him a postcard, so I set about getting a postcard and filling it out. That was the easy part. Maybe its the modern email age we live in or maybe it is just Hungary, either way the only place I could get a stamp was at the main post office in Sopron.

Finding the post office was simple as I had seen it the previous time in I was in Sopron. Walking into the post office I was faced with five different lines rather than one line. Hmm...which one should I stand in? Random selection was the only choice. I waited in line until I could present my need to the employee. "English," I said as I pointed at the "USA" on my postcard. She said something in Hungarian and pointed across the lobby. I headed to the other side of the lobby and again had to choose a line as there were two options. When I got in line I noticed that the person in front of me had a bunch of mail. After a short wait the person turned around and said something to me in Hungarian and pointed to the other line. I said, "English" and she said "English, oh" and just turned around. Well, it was pretty obvious that she was suggesting that I should get in the other line. So I got into a third line and waited for my turn.

The employee in the third line understood my need and asked me, "airmail?" I agreed and then watched in dismay as she put a printed white stamp strip just like we get in the states. I was really hoping for a fancy stamp, but I did not think that I could clearly communicate my desire.

The real fun began when I tried to pay in Euros. We had been told that the Hungarians don't like to take Euros even though they are a part of the European Union. While I knew that, I did not have anything else. When I showed the lady my Euros she shook her head no. I took out my wallet and point to my credit cared. She again shook her head no. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "That's all I have." The lady spoke at length with someone else. Eventually she punched something into her calculator and wrote down an amount on paper. She wrote "1,5" and I assumed it was in Euros so I pulled out a 2 Euro and tried to hand it to her. She would not take it and starting saying things in Hungarian. Someone in another line steped up to help and translated the Hungarian for me. Unfortunately she translated the Hungarian into German. I said, "English" and she said, "Oh, you undestand English." Well, yes, I do. I was happy to have a helper.

The postal employee had been trying to tell me that she could not give me change in Euros. That was fine with me as I now have three coins and 80 Hungarian Forint to take home and show my family.

As I was leaving I decided to take a picture. I was looking down at my camera, turning off the flash, when I heard shouting. I looked up to see the guard walking toward me geasturing and loudly giving instructions. At that point I decided it was a good idea to leave.

Fun times!

A good sub sandwich?

2008-08-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

In case you were worried about the kitchen staff from the Alcatraz prison island you can now sleep easy. They apparently headed to Sopron, Hungary and opened a sub sandwich shop. Notice the bars on the door to the right. That's where they put complaining customers. I wasn't brave enough to order a sandwich.

Meet the rest of the tech team

2008-08-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

Our tech work at the GEM conference in Hungary has not occurred in a vacuum. We are being helped and supported by a very fine group of people. There are four key people that you should meet.

Courtney is the eDot technical coordinator and the one who contacted me about the tech team need. Courtney is providing a lot of equipment including cables, printer, network devices, external hard drive cases, etc. Courtney is not involved in the day to day fixing of the laptops, but he checks in on us on a regular basis and provides guidance and suggestions.

Kirk is the GEM IT Director. He is responsible for all of the computer support provided in GEM. Kirk has provided us with the necessary technical information to interface with GEM's information systems. Kirk also checks in on us and provides guidance and suggestions.

Tim is a EuroQuest volunteer who has helped with tech support at GEM conferences for five years. Tim is a huge help with his technical skills, past conference experience, and very willing helpful spirit. Tim has helped us understand a number of things related to how things function, everything from taking the bus into Sopron to details on a specific persons laptop.

Judith (on the left) is a GEM Associate and is here to provide computer training. She is an associate that has committed to participate in EuroQuest multiple times. Judith wrote the greatest email to some friends at home describing our tech team work. Here is what she wrote: "The missionaries bring in all their problems, leave them on a shelf, and say 'forgive me if I’ve done anything wrong, but cleanse my computer and make it whole again.' And the techs cover the sins of the operators with their skill and wisdom and send Worms, Trojans, Spy’s and Phishes into the Microsoft sea of forgetfulness. Knowing that next year they will be back again."

We have the world covered

2008-08-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we almost have the world covered. I received an email from Marlyn, a missionary friend in Senegal. Marlyn has a missionary friend in Spain named Anita. Anita is with GEM and is at the conference in Hungary. Anita stopped by the tech room and we had a nice visit.

So here's the instant replay: Someone from America meets someone from Spain while they are both in Hungary. The meeting is arranged by someone in Senegal. Fun!

Oreo update

2008-08-09T05:43:00.001-07:00

We turned our Oreos in to the conference office. The picture to the right shows some various cookies brought by some of the missionaries. There is a smattering of a lot of different kinds.

Have you ever seen a missionary hug a box of cookies? I have. The response to Oreos here is amazing and funny. As you can see from the picture below, the Oreo is the cookie of choice. There are almost as many Oreos as there are other cookies. Oreo Sunday is coming. On Sunday the only cookies that will be served are Oreos.

A Trip Into Town

2008-08-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

Good morning all! Or at least, good morning to whoever may be reading this in Europe.

As scans and defrags occur all around me, I thought I would tell you a little about our trip into Sopron yesterday. Some photos have already leaked into the slideshow, but some details may prove to be of interest.

We decided to visit the town in pairs rather than all four of us going at once so that we could maximize our tech room open hours and keep our scans running. Consequently, Chris and I ventured forth following breakfast.

We caught the bus just outside our hotel, and headed for downtown Sopron. The bus ride into town was fun. The driver didn't seem to speak any English, but he was still rocking out to Nickelback on his radio. Pretty amusing.

As we made it into town, we looked for a stop that was supposed to be near a large flower bed with orange benches. Thinking we were in the right place, we got off near what appeared to be the city center.

Unfortunately, as we found out later, it wasn't. But we got to wander around and see everyday life in Sporon!

We found the Toshiba laptop repair shop, we visited a Hungarian plumbing store, we even found where we could get Pepsi. There was great celebration.

But then we had to find our way back to the hotel.

We assumed that since Bus #2 picked us up, that we could catch the #2 and ride it back to where we came from. Wrong! Actually, we quickly found ourselves winding through Sopron (and actually seeing a lot of pretty cool stuff as we drove by) and eventually ending up at the bus depot where we were promptly informed (in Hungarian) that we had to leave the vehicle.

At this point, we were completely confused. How were we supposed to get back? We were at the end of the line. Fortunately, we saw people begin to gather near a bus that was parked next to a sign that read "#2" (even though the bus' ID read #6).

After consulting with the driver, we were able to confirm that, yes, his bus was departing and would take us back.

Happy to be rescued, and with Pepsi bottles in hand, we successfully returned to tackle yet another laptop.

Late Nights

2008-08-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

The late nights have begun!! God has given us strength on this trip, and we pray that He will continue to keep us alert and efficient!

A new day begins for us in just a few hours.

Hungary out!

Jennifer Straw

2008-08-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

My daughter is serving in Uganda this summer with Africa Inland Missions. She left in May and is returning home in a couple of weeks. We have called her a couple of times from home, and I knew that I wanted to call her while in Europe. There is only a one hour time difference between her location and mine.

I have tried a half-dozen times or more from both Vienna and Sopron to call her. I use a calling card, so have to dial a country specific number, the calling card number, and then Jennifer's phone number. There have been a number of problems: bad instructions from the calling card company and hotel staff; A difficulty in connecting with Uganda's telephone system. I resolved the bad directions when I figured out how to call home from Europe. However, the inability to connect to Uganda has been insurmountable until just a few minutes ago. I finally got through, and we had a short but good visit. She is babysitting five missionary children in a sleep over tonight in order to give two different missionary families a break.

The Dust

2008-08-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what a little dust can do to a laptop. Yesterday, we were set with the task of fixing a laptop that would overheat and shut down after anywhere from 5 seconds to 5 minutes, leaving a particular missionary asking the question, "Why me?"

Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but it was a causing a bit of frustration to say the least. Ready to meet the need, we hypothesized that the issue was with a clogged fan or heatsink. So we removed some of the panels on the back of the laptop hoping to gain access to the area in question..no luck. :-(

That's okay, no problem. We'll just take off the keyboard and see if the dust is accessible under there....sorry, no go. We removed the top of the laptop (the screen and bezel) and the top cover including the touchpad...still no access to the fan and heatsink and the associated dust!

In the end, we had to completely remove the motherboard from the housing and turn it upside down to gain access to the dust that was causing the problem. We thought a before and after picture might be in order.

On a personal note, this is actually the "smoothest" laptop teardown I have ever been a part of! Ah, the joys of being a geek for God!!

The missionary computer problem

2008-08-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

The missionary computer problem:

Budget constraints force the use of outdated laptops
Budget constraints limit the availability of support
Diversity of laptop brands and models complicates support efforts
Diversity of software complicates support efforts
Diversity of geographic locations complicates support efforts
Diversity of geographic locations complicates training efforts

Each of the specific problems listed above is encountered within business. However, the blend and severity of the problems on the missions field makes for a unique missionary computer problem.

The missionary computer solution:

New laptops are delivered to missionaries on a three year rotation
Laptop brands and models are consistent
Laptop software is consistent
Remote support and training are available on demand

The missionary computer solution requires a unique blend of cost control practices and aggressive service features. The solution would best be implemented by an independent organization focused exclusively on the missionary computer solution. Ideally the organization, let's call them MCS for short, would function as a non-profit and raise funding for the majority of the hardware and support costs. MCS could do this through donations, venture capital, and branded sales to businesses and individuals.

MCS could:

Brand their own laptop in order to control specifications and compatibility. Branding would only be feasable in volumn. Sales to businesses and individuals would support volumn and provide partial funding for the primary mission of solving the missionary computer problem.
Specialize in open source software. A customized distribution of Ubuntu Linux that emphasized communication tools could provide significant cost control and support enhancements. The paradigm shift from Microsoft Windows to Linux would pose a challenge to missionaries. This challenge could be met through training.
Equally emphasize, fund, and market four services: hardware, software, support, and training.

MCS would be most successful by focusing on solving the missionary computer problem based on a standard set of needs (i.e. word processing, desktop publishing, web content generation, email, web browsing, etc.). There are always trade-offs. A standard configuration may fit 90% to 95% of the missionaries in any given organization. Yet, even these might have to give up a favorite program to embrace the standard solution with all of its benefits. The remaining 5% to 10% would need to find individual solutions outside of MCS, otherwise MCS would spend an inordinate amount of time meeting specialized needs.

If you have made it this far you deserve to know why I am posting this rather stiff post in an otherwise enjoyable blog. As Elvis said, "I couldn't sleep at all last night." For different reasons I'm sure. I awoke at 12:30am and wrestled with the missionary computer problem until about 2am, at which time I got up because, well, Elvis said it all. I did get a couple more hours of sleep from 3ish to 5ish on a couch in the lobby of our hotel. I attempted to get into the tech room to do some work, but the Hotel Fagus was locked up tight at 3am.

Lost in translation

2008-08-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

We have had fun with a multitude of languages. Hungarian is the local language, but we have encountered German instructions, Croatian web pages and more. For awhile the Internet was down in the entire hotel. The message (shown to the right) did not give us any clue as to the reason. The front desk was not much help. "It's electrical, they're working on it" in broken English. You can click on the image to view a larger version... you still won't be able to read it though.

One laptop required us to follow some steps on a web page. Unfortunately, we could not force the web page to come up in English. We assumed the language was Hungarian so one of the hotel staff came in to help us. That did not really work out. Our Hungarian and his English were just not enough--we thought. However, we finally figured out that the laptop was configured to display Croatian. I am not sure if the hotel employee could read Croatian or not. We set the default to English and were able to fix the laptop's problem.

The soup sign was just plain funny. It was good tomato soup.

On the way back to our hotel last night Chris told us about a missionary he was helping who was having a hard time expressing his thoughts. The missionary would start to say something and then stop and say "no" then he would think for a while. He finally told Chris he was having problems because his thoughts were in Croatian. I guess it was difficult to translate the Croatian thoughts out into English words.

Techs are tech'ing

2008-08-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

The four of us are sitting in the tech room working on laptops and fulfilling our mission. We have taken in 16 laptops. Nine laptops are in progress. Two are finished and another two have been sent out the door with happy missionaries.

The missionaries are extremely appreciative of our work. We were asked to stand up in the first general session and received a round of applause. A missionary just now walked in and declared that our room was the most important in the entire conference. We have been graciously thanked multiple times.

We are open from 8:00 to 21:00 daily except during sessions and meals. Open means that we accept new laptops. When we are closed we hide in our tech room and work on laptops. The missionaries are required to attend the sessions so we were asked to be closed during the sessions. We are free to attend the sessions, but have chosen to stay in the tech room and work on laptops. That may change as the days progress. Our open times are fairly short (1/2 hour to hour at a time) so there tends to be a lot of activity in short bursts.

We are in the "Mini Klub" (kids activity room) and are surrounded by children's coloring art. We also have the only child's bathroom in the hotel. The conference nursery (up to 3 years) is located down the hall, so we get to see some of the little children once in a while.

Traveling to Sopron

2008-08-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

Our trip from Vienna to Sopron went well. We arrived at the airport on time despite some of the same issues that Joel mentioned in the Heeresgeschichtliches post below. Sometimes the trip is the adventure. We easily found our contact as he was holding a sign and was surrounded by a crowd.

The ride was about an hour in a comfortable, air-conditioned, 20 passenger bus. Our luggage was hauled in a trailer, which the bus driver attempted to lose at every corner--He was driving a bit fast. It's a good thing the bus was filled with praying missionaries!

The scenery was mostly open flat farmland, but there were a few hills and towns.

We are staying at the Hotel Lövér. It is pronounced "Loovare". Well, that's a butchered English pronunciation. The girl at the counter said it four times and I repeated it back. I thought I did a good job, but she was not convinced. Lövér is an archaic Hungarian word for archer. The hotel is located in the Lövérek district and there are a number of other businesses that include the Lövér name.

I no longer live, but Christ lives in me

2008-08-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

I previously noted that Corey is a Greek scholar. Yesterday when he sat down to read from his Greek New Testament I asked his permission to take a picture. I told him that while reading from a Greek New Testament was normal for him, it was impressive to the rest of us. You can find out more about Corey's Greek interests at his site NTGreek.org

For our morning devotions Corey read us Galations 2:20 in Greek and then translated for us. We then had a discussion about the role of the cross in delivering us from the power of sin--our sin nature.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (NIV) Galations 2:20

Heeresgeschichtliches Adventure

2008-08-06T23:03:00.000-07:00

Hello from Hungary! We are sitting in the tech room as we speak waiting for the post-breakfast laptop dump. Which could happen... any... moment...

Anyway. Before leaving Vienna yesterday, Chris and I (Joel) decided to embark on an adventure by ourselves and travel 2 or 3 km out of Vienna to visit the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Austrian Military Museum).

Although we had less than two hours to get to the museum, see it, and return to the hotel for check-out, we managed to catch the U-Baun (Underground), transfer to the bus system, and then walk to the museum in spite of:

Having no idea how to get there (it was far enough away that it was off all the maps)
Having to learn how to get there from our limited-English-speaking hotel host
Having to follow the map he gave us (which was in German, of course)
Having to get on the underground not really knowing what direction we should be going in
Having to find the bus stop somewhere outside the underground station
Having to find the right bus
Having to get tickets from the completely non-English-speaking bus driver (who eventually gave up trying to talk and just waved us onto the bus!)
Having to get off at the right bus stop
Having to find where the museum was from the bus stop (we had no idea where it was)
Having to wander around until we eventually learned that we had to walk through an entirely unrelated building just to get to the front of the museum
Having to then basically run through the museum in 20 minutes
Having to complete all the steps above in reverse to get back (we got lost only once)

But it was all worth it! We got to see a great deal of medieval Austrian military gear, as well as more modern WWII-era weaponry. Among the exhibits was the car and clothing that Archduke Ferdinand was in when he was assassinated, provoking World War I. Seeing such history is pretty incredible. Even if you have to jump through some hoops in order to make it happen!

And now, back to the laptops...

The Handsomest Fellow on the Team

2008-08-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Things are going well in big, beautiful, and sometimes cloudy Vienna, Austria! What a day it has been, and it's finally nearing completion!

Eric has updated the slideshow to show you some of the fun things we got to see today, but we were reading through some of the comments and thought we would provide you with a picture of interest for Jennifer. The man to the right is either the "Handsomest Fellow on the Team," a Corban Warrior, or a strange Viennese gentleman who let us take his picture! We report, you decide!!

We are off again in the morning after some last-minute sightseeing to the final destination! You can pray for our safety in travel! Stay tuned and watch the slideshow for updates as well!

A full day

2008-08-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

It is 10pm, and we have had a full and enjoyable day. We started the day out with group devotions, which included a bit of reading and then a discussion about abiding in Christ. Our touring included Stephansdom (St. Stephan's Cathedral), Hofburg Palace, a park, the Vienna University, and a number of smaller sites. We did a lot of walking, a little riding on a bus, and some gift shop browsing.

It is difficult to select one site as a favorite or most enjoyable. The shear magnitude of the buildings is overwhelming: The Hofburg palace covers multiple acres and contains a number of massive buildings on par in size with the U.S. capital building. The architectural artistry is inspiring: Stephansdom has ornate carvings throughout and statues lurk around every corner. The depth of rich history is amazing: The Vienna University has a tribute to distinguished graduates that includes alumni from the 1300s and the Roman walls from the original city are visible just outside of the Hofburg Palace. The millieu of multiple cultures packed tightly together is enriching: Mutliple languages fill the air, styles and norms intermingle, and humanity flourishes.

Oreo update

2008-08-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

We have a combined nine pounds of Oreo cookies. One pound is mint double stuff and one pound is regular double stuff. The remainder are all the original Oreo. We did a quick inventory for package damage and discovered that one of Chris' packages has some damage to the top right corner. We have no idea how many cookies have been crushed though. We dare not open the packages lest we be tempted to eat all of them :-) Oh the sacrifices we make for the missionaries!

The Oreos must still survive a train ride back to the airport and then a bus ride to Sopron.

Wiener schnitzel

2008-08-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

Joel's surprised look reflects all of our reaction to the huge wiener schnitzel that we had for dinner. The restaurant was recommended by our hotel, and the waiter recommended wiener schnitzel for an authentic Austria dinner.

Corey ordered beef goulash, another Austrian specialty, to give us something else to sample, but we other three all ordered the wiener schnitzel. For some reason we expected a hot dog or sausage type thing.

The wiener schnitzel was deep fried pork, about 1/4 inch thick and bigger around than a dinner plate. It was very good, although not highly seasoned. Corey's goulash had a much spicier flavor. Our wiener schnitzel dinners also came with a potato salad consisting of salad greens, like spinach, but something else, and slices of cooked potato in a sauce. The salad was very good also.

The restaurant was located on a very narrow street, and, like so many other restaurants here, had large windows open to catch the breezes. It is hot and humid here, but the solution seems to be airflow rather than air conditioning everywhere we go.

There was quite a bit of traffic up and down the narrow street with a number of people standing around waiting to get into the small restaurant. We did not have to wait for a table though as the crowd showed up after we were seated. We were given a table with a reservation 45 minutes after we sat down, so we had a time limit. The time limit did not prove to be a problem though.

Ready for another day

2008-08-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

It is 6am here in Vienna and we are getting ready for another day. Corey and I have been up since about 3am doing online work to fulfill our teaching responsibilities. We did not plan to get up at 3am, but our bodies made the decision for us.

Here are few helpful hints for using and participating in this blog.

The slide show, to the left, has been updated with pictures from yesterday. A few of the pictures have comments, but you have to click on the picture to bring up the comment. We will continue to add more pictures to the slide show as we can.
The group picture, below, of us in the airport in Portland now has a tag with our names. We realize that most people do not know all of us. If you hold your mouse on the picture the names will be displayed.
Please participate in this blog by leaving your comments. We welcome and encourage them. It is fun to hear from people back home who are participating in our trip through prayer and encouragement. At the bottom of any post you can click the "comments" and add your own insight or encouragement. You can post a comment without a user account, just be sure to tell us who you are.
At the bottom of each post is the name of the poster. If you want to find the posts from your favorite husband, son, friend, etc, just scan the page for that persons first name.

Trinity column

2008-08-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

In less than three minutes after closing my hotel door I can be standing in the shadow of the Dreifaltigkeitssäule (Trinity column). The column was built in 1692 because of a promise made during the plague of 1679. The column contains Latin inscriptions, which you can see below. One of Corey's undergraduate degrees is in classical languages, so he interpreted for us.

To God the Father, Creator

To God the Son, Redeemer

To God the Spirit, Sanctifier

Arrival!!!

2008-08-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Stages B, C, E, and 5 are complete!! We are here, we are safe, and we are going to eat. In case you were wondering, the cross between plane food and airport food in the last 25 hours has been interesting to say the least, but we plan to nurishize ourselves and fill you in on all the details! We're tired, nurishize is a word when you're tired. :-)

Vienna out!

'Stage A' Complete

2008-08-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hello from Denver International Airport! Our first flight was rather uneventful... except for trying to check into the wrong airline and learning the technical aspects of opening water bottle caps. Quite the project, let me assure you.

Upon landing we proceeded to make the trek from Concourse "B" to Concourse "A" whilst dodging angry tram riders and experiencing quite interesting airport music.

We leave for Frankfurt in a couple hours, assuming that the thunderstorms here in 95-degree Denver satisfactorily subside.

Photos and further info forthcoming!

Favorite cookie

2008-08-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

About a week ago I received the following message from GEM.

We have all of our missionaries bring in cookies from their countries for our coffee breaks.  So of course the favorite cookie from North America is the “Oreo” cookie.  If you don’t mind bringing along some, we sure would appreciate it.

I have two three pound boxes of Oreos packed in my suitcase. These cookies must survive the following: a 2 hour car ride; flight from Portland to Denver then Frankfurt then Vienna; cab ride to the hotel in Vienna; cab ride back to the Vienna airport; and finally a bus ride to Sopron. Of course the challenge is not really the rides or flights but the handling onto and off of the cars and planes. Six pounds of Oreos will not go far with 400 people, but six pounds of Oreo dust may just get me thrown out of the conference :-)

I am looking forward to sampling cookies from other countries. I'll keep you posted on what cookies I sample and how the Oreos fare on their journey.

Eeee...that was stressful

2008-08-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

Our flight from Portland, Oregon, USA to Frankfurt, Germany was booked with Lufthansa airlines. On Monday of this week some of the Lufthansa workers went on strike. On Monday we checked the news sites and I (Eric) called Lufthansa. The good news was that the strike was having little impact, so there would be no disruption in our flight. There was no bad news.

Thursday I again checked our flight status with Lufthansa and discovered that not only had our flight been canceled, but that all Lufthansa flights leaving Portland had been canceled. However, this information was not easy to find out. The Lufthansa web page simply returned a blank page whenever I entered our flight information. At first I thought I was just entering some piece of information incorrectly. Eventually I found a link for a "special timetable" that listed all of the international flights that Lufthansa would maintain during the strike. Portland was not on the list. In addition, I used checkmytrip.com and verified that our flight from Portland to Frankfurt was indeed canceled. Somewhere between the Lufthansa blank page and checkmytrip.com I called Lufthansa and was put on hold. I was on hold for 25 minutes. Twenty-five minutes is a long time to play "what-if" scenarios. It also offers plenty of time to pray for patience and trust. However, the "what-if" and the prayers did not complement each other very well.

The final outcome of this walk down high blood pressure lane ended with a new flight path but the same travel day and the same destination. We leave Portland two hours earlier (10:45am), fly to Denver where we have a 3.5 hour layover, then fly to Frankfurt where we have nearly a 3 hour layover, and then on to Vienna where we arrive 2 hours later than originally scheduled. Overall, not a bad flight schedule considering some of the other "what-if" scenaries.

I am thankful for the very helpful Lufthansa person who took my concern in stride and found a solution--after putting me on hold for another 5 minutes :-) I am sure Lufthansa is dealing with a lot of desperate people. When the person first answered I was tempted to say something like, "We HAVE TO leave on Sunday" but I refrained. In a flash of insight I realized that out of all of the things people have to do in life, getting to Vienna on schedule probably did not rank too terribly high. I would have been a little more satisfied with Lufthansas' service during this problem if instead of a blank page they had returned a page stating, "Your flight has been canceled. Please call xxxxxx and we will provide you with the best alternative schedule possible."

Our mission

2008-07-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

Greater Europe Missions (GEM) has 300 missionaries serving in 29 countries in Europe. Why Europe? Because only two percent of Europeans know Jesus as their Lord. GEM has a wide variety of ministries including church planting, English as a foreign language instruction, camp staffing, youth work, construction and maintenance, music ministry and more.

GEM's annual missions conference brings their missionaries and staff together for fellowship, training, and worship. During the conference the attendees will be able to bring their laptops in to our team for repairs and upgrades. Think of the impact! By solving their computer problems we will enable the missionaries to spend more time building relationships and spreading the gospel. Our team of technicians will be impacting the spread of the gospel throughout Europe! We are very excited. To know that God can use our skill set to impact the spread of the gospel is incredible.

Schedule

2008-07-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday (August 3rd) - leave Portland, Oregon at 1pm
Monday - arrive in Vienna, Austria at 1pm (+9 hours from Oregon time, so that's 4am Monday morning in Oregon)

Monday and Tuesday night we will stay at Pension A und A in Vienna. Tuesday we will tour Vienna.

Wednesday we will catch a 1:15pm bus from Vienna to Sopron, Hungary. The bus ride is about one hour.

Wednesday night through Sunday (August 10th) we will stay at the Hotel Lövér in Sopron. The GEM conference is being held at Hotel Fagus, which is a five minute walk from our hotel.

Monday - leave Vienna at 11:30 am and arrive back in Portland at 7:30 pm.